23-10-2025

Month: September 2022

Meloni set to lead Italy after far right triumphs at polls

Near final results showed the rightist bloc should have a solid majority in both houses of parliament, potentially giving Italy a rare chance of political stability after years of upheaval and fragile coalitions.

“We must remember that we are not at the end point, we are at the starting point. It is from tomorrow that we must prove our worth,” the 45-year-old Meloni told cheering supporters of her nationalist Brothers of Italy party early Monday morning.

Meloni and her allies face a daunting list of challenges, including soaring energy prices, war in Ukraine and renewed slowdown in the euro zone’s third largest economy.

Her coalition government, Italy’s 68th since 1946, is unlikely to be installed before the end of October and Prime Minister Mario Draghi remains at the head of a caretaker administration for now.

European capitals and financial markets will carefully scrutinise her early moves — starting from her ministerial picks — given her eurosceptic past and her allies’ ambivalent position on Russia.

Initial market reaction on Monday was muted, with the outcome having been widely forecast in opinion polls.

“What Italy needs is a stable government”, Giovanni Donzelli, a senior Brothers of Italy figure, told the SkyTG24 broadcasters. “The results appear to gives us this possibility and we wont shy away from it”.

Meloni plays down her party’s post-fascist roots and portrays it as a mainstream group like Britain’s Conservatives. She has pledged to back Western policy on Ukraine and not take risks with Italy’s fragile finances. She struck a conciliatory tone in her victory speech.

“If we are called on to govern this nation we will do it for all the Italians, with the aim of uniting the people and focusing on what unites us rather than what divides us,” she said. “This is a time for being responsible.”

With results counted in more than 97pc of polling stations, the Brothers of Italy led with more than 26pc, up from just 4pc in the last national election in 2018, supplanting Matteo Salvini’s League party as the driving force on the right.

The League took only around 9pc of the vote, down from more than 17pc four years ago. The other major conservative party, Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, scored around 8pc.

Meloni’s alliance is split on some highly sensitive issues that might be difficult to reconcile once in government.

Salvini, for example, questions the West’s sanctions against Russia and both he and Berlusconi have often expressed their admiration of its leader Vladimir Putin.

They also have differing views on how to deal with surging energy bills and have laid out a raft of promises, including tax cuts and pension reform, that Italy will struggle to afford.

Sarah Carlson, senior vice president of Moody’s credit ratings agency, said the next Italian government will have to manage a debt burden “that is vulnerable to negative growth, funding cost, and inflation developments”.

Meloni will take over from Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank, who pushed Rome to the centre of EU policy-making during his 18-month stint in office, forging close ties with Paris and Berlin.

In Europe, the first to hail her victory were hard-right opposition parties in Spain and France, and Poland and Hungary’s national conservative governments which both have strained relations with Brussels.

Despite its clearcut result, the vote was not a ringing endorsement for the right bloc. Turnout was just 64pc against 73pc four years ago — a record low in a country that has historically had strong voter participation.

The right took full advantage of Italy’s electoral law, which benefits parties that forge pre-ballot alliances. Centre-left and centrist parties failed to hook up and even though they collectively won more votes, they ended up with far fewer seats.

The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) took some 19pc, while the left-leaning, unaligned 5-Star Movement scored around 15pc, a result above expectations. The centrist “Action” group won almost 8pc.

“This is a sad evening for the country,” said Debora Serracchiani, a senior PD lawmaker. “(The right) has the majority in parliament, but not in the country.”

Congress party likely to get first non-Gandhi chief in 25 years

Formed 137 years ago during India’s struggle for independence from Britain, Congress was thumped by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the last two general elections.

Many senior Congress leaders have quit to form their own party or to join the BJP, blaming the weak Congress leadership of Rahul Gandhi, the son of ailing party president Sonia Gandhi, who took charge temporarily in 2019.

The party has ruled the country for much of India’s independent history, mostly led by a member of the Gandhi family.

Around 9,000 party delegates will vote for a new president. Gandhi family loyalist Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan state, and Shashi Tharoor, a lawmaker from the southern state of Kerala and a former top UN official, could file nominations this week, party sources said.

“The election authority of the party started the election process on Sept 22 for which polling will happen on Oct 17 if there is more than one candidate,” said Pranav Jha, secretary at the Congress’s Election Authority.

The party has unanimously elected a president for a term of five years, except in 1937, 1950, 1997 and 2000, when elections were held as there was more than one candidate, Jha said.

Sonia Gandhi, the widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, led the party uninterrupted for nearly two decades until 2017. Rahul Gandhi, who took over from her but resigned in 2019 following the drubbing by Modi’s party, has declined to stand in the party election.

1,200 held as crackdown widens in Iran; rights group says 76 killed so far

“We call on the international community to decisively and unitedly take practical steps to stop the killing and torture of protesters,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, adding that video footage and death certificates obtained by the group showed “live ammunition is being directly fired at protesters.”

Iran has arrested more than 1,200 protesters, officials said, in its lethal crackdown on 10 nights of unrest driven by outrage over the death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody.

Tensions grew between the Islamic republic and Western nations as Germany summoned the Iranian ambassador, a day after the European Union protested the “widespread and disproportionate use of force” and Tehran called in the British and Norwegian envoys.

Protests flared again across Iran overnight as a Tehran crowd shouted “death to the dictator”, calling for the end of the more than three-decade rule of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 83, in footage shared by Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR).

“Woman, Life, Freedom!” the crowds have chanted as female protesters have defiantly thrown their hijabs into bonfires and blazing rubbish dumpsters — a rallying cry that has been echoed at solidarity protests worldwide, including in London and Paris at the weekend.In Iran’s biggest protests in almost three years, security forces have used water cannons but also fired birdshot and live rounds, according to rights groups, while protesters have hurled rocks, torched police cars and set public buildings ablaze.

The total number of officially reported arrests rose above 1,200, according to state media reports citing various officials, including about 450 in northern Mazandaran province, over 700 reported Saturday in neighbouring Gilan and dozens in several other regions.

“Rioters have attacked government buildings and damaged public property,” Mazandaran’s chief prosecutor Mohammad Karimi told official news agency IRNA, charging that they were steered by “foreign anti-revolutionary agents”.

Tehran police have been deployed “24 hours a day” and many have not slept, said the Iranian judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, thanking exhausted officers and the capital’s police chief during a visit to their headquarters on Sunday, in a video posted by Mizan Online.

Ejei earlier stressed “the need for decisive action without leniency” against the protest instigators. Several security officers have been killed in the unrest, according to Iranian media. But a powerful Shia cleric long aligned with the country’s ultra-conservative establishment urged authorities to take a softer line.

“The leaders must listen to the demands of the people, resolve their problems and show sensitivity to their rights,” said Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani on Sunday.

Despite sweeping internet restrictions, including blocks on Instagram and WhatsApp, new videos shared widely on social media showed protests in Tehran and cities including Yazd, Isfahan and Bushehr on the Persian Gulf.

Norway-based Kurdish rights group Hengaw said a protest was held in Amini’s hometown of Saqqez “despite a heavy military presence”, and there were reports of a 10-year-old girl being shot and hospitalised in the northern town of Bukan.

The Tasnim news agency published photos of about 20 “riot leaders”, including several women, taken in the holy shrine city of Qom, and said the military and security forces were calling on citizens to “identify them and inform the authorities”.—AFP

Other reports said that students at Tehran and Al-Zahra Unive­rsities and the Sharif Institute have gone on strike and urged professors to join them.

US announces additional $10m for Pakistan’s food security programme

The US government has announced it will offer another $10 million to Pakistan for a food security programme, Geo News reported Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called on his US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department building in Washington. The two leaders discussed bilateral ties and issues of mutual interest.

 

Bilawal, holding a joint press conference with Blinken following the meeting, said that diplomacy has returned between the State Department and the foreign ministry of Pakistan.

“It is indeed true that diplomacy is back between the US State Department and the foreign ministry of Pakistan,” he stressed.

The foreign minister said that Pakistan seeks help and cooperation from the US on climate justice. It was time for the green revolution to take place, he said, hoping that US President Joe Biden would lead it [the green revolution].

“Pakistan has experienced a climate catastrophe of biblical apocalyptic proportions,” he said.

“It rained from mid-June to the end of August in Pakistan. The rain finally stopped and a 100-kilometre lake was formed in the middle of my country.”

As a result of massive downpours, a third of Pakistan is under water, he said. More than 33 million people—a number greater than the population of Australia—are hit by flooding, he noted. Of these flood victims, 16 million are children, he said.

He said that 1,600 people have already died in Pakistan, with children making up a third of those fatalities.

He noted that it is ironic that Pakistan, which contributed 0.8% to global carbon emissions, is one of the ten most climate-stressed nations on the planet. The foreign minister said his country looks to the US for assistance and support so it can get its people climate justice.

“I am convinced that we can build back better. We will build a climate-resilient Pakistan. We will build a greener Pakistan. We will create green opportunities and green jobs—these opportunities not only for us and our priviate sector but also for those across the world willing to invest in Paksitan,” he said.

The Pak-US relation is not just resileint but the two natoins have stood thetest of time as well,” he said. “We proved throughout history that when we worked together we achieved great goals.”

Praising the Pakistani-American community, Bilawal said they are patriotic Pakistanis and patriotic Americans, and they contribute to teh US and are keen to contribute to Pakistan as well.

During the press conference, Bilawal also invited Blinken to visit Pakistan.

The US Secretary of State said this is a very difficult time for Pakistan. The flooding will have long-term repercussions if the situation is not handled immediately, he warned.

He stated that the US stands with the people of Pakistan at this crucial time and added that 17 planes carrying aid for the flood victims had already left the country. Pakistan will also receive an additional $10 million for its food security programme, he noted.

The US Secretary of State said that Pakistan-US economic relations can be further bolstered.

Earlier, during the meeting with Bilawal, Blinken expressed grief over the devastation caused by flash floods in Pakistan and assured the minister of all possible support from the US.

The foreign minister thanked the US government for helping the flood victims.

The minister was joined at the meeting by Pakistani Ambassador to the US Masood Khan and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar.

Earlier, Bilawal met a delegation of (MSF) “Doctors Without Borders” (Medicines San Frontier) led by its General Director Vickie Hawken in Washington.

The minister appreciated the role of Doctors Without Borders in providing health facilities to the flood-affected people of Pakistan.

He said the MSF is playing a proactive role in providing healthcare facilities to the flood victims.

Hawken expressed deep sorrow over the devastation caused by the floods in Pakistan.

Nicola Sturgeon has said it would be a “serious error” for Scotland to match all the tax cuts announced by UK Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng.

Last week he set out plans to reduce the basic rate from 20p to 19p and scrap the 45p rate for high earners.

His proposals do not apply to Scotland, where income tax rates and bands are decided by the Scottish government.

The first minister described last Friday’s fiscal event as “morally abhorrent” and “fiscally reckless”.

The chancellor said his aim was to kickstart a “new era” for the UK economy that would be focused on growth.

 

However, the pound sank to a fresh 37-year low as he gave his statement on Friday.

On Sunday, Mr Kwarteng told the BBC he wanted to keep cutting taxes and said there was “more to come”.

Then on Monday, the pound fell to a record low against the dollar, the lowest since decimalisation in 1971.

Ms Sturgeon said it was the wrong time to make “a relatively small number” of rich people richer.

Kwasi Kwarteng said the UK government planned more tax cuts

“It would be a serious error for the Scottish government to replicate in every sense that strategic economic mistake that the chancellor made, but we will take decisions that are right for Scotland,” she said.

“We live in a situation right now where growing numbers can’t afford to heat their homes, can’t afford to feed their children, are going without basic essentials, and I don’t think many people would think this is the right time to give massive tax cuts to a tiny number of already rich people.”

The first minister said “trickle down economics” had been “roundly discredited” and the UK government’s current approach would not work.

Given the reaction from markets, Ms Sturgeon predicted a potential increase in interest rates and the cost of borrowing, and a continuing issue with inflation.

“The UK government seems to have no idea what it is doing – the damage it is doing to the economy overall, and to the living standards of the majority, is deep and very, very serious,” she said.

The income tax cuts announced by the chancellor will take effect from April next year.

That’s the earliest the Scottish government can make changes to rates and bands in Scotland which are under its control.

Nicola Sturgeon has made it pretty clear she won’t match exactly the UK government’s plan, especially not the abolition of the top rate on earnings above £150,000.

That doesn’t mean she is ruling out making any changes. It would, for instance, be possible to lower the top rate or raise the threshold at which it is paid without scrapping it.

Her deputy John Swinney has certainly acknowledged that a 6p in the pound difference between the tax rates paid by the highest earners in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK (if he did nothing) would raise the possibility that some wealthy people might relocate.

Expect decisions in the the Scottish budget process over the winter and earlier clues in the Scottish government’s emergency budget review in October.

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‘Reflecting carefully’

Finance Secretary John Swinney said the country was facing “really significant and dangerous moments”

Earlier, Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney said he was “reflecting carefully” on the announcements.

He said he would go ahead with his emergency budget review and report to the Scottish parliament in the next two weeks, and would set out decisions on tax when he outlines Scotland’s own budget plans later in the year.

He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “We take an approach to taxation which is driven by the principles of fairness and ensuring we have a progressive character to our tax system.”

Scottish Conservative finance spokeswoman Liz Smith urged Mr Swinney to adopt the party’s tax cuts.

She told BBC Scotland: “The challenge now is for the Scottish government to match some of these changes, because what we can’t have is a widening gap between the tax agenda in Scotland in comparison to the UK.”

 

She accepted there was a “very difficult message here when people see bankers’ bonuses are increasing” at a time when many people were finding it extremely difficult to pay their bills.

But she said: “The biggest picture within this is to ensure the growth within the economy.”

She also added that Mr Swinney should use the estimated £600m the Scottish government will receive as a result of the tax cuts elsewhere in the UK to “make Scotland a more attractive place to work”.

Mr Swinney replied: “You’ve had a Conservative spokeswoman on the radio this morning who wants me to equal UK decisions and use all of that money to reduce taxation.

“And then you’ll have the Conservative spokesperson on health on the radio demanding that we spend that same £600m on health.

“Now what that tells us is two things. One, there are difficult choices to be made, and two, the Conservatives are opportunists who are quite simply trying to spend the same amount of money twice by demanding tax cuts and increasing public expenditure at the same time.”

Some Conservative MPs have expressed concern about the government’s economic approach, after its tax cutting plans sparked market turmoil.

A package of tax cuts announced last week, funded by public borrowing, has seen the pound fall to record lows against the US dollar.

Some Conservatives have told the BBC they are worried the reaction could harm their party’s economic reputation.

Ministers have insisted their approach will boost the flagging UK economy.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has defended the cuts, insisting the tax burden under previous Conservative governments had been holding back growth.

 

The cuts announced by Mr Kwarteng on Friday, including to income tax and the stamp duty on home purchases, are the biggest package of tax cuts in 50 years.

April’s rise in National Insurance will also be reversed in November, whilst planned rises in business taxes next year have also been scrapped.

The cuts have prompted market unease at the sharp increase in government borrowing required to fund them, and criticism from opposition parties.

Some Conservative MPs have also expressed concern.

One former cabinet minister said: “If he has provoked a crisis within his first weeks in office, it’s not great.”

One well-connected MP warned the radical economic strategy may have come too soon – and Tory MPs will turn on the leadership if interest rates rocket and inflation runs out of control.

Two Tory MPs used the same analogy to describe the Chancellor’s strategy, saying he had “put it all on red”. While they were nervous about the plan, they said they hoped it would work out.

The mantle of economic credibility is one of the biggest prizes in politics; a near obligatory ticket required to win a general election, says Chris Mason.

A double dose of attempted reassurance from the Treasury and the Bank of England on Monday had a clear thrust: don’t panic, we know what we are doing. But plenty of Tory MPs fear that they don’t, and they fear all this could mug their party of its economic reputation never for it to properly return.

The BBC’s political editor says one senior Conservative figure said they were “very concerned” – and particularly about the additional cost of government borrowing.

They added that there was a “spectrum” of potential outcomes, ranging from “Liz Truss getting lucky, things ease on the markets, the economy grows” all the way along to “all the wheels come off, there’s a run on the pound, a debt crisis and the UK is forced to go to the IMF”.

So where on the spectrum did this MP think things might end up? “Nearer to the bad end of things,” they suggested.

But many who are privately concerned are not rushing to publicly denounce the Growth Plan.

An MP who supported Rishi Sunak in the leadership said, that among other reasons, they didn’t want to be dismissed as sore losers.

And concern in the party is not universal – with others arguing the chancellor is right to try and ride market fluctuations.

For many who are sceptical about the strategy, the mini-budget did contain things they liked, such as the plans to speed up infrastructure.

One MP elected in 2019 said she was “optimistic” about some of the productivity measures, which she described as “very positive”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 earlier on Monday, Tory MP Danny Kruger said the market reaction needed to be taken seriously, but he thought it would settle.

He said the approach of previous Tory governments had been of “managed decline”, and the chancellor’s cuts were a “bold set of reforms that will drive investment and liberate enterprise”.

“Once we see the splash of last Friday’s announcement subside, we will see real value has been created for our economy and markets will respond.”

Lord David Frost, Conservative peer and former chief Brexit negotiator, called the market turmoil “unwarranted” and “an overreaction”.

He said interest rates would have to go up to help control inflation, which has reached its highest point in 40 years.

In an effort to calm markets, the Treasury announced on Monday that Mr Kwarteng will set out more detail of the government’s approach to balancing spending on 23 November.

The Bank of England also said it would “not hesitate” to hike interest rates to curb inflation if required.

The government has promised further announcements in the coming weeks aimed at helping economic growth – including changes to planning rules, financial services regulation and immigration policy.

But irrespective of instinct, there isn’t a single Conservative MP who won’t be mighty relieved if the turbulence in the markets eases and quickly.

Palestinian killed by Israeli troops in West Bank

The army said that “hits were identified” after soldiers fired towards “armed suspects driving in a vehicle and a motorcycle” near Nablus in the northern West Bank, an area that has seen near daily violence in recent months.

The Palestinian health ministry named the man killed as Saed al-Koni.

A loose coalition of fighters called “The Lions Den” that has recently emerged in Nablus claimed Koni as one of their members.

Among the members of this group was teenager Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, who has become a folk hero on social media since his killing by Israeli forces in August. Pendants of al-Nabulsi are on sale in the markets of Nablus Old City. Koni’s death was the second in the Nablus area in the past two days.

On Saturday, a Palestinian driver was killed by Israeli troops after what the army called an “attempted ramming attack”, but which Palestinians said was a traffic accident.

The army said soldiers and police opened fire on a vehicle after the driver “attempted to run them over” during a patrol outside Nablus.

The Palestinian foreign ministry described Muhammad Ali Hussein Awad, 36, as a “defenceless Palestinian” who was not “posing any danger”.

“The Israeli police deliberately shot Awad, with the aim of killing him, after his vehicle collided with a police vehicle in a traffic accident,” the ministry said.

There have been persistent car-rammings and other attacks by Palestinians on Israeli military vehicles and checkpoints in the territory in recent years.

Israel is on high alert ahead of the Jewish high holiday season which begins on Sunday evening with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.

Since March, Israel has launched hundreds of raids in the northern West Bank, including Nablus and nearby Jenin, in pursuit of individuals it accuses of involvement in deadly attacks targeting Israelis.

The raids have sparked clashes that have killed dozens of Palestinians.

US, Pakistan re-engage to cope with floods, rebuild ties

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari reached Washington on Sunday on a three-day visit during which he will hold in person talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

He will also have a separate meeting with State Department’s Special Rep­re­sentative for Commercial and Business Affairs Dilawar Syed, reflecting a mutual desire to deepen trade ties between the two old allies. He is also meeting key Cong­ressional leaders on the Hill.

Officially, both sides have only forwarded a generic description of the talks, saying meetings would “highlight flood relief efforts in Pakistan and commemorate 75 years of bilateral relations”.

At an earlier briefing to Dawn, State Department’s counselor Derek Chollet acknowledged that the United States wanted to maintain friendly ties with Pakistan and was even ready to compete with China to do so.

But he also said that in doing so, the Biden administration does not want Islamabad to choose between Beijing and Washington, rather it wants countries “to be able to have a choice”. The United States, he said, was not “afraid of competing with China, but we would like to have a fair competition”.

This clearly illustrates a sketch of the relationship Washington wants with Islamabad, a close ally, which can maintain its special relationship with China without allowing it to affect its ties with the United States.

But the issue that’s going to dominate the talks is the one that was not even there when these talks were planned: this year’s unprecedented floods that have brought Pakistan close to an economic meltdown.

Pakistan is seeking, but not getting, international assistance that matches the scale of the disaster that befell the country this summer.

Editorial: Funding gaps

Michael Kugelman, Director of South Asia Institute at Washington’s Wilson Centre, said in a tweet on Sunday that during a recent trip to Pakistan, “the main message I heard on the floods is that the only hope is international aid, which has been slow to come”.

But the “biggest obstacle to addressing the crisis may not be the lack of international aid, but political polarisation at home,” he wrote.

 

Madiha Afzal, a Pakistan scholar at Brookings, another Washington think tank, also highlighted this issue in her tweet. “Pakistan’s political polarisation is so hardened now that nothing seems to be able to reduce it — not its flooding catastrophe, nor anything else,” she wrote. “Doesn’t bode well.”

 

Some experts warn that this could also impact efforts to rebuild US-Pakistan ties as scholars and policy makers in Washington also worry about the stability of the current political setup in Islamabad.

And as the two scholars indicated, this was already affecting Islamabad’s efforts to raise funds for the relief and rehabilitation of flood victims.

In his speeches and statements at the UN General Assembly this week, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif not only appealed to the international community to help Pakistan but also assured them that the funds they send would be used for the victims only. Apparently, he did so to assure the donors that the aid would not be misappropriated, as some of them fear.

Experts say that in their talks in Washington, Pakistan would not only seek, and probably get, more assistance but would also ask for US support to its efforts to reschedule its debt. In his engagements at the UN, the prime minister minced no words in reminding the donors that “all hell may break lose” if Pakistan does not get debt relief.

Mr Chollet, when asked if the United States would help Pakistan in getting its debt rescheduled, said Washington was aware of the situation but he did “not want to get ahead of an official US decision” on this issue.

Two Pakistan Army majors among six martyred in Balochistan helicopter crash

RAWALPINDI: Two Pakistan Army majors were among six military personnel who were martyred when a helicopter crash occurred in Balochistan, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said Monday.

The unfortunate incident occurred during a flying mission near Harnai district’s Khost city late last night, the military’s media wing mentioned in its statement.

The press statement read that among the six personnel were two pilots as well who lost their lives.

Major Khurram Shahzad, 39, was a resident of Attock who has left behind a wife and daughter. Major Muhammad Muneeb Afzal, 30, was a resident of Rawalpindi and is survived by a wife and two sons.

Subedar Abdul Wahid, 44. hailed from Karak’s Sabir Abad village and has left behind a wife and four children, while sepoy Muhammad Imran, 27, was a resident of Khanewal’s Makhdoompur and is survived by a wife and three children.

Naik Jalil, 30, was a resident of Gujarat’s village Bhutta. He left behind a wife and two children. Sepoy Shoaib, 35, was a resident of Attock’s Khatarphatti village. He is survived by a wife and child.

In August, a Pakistan Army helicopter — that had gone missing for a day — had also crashed, leaving the same number of military personnel martyred.

The chopper was found in Musa Goth, Windar, Lasbela.

It had gone missing en route to Karachi from Quetta at around 5:30pm. The personnel in the chopper were overseeing flood relief efforts in the southwest of the country.

The ISPR, in a statement, said the accident occurred due to “bad weather” as per an initial investigation.

Five rescue workers in the Philippines have been killed in a typhoon that has left homes flooded and millions without electricity.

They were washed away in flash floods while carrying out operations in the district of San Miguel, north of the capital Manila.

The district was among those hit hard by Typhoon Noru, with some residents seen stranded on their roofs, while others waded through chest-high garbage strewn waters, attempting to pass on supplies.

The typhoon caused gusts of up to 240kph (149mph) on Luzon, where more than half of the country’s 110 million population live.

Noru, known locally as Karding, first made landfall as a super typhoon, but later weakened at 20:20 local time (12:20 GMT) on Sunday. It is expected to leave the Philippines by Monday evening.

In San Vincente, a village in San Miguel, one man was seen futilely trying to brush water away from his door.

Another, standing on top of the rooftop of her home, shouted that the country’s leaders needed to “focus on climate change”.

Floods in the village peaked at around 04:00 in the morning, and waters are said to be receding.

San Miguel has been hit especially hard by the floods
Some residents are attempting to scoop water up, without much success

More than 74,000 people had been evacuated from the typhoon’s path, and officials had earlier issued warnings of “serious flooding” in areas of the capital, Manila.

But so far there have been no reports of severe damage or widespread loss of life.

“I think we may have gotten lucky, at least this time,” said Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos during a briefing on Monday. “I think it’s clear from what we did these last two days is that, very, very important, is preparation,” he added.

“It’s not yet over. I think the point when we can stand down is when the majority of evacuees are already back in their homes,” he said.

Mr Marcos has ordered that supplies be airlifted and clean-up equipment provided to communities that have been most affected.

Close to 75,000 people were evacuated from their homes in anticipation of the typhoon’s landfall

In Quezon Province, east of Manila, fishermen had earlier been prevented from heading to sea, and there were reports of some areas being without power.

Flights and ferry services have been cancelled. On Luzon, President Marcos suspended all government work and school classes were also cancelled.

In Dingalan municipality, northeast of Manila and on the Pacific coast, residents were forced to seek shelter.

Evacuees rest inside a gymnasium turned into a temporary evacuation center in Manila

Trading on the country’s stock exchange will also be suspended on Monday and Mr Marcos warned that the energy ministry had placed on high alert all energy-related industries in the county.

Thousands of volunteers are monitoring river levels, bridges and mountains for landslides which could hamper rescue efforts, said Dick Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross.

Information will be crucial in getting help to where it is needed, he said.

The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean, is highly vulnerable to storms. It sees an annual average of 20 tropical storms.

An estimated 400 people died when Typhoon Rai hit the country in December 2021, with rescue teams describing scenes of “complete carnage”.

And in 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical storms ever recorded, killed some 6,300 people.

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