MANILA (AFP) -- Rescuers hampered by mud and rain searched Tuesday for survivors of landslides that smashed into villages in the central Philippines, as the death toll from tropical storm Megi rose to 28. More than 17,000 people fled their homes as the storm pummeled the disaster-prone region in recent days, flooding houses, severing roads and knocking out power. At least 22 people were dead and 27 missing after landslides slammed into multiple villages in Leyte province -- one of the hardest hit by the storm -- local authorities said. Just over 100 people were injured. Three people were also killed in the central province of Negros Oriental and three on the main southern island of Mindanao, according to the national disaster agency. Tropical storm Megi -- known in the Philippines by its local name Agaton -- is the first major storm to hit the country this year.  Whipping up seas, it forced dozens of ports to suspend operations and stranded nearly 8,000 people at the start of Holy Week, one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

 

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PARIS (Reuters) -- French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Tuesday said she had no “secret agenda” for France to leave the European Union, even if her attempts to reform the bloc fail. “I don’t have a secret agenda,” Le Pen told France Inter radio. “I think a large majority of French people no longer want the European Union as it exists today, which is a European Union that functions in an absolutely undemocratic way, which advances by threat, by blackmail and which implements policies that are against the interests of the people.” Le Pen has ditched past plans to haul France out of the EU, its free-movement Schengen zone and the euro. However, she remains deeply euro-skeptic. She says she would renegotiate the agreement on Schengen and increase the number of customs agents, re-introducing checks on goods entering the country from other EU states. Asked if she would leave the EU if all her attempts to reform the bloc fail, Le Pen replied: “Not at all.”

 

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SHANGHAI (AFP) -- The United States said Tuesday it had ordered all non-essential employees at its Shanghai consulate to leave, voicing concerns for the safety of Americans in China as the government enforces hard lockdowns to contain Covid-19.

China has stuck to a policy of “zero Covid”, aiming to eliminate all infections through rigid shutdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions. But the policy has come under strain since March, with more than 100,000 cases in Shanghai leading to a lockdown of the city’s 25 million inhabitants. That has sparked widespread outcry over food shortages and an inflexible policy of sending anyone who tests positive to quarantine centers. The U.S. State Department ordered the departure “due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak”, a spokesperson from its Beijing embassy said in a statement. Shanghai reported more than 23,000 new infections on Tuesday, while dozens of cities across the country battled smaller outbreaks.

 

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SYDNEY (AFP) -- Australia’s Minister for the Pacific was dispatched to the Solomon Islands on Tuesday over a controversial security pact Western allies fear will enable a Chinese military foothold in the South Pacific. Minister Zed Seselja will travel to Honiara, his office confirmed, despite his political party in Australia being in the grips of a close-fought federal election campaign. The United States and Australia have long been concerned about the potential for China to build a naval base in the South Pacific, allowing its navy to project power far beyond its borders. Last late month, officials from China and the Solomon Islands agreed on elements of the final security agreement, but the document has not been made public. The leaked draft would allow for armed Chinese police to be deployed at the Solomon Islands’ request to maintain “social order”.

 

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TAIPEI (Reuters) -- Taiwan’s military released a handbook on civil defense for the first time on Tuesday, giving citizens survival guidance in a war scenario. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and has stepped up military activities nearby in the past two years, to press it into accepting its sovereignty claims. Taiwan’s handbook details how to find bomb shelters via smartphone apps, water and food supplies, as well as tips for preparing emergency first aid kits. “(We) are providing information on how citizens should react in a military crisis and possible disasters to come,” Liu Tai-yi, an official of the ministry’s All-out Defense Mobilization unit, told an online news conference. That would enable safety preparedness and help people to survive, he added. He said the handbook, which draws from similar guides issued by Sweden and Japan, would be further updated with localized information such as the sites of shelters, hospitals and shops for daily needs.