Kuala Lumpur (AFP) – More than 30,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Malaysia on Sunday as the country battles some of its worst flooding in years. The tropical Southeast Asian nation often sees stormy monsoon seasons towards the end of the year, with flooding regularly prompting mass evacuations. Downpours since Friday have caused rivers to overflow, submerging many urban areas and cutting off major roads, leaving thousands of motorists stranded. More than 30,000 flood victims across eight states and territories were recorded on an official government website, with over 14,000 of them in the central state of Pahang. Nearly 10,000 people fled their homes in the country’s richest state of Selangor -- which surrounds the capital Kuala Lumpur -- with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob expressing surprise at the severe flooding there. “The amount of rain that fell in Selangor yesterday, what fell in one day would usually fall in one month,” he told a Sunday press conference. The premier promised swift aid for the flood victims and initial funding of 100 million ringgit ($23.7 million) to repair damaged houses and infrastructure. A government website showed water exceeding dangerous levels in six central and northeastern states Sunday afternoon.

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MANILA (Al Jazeera) – The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year rose to 108, official tallies showed Sunday, as efforts to deliver water and food to devastated islands intensified. The latest figure comes after Arthur Yap, governor of the popular tourist destination Bohol, said the number of fatalities on the devastated island had reached 72. More than 300,000 people fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Typhoon Rai ravaged the southern and central regions of the archipelago. The storm knocked out communications and electricity in many areas, ripped off roofs, damaged hospitals, toppled concrete power poles and flooded villages. Ten people also died on the Dinagat Islands, provincial information officer Jeffrey Crisostomo told AFP. The death toll was likely to rise as disaster agencies assessed the full extent of the destruction. Rai smashed into the country Thursday as a “super typhoon” with wind speeds of 195 kilometers (120 miles) per hour. Thousands of military, police, coast guard and fire personnel were being deployed to assist in search and rescue efforts in the worst-affected areas.

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MOSCOW (TASS) – The extradition of Russian businessman Vladislav Klyushin by Switzerland to the U.S. is yet another case of Washington’s ‘hunt’ for Russian citizens in third countries, Press Secretary of the Russian Embassy in Bern Vladimir Khokhlov said on Sunday. “We must note that we are dealing with yet another case of Washington’s ongoing ‘hunt’ for Russian citizens in third countries,” Khokhlov told to TASS. “We are deeply saddened by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice’s decision and hasty extradition of Russian national Klyushin, who has been under arrest since March 21, 2021, on the U.S. extradition request, on December 18,” the press secretary stated. “Thus, the Russian Embassy’s note transmitted on December 17 was ignored, as well as the appeal of the Russian citizen’s defense relating to the need to suspend the extradition as long as the European Court of Human Rights was considering the complaint filed on December 16,” the press secretary of the Russian Embassy pointed out.

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WASHINGTON (Independent) – U.S. President Joe Biden is facing underwater approval ratings with younger voters as his party heads into the 2022 midterm campaign season, a new poll found. In an Economist/YouGov poll taken between December 12-14, just 27 percent of respondents under the age of 30 said that they either strongly or somewhat supported the job Biden was doing in office. That was compared to an even 50 percent in the same category who strongly or somewhat opposed his performance. In January, Biden’s support among this category was at about 77 percent. His support among voters of color is slipping as well. Six in 10 Black respondents said they approved of the job Biden was doing, and less than half of Hispanic voters said the same.

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TEXAS (AFP) – Texas has begun building its own “wall” of huge steel bars border with Mexico, its Republican governor Greg Abbott said Saturday, accusing President Joe Biden of not doing enough to stop illegal immigration. “Texas is taking what is really an unprecedented step by any state in the country,” Abbott said, telling a news conference about construction of “a wall on our border to secure and safeguard the sovereignty of the United States and our own state.” Such a wall “is needed for one single reason, and that’s because the Biden administration has failed to do its job,” he said from Rio Grande City, speaking in front of a crane and steel bars. The governor, who is said to have his own White House ambitions, denounced the “deadly consequences” of Biden’s border policies. “This border wall that you see behind us is a replication of the border wall that president Trump put up, same material, same concept,” he added, referring to Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump. Trump infamously made the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border a plank of his administration, though much of the 452 miles (727 kilometers) he managed to build over his four-year term was replacing existing barriers.The work was halted when Biden took office in January this year.

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Hong Kong (Dispatches) – Hong Kong’s political elite went to the polls to pick new city lawmakers on Sunday. Polls opened at 8:30 am (0030 GMT) for some 4.5 million voters in the city of 7.5 million, and polling suggests turnout could be low. The largest chunk of legislature seats -- 40 -- will be picked by a committee of 1,500. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and her ministers have pushed to drum up public enthusiasm over the polls. For the first time polling stations have been set up at the border to cater to Hong Kongers living in mainland China.