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Hundreds of flights cancelled as Typhoon Champi shuts Taiwan

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By Associated Press | Posted by TOE   Taiwan shut down schools and offices and grounded hundreds of flights as Typhoon Champi brushed by the island Friday, packing strong winds and torrential rains. Champi peaked at 298 kph (185 mph) maximum sustained winds earlier this week but has weakened to 155 kph (96 mph) winds as it approached Taiwan from the southwest. Its center is forecast to remain offshore as it sweeps by the island’s northeastern tip before turning north toward Japan’s southwestern islands. Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration urged residents in coastal areas to avoid outdoor activities and driving and be cautious of falling objects. One person was killed Thursday after being swept by waves in Liuqiu, a small island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan’s main island, according to the fire department. Ninety-four others were injured in the storm. Almost 1,300 people have been evacuated from vulnerable, mountainous areas, the government said. ...
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Personalized cancer vaccine shows promising results in major trial

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By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP | Posted by TOE A first-of-its-kind cancer vaccine is significantly reducing the chances that melanoma patients’ tumors come back, according to results of a major study released Thursday by drugmakers Moderna and Merck. The vaccine was custom-brewed for each patient to match their tumor. Adding it to a standard post-surgery treatment reduced by 42% the risk of melanoma returning two years after surgery, according to the most advanced study to date of this new strategy for fighting cancer. “The field has been looking for a win and I think this one is a big one,” said Dr. Hussein Tawbi of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, one of the researchers in the international study. The vaccine, called intismeran, is made with the same Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology that was behind COVID-19 vaccines. Experimental personalized cancer vaccines made with mRNA and some other approaches also are being tested against other types of cance...
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Russia pounds Ukraine’s capital Kyiv with missiles and drones, hours after agreeing to peace talks

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By Associated Press | Posted by TOE Russian attacks on Ukraine’s capital with ballistic missiles and drones overnight into Thursday killed one person and wounded 22, Ukrainian authorities said. The strikes in Kyiv came hours after the Kremlin agreed to restart U.S.-brokered talks aimed at ending the war . The attack damaged homes, transportation infrastructure and other civilian sites in several districts of the city, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. In the Dniprovskyi district, on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, one person was killed and six were wounded, including a child, as fires broke out. On Wednesday, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” to resume three-way negotiations involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine after Nov. 10, a week after the U.S. midterm election . Putin had met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg. Ukrainian President...
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Taiwan issues warnings as Typhoon Champi nears

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By Pei-ju TENG AFP | Posted by TOE A powerful typhoon headed towards Taiwan on Thursday, triggering the cancellation of dozens of flights and prompting warnings for locals to prepare for heavy rain, strong winds and giant waves. Typhoon Champi is expected to sweep past Taiwan’s northeast coast on Friday and Saturday as it moves towards China and Japan, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Champi is packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 213 kilometres (132 miles) per hour, according to the latest update from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. It was previously classed as a super typhoon, with reported maximum sustained wind speeds of nearly 300 kph, but it has since weakened. “Everyone is urged to remain vigilant and be prepared for the strong winds and heavy rains brought by the typhoon,” Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said in a Facebook post. Champi is the latest in a busy Pacific storm season turbo-charged by the El N...
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Russian strikes kill elderly Ukrainians after Trump urges Kyiv to agree terms

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By Reuters | Posted by TOE Two Ukrainians over 80 years old were among four killed in overnight Russian attacks ​that also targeted energy facilities across four regions, officials said, hours after ‌US President Donald Trump urged Kyiv to agree peace terms with Russia. Relations between the United States and Ukraine have come under severe strain, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reporting a hiatus in ​advance warnings of missile strikes and limitations on Elon Musk’s Starshield system. Ukrainian police ​said two of the dead were in the capital Kyiv, where ⁠a drone slammed into an apartment building. Another two people – an 83-year-old man ​and an 81-year-old woman – were killed outside the northeasern city of Kharkiv, they added. Prime ​Minister Sergii Koretskyi said Russia had attacked power facilities in the Kyiv, Volyn, Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, as well as civilian enterprises in at least two others. A university building and sho...
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Drone strike in disputed Sudan-South Sudan area kills dozens

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By Reuters | Posted by TOE At least 73 people were killed when drones struck a market in the disputed Abyei region along the border of South ​Sudan and Sudan, the caretaker information minister for the jointly administered region said on ‌Tuesday, accusing Sudan’s army of carrying out the attack. The minister did not provide evidence for his claim of who was responsible for Monday’s attack. Abyei is an oil-rich area that is jointly administered by South ​Sudan and Sudan, which have both staked claims to it. It experiences frequent ​bouts of violence, with clashes usually involving rival ethnic groups or armed ⁠militias. “Around 73 people have been killed and 19 have been wounded … a number of ​drones were shot yesterday by the Sudanese armed forces,” Yohana Akol Ngor, the caretaker minister ​of information of the Abyei region, told Reuters on Tuesday. Last year, at least six Bangladeshi peacekeepers were killed and eight wounded in a d...
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At least 18 killed in Houthi attack on Yemeni government military camp in Shabwa

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By Reuters | Posted by TOE At least 18 people were killed in an attack ​on Monday by the Iran-aligned Houthi ‌movement on a Yemeni government military training camp in Yemen’s Shabwa province, four government and medical sources told ​Reuters. The government sources said the attack, ​which targeted soldiers during a morning training, ⁠was carried out using three ballistic missiles. Fighting ​between the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognised ​government and the Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and much of the north, has escalated in recent ​weeks, becoming another front in the wider regional ​conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran ‌in ⁠late February. Earlier this month, government forces launched a campaign to recapture areas controlled by the Houthis, recovering ground near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait , a ​key shipping ​chokepoint at ⁠the mouth of the Red Sea. War broke out in Yemen in ​2014 when the Houthis...
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