‘Help Us’: After Typhoon Rai, Miles of Destruction and the Smell of Death
The New York Times
Philippine officials warned that residents were going hungry. Many were still in evacuation centers. On a highway, survivors scrawled an appeal for aid.
MANILA — “The trees snapped like matchsticks.”
Ed Boysillo, 54, a municipal worker in Ubay, in the central Philippine province of Bohol, was describing the fearsome power of Super Typhoon Rai. The storm made its first landfall on Dec. 16, bringing torrential rains and packing winds up to 168 miles per hour, comparable to a Category 5 hurricane.
It blew away buildings, swelled rivers to overflow and forced more than seven million people to flee their homes. It cut off power, water and communications. It damaged critical infrastructure.
The hamlet of My Lai is infamous for American war crimes, but now it holds lessons in resilience and how to let go of anger.
Donald J. Trump has promised a more aggressive approach, after the Biden administration worked to avoid open conflict with Beijing.
The two leaders will meet in Peru, where China has steadily expanded its influence in a challenge to the United States in its own region.
The president said stronger ties with South Korea and Japan are working, but did not address whether President-elect Donald J. Trump would continue his approach when he takes office in January.
Tensions among multiple sects in the country have long lurked just below the surface. As hundreds of thousands flee Israeli airstrikes in the south, those strains are worsening.
The attack occurred on the same day that Israel bombed sites in the Syrian capital that the Israeli military said were affiliated with a militant group. At least 15 people were killed, Syrian state media reported.
Aides to Benjamin Netanyahu are under investigation over accusations of leaks, record-doctoring and intimidation. The Israeli prime minister’s office denies the claims.
Justin Welby, the leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, announced his resignation days after a report found he had taken insufficient action over claims of abuse.
Israel said its forces had returned to northern Gaza to fight a Hamas resurgence. That has brought a new round of suffering for residents.
The move comes just before a Biden administration deadline for Israel to deliver more aid to the enclave or risk a cutoff of military supplies.
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