Up to date online news on the go!
BBC on Luzon Island as super typhoon hits Philippines
Typhoon Fung-wong has made landfall in the Philippines, where more than 900,000 people have been evacuated.
The storm was upgraded to a super typhoon, with sustained winds around 185 km/h (115mph) and gusts of 230km/h (143mph).
The BBC's Jonathan Head is on Luzon Island, and says there is "debris flying everywhere" and "people are sheltering in any solid building they can find".
Read more on this story.
AsiaPhilippinesSevere weatherShareSave
US Senate passes deal aimed at ending longest ever government shutdown12 hours agoShareSaveAna FaguyWashingtonShareSaveEPAUS Senate Majority Leader John Thune helped negtotiate the weekend deal A deal aimed at ending the US government shutdown has passed the Senate, paving the way for the record-breaking impasse to be broken.
After a weekend of negotiations in Washington, a minority of Democrats joined with Republicans and voted in favour of an agreement.
The vote is a procedural first step towards passing a compromise to fund the government since it ran out of money on 1 October.
It will need to clear several more hurdles – including a vote from the House of Representatives – before federal employees and services return, but it is the first serious sign of progress after 40 days of deadlock. The Senate is expected to return for further debate at 11:00 local time (16:00 GMT) on Monday.
Watch: A few of the Dems who backed the GOP shutdown deal in their own wordsThe current shutdown is ..
Disgraced former GOP Representative George Santos, whose wild public scandals ranged from pretending to be a Broadway producer to embezzling campaign donor funds, reported to prison Friday to begin his seven-year sentence for fraud.
Santos, 37, is now in custody at a federal prison in Fairton, New Jersey after pleading guilty last year to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Santos represented parts of Queens and Long Island, serving for barely 12 months in 2023 before he was expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives.
Santos shared a goodbye post on X Thursday night, thanking his allies and critics alike.
“Well, darlings
The curtain falls, the spotlight dims, and the rhinestones are packed,” he wrote. “From the halls of Congress to the chaos of cable news what a ride it’s been! Was it messy? Always. Glamorous? Occasionally. Honest? I tried
most days.”
“To my supporters: You made this wild political cabaret worth it,” he added. “To my critics: Thanks for the free press. I m..
'Worse than starting from scratch': How big is the task of rebuilding Gaza?5 hours agoShareSavePaul Brown,Kayleen Devlin,Erwan Rivault andBarbara MetzlerBBC VerifyShareSaveGetty ImagesAs thousands of Gazans made the journey back to their neighbourhoods following the ceasefire, many of them already knew their homes were in ruins.
The prospect of rebuilding homes, businesses and all the institutions and services needed for a return to normal life in Gaza is daunting by any measure: the UN estimates that the damage amounts to $70bn.
As Prof Andreas Krieg, a Middle East security expert from King's College London, says: “It's worse than starting from scratch – here you aren't starting in the sand, you are starting with rubble.”
The level of destruction on the strip is “now in the region of 84%. In certain parts of Gaza, like in Gaza City, it's even up to 92%”, says Jaco Cilliers, UN Development Programme special representative for the Palestinians.
This damage ..