HONG KONG – Hong Kong braced for Super Typhoon Ragasa on Tuesday, the world’s most powerful tropical typhoon this year, shutting schools and some businesses, while most passenger flights were scheduled to be suspended later in the day until early Thursday.

Ragasa, packing hurricane-force winds of up to 220km/h (137 mph), is edging closer to the coast of neighbouring southern Guangdong province in China, the Hong Kong Observatory said.

Authorities in the financial hub are set to raise the typhoon signal to 8, its third highest, by 2.20 p.m. (0620 GMT), which will prompt most businesses and transport services to shut down. About 700 flights have been disrupted.

The observatory said it will assess if it needs to issue a higher warning late on Tuesday or early Wednesday.

Ragasa swept through the northern Philippines on Monday, prompting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to order the country’s disaster response agency to go on full alert and mobilise all government agencies.

The Hong Kong Observatory said hurricane-force winds offshore and on high ground were likely in Hong Kong on Wednesday, with heavy rain expected to lead to a significant storm and sea surge in the densely packed city.

It warned of rising sea levels, which it said would be similar to those seen during Typhoon Hato in 2017 and Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018, both of which caused billions of dollars in damage.

Water levels will rise about two metres (six feet) along Hong Kong’s coastal areas and maximum water levels could reach up to 4-5 metres (12-15 feet) in some areas, the observatory said, urging residents to take appropriate precautions.

Local authorities handed out sandbags on Monday for residents to bolster their homes in low-lying areas, while many people stockpiled daily necessities.

Long queues formed at supermarkets; milk and meat sold out and vegetable prices at fresh-produce markets tripled, according to Reuters witnesses on Monday.

Hong Kong’s Stock Exchange will remain open. It changed its policy late last year to continue trading whatever the weather.Chinese authorities have activated flood control measures in several southern provinces, warning of heavy rain from late on Tuesday.

Residents in the world’s largest gambling hub of Macau are also bracing for significant impact, with school closures and evacuation plans under way.

In China’s technology hub Shenzhen, authorities said they have prepared more than 800 emergency shelters.

Taiwan’s government has evacuated more than 7,600 people from mountainous southern and eastern areas, while transport disruption continued for a second day on Tuesday with 273 flights cancelled and some rail services suspended. — Reuters

UNITED NATIONS – Dozens of world leaders gathered at the United Nations on Monday to embrace a Palestinian state, a landmark diplomatic shift nearly two years into the Gaza war that faces fierce resistance from Israel and its close ally the United States.

President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognize Palestine statehood at a meeting he convened with Saudi Arabia – a milestone that could boost Palestinian morale but appeared unlikely to change much on the ground.

The most far-right government in Israel’s history has declared there will be no Palestinian state as it pushes on with its fight against militant group Hamas in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people.

Israel has drawn global condemnation over its military conduct in Gaza, where more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local health authorities. In recent weeks, Israel has begun a long-threatened ground assault on Gaza City with few prospects for a ceasefire.

“We must pave the way for peace,” Macron said at the start of the session at the United Nations in New York.

“We must do everything within our power to preserve the very possibility of a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security,” he said before announcing the diplomatic move drawing lengthy applause from the audience.

Israel has said such moves will undermine the prospects of a peaceful end to the conflict.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres were among those who also spoke during the event.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose leftist government recognized the state of Palestine in 2024, told Reuters in an interview on Monday that the recent recognition moves were very important.

“You have two countries from the Security Council, the UK and France, recognizing the state of Palestine, and second, within the Western society… there’s a large majority nowadays of countries that already recognize (the) Palestine state,” he said.

Macron outlined a framework for a renewed Palestinian Authority under which France would open an embassy subject to factors such as reforms, a ceasefire and the release of all remaining hostages taken from Israel and held by Hamas in Gaza.

Ahead of this week’s UN General Assembly, Luxembourg, Malta, Belgium and Monaco on Monday also joined the more than three-quarters of the 193 UN members who already recognize a Palestinian state.

Macron’s July pledge on recognition set the latest push in motion, with Britain, Canada and Australia later saying they would follow, and eventually doing so on Sunday.

“We call on those who have not yet done so to follow suit,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said via video link, as he was unable to attend the milestone events after being refused a US visa.

“We call for your support so that Palestine becomes a full-fledged member of the United Nations,” he added, promising reforms and elections within a year of a ceasefire.

A delegation representing the State of Palestine has observer status at the United Nations – but no voting rights. No matter how many countries recognize Palestinian independence, full UN membership would require approval by the Security Council, where the US has a veto.

The two-state solution was the bedrock of the US-backed peace process ushered in by the 1993 Oslo Accords. The process suffered heavy pushback from both sides and has all but died.

No such negotiations over a two-state solution have been held since 2014.

The United States and Israel boycotted Monday’s meeting. Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Israel would discuss how to respond to the announcements of recognition after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns to Israel next week.

“Those issues were supposed to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians in the future,” Danon told reporters ahead of the meeting. Netanyahu is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump on September 29 in Washington before returning to Israel.

Netanyahu has rejected numerous calls to end the campaign until Hamas is destroyed and has said he will not recognize a Palestinian state.

The United States has told other countries that Palestinian recognition will create more problems.

Amid Israel’s intensified Gaza offensive and escalating violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, there is a growing sense of urgency among some nations to act now before the idea of a two-state solution vanishes forever.

EUROPEAN DIVISIONS AND ISRAELI RESPONSE
While the majority of European countries now recognize a Palestinian state, two of the continent’s largest economies, Germany and Italy, have signaled they are unlikely to make such a move soon.

Germany — long a strong supporter of Israel because of its responsibility for the Holocaust — has grown more critical of Israeli policy, while insisting that recognition of a Palestinian state should come at the end of a political process to agree on a two-state solution.

A German government spokesperson also said on Monday there must be no further annexations in Israeli-occupied territory.

Italy said recognizing a Palestinian state could be “counterproductive.”

Israel is considering annexing part of the occupied West Bank as a possible response as well as specific bilateral measures against Paris, Israeli officials have said, even though the recognitions are expected to be largely symbolic.

Annexation could backfire and alienate such countries as the United Arab Emirates, a global oil power and trade hub with wide diplomatic clout across the Middle East.

The United Arab Emirates, the most prominent of the Arab states that normalized ties with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, has said such a move would undermine the spirit of the agreement.

The USUS has warned of possible consequences for those who take measures against Israel, including France as host of the summit. — Reuters

SEOUL – The foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and the United States expressed concern about increasingly frequent destabilizing activities around Taiwan in a joint statement issued after their meeting on Monday.

The three also expressed strong opposition to “unlawful maritime claims” in the South China Sea and attempts to enforce such claims, the statement said.

The statement did not specifically mention China, but comes amid simmering tension between Beijing and Washington and its allies over the disputed South China Sea.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, overlapping the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Unresolved disputes have festered for years over ownership of various islands and features.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi met in New York and also discussed the three countries’ continued commitment to ending North Korea’s nuclear program, their joint statement said. — Reuters

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Monday linked autism to childhood vaccines and also to the use of popular pain medication Tylenol for pregnant women and children, claims which are not backed by decades of science.

In an extraordinary news conference at the White House, the Republican president delivered medical advice to pregnant women and parents of young children, repeatedly telling them not to use or administer the over-the-counter pain killer.

The advice from Trump, who has no medical training and also pointed out “I’m not a doctor,” goes against that of medical societies, which cite data from numerous studies showing acetaminophen plays a safe role in the well-being of pregnant women.

“I want to say it like it is, don’t take Tylenol. Don’t take it,” Trump said. “Fight like hell not to take it. There may be a point where you have to, and that you’ll have to work out with yourself, so don’t take Tylenol.”

Standing next to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine critic who has argued that no vaccine is safe, Trump called for a reexamination of a link between vaccines and autism, a theory that has been repeatedly debunked, and a series of changes not grounded in science.

“We believe independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism. We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise and are deeply concerned with the health risk this poses for expecting mothers,” Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, said in a statement ahead of the announcement.

Shares of KenvueUS slid more than 7% during Monday’s stock market session as investors braced for Trump’s announcement. But the shares recovered 5% in extended trade.

Trump said he is a big believer in vaccines, having led in his first-term the pandemic initiative to speed COVID-19 vaccine development. Still, he called for the removal of mercury from vaccines and said children should not get the hepatitis B vaccine before the age of 12. It is given in the first 24 hours after birth. He also said the measles-mumps-rubella combination vaccine should be split into three separate vaccines.

The announcement was reminiscent of Trump’s regular press briefings in the early months of the pandemic when he would frequently dispense advice that was not founded on science, including his suggestion that people drink bleach, which his supporters later said was not serious.

Studies have shown vaccines are safe and have saved millions of lives, eradicating childhood diseases such as polio and measles in the US.

Over the last 50 years, it is estimated that essential vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives, UNICEF USA President & CEO Michael J. Nyenhuis has said.

Only one in four Americans believe recent recommendations for fewer vaccines from the Trump administration were based on scientific evidence and facts, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed this month.

“I cannot say that I’ve ever experienced anything like this in vaccines,” said Dr. Norman Baylor, former director of the FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research and Review.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES STEPS IT WILL TAKE
The Trump Administration also suggested leucovorin, a form of folic acid, as a treatment for autism symptoms.

The Food and Drug Administration approved a version of the drug made by GSK it had previously withdrawn for a condition it associated with autism. Once it is established for the use, the administration said, Medicaid insurance for low-income people would cover the drug for autism symptoms.

The FDA, in its approval, cited a review of the use of leucovorin in 40 patients with a rare metabolic disorder called cerebral folate deficiency that can lead to a range of neurological symptoms, some of which are seen in people with autism.

The FDA will notify doctors that using Tylenol during pregnancy can be associated with a very increased risk of autism, Trump said, without presenting evidence for the claim.

The Trump administration said it plans to initiate a change to the safety label on Tylenol, which would say that research shows it can lead to adverse neurological outcomes.

Researchers say there is no firm evidence of a link between the use of Tylenol and autism. A 2024 study of nearly 2.5 million children in Sweden found no causal link between in utero exposure to acetaminophen and neurodevelopmental disorders.

A 2025 review of 46 earlier studies did suggest a link between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and increased risks of these conditions, but the researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Harvard University and others said the study does not prove the drug caused the outcomes. They advised that pregnant women should continue to use acetaminophen as needed, at the lowest possible dose and for the shortest possible period.

Tylenol is made by consumer health company Kenvue KVUE.N, which was spun off from Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N in 2023, and generic versions of acetaminophen are also available. The company said on Monday it disagreed with the suggestion of a link which it said was not based in science.

Researchers say leucovorin, used to treat some cancer patients on chemotherapy, has shown some promise in very small trials, but that large, randomized trials are still needed. — Reuters

WELLINGTON – The New Zealand government said on Tuesday it was introducing two new pathways for migrants to gain residency as part of their efforts to boost the country’s economy.

Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis said in the statement that skilled and experienced migrants play an important role in plugging workforce gaps, and in turn help businesses to grow.

“Businesses told us it was too hard for some migrants to gain residence, even when they had crucial skills and significant experience that was not available in the existing workforce. We’re fixing it,” she said.

The new pathways are for skilled workers and tradespeople and technicians, and require them to have relevant experience both overseas and in New Zealand and to meet salary thresholds, the statement said.

New Zealand’s economy has been struggling having seen negative growth in three of the last five quarters and the government has been introducing a number of policies aimed at supporting it, including boosting foreign investment in the country.

While the country’s net migration has remained positive, it has come off the highs seen following the reopening of the borders in 2022 as a historically high number of New Zealanders leave.

Government coalition partner New Zealand First said it does not support the policy. — Reuters