Vietnam has evacuated hundreds of thousands and closed schools and airports as Typhoon Kajiki, its strongest storm so far this year, nears landfall. With winds up to 166 kilometers per hour Monday morning, the storm is expected to hit Thanh Hoa to Ha Tinh provinces in the afternoon. Kajiki intensified from a tropical depression to a powerful typhoon in under two days. That's as fast as last year's Typhoon Yagi's, which killed 300 people. Nearly 600,000 residents are being moved from high-risk areas, and 16,500 soldiers are on standby. Scientists warn seas warmed by climate change are fueling faster, stronger storms.
On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the British liner RMS Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans, out of the nearly 2,000 on board.
By HUIZHONG WU and ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Associated Press
Updated
China's leader Xi Jinping says no one wins in a trade war as he kicked off a diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia with a trip to Vietnam. Xi reiterating China's commitment to global trade in contrast with U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariffs moves. Although Trump has paused some tariffs, he has kept in place 145% duties on China, the world's second-largest economy. In an editorial published in state-run media, Xi said China and Vietnam should resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains. While Trump has said he respects Xi, he interpreted the meeting between the two Asian leaders as a sign they were attempting to put the U.S. at a disadvantage on trade.
By DAVID RISING and ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Associated Press
A multiyear cleanup at a former U.S. air base in Vietnam was abruptly halted when the Trump administration cut funding, leaving tons of dioxin-contaminated soil exposed. The freeze also affected efforts to clear unexploded munitions, assist victims of Agent Orange, and and other war legacy remediation efforts. Although funding was partially restored, uncertainty and confusion over the goodwill projects' future threatens to harm the trust built over decades between the former foes. It comes at a time when Vietnam is of growing strategic importance to the U.S. as Washington pushes back at increasing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific.
A bridge collapsed and a bus was swept away by flooding in Vietnam, raising the death toll there to at least 64 from a typhoon and subsequent heavy rains. State media say nine people died on Saturday after Typhoon Yagi made landfall in Vietnam before weakening into a tropical depression. The rest died in floods and landslides that followed on Sunday and Monday. A bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded stream by a landslide on Monday morning. State media say four bodies were recovered and 15 others are still missing. Elsewhere, a steel bridge collapsed, leaving 13 people missing. The storm earlier caused 20 deaths in the Philippines and four in China.
North Korean state media says Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive in the country on Tuesday for a two-day visit. Putin's first trip to the country in 24 years comes amid international concerns about the two countries' expanding military cooperation. Putin is expected to meet the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for talks as they deepen their alignment in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with Washington. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Putin will visit the North on Tuesday and Wednesday at the invitation of Kim. North Korean state media didn't immediately provide more details. Russia confirmed the visit in a simultaneous announcement. Putin also will visit Vietnam.
