Asia/Oceania

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he has decided to “cross the Rubicon” in his ties with the United States and will open trade alliances and offer long-term land leases to “the other side of the ideological barrier,” China and Russia. The US State Department responded that it wouldn’t stand in Manila’s way of seeking deeper ties with Beijing and Moscow. But it maintained that the US-Philippine alliance endures despite the barrage of negative commentary from Duterte since he took power in June. Flights and trains in Taiwan were disrupted by the approach of another typhoon and most cities planned work and school closures. The island's financial markets would also be shut. Typhoon Megi was expected to make landfall on the island's eastern coast overnight. “Apart from heavy rains, there will be huge wind gusts,” Hsieh Ming-chang, a Central Weather Bureau official, said. Earlier this month Typhoon Meranti killed at least 28 people in China and Taiwan and cut power to more than a million homes. Residents can seek refuge in 92 different shelters. Central Queensland residents have reported bright lights and a loud boom in the night sky, sparking speculation of a meteor strike. A spokesperson for Geosciences Australia confirmed there had been a “tremor” around Gladstone on Monday night and that it wasn’t caused by an earthquake. Harvard astrophysicist Johnathan Powell told the Gladstone Observer “this sounds like a big (meteor), first in several years that has been that big”.