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‘Stop pretending we don’t exist’: Seoul fills its streets with Pride colour

Tens of thousands of people have poured into central Seoul to celebrate the city’s annual queer culture festival, filling the streets with rainbow flags and drumming troupes in one of Asia’s largest Pride gatherings. “I only tell friends who I think can accept it,” said Lee Seo-hee, a university student from Seoul who identifies as bisexual. “It doesn’t feel like a completely safe society.” But little could dampen the mood on Saturday, despite LGBTQ+ people in South Korea remaining without basic legal protections, and a comprehensive anti-discrimination law blocked in parliament for nearly two decades. On a blazing sunny day, the mood was jubilant and unguarded. A group of parents of LGBTQ+ children offered free hugs to attendees, some of whom were in tears. Many cannot come out to their own families in a society where homosexuality, while not illegal, remains widely stigmatised. Under Seoul’s mayor, Oh Se-hoon – who has publicly said he “cannot support homosexuality” and that holding Pride at the city’s main square is “not desirable” – Seoul Plaza has been off limits to the festival for the past four years. The square had been the festival’s home for nearly a decade. The conservative mayor was re-elected earlier this month. Booths lined the festival grounds in another location instead, representing civil society groups, university clubs and diplomatic missions including the British embassy. “This is the one time of year people feel they can truly show who they are,” said Jay Park, a film-maker and frequent attender. “Until a few years ago, many came covering themselves up, afraid of being seen.” Days earlier a Seoul court had offered a rare step forward, ruling that a same-sex couple who had shared their lives and finances constituted a protected legal union, even as same-sex marriage is not legally recognised in South Korea. South Korea’s conservative Protestants represent only a fifth of the population in a country where most people follow no religion. Yet they have wielded huge influence, in large part responsible for blocking a comprehensive anti-discrimination law – a political third rail that would protect LGBTQ+ people, women, people with disabilities and racial minorities. Last month the government quietly committed to laying the groundwork for such a law, listing it among national policy tasks of President Lee Jae Myung’s administration. “Even Korean companies that sponsor Pride abroad keep their mouths shut about LGBTQ+ rights in Korea,” said Heezy Yang, a Seoul-based queer artist and activist. South Korean pop culture exported queerness to the world through films, music videos and dramas, he said, while the country silenced it at home. Nearby, a crowd of counter-protesters held a rival rally, with trucks blasting hymns and banners declaring homosexuality a sin. “Korean politicians have always treated minority issues as an afterthought, people not worth their votes,” Park said. “Stop pretending we don’t exist. Pass the anti-discrimination law.”

Swiss wait to hear result of ballot on capping population at 10 million

A national ballot on an unprecedented far-right proposal to limit Switzerland’s population to 10 million concludes this weekend, amid warnings of devastating consequences for the country’s economy if voters back the initiative. A “yes” vote would require the Swiss government to take steps to cap the population at 10 million by 2050, enacting tough restrictions on family reunification, residency permits and asylum if the number reaches 9.5 million before that date. If the 10m threshold is still exceeded before 2050, the proposal by the far-right Swiss People’s party (SVP) would oblige the government to pull out of the country’s free movement agreement with the EU – ending its access to the bloc’s single market. Switzerland’s system of direct democracy allows for “popular initiatives” that are put to a referendum if they get 100,000 backers within 18 months. Typically held four times a year, plebiscites are a long-favoured tool of the anti-immigration SVP. Switzerland’s population has grown far faster than that of surrounding EU states, rising by 23% since the free movement agreement came into effect in 2002. Economic output has risen by about 24% over the same period, government figures show. About 27% of Swiss residents are not citizens. Supporters of the “No to a Switzerland with 10 million” initiative say the influx of mainly EU workers puts housing, schools, transport, welfare and the Swiss way of life itself under unbearable strain. “Uncontrolled immigration is causing Switzerland to grow far too quickly. The negative consequences are palpable in all areas of life,” the SVP, the largest party in Switzerland’s parliament since 1999, argued in its campaign. The seven-member government, made up of ministers from Switzerland’s four biggest parties, including the SVP, is collectively against the initiative, warning it would threaten national stability, harm the economy and hurt Swiss prosperity. Clear majorities in both houses of parliament have also recommended rejecting the proposal, as have the Swiss trade union federation, the Swiss Employers’ Association and Economiesuisse, the country’s main business umbrella organisation. Rudolf Minsch, Economiesuisse’s chief economist, said the proposal was a populist attempt to fix complex problems with a simplistic artificial cap. “It sells the illusion of a free lunch, and will not solve our housing or traffic problems,” he said. Thomas Matter, an SVP MP, dismissed the concerns as scaremongering. “We are not against immigration, but it has to be moderate and controlled,” he said. “Before, we had qualitative immigration; now we have quantitative immigration.” Populist rightwing parties in Europe have successfully exploited – and inflamed – concerns over immigration, reflected in Britain’s 2016 Brexit vote and in surging support for parties such as France’s National Rally and the AfD in Germany. However, while many nations limit immigration, no country has ever voted explicitly to cap its population, Philippe Wanner, an expert in demography at the University of Geneva, said – although countries such as China have legislated to reduce growth. Like many European countries, Switzerland needs immigration because birthrates are falling and it faces a steadily ageing population, with the proportion of people aged over 65 due to climb to more than 27% from 21% by 2055. Recent opinion polls suggest the campaign against the proposal has gained ground since the referendum was announced in February, but most surveys have pointed to a close race, with the “no” camp predicted to win with about 52% of the vote. Polling stations will open briefly on Sunday to allow in-person votes, but up to 90% of voters in Swiss referendums typically vote by post. To pass, the initiative must win both the popular vote and a majority of Switzerland’s 23 full and six half cantons. Results should be known by mid to late afternoon on Sunday.

Jessie J’s triumphant return puts lucrative Chinese market in spotlight

One week after announcing she was “cancer free”, the British pop star Jessie J did what any recovering patient would do and travelled thousands of miles around the world to perform for an audience of more than a billion people. On 29 May, the singer-songwriter, whose real name is Jessica Cornish, belted out a stage-rattling rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way on the stage of Singer, a hugely popular Chinese singing competition similar to The Voice. She also performed her new song, California, briefly adapting the lyrics to change California to Changsha, the Chinese city where Singer is hosted. Returning to China was really “nostalgic”, Cornish wrote to her 821,600 followers on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform. “The fact that I’m still so widely recognised and loved by everyone means more to me than people can imagine.” Cornish says she was “instantly hooked” on China. “I just think in life you should go where you’re celebrated and I feel so celebrated there,” she told the Guardian. One Jessie J fan wrote on Weibo: “In China, everyone thinks no one in the world can sing better than you.” In a country of 1.4 billion people, having less than a million followers does not exactly make you a household name. But there is no denying that Cornish’s pivot to China, which came at moment when her career in the west seemed to be floundering, has allowed her to tap into a lucrative market – and other western pop stars are trying to follow suit. Cornish first burst on to the Chinese scene in 2018 when she entered, and won, that year’s series of Singer, a show that can garner more than 20bn views for a single episode. Back then, the potential of the Chinese market was already evident. Hundreds of millions of digitally-savvy and culturally hungry young music fans had already created an energetic music scene that was rapidly growing. The government had recently cracked down on illegal music streaming, strengthening copyright protections and earning potential for musicians. Since 2018, the Chinese recorded music market has climbed up the global ranks from seventh biggest to fourth, recently overtaking Germany. Chinese stars have always been dominant, a trend that has intensified since the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid “raised the bar for how interesting you have to be to the Chinese music consumer in order for it to be lucrative,” says Alex Taggart, the founder of Isle Of, an artist management and music consultancy who worked for several years in China. “With no foreign artists able to come into China, the domestic music industry massively raised its game.” He adds: “Before Covid, it was much easier to be a random western artist in China doing well.” Now, international acts have to work increasingly hard to win over Chinese fans. Perhaps no act has worked harder than Westlife. The Irish boyband first performed in China more than 20 years ago and have been steadily building up a following since. “We’ve performed in China more than 20 times and it’s become one of the most special relationships we have anywhere in the world. The scale of the support still amazes us,” says Shane Filan, one of the band’s members. Kian Egan, another band member, says Chinese fans “know every lyric, every album track, every harmony, sometimes better than we do ourselves”. In 2023, the band performed a song entirely in Mandarin at a show in Wuhan, a cover of The Ordinary Road by the Mandopop star Pu Shu. For a country with a strong sense of national pride, few things are likely to impress Chinese fans more than learning the language. This year, the foursome performed at China’s flagship Spring Festival Gala, to an audience of more than 650 million. Charli xcx, before she became Brat-famous, impressed Chinese fans when she collaborated with the Chinese electronic musician Howie Lee to produce a Mandarin version of her hit song Boys. Part of the appeal of Westlife and Jessie J is their penchant for ballads, a musical style adored in China. “The thing that Chinese music listeners really care about is, one, melody over everything, and two, they really respect pure singing ability,” says Taggart. “They love somebody with pipes. That is a big part of the reason why Chinese fans love Jessie J so much.” Cornish says part of what she enjoys about performing in China is “how much they respect and celebrate voices and technique … I really miss people just listening”. Performing in China has its challenges. As well as navigating the language barrier, Cornish says the rules on showing tattoos on television have tightened since she first appeared on Singer – it was officially banned in 2018. She had to plan her outfits to ensure none of her tattoos were visible. Several mid-tier British indie bands have also found unexpected success in China, including the alt-rock ensemble Sea Power, who garnered a large following in the country after they scored a popular video game. Although the Chinese market may be harder to break into post-Covid, China is hopes to attract more international stars to help boost its flagging economy. In 2024, Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, announced a surprise show in the tropical south Chinese island of Hainan, which sold out within minutes. The controversial rapper, who has been widely criticised in the west for racist and antisemitic comments, was not the most obvious choice to perform in China, where all performances are subject to censorship review and where the government generally discourages explicit content. But the show reportedly generated 373m yuan (£41.2m) in tourism revenue, and other cities were soon clamouring to host their own version. West performed again in Shanghai last year. For all West’s tirades, he has never publicly crossed Beijing’s red lines. A music industry professional who asked to remain anonymous because of professional links to China says: “It’s not necessarily about explicit lyrics. Those are allowed on Chinese platforms … it would be more of a political thing. If someone was outspoken against the Chinese government, they would struggle to build a career in China.” Before the show in Hainan, West abruptly cancelled a scheduled performance in Taiwan. Perhaps his team had learned from Katy Perry’s mistake. The Hot N Cold singer was reportedly banned from China after she performed in Taiwan wearing the Taiwanese flag as a cape. But, perhaps mindful of the consumer spending that Perry could generate, the Chinese authorities apparently forgave her last year when she was allowed to enter the county to perform five sold-out shows. On returning to the stage in Shanghai, Perry said the Chinese were her “best fans”. Additional research by Yu-chen Li

‘Looks like Chornobyl’: life in Kyiv’s most bombed neighbourhood as Ukraine braced for new mass strike

On Lukianivska Square, in Kyiv’s most bombed neighbourhood, the white letters on a busy McDonald’s have melted from a fire that engulfed a nearby shopping centre during the last major attack, on 24 May. Inside, however, the restaurant is busy – until an air raid alarm goes off, sending staff and customers down the escalators of the metro next door to shelter deep underground. The last strike collapsed a section of the metro’s ceiling and filled the platforms with a fog of dust. The McDonald’s has been damaged three times this year alone (a Kyiv resident jokes that the chain’s golden arches logo has become a “symbol of resistance”). On heat maps showing the frequency of air raids in Kyiv, the area around Lukianivska Square and the wider area of Shevchenkivskyi stand out for the concentration of strikes over the past four years. Local residents say the situation has only got worse in recent months. In a large and sprawling city where evidence of war damage is swallowed up, this corner of Kyiv looks more like a scene from far closer to the frontlines. The ostensible reason why is located across the busy street from the metro entrance: the long, red, shattered facade of the gutted Artem plant, once a weapons factory, now largely ruined and partly covered with a huge mural. The recent massive strikes, however, have hit civilian structures. A glass tower that looms like a ship’s prow over the street is without many of its windows. A pair of burnt-out cars sit by the kerb. The entrance hall of the metro, which has been hit five times, is boarded in large areas, while passersby pause to look up at a scorched and eviscerated building. Aside from the station and restaurant, most activity in the neighbourhood is now centred on the small collection of flower and vegetable stalls in the little market that is still open beneath one of the ruined structures. Drinking her coffee before going to work is Anastasiia Prymak, 23, a product manager who lives in one of the tower blocks nearby. “I moved to Kyiv from Nikopol two years ago because of the constant bombardment there. Now we have had massive bombardments here in recent months,” she says. First was a drone strike on the rough of a nearby apartment building on 28 April. “I thought I could hear planes. Then I told myself it can’t be planes because of the war. Then I looked out and saw the explosion on the roof,” Prymak says. “I’ve been diagnosed with severe anxiety disorder. I have anxiety all the time even with no reason, and panic attacks.” She opens a picture on her phone that shows the view from her apartment window. Below, a building is burning with flames like jets coming out of the windows. “Last month there were these huge strikes. My boyfriend took me to the shelter and I was praying even though [I] don’t believe in God. Now I’m begging [my] boyfriend to move to Lviv [in western Ukraine]. Then the neighbourhood was hit again a couple of weeks ago. This is just outside my building.” Prymak shows a video of wrecked buildings. “I say to friends that it looks like Chornobyl. It is becoming more and more dangerous here. I sleep curled up like an embryo because I am afraid drone or a rocket will hit. I want to be killed in one go. I don’t want to lose a limb.” In a long-range and escalating air war between Russia and Ukraine, the damage in this single neighbourhood serves as a warning of the direction of the conflict. Kremlin officials and Vladimir Putin have flagged Russia’s intention of launching heavier and “systematic” strikes against Ukraine’s urban concentrations. The increase in Russian missile threats against Kyiv and other cities comes as Moscow has sought to take advantage of a global shortage of missile interceptors – most notably for the Patriot system – that has been exacerbated by the US-Israeli war against Iran. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has scrambled to secure promises of more interceptors, warning the leaders of the UK, France and Germany during a visit to London on Sunday of “the urgent need to scale up” Ukraine’s air defences and deep-strike capabilities. Sitting at her flower stall, Faina Polishchuk says that while most of the stallholders have come back, the customers have gone. “It’s dangerous,” she says. “After the last massive strike in May, most of my colleagues here were crying and nervous and didn’t want to come back at first for a few days. But this is my livelihood.” She saw the last strike from her apartment window. “The whole building was shaking. I went to the shelter then and there was a young man who came and showed me what was happening on his phone. He said everything is burning.” At first, Faina says she will stay come what may, and expresses optimism. “I’m not afraid,” she says, but she quickly adds a caveat. “If it does get worse then I’ll go to Vinnytsia [her original home city].”

Dutch far-right party pays damages to court artist after changing image with AI

A Dutch court artist has received damages after an MP for the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) used one of her drawings without permission and manipulated it with AI to make the subjects look more menacing. Petra Urban, a court artist for 19 years, was shocked to discover a drawing she had made last year of two Syrian brothers jailed for the murder of their sister had been reworked and used in a video on Instagram and Facebook by the party’s Noord-Brabant region. “There are three things that upset me,” she said. “One is that my work was used without asking my permission. Secondly, this was done for a political party, when I want to work as neutrally and independently as possible. And thirdly – and this makes it really strange – the distortion was done with AI.” Under Dutch law, creators are not only protected by copyright but also have moral rights to object to any distortion of their work that could harm their reputation. There was widespread shock in May after Urban shared the images with fellow court reporters, and the case had widespread press coverage. Urban said that after her union issued a legal demand for licensing rights and damages, the PVV MP Maikel Boon called her to apologise and has now paid the damages – which have not been made public. Since the MP had previously been accused of using AI to manipulate images for campaign purposes, she felt “no mercy” in demanding compensation. “I hope it’s clear that this is a worrying development and that we need to stay alert,” she said. “You need to be able to assume that journalistic work is written, drawn, photographed or filmed as neutrally as possible. If this is manipulated, then the flood gates are open. There’s no knowing where it will end.” She also distanced herself from the far-right party led by Geert Wilders. “Honestly, the PVV is a long way from my political views, but even if it had been closer to my own politics I would not have wanted this,” she said. “It compromises my neutrality.” Boon and the PVV have been approached for comment. The MP has publicly accepted responsibility and told De Telegraaf he had thought an altered image would no longer be subject to copyright but that it had been a “very stupid act”. The film about a new asylum centre has been removed from the internet.

US military says it downed Iranian attack drones – as it happened

We’re about to close this live page now but here’s our latest full report, and a recap of the day’s key developments, as the US and Iran signal that a peace agreement is close but reports of conflicting claims cast uncertainly over whether it will eventuate. Thanks for joining us. The US military’s Central Command said its forces downed multiple Iranian drones it said were trying to hit commercial vessels in the strait of Hormuz. The post on X early on Saturday, Middle East time, came even as Washington and Tehran cited progress in peace talks. “The international trade corridor remains open for transit,” Centcom said. US president Donald Trump earlier reposted a social media post by Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi that said a memorandum of understanding to end the Iran war had “never been closer”. Araqchi echoed that sentiment on Iranian state TV a few hours later, but also repeated some points about the agreement that Trump had previously declared “fake news”. One of those points was about the strait of Hormuz – the US and Iran agree that it will reopen once the memorandum is signed, but Araqchi said transit through the strait would be under Iranian management. “Our sword will always hang over the strait of Hormuz.” Araqchi also said the agreement did not include anything about Iran’s nuclear programme and that nuclear talks with the US would only take place at a later stage. Trump has insisted the interim deal includes Iran giving up its nuclear programme, while Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was fully agreed with Trump on keeping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Araqchi also said ending the war in Lebanon was part of interim deal, which would mean Israel’s withdrawal from occupied areas. Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, said Israel would not withdraw from security zones in Lebanon, Syria or Gaza. Switzerland offered to host the peace deal signing ceremony after a number of US media outlets cited sources who said it may happen in Geneva ahead of or during the G7 summit that starts in France on Monday. Araqchi said the signing would take place “digitally”, with each side signing remotely. Hezbollah said on Friday that its fighters had confronted Israeli forces advancing towards a southern Lebanese town, as Israel pressed on with its strikes in Lebanon. The Iran-backed militia said its fighters first targeted Israeli troops advancing towards Majdal Zoun, about 5km from the western side of the border, on Thursday evening “with repeated rocket barrages, forcing them to retreat”. The Israeli military said it struck 310 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon over the past week, claiming to have killed “80 terrorists”. Global oil prices dropped on Friday to lows not seen since the first week of the Iran crisis on hopes of a US-Iran deal, with Brent crude falling to $87.33 a barrel.

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy boosts army wages and seeks foreign recruits to counter manpower shortage

Ukraine will hike military wages and seek to recruit more fighters abroad, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed, as the army faces a manpower shortage after four years of war with Russia. Zelenskyy’s government said in May it would study possible measures to boost military personnel numbers after talks on how to end the war with Russia stalled. “We agreed on how to increase the financial resilience of our defence and further transformation of the Ukrainian army,” Ukraine’s president said on Friday after meeting key cabinet ministers. “The cabinet of ministers will approve a specific mechanism, and the government should start the first new payments as early as June,” he added. Ukraine has secured a €90bn ($104bn) loan from the EU allowing the government to increase defence spending to a record 4.4tn hryvnias ($97bn) this year. The funds are due to start flowing this month. Zelenskyy said his government would raise the basic military wage by one-third to 30,000 hryvnias ($700). The step was aimed at matching the country’s average monthly salary, which has steadily risen during the war due to staff shortages, military analysts and economists said. Infantry soldiers fighting on the frontline will receive an average monthly salary of 300,000 hryvnias (about $7,000), up from about 100,000 to 150,000 hryvnias at present. They will also be offered a new type of fixed-term contract for 10, 14 or 24 months for combat duties. Kyiv also wants to recruit more foreign fighters. “I have instructed to create significantly more opportunities to recruit foreign volunteers into the Ukrainian army, and there will be more recruitment channels in this regard,” Zelenskyy said. About 10,000 foreign volunteers have joined the Ukrainian army from more than 70 countries since the war began, according to estimates by Ukrainian military publications. Ambassadors from the EU’s 27 countries agreed on Friday to advance membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova, with the first phase of negotiations to begin on Monday. Zelenskyy has made EU membership a key strategic goal. Writing on Telegram, he thanked the EU and its leaders “for this strong step for Europe”. He added: “Ukraine is carrying out what is necessary and it is important that the EU is also keeping its word.” Vladimir Putin said Ukraine’s increasing drone strikes on Russia aimed to “sow confusion” and damage the country’s economy. Ukraine has hit ever deeper into Russia in recent months, regularly striking oil refineries and export hubs. “Their goal is to create a split in Russian society, sow confusion and inflict economic damage,” the Russian president told soldiers in a meeting at the Kremlin on Friday. “But they will not succeed.” The comments came hours after Kyiv said it hit a major oil refinery more than 1,000km (about 620 miles) from the frontline. Putin admitted that Ukrainian strikes had caused “economic damage” but claimed that “everything is quickly restored”. The governor of Russia’s border Bryansk region said one person was killed and another injured in a drone strike on Friday, while the defence ministry said Russian air defence units had downed 185 Ukrainian drones over a 12-hour period. The region’s general headquarters, quoted by Russian news agencies, said air defence units had destroyed 62 drones, but gave no time frame for the action. Russia’s defence ministry reported 185 drones intercepted between 8am and 8pm (0500-1700 GMT) over about a dozen regions, most in central Russia. Britain on Friday said a full ban on diesel and jet fuel made in Russia would happen by 2027 as it set out its timeline to end a temporary licence for Russian oil products. Britain last month said it would continue to allow imports of diesel and jet fuel refined from Russian crude in third countries, deferring a previously announced ban, citing supply issues caused by the Iran war. The government said existing sanctions were not being lifted but new sanctions were being phased in. On Friday the business and trade ministry said the temporary licence for phasing in the ban would expire by 1 January.

Philippines picks up the pieces after strongest earthquake in decades

It was just before midnight when the rescue team pulled the body from the rubble of a grocery store destroyed by the most powerful quake to hit the Philippines in half a century. The family wailed at the sight. “While tragic, it offered the family a painful consolation,” said Rene Baliong, the head of the search and rescue team. “They have a body to bury.” For days rescuers have trawled through the wreckage in General Santos City on the nation’s second-most populous island of Mindanao after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook the region, triggered a tsunami warning and killed at least 55 people. Baliong’s team worked non-stop for days searching for bodies under the collapsed grocery store, their spirits buoyed after they pulled out a victim still alive on Tuesday. Dozens remained missing while at least 1,120 were injured. More than 45,000 were displaced, mostly those who fled after the tsunami alert was sent in Mindanao in the country’s south. Triggered by movement in the Cotabato Trench, Monday’s earthquake was the strongest since the same undersea depression triggered an 8.1-magnitude quake that whipped up tsunami waves on 17 August 1976, according to Teresito Bacolcol, the director of the Philippine institute of volcanology and seismology. The quake left a trail of destruction including a landslide that buried houses and killed 18 people in the mountainside town of Glan. In nearby General Santos City, at least 13 people were killed when buildings collapsed. At least 19 major commercial buildings in the city were damaged, including a mall and hotel, while more than 19,000 homes were damaged. In the immediate aftermath, the government was working to provide food and water filtration mechanisms after the city’s pipes burst during the quake, said Rodrigo Sosmeña, regional director for the office of civil defence. Rufa Cagoco Guiam, a university professor and resident of General Santos, said it has not been easy to buy basic necessities because the big malls were closed. “I’m going around the city now looking for a supermarket to buy food and water,” Guiam said. Beyond the physical damage, local residents also grappled with the emotional shock, with the earthquake striking just as students were returning to school after the two-month summer holiday break. “I think we underestimate the mental health toll that an earthquake like this can take on people, especially children,” said Drew Strobel, from the International Federation of Red Cross. “We’re already seeing that people are really traumatised by the event.” The earthquake hit before classes began, but many students saw their school buildings wobble as they gathered in the fields to sing the national anthem, he said. Ten schools were damaged and 6,000 remained closed for safety assessments. The Red Cross was providing mental health support, offering hot meals, assisting in rescue operations and assessing the impact on people’s livelihoods, with jobs affected and tourism likely to decline, Strobel added. The recovery challenges could also be exacerbated by the weather. The predicted El Niño phenomenon could be complicated for the region by the south-west monsoon, potentially bringing both flooding and a severe dry spell, according to Sosmeña. The big concern was agricultural production, he said, as the region is considered one of the top rice producing areas in the Philippines, while coconut production supports the economy in some areas of Sarangania. “These are the main source of livelihood of the people, and with these abnormal weather conditions, coupled with some vulnerability brought about by damaged infrastructure caused by this earthquake … we are bracing ourselves,” Sosmeña said. Picking up the pieces after the earthquake, he said, “is not an easy job”. With Associated Press