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Super Typhoon Ragasa floods Hong Kong hotel

admin - Latest News - September 24, 2025
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Super Typhoon Ragasa, one of the world’s strongest storms this year, slammed into Hong Kong after carving a deadly path between the Philippines and Taiwan.



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Sept. 24, 2025, 5:00 AM EDTBy Lauren Sausser and Darius Tahir | KFF Health NewsTaking a page from the private insurance industry’s playbook, the Trump administration will launch a program next year to find out how much money an artificial intelligence algorithm could save the federal government by denying care to Medicare patients.The pilot program, designed to weed out wasteful, “low-value” services, amounts to a federal expansion of an unpopular process called prior authorization, which requires patients or someone on their medical team to seek insurance approval before proceeding with certain procedures, tests, and prescriptions. It will affect Medicare patients, and the doctors and hospitals who care for them, in Arizona, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington, starting Jan. 1 and running through 2031.The move has raised eyebrows among politicians and policy experts. The traditional version of Medicare, which covers adults 65 and older and some people with disabilities, has mostly eschewed prior authorization. Still, it is widely used by private insurers, especially in the Medicare Advantage market.And the timing was surprising: The pilot was announced in late June, just days after the Trump administration unveiled a voluntary effort by private health insurers to revamp and reduce their own use of prior authorization, which causes care to be “significantly delayed,” said Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.“It erodes public trust in the health care system,” Oz told the media. “It’s something that we can’t tolerate in this administration.”But some critics, like Dr. Vinay Rathi, an Ohio State University doctor and policy researcher, have accused the Trump administration of sending mixed messages.On one hand, the federal government wants to borrow cost-cutting measures used by private insurance, he said. “On the other, it slaps them on the wrist.”Administration officials are “talking out of both sides of their mouth,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene, a Washington Democrat. “It’s hugely concerning.”Patients, doctors and other lawmakers have also been critical of what they see as delay-or-deny tactics, which can slow down or block access to care, causing irreparable harm and even death.“Insurance companies have put it in their mantra that they will take patients’ money and then do their damnedest to deny giving it to the people who deliver care,” said Rep. Greg Murphy, a North Carolina Republican and a urologist. “That goes on in every insurance company boardroom.”Insurers have long argued that prior authorization reduces fraud and wasteful spending, as well as prevents potential harm. Public displeasure with insurance denials dominated the news in December, when the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO led many to anoint his alleged killer as a folk hero.And the public broadly dislikes the practice: Nearly three-quarters of respondents thought prior authorization was a “major” problem in a July poll published by KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.Indeed, Oz said during his June press conference that “violence in the streets” prompted the Trump administration to take on the issue of prior authorization reform in the private insurance industry.Still, the administration is expanding the use of prior authorization in Medicare. CMS spokesperson Alexx Pons said both initiatives “serve the same goal of protecting patients and Medicare dollars.”Unanswered questionsThe pilot program, WISeR — short for “Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction” — will test the use of an AI algorithm in making prior authorization decisions for some Medicare services, including skin and tissue substitutes, electrical nerve stimulator implants, and knee arthroscopy.The federal government says such procedures are particularly vulnerable to “fraud, waste, and abuse” and could be held in check by prior authorization.Other procedures may be added to the list. But services that are inpatient-only, emergency or “would pose a substantial risk to patients if significantly delayed” would not be subject to the AI model’s assessment, according to the federal announcement.While the use of AI in health insurance isn’t new, Medicare has been slow to adopt the private-sector tools. Medicare has historically used prior authorization in a limited way, with contractors who aren’t incentivized to deny services. But experts who have studied the plan believe the federal pilot could change that.Pons told KFF Health News that no Medicare request will be denied before being reviewed by a “qualified human clinician,” and that vendors “are prohibited from compensation arrangements tied to denial rates.” While the government says vendors will be rewarded for savings, Pons said multiple safeguards will “remove any incentive to deny medically appropriate care.”“Shared savings arrangements mean that vendors financially benefit when less care is delivered,” a structure that can create a powerful incentive for companies to deny medically necessary care, said Jennifer Brackeen, senior director of government affairs for the Washington State Hospital Association.And doctors and policy experts say that’s only one concern.Rathi said the plan “is not fully fleshed out” and relies on “messy and subjective” measures. The model, he said, ultimately depends on contractors to assess their own results, a choice that makes the results potentially suspect.“I’m not sure they know, even, how they’re going to figure out whether this is helping or hurting patients,” he said.Pons said the use of AI in the Medicare pilot will be “subject to strict oversight to ensure transparency, accountability, and alignment with Medicare rules and patient protection.”“CMS remains committed to ensuring that automated tools support, not replace, clinically sound decision-making,” he said.Experts agree that AI is theoretically capable of expediting what has been a cumbersome process marked by delays and denials that can harm patients’ health. Health insurers have argued that AI eliminates human error and bias and will save the health care system money. These companies have also insisted that humans, not computers, are ultimately reviewing coverage decisions.But some scholars are doubtful that’s routinely happening. “I think that there’s also probably a little bit of ambiguity over what constitutes ‘meaningful human review,’” said Amy Killelea, an assistant research professor at the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University.A 2023 report published by ProPublica found that, over a two-month period, doctors at Cigna who reviewed requests for payment spent an average of only 1.2 seconds on each case.Cigna spokesperson Justine Sessions told KFF Health News that the company does not use AI to deny care or claims. The ProPublica investigation referenced a “simple software-driven process that helped accelerate payments to clinicians for common, relatively low-cost tests and treatments, and it is not powered by AI,” Sessions said. “It was not used for prior authorizations.”And yet class-action lawsuits filed against major health insurers have alleged that flawed AI models undermine doctor recommendations and fail to take patients’ unique needs into account, forcing some people to shoulder the financial burden of their care.Meanwhile, a survey of physicians published by the American Medical Association in February found that 61% think AI is “increasing prior authorization denials, exacerbating avoidable patient harms and escalating unnecessary waste now and into the future.”Chris Bond, a spokesperson for the insurers’ trade group AHIP, told KFF Health News that the organization is “zeroed in” on implementing the commitments made to the government. Those include reducing the scope of prior authorization and making sure that communications with patients about denials and appeals are easy to understand.‘This is a pilot’The Medicare pilot program underscores ongoing concerns about prior authorization and raises new ones.While private health insurers have been opaque about how they use AI and the extent to which they use prior authorization, policy researchers believe these algorithms are often programmed to automatically deny high-cost care.“The more expensive it is, the more likely it is to be denied,” said Jennifer Oliva, a professor at the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University-Bloomington, whose work focuses on AI regulation and health coverage.Oliva explained in a recent paper for the Indiana Law Journal that when a patient is expected to die within a few years, health insurers are “motivated to rely on the algorithm.” As time passes and the patient or their provider is forced to appeal a denial, the chance of the patient dying during that process increases. The longer an appeal, the less likely the health insurer is to pay the claim, Oliva said.“The No. 1 thing to do is make it very, very difficult for people to get high-cost services,” she said.As the use of AI by health insurers is poised to grow, insurance company algorithms amount to a “regulatory blind spot” and demand more scrutiny, said Carmel Shachar, a faculty director at Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation.The WISeR pilot is “an interesting step” toward using AI to ensure that Medicare dollars are purchasing high-quality health care, she said. But the lack of details makes it difficult to determine whether it will work.Politicians are grappling with some of the same questions.“How is this being tested in the first place? How are you going to make sure that it is working and not denying care or producing higher rates of care denial?” asked DelBene, who signed an August letter to Oz with other Democrats demanding answers about the AI program. But Democrats aren’t the only ones worried.Murphy, who co-chairs the House GOP Doctors Caucus, acknowledged that many physicians are concerned the WISeR pilot could overreach into their practice of medicine if the AI algorithm denies doctor-recommended care.Meanwhile, House members of both parties recently supported a measure proposed by Rep. Lois Frankel, a Florida Democrat, to block funding for the pilot in the fiscal 2026 budget of the Department of Health and Human Services.AI in health care is here to stay, Murphy said, but it remains to be seen whether the WISeR pilot will save Medicare money or contribute to the problems already posed by prior authorization.“This is a pilot, and I’m open to see what’s going to happen with this,” Murphy said, “but I will always, always err on the side that doctors know what’s best for their patients.”Lauren Sausser and Darius Tahir | KFF Health NewsLauren Sausser and Darius Tahir | KFF Health News
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Sept. 23, 2025, 11:30 PM EDT / Updated Sept. 24, 2025, 4:38 AM EDTBy Jennifer Jett, Peter Guo and Jay GanglaniHONG KONG — Streets in southern China were deserted Wednesday as Typhoon Ragasa, one of the world’s strongest storms this year, slammed into the region after having carved a deadly path between the Philippines and Taiwan.At least 14 people were confirmed dead in Taiwan after floodwaters from a barrier lake surged into Guangfu township in eastern Hualien County, Taiwanese media reported early Wednesday, citing officials. At least three deaths were reported a day earlier in the Philippines, where the storm also displaced thousands of people in the north of the country.China’s National Meteorological Center said Wednesday afternoon that Ragasa had weakened from a super typhoon to a strong typhoon, but that it was still packing winds of up to 112 mph. After making landfall in southwestern Guangdong later Wednesday, it was expected to move into the Gulf of Tonkin between South China and Vietnam, the forecaster said. Authorities warned of heavy rain and strong winds across southern China.The storm earlier passed near the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau, where fierce winds woke residents during the night, schools and flights were canceled and many businesses were closed. Residents had been stockpiling food and other supplies, while businesses taped their windows and lined sandbags along entryways. Callan Williamson, 36, who moved to Hong Kong five years ago and works as a brand manager at a consulting firm, said Ragasa was the first major typhoon he had experienced. “I have had water coming through the kitchen window,” he said. The Hong Kong Observatory issued storm warning signal No. 10, the highest in its weather alert system, at 2:40 a.m. local time (2:40 p.m. ET Tuesday), an hour after it issued its second-highest warning signal, No. 9. At 1:20 p.m. local time (1:20 a.m. ET), the signal was lowered to No. 8, the city’s third-highest.Maximum sustained winds as high as 120 mph were recorded on the island of Lantau, home to Hong Kong’s international airport.Macau, a major gambling hub, also issued a No. 10 warning signal early Wednesday, and casinos were closed.Firefighters preparing to remove an uprooted tree after Typhoon Ragasa hit Hong Kong on Tuesday.Tommy Wang / AFP via Getty ImagesRagasa, which means “scramble” in Tagalog, brought heavy showers and major storm surge to Hong Kong, and members of the public were advised to stay indoors and stay away from the shoreline and low-lying areas. The observatory said the storm surge caused a general rise of almost 5 feet in water levels across the city.By late morning, the storm was leaving Hong Kong, a densely populated international financial hub of 7.5 million, though hurricane-force winds persisted.The Hong Kong stock exchange was open after changing its policy last year to continue trading regardless of weather conditions.Hong Kong government officials said more than 800 people had sought refuge at dozens of temporary shelters. As of 3 p.m. local time (3 a.m. ET), there were 82 reported injuries, 700 reports of fallen trees, one reported landslide and 16 reports of flooding.In one incident, huge waves crashed through the glass doors of the oceanfront Fullerton Hotel on the south side of Hong Kong Island, flooding the ground-floor lobby and sweeping people off their feet, according to videos posted on social media that were verified by NBC News. Calls to the hotel were not answered on Wednesday.Elsewhere, CCTV video showed a succession of waves bursting through the doors of a restaurant in the Tseung Kwan O neighborhood in the New Territories, sending furniture afloat. The observatory said that as of 4 p.m. local time (4 a.m. ET), the storm was centered about 130 miles west-southwest of Hong Kong. It was forecast to continue moving west at about 14 mph as it approached the west coast of China’s Guangdong province, where it was expected to make landfall.On Tuesday, mainland Chinese officials elevated the typhoon emergency response to Level III in Guangdong, the country’s most populous province at more than 125 million people, as well as in the island province of Hainan. More than 1 million people had been evacuated from Guangdong as of Tuesday afternoon, Chinese state media reported.More than 10 cities in Guangdong have suspended classes, business operations and public transport, including high-speed trains, and flights have been canceled at major regional airports including in the cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen.Officials had said Ragasa could be even more destructive than Typhoon Hato in 2017 and Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018, which caused hundreds of millions of dollars in direct economic losses to the region.Hong Kong has experienced unusually severe rainfall this year, including four black rainstorms — the city’s highest tier of heavy rain — within eight days from late July to early August. On Aug. 5, the Hong Kong Observatory recorded more than 14.5 inches of rain, the highest daily rainfall in August since records began in 1884.Jennifer JettJennifer Jett is the Asia Digital Editor for NBC News, based in Hong Kong.Peter GuoPeter Guo is an associate producer based in Hong Kong.Jay GanglaniJay Ganglani is NBC News’s 2025-26 Asia Desk Fellow. Previously he was an NBC News Asia Desk intern and a Hong Kong-based freelance journalist who has contributed to news publications such as CNN, Fortune and the South China Morning Post.Jean Lee, Matteo Moschella and Larissa Gao contributed.
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September 27, 2025
Sept. 27, 2025, 2:07 PM EDTBy Kelly O’Donnell and Alexandra MarquezAt least 15 FBI agents were fired Friday in connection with their actions during the protests that followed the death of George Floyd, a source familiar with the terminations told NBC News.The agents had been assigned to help secure federal buildings during the demonstrations, when a tense standoff developed between a large crowd of protesters and a limited number of FBI personnel. Some agents were photographed kneeling, which the source described as a tactic meant to de-escalate the conflict.Protests erupted nationwide in 2020 after Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes. The murder, captured on video, fueled demonstrations that called for racial justice and police accountability.The FBI declined to comment on the firings, citing personnel matters. The FBI Agents Association said in a statement that it “strongly condemn[s]” the firings as “unlawful,” saying they violated “the due process rights of those who risk their lives to protect our country.”The association sharply criticized Patel, accusing him of breaking the law with these and other firings at the FBI in recent months.“Leaders uphold the law — they don’t repeatedly break it. They respect due process, rather than hide from it,” the FBIAA statement said. “Patel’s dangerous new pattern of actions are weakening the Bureau because they eliminate valuable expertise and damage trust between leadership and the workforce, and make it harder to recruit and retain skilled agents — ultimately putting our nation at greater risk.”Police officers from Ferguson, Mo., join protesters to remember George Floyd by taking a knee in the parking lot of the police station on May 30, 2020.Robert Cohen / St. Louis Post-Dispatch via APThese firings come just weeks after three former top FBI officials sued Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, alleging that Patel fired them to stay in President Donald Trump’s good graces.One of them, former acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, said in August that he was not given a reason for his termination, though he served the agency for almost 20 years.Earlier this year, Driscoll spoke out against the Trump administration’s efforts to fire agents who had worked on cases involving participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.At the time, Driscoll said he’d also refused a request from senior administration officials to provide a list of every FBI employee who investigated Jan. 6 rioters.One of the president’s first executive orders at the start of his second term was to pardon roughly 1,500 criminal defendants who had been charged for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.During testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, Patel defended the firings. He said the FBI “will only bring cases that are based in fact and law and have a legal basis to do so, and anyone that does otherwise will not be employed at the FBI.”Kelly O’DonnellKelly O’Donnell is Senior White House correspondent for NBC News.Alexandra MarquezAlexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.
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Oct. 3, 2025, 8:33 PM EDTBy Gary Grumbach and Dareh GregorianA federal judge on Friday ordered a hearing into whether the criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia was the result of a “vindictive” prosecution, finding there’s “some evidence” that it was.In his 16-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Tennessee noted that the investigation into Abrego was reopened shortly after he successfully challenged to the U.S. Supreme Court what the Trump administration acknowledged was his mistaken deportation to a prison in El Salvador.The investigation also came after numerous administration officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, repeatedly accused Abrego of being guilty of numerous crimes, and being a “gang member” and a “terrorist.” His lawyers and family members have repeatedly denied the claims.”Actual vindictiveness may be apparent based on the Executive Official Defendants’ and their subordinates’ statements about Abrego from the time he filed his Maryland lawsuit” challenging his deportation “through his arrest in this District,” the judge wrote.In his ruling granting Abrego’s request for a hearing on the vindictive prosecution claims, Crenshaw focused on comments that Bondi’s top deputy, Todd Blanche, made on Fox News the day of his June arrest on human trafficking charges, to which Abrego pleaded not guilty.”Strikingly, during a television interview Deputy Attorney General Blanche revealed that the government started ‘investigating’ Abrego after ‘a judge in Maryland . . . questioned’ the government’s decision, found that it ‘had no right to deport him,’ and ‘accus[ed] [the government] of doing something wrong,’” the judge wrote.“Deputy Attorney General Blanche’s remarkable statements,” Crenshaw wrote, “could directly establish that the motivations for Abrego’s criminal charges stem from his exercise of his constitutional and statutory rights to bring suit against the Executive Official Defendants, rather than a genuine desire to prosecute him for alleged criminal misconduct.”Watch: Kilmar Abrego Garcia reunites with family after release from federal custody01:13The judge, nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, said Abrego’s claims also appear to be supported by the timing of the reopening of the criminal investigation, which had started as the result of a traffic stop in 2022 and was deemed to be closed in March of this year, before Abrego was deported. Abrego was released without charges after the 2022 stop.The investigation was reopened a week after Abrego’s win in the Supreme Court in April.”This timeline suggests that Abrego’s prosecution may stem from retaliation by the DOJ and DHS due to Abrego’s successful challenge of his unlawful deportation in Maryland,” the judge wrote.The judge ordered the government to turn over information and evidence being requested by Abrego and said he’ll hold a hearing after that.”After the parties conduct discovery, ‘[i]t may well be that no fire will be discovered under all the smoke[.]’ Indeed, the Government could produce evidence showing legitimate reasons for its prosecution of Abrego that are unrelated to his case in the District of Maryland,” he wrote.Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.Abrego, a Salvadoran national who, according to his lawyers, entered the U.S. illegally when he was 16 years old to escape gang violence, is trying to get the criminal charges against him dismissed.He also made a bid to reopen his petition for asylum, but an immigration judge rejected the request in a ruling Thursday. He has 30 days to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.A different immigration judge had previously ruled in 2019 that he could not be deported to El Salvador, because he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking to deport him to Uganda or Eswatini.Gary GrumbachGary Grumbach is an NBC News legal affairs reporter, based in Washington, D.C.Dareh GregorianDareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.Raquel Coronell Uribe contributed.
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