Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
by Hector Velasco Agence France Presse BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — Gustavo Petro on Sunday took the oath of office as Colombia’s first-ever leftist president, before a crowd of hundreds of thousands at his inauguration in Bogota. The 62-year-old former guerrilla and onetime mayor takes over from the deeply unpopular Ivan Duque, with plans for profound reforms in a country beset by economic inequality and drug violence. Petro’s hard-fought victory in June elections brought Colombia, long […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden was out of isolation on Sunday, after testing negative for Covid for a second day in a row, the first time he was able to leave the White House since July 20. Biden, 79, had tested positive for Covid and returned to isolation on July 30, in a result doctors attributed to “rebound” positivity from his earlier bout of the illness. “I’m feeling good,” the […]
by Poornima Weerasekara, with Catherine Lai in Taipei Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s largest-ever military exercises surrounding Taiwan were drawing to a close on Sunday following a controversial visit last week to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Beijing has raged at the trip by Pelosi — the highest-ranking elected US official to visit Taiwan in decades — ripping up a series of talks and cooperation agreements with Washington, […]
KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Parts of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant were “seriously damaged” by military strikes that forced one of its reactors to shut down, the plant’s operator said on Saturday. The Friday strikes on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in south Ukraine — Europe’s largest atomic power complex — “seriously damaged” a station containing nitrogen and oxygen and an “auxiliary building,” Energoatom said on the Telegram messaging service. Kyiv and Moscow blamed each […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China on Friday said it was cancelling several defence meetings and suspending key climate talks with the United States after a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan this week. Beijing will “suspend the China-US climate change talks” and nix plans for a call between military leaders as well as two security meetings, the foreign ministry said, citing Pelosi’s “disregard of China’s strong opposition and stern representations” on […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — World food prices fell sharply in July, partly thanks to a deal between Ukraine and Russia lifting a sea blockade that had stopped Ukrainian grain shipments, a UN agency said Friday. Food prices soared to a record high in March after Russia invaded Ukraine, raising fears that the conflict between two of the world’s breadbaskets would spark hunger in countries relying on their exports. While prices remain high, they have […]
by Victoria LOGUINOVA-YAKOVLEVA Agence France Presse A Russian court on Thursday sentenced US basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison over drug smuggling as US President Joe Biden called the ruling “unacceptable”. The court “found the defendant guilty” of smuggling and possessing “a significant amount of narcotics”, judge Anna Sotnikova told a court in the town of Khimki just outside Moscow. Sotnikova sentenced Griner, one of the world’s greatest basketball players, to […]
Foreign policy & security analyst Lucio Blanco Pitlo weighs in on the recent visit of US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan and its impact on ASEAN, specifically the Philippines. Factors like the Philippines’ proximity to Taiwan, our large OFW population, our trade & investment relations with China, our mutual defense agreements with the US entangle us in this potential diplomatic & geopolitical powderkeg.
by Pathom SANGWONGWANICH Agence France-Presse BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Thailand’s prime minister on Friday ordered an investigation into a massive blaze that tore through a nightclub, killing at least 13 people. The fire broke out around 1:00 am (1800 GMT Thursday) at the Mountain B nightspot in Chonburi province’s Sattahip district, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Bangkok. Video footage posted by a rescue service showed desperate revellers fleeing the club screaming, their clothes […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taipei’s military said Chinese fighter jets and ships crossed the median line that runs down the Taiwan Strait on Friday, calling Beijing’s latest military drills “highly provocative”. “As of 11am, multiple batches of Chinese warplanes and warships conducted exercises around the Taiwan Strait and crossed the median line of the strait,” the defence ministry said in a statement. “This Chinese military exercise, whether it be the launch of ballistic missiles or […]
by Katie Forster / Tomohiro OSAKI Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that the United States will “not allow” China to isolate Taiwan, after her visit to the self-ruled island infuriated Beijing. “They may try to keep Taiwan from visiting or participating in other places, but they will not isolate Taiwan by preventing us to travel there,” she told reporters in Tokyo. “We had high-level visits, senators in […]
by By Sebastien Ricci with Beiyi Seow in Beijing and Amber Wang in Taipei Agence France-Presse PINGTAN, China (AFP) — China was set to press ahead Friday with its largest-ever military exercises encircling Taiwan despite firm statements of condemnation by the United States, Japan and the European Union. Beijing’s decision to fire ballistic missiles and deploy fighter jets around Taiwan saw Washington lambast what it said was a gross overreaction to a visit to the […]
