Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AFP) — The death toll from a storm that struck three southern African countries rose to 70 on Thursday as emergency teams battled to repair damaged infrastructure and help tens of thousands of victims. Packing torrential rains, Tropical Storm Ana made landfall Monday in Madagascar before ploughing into Mozambique and Malawi. Rescue workers and authorities across the three countries were still assessing the full extent of the damage. Madagascar has reported 41 dead, […]
Total active Covid-19 cases decrease to 226,521 (Eagle News) – The country posted 18,191 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, January 27, slightly higher than the previous day’s 15,789 new cases. But even with the slight increase, the total active cases went down to 226,151 from 230,410 recorded the previous day, Wednesday. The total active cases on Thursday is 6.5 percent of the total confirmed Covid-19 cases of 3,493,447 in the country since the pandemic began […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Scientists discovered more than 200 new species across the greater Mekong region in 2020, according to a WWF report, despite the threats posed by climate change and human activities such as logging. The finds include a new primate, a colourless cavefish and an iridescent snake with an unusual non-overlapping pattern of scales. In all, 224 new species of plants and vertebrate animals were found in the region — which includes Myanmar, […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The governor of New Mexico started work Wednesday as a substitute teacher, replacing one of the thousands of educators across the United States who have been forced off work by the Covid-19 pandemic. Michelle Lujan Grisham — a lawyer by training — swapped the governor’s mansion for the classroom as part of the “Supporting Teachers and Families” initiative designed to plug holes in staffing in schools and child care […]
by Moises AVILA TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) — Honduras president-elect Xiomara Castro is due to be sworn in as the country’s first woman president on Thursday, as confusion reigns over who will be head of congress during her four-year term. Two rival factions in Castro’s left-wing Libre party have voted in their own president of congress and negotiations to reach a solution stalled overnight on Wednesday. Luis Redondo, who has the support of Castro and much […]
by Kyoko HASEGAWA Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Six young people sued the operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant on Thursday over claims they developed thyroid cancer due to exposure to radiation after the facility’s meltdown. The plaintiffs, now aged between 17 and 27, were living in the Fukushima region when a huge earthquake on March 11, 2011 triggered a tsunami that caused the nuclear disaster. On Thursday their lawyers marched into the […]
A 6.2-magnitude earthquake occurred off the coast of Tonga at 0640 GMT on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey said, with no immediate reports of damage. The epicentre of the strong quake was 219 kilometres (136 miles) northwest of Pangai, a town on the remote island of Lifuka, at a depth of 14.5 kilometres. There were no immediate reports of the quake being felt in Tonga or neighbouring Fiji. The area has seen daily earthquake […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) – Thailand’s navy and pollution experts battled Thursday to clear up an oil spill close to pristine holiday beaches, after an undersea pipeline leaked up to 50 tonnes of crude. The kingdom’s Pollution Control Department has warned that the spill in the Gulf of Thailand, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) off the coast of Rayong province, could threaten a national park in nearby Ko Samet island. Weak currents have kept the oil […]
BOSTON, United States (AFP) — A hospital in Boston refused to perform a heart transplant on a patient who had not been vaccinated for Covid-19, US television media reported Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Brigham and Women’s Hospital confirmed in a statement to AFP that vaccination against the coronavirus is “required” for organ transplant recipients there. The patient’s father, David Ferguson, appeared on news channels CNN and ABC to share the family’s story, saying his 31-year-old […]
PHL posts 5.6 percent overall growth based on GDP for whole year of 2021 (Eagle News) – The Philippine economy grew further last year despite the Covid-19 pandemic and the highly debilitating Delta variant, as gross domestic product posted a growth of 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter. Because of this, the country’s GDP posted an over-all growth of 5.6 percent for the whole year of 2021, according to the latest data from the […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) – China’s top diplomat spoke with his US counterpart on Thursday, warning Washington to “stop interfering” in the Winter Olympics and stressing that Russia’s security concerns in Europe should be “taken seriously”. Beijing hopes to turn next week’s Games into a soft power triumph. But the lead-up has been clouded by a US-led diplomatic boycott over China’s human rights record, particularly towards its Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region. “The most […]
Omicron cases detected nationwide; DOH probing how Omicron sublineage BA.2 became predominant in PHL (Eagle News) – More Omicron variant cases have been detected in the Philippines at 618, which includes both the original Omicron lineage B.1.1.529, and its sub-lineages, BA.1 and BA.2 or the so-called “stealth Omicron.” The Department of Health (DOH) announced this on Thursday in the latest genome sequencing of the University of the Philippines – Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC), and the […]
