Other News

14 more Filipinos arrive in PHL from Gaza

(Eagle News)–Fourteen more Filipinos have arrived in the Philippines from Gaza, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. According to the DFA, its Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs, together with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Manila office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), welcomed the repatriates on Wednesday, Feb. 21. “Welcoming the repatriates is the last part of the DFA-OUMWA’s assistance regularly extended to distressed Filipinos and their families […]

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Florida lawmakers pass kids’ social media ban, bill heads to governor

MIAMI, Feb 23, 2024 (AFP) – Florida lawmakers moved Thursday toward enacting one of the strictest bans on children’s use of social media in the United States, sending to the governor a bill to keep those under 16 off such platforms. The controversial legislation seeks to protect children’s mental health against the “addictive features” of such platforms, amid fears over online dangers including from sexual predators, cyber bullying and teen suicide. The legislation cleared the […]

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America returns spaceship to the Moon, a private sector first

By Issam AHMED WASHINGTON, Feb 23, 2024 (AFP) – For the first time since the Apollo era, an American spaceship has landed on the Moon: an uncrewed commercial robot, funded by NASA to pave the way for US astronauts to return to Earth’s cosmic neighbor later this decade. Odysseus, built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, touched down near the lunar south pole Thursday at 2323 GMT, after a nail-biting final descent where flight controllers had to […]

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New Zealand opens first ‘kiwi hospital’ for injured birds

By Ryland JAMES WELLINGTON, Feb 23, 2024 (AFP) – New Zealand on Friday opened its first hospital exclusively treating kiwi birds, and vets have already nursed the first patient back to health — a chick nicknamed “Splash” that tumbled into a swimming pool. Rising numbers of the once-threatened national bird have led to the construction of a purpose-built facility in Kerikeri, a three-hour drive north of Auckland. The Department of Conservation told AFP the new […]

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Baldwin blamed for “Rust” shooting in defense of armorer on trial

By Andrew MARSZAL SANTA FE, United States, Feb 23, 2024 (AFP) – Lawyers blamed Alec Baldwin for the fatal shooting on the set of Western film “Rust” in opening statements Thursday, as they defended the movie’s armorer from prosecutors’ allegations she was “unprofessional and sloppy.” Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died from her injuries after being hit by a live round fired from a gun Baldwin was holding during a rehearsal in New Mexico in 2021. Baldwin, […]

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AT&T outage resolved; service restored after hours-long disruption

By John BIERS NEW YORK, Feb 22, 2024 (AFP) – Thousands of AT&T customers in the United States lost cell phone service for hours Thursday, with US officials saying there was no immediate indication of any cybersecurity attack. AT&T had succeeded by midday in winnowing the number of affected customers to a few thousand from a peak of 75,000. A few hours later near mid-afternoon, the company said it had fully restored all service. “We […]

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G20 pushes for two-state solution in Mideast

By Joshua Howat Berger RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 22, 2024 (AFP) – G20 nations broadly back a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East, host Brazil said Thursday after a meeting of top diplomats, adding to pressure on Israel to accept an independent Palestinian state. The message from the meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Rio de Janeiro came a day after Israel’s parliament overwhelmingly voted for a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin […]

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Bloodstained clothes in bin trigger search for missing Australian TV host

The chance discovery of bloodied clothes in a suburban rubbish bin has sparked a high-profile police search in Australia, after the suspicious disappearance of a TV presenter and his boyfriend. Police launched an investigation earlier this week after a member of the public stumbled across possessions belonging to the couple in a large bin on Sydney’s southern outskirts. The grisly find, which included a pile of blood-stained clothes, led detectives to the home of former […]

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UN: Myanmar junta ‘doubles down’ on civilian attacks as forced military recruitment begins

Myanmar’s ruling military junta has “doubled down” on civilian attacks while showing signs of becoming “increasingly desperate” by imposing military service, the UN special rapporteur on the country said Wednesday. Earlier this month, the military said it would enforce a law allowing it to call up all men aged 18-35 and women aged 18-27 to serve for at least two years, as it struggles to quell opposition to its 2021 coup. “While wounded and increasingly […]

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‘Zombie’ blazes and drought: Canada headed for another brutal fire season

By Marion THIBAUT MONTREAL, Feb 23, 2024 (AFP) – Beneath the ground in Western Canada, dozens of so-called “zombie fires” that started last year are still burning. And even though it’s the dead of winter, the lack of snow this year is compounding ongoing drought conditions, leaving Canadians already bracing for another brutal forest fire season. “We are having an exceptional winter after an exceptional summer,” laments Josee St-Onge, a spokesperson for Alberta firefighters. It’s […]

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“They’re blackmailing me”: Kremlin pressures Navalny’s mother for “secret burial”

The mother of Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s main opponent who died in an Arctic prison last week, said Thursday officials are pressuring her into a “secret” burial for her son. Lyudmila Navalnaya said she had been shown his body in the morgue in Salekhard, the nearest town to the remote prison, after several days of being barred from seeing her son. “Yesterday evening they secretly took me to the morgue where they showed […]

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4 dead as fire engulfs residential block in Spain’s Valencia

VALENCIA, Spain, Feb 23, 2024 (AFP) – At least four people have died in a huge fire that gutted a multi-storey apartment block in Spain’s eastern port city of Valencia, with another 14 people injured. The toll could rise, with 19 people missing, a source on the city council who asked not to be named told AFP. The fire began around 5:30 pm on Thursday on the fourth floor and spread rapidly, witnesses and the […]

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