Other News

President Biden calls Russian leader a ‘crazy SOB’

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 22, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a “crazy SOB” at a public fundraising event Wednesday, which the Kremlin decried as “shameful”. The 81-year-old leader has regularly had harsh words for Putin since Moscow’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine two years ago, including calling him a “butcher” and a “war criminal.” And on Wednesday he was no less direct. “We have a crazy SOB like that […]

Reeling from Navalny’s death, Russian opposition vows to fight on

By Andrea PALASCIANO BERLIN, Feb 22, 2024 (AFP) – After the shock of Alexei Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison, Russian dissidents in exile are vowing to pick up the pieces and press on with their battle against President Vladimir Putin’s rule. “Of course we will cry in our bedrooms and bathrooms but publicly we’ll definitely continue fighting against the regime with all our methods,” Evgeny Nasyrov, coordinator of the Free Navalny campaign in Germany, […]

US charges yakuza gang leader over conspiring to sell nuclear material

NEW YORK, Feb 21, 2024 (AFP) – US authorities said Wednesday they had charged a member of the Japanese yakuza criminal underworld with handling nuclear material sourced from Myanmar and seeking to sell it to fund an illicit arms deal. According to a superseding indictment unsealed in a Manhattan court, yakuza leader Takeshi Ebisawa and co-defendant Somphop Singhasiri had previously been charged in April 2022 with drug trafficking and firearms offenses, and both were remanded. […]

PBBM congratulates Indonesia’s Prabowo

(Eagle News)–President Bongbong Marcos on Thursday, Feb. 22, congratulated Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, who is expected to win his country’s presidential elections. According to the Presidential Communications Office, in a phone call with Indonesia’s presumptive leader, President Marcos also affirmed that the Philippines and Indonesia have a lot in common, noting their over 70 years of bilateral ties which were formally established on November 24, 1949. President Marcos said the Philippines is willing to […]

DMW unveils plan to file separate civil action over Jullebee Ranara killing

(Eagle News)–The Department of Migrant Workers has revealed plans to file a separate civil action against the camp of the Kuwaiti convicted of the murder of Overseas Filipino Worker Jullebee Ranara. Officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac made the revelation after Kuwait’s Appeal Court upheld the guilty verdict and 16-year imprisonment previously meted out against the then-17-year-old son of Ranara’s employer by a lower court. Of the 16 years of imprisonment imposed on him, one year was […]

Boeing 737 MAX program chief departs months after Alaska Airlines’ mid-air scare

NEW YORK, Feb 21, 2024 (AFP) – Boeing announced Wednesday that the head of its 737 MAX program is departing the aviation giant less than two months after a major safety incident temporarily grounded 171 planes. Ed Clark, an 18-year Boeing veteran is “leaving the program,” Boeing Commercial Aviation (BCA) chief Stan Deal said in a memo released by the company. Katie Ringgold has been named as his replacement. The move comes after a 737 […]

Mauritius grounds flights as it braces for tropical storm Eleanor

PORT LOUIS, Mauritius, Feb 22, 2024 (AFP) – Mauritius grounded flights and shut schools as a strong tropical storm approached the Indian Ocean island on Thursday, the meteorological services said. Storm Eleanor was about 200 kilometres (125 miles) northeast of the nation at 4:00 am (0000 GMT) and was moving at a speed of 20 kilometres an hour, the weather service said. “The wind will initially blow from the south-east at a speed of around […]

Massive leak exposes Chinese firm’s hacking of foreign governments, activists – analysts

By Oliver Hotham with Jing Xuan Teng in Shanghai BEIJING, Feb 22, 2024 (AFP) – A Chinese tech security firm was able to breach foreign governments, infiltrate social media accounts and hack personal computers, a massive data leak analysed by experts this week revealed. The trove of documents from I-Soon, a private company that competed for Chinese government contracts, shows that its hackers compromised more than a dozen governments, according to cybersecurity firms SentinelLabs and […]

Blinken rejects Lula’s comparison of Gaza conflict to genocide

BRASÍLIA, Feb 21, 2024 (AFP) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken told President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that the United States disagrees with controversial remarks by the Brazilian leader comparing Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Holocaust, a US official said Wednesday. Blinken “made clear we disagree with those comments” in a more than 90-minute meeting with Lula, a senior State Department official told journalists, saying the pair had a “frank exchange” during the […]

Elton John items fetch $8 million at New York auction

NEW YORK, Feb 22, 2024 (AFP) – Nearly $100,000 for Elton John’s monogrammed silver boots and around $2 million for a triptych by street artist Banksy from his collection: the music icon’s personal items brought in almost $8 million at auction Wednesday in New York. Christie’s auction house is running a series of eight sales, both in person and online, through February 28 for the collection of the 76-year-old’s belongings, including an ivory and gold […]

Two dead, three missing after cargo ship hits bridge in China

  BEIJING, Feb 22, 2024 (AFP) – Two people were killed and three others remained missing after an empty cargo ship struck a bridge in southern China on Thursday, causing part of it to collapse, authorities and state media reported. The Guangzhou maritime affairs bureau said the collision sent five vehicles, including a motorbike, tumbling off the bridge and either into the water or onto the ship below. The container vessel was travelling between the […]

Vietjet inks deal for 20 Airbus A330-900s, modernizing fleet and expanding network

SINGAPORE, Feb 22, 2024 (AFP) – European aviation giant Airbus said Thursday that Vietnamese airline Vietjet Air has agreed to buy 20 of its A330-900 planes. Vietjet signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus for the widebody aircraft, which will replace its current fleet of leased A330-300 planes, Airbus said in a statement. “We are excited to work with Vietjet on the next phase of the carrier’s expansion,” said Christian Scherer, chief executive of Airbus’s […]