Other News

US clears key hurdle in race to avert government shutdown

By Frankie TAGGART WASHINGTON, Nov 14, 2023 (AFP) – US lawmakers on Tuesday approved a stop-gap bill to keep the government open as its funding runs out, greatly reducing the threat of a painful shutdown that would leave government workers without pay over Thanksgiving and Congress unable to address urgent crises in Ukraine and Israel. With the US Capitol paralyzed by infighting for much of its latest session, neither the Democratic-led Senate nor the Republican […]

President Bongbong Marcos arrives in US for APEC Summit

(Eagle News)–President Bongbong Marcos has arrived in the US, where he is set to attend the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Leaders’ Summit and other events. The President arrived at 5:06 p.m. (9:06 a.m. Manila time) at the San Francisco International Airport. He was accompanied by First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos. In his message before leaving for San Francisco, President Marcos said that his third visit to the US was upon the invitation of President Joe Biden. “This […]

Heat projected to kill nearly five times more people by 2050

By Daniel Lawler Nearly five times more people will likely die due to extreme heat in the coming decades, an international team of experts warned on Wednesday, adding that without action on climate change the “health of humanity is at grave risk”. Lethal heat was just one of the many ways the world’s still-increasing use of fossil fuels threatens human health, according to The Lancet Countdown, a major annual assessment carried out by leading researchers […]

Hamas has command center at Gaza hospital: White House

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 14, 2023 (AFP) – Palestinian militants have a command center at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, the White House said Tuesday, backing up a key Israeli justification for military moves on the facility. Hamas and Islamic Jihad operate a “command and control node from Al-Shifa in Gaza City,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, citing US intelligence sources. “We have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad use some hospitals […]

Israel says carrying out ‘operation’ in Gaza’s main hospital

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Nov 15, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli forces said on Wednesday that they were carrying out an operation in Gaza’s largest hospital, targeting a suspected Hamas command centre located below thousands of ailing and sheltering civilians. After warnings from the United States and others that the Al-Shifa hospital must be protected, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in the early hours that they had entered the compound in Gaza City. “Based on […]

Japanese economy shrinks 0.5 percent in third quarter

By Tomohiro OSAKI TOKYO, Nov 15, 2023 (AFP) – Japan’s economy contracted by a worse-than-expected 0.5 percent in the third quarter, government data showed Wednesday, in a further blow to struggling Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The shrinking of the world’s number three economy, following two consecutive quarters of growth, was worse than the market consensus of a 0.1 percent contraction. Private demand, including private residential and corporate investment, was down 0.6 percent. Exports grew just […]

Blinken calls for free choice of partners in veiled criticism of China

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 14, 2023 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Tuesday for Pacific Rim nations to be free to choose their own partners, a veiled criticism of China on the eve of a presidential summit. Blinken, addressing ministers from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in San Francisco, quoted a 2020 statement of the group that called for an “open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community.” “The United States believes […]

Xi, Biden arrive for key San Francisco summit

By Huw GRIFFITH SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 15, 2023 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday on the eve of an eagerly awaited meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies. The pair will huddle on the sidelines of the APEC summit in California for their first encounter in a year as trade tensions, sanctions and the question of Taiwan have fueled quarrels […]

Israel shows ‘evidence’ Hamas held hostages at hospital

JERUSALEM, Nov 14, 2023 (AFP) – Israel’s army cited a discarded baby bottle, makeshift toilet and bullet-scarred motorbike as evidence Hamas held hostages in a Gaza hospital, as an Israeli soldier was declared killed in captivity Tuesday. On Monday evening, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops “found signs that indicate that Hamas held hostages” in the basement of Al-Rantisi children’s hospital in Gaza City. AFP was not able to independently confirm the allegation, and Hamas […]

Gaza’s embattled main hospital buries patients in mass grave

By Adel Zaanoun with Joe Stenson in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Nov 14, 2023 (AFP) – Gaza’s main hospital has been forced to bury scores of dead patients in a mass grave, its director said Tuesday, as US President Joe Biden pressed Israel to protect the complex trapped in fierce combat. Israeli forces were at the gates of the sprawling Al-Shifa hospital they say sits atop an underground Hamas command base, but the militants […]

Thousands flee to India amid intense fighting in Myanmar

NEW DELHI, Nov 14, 2023 (AFP) – More than 2,000 people fleeing Myanmar have crossed into neighbouring northeastern India as an offensive against the military widens, Indian media reported Tuesday. The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported more than 2,000 Myanmar citizens from western Chin state had crossed into India’s Mizoram state since Monday, with at least 17 people taken to hospital for their wounds. Almost 50,000 people have been displaced by fighting […]

Nearly 200 Rohingya refugees land in Indonesia: official

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Nov 14, 2023 (AFP) – Nearly 200 Rohingya refugees, including many women and children, landed in Indonesia’s westernmost province on Tuesday, a local official said, the largest contingent of the persecuted Myanmar minority to arrive in months. Thousands of the mostly Muslim Rohingya risk their lives each year on long and expensive sea journeys, often in flimsy boats, to try to reach Malaysia or Indonesia. The group of 196 landed Tuesday morning […]