WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh rejected Monday fresh accusations of sexual assault when he was young and said he would not withdraw from consideration for the high court. “These are smears, pure and simple,” he said in a statement. “I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process.” He charged the allegations that he assaulted women more than three decades ago were part of an unfounded […]
Other News
K-Pop stars at UN urge world’s youth to ‘just speak yourself’
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — K-Pop sensation BTS brought their star power to the United Nations on Monday, telling the world’s youth to listen to their inner voice and resist pressure to conform. “No matter who you are, where you’re from, your skin color, your gender identity, just speak yourself,” group leader Kim Namjoon told a packed hall at the launch of a UNICEF youth campaign. Dubbed “Generation Unlimited”, the campaign to promote education, […]
US gives $185 million in aid for Myanmar Rohingya
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The United States pledged $185 million Monday to help Rohingya refugees who fled an army crackdown in Myanmar last year and are sheltering in camps in Bangladesh. US Ambassador Nikki Haley announced the new funding for food, water, health care and other critical aid during a ministerial meeting on the crisis in Myanmar, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. The UN, along […]
LeBron warns ‘long way’ before Lakers challenge Golden State
by Rob Woollard Agence France Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — LeBron James warned Los Angeles Lakers fans not to expect an immediate challenge to the dominance of the Golden State Warriors as the NBA superstar addressed the media for the first time here Monday. The 33-year-old four-time NBA MVP joined the Lakers in July on a four-year $154 million deal which was sealed just weeks after his Cleveland Cavaliers were beaten by the […]
Implant helps paralyzed man walk again
by Patrick Galey Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Five years after he was paralyzed in a snowmobile accident, a man in the US has learned to walk again aided by an electrical implant, in a potential breakthrough for spinal injury sufferers. A team of doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota say the man, using a front-wheeled walker, was able to cover the equivalent of the length of a football pitch, issuing […]
BPI awards grants to social entrepreneurs in Sinag Accelerate challenge
Caesar Vallejos, Eagle News Service Ten new social enterprises with innovative ideas that help uplift Filipino communities have been awarded by the Bank of the Philippine Islands through the BPI Foundation’s Sinag Accelerate platform with P100K to P500K grants at the Sinag Awards 2018 held at the Ayala Banquet Hall of the Makati Sports Club last September 21, 2018. Maricris L. San Diego, executive director of BPI Foundation said that the program, now on its […]
7 Filipinos among 12 crew members kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria
(Eagle News) — Twelve crew members of a Swiss cargo vessel, including seven Filipino members, were kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria on Saturday. The incident happened 45 nautical miles from Bonny Island in Niger Delta which was confirmed by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). Aside from the seven Filipinos, the five others who were kidnapped were from Slovenia, Ukraine, Romania, Croatia and Bosnia. Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano […]
Relief as Maldives strongman concedes defeat
by Amal Jayasinghe Agence France Presse COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — The strongman leader of the Maldives on Monday conceded defeat in the presidential election, easing fears of a fresh political crisis in the archipelago at the centre of a battle for influence between India and China. “The Maldivian people have decided what they want. I have accepted the results from yesterday,” President Abdulla Yameen said in a televised address to the Indian Ocean […]
Asian markets fall on new trade worries in thinned business
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong led a sell-off in Asian markets during holiday-thinned business Monday as trade tensions burst back on the scene with China and the US swapping fresh tariffs and reports saying Beijing pulled out of planned talks. The recent optimism in the US economy that saw equities rack up healthy gains over the past two weeks was replaced by fresh concerns about the impact of a standoff between the world’s […]
Solo yachtsman stranded at sea rescued: Indian navy
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — A solo Indian yachtsman trapped in his bunk by a serious back injury thousands of kilometers (miles) from land was rescued Monday, an Indian navy official said. Abhilash Tomy, a competitor in the Golden Globe round-the-world race, was badly injured when his vessel was damaged in a storm on Friday 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) from western Australia. Race organizers said the 39-year-old Indian navy commander had been “incapacitated on his […]
Sumatran elephant ‘poisoned’ in Indonesia palm plantation
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP)- A critically endangered elephant has been found dead in a palm oil plantation on Indonesia’s Sumatra island in what is suspected to be a deliberate poisoning, an official said Friday. The 10-year-old female Sumatran elephant was found in Jambo Reuhat village in North Aceh on Thursday — the third of its species to be found dead of suspected poisoning in the same palm plantation since 2015. “We found fruits and a pouch with traces of powder inside the animal,” Aceh […]
Australia strawberry crisis now tastes a little sweeter for farmers
by Andrew BEATTY Agence France-Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s pins-in-punnets strawberry crisis prompted a spate of social-media driven hoaxes, but sites like Facebook and Twitter are also helping stir a revival in sales that has left some farmers struggling to meet resurgent demand. For almost two weeks, reports of pins and needles being found in fruit across Australia have delivered a gut punch to industry, set grocery-shoppers on edge and left police struggling to […]
