Other News

President Bongbong Marcos witnesses loan agreement signing for Davao Public Transport Modernization Project

(Eagle News)–President Bongbong Marcos witnessed on Saturday, July 1, the loan agreement signing for the Davao Public Transport Modernization Project on Saturday, July 1. The signing at the Acacia Hotel in Agdao, Davao City, was between the Philippine Government and the Asian Development Bank. Segment A of the Davao City Coastal Bypass Project that covers the coastal lines of Bago Aplaya – Times Beach Section (Talomo – Matina) was specifically inaugurated as part of what […]

PAGASA: Southwest monsoon affecting western sections of Northern, Central Luzon

(Eagle News)–The southwest monsoon is affecting the western sections of Northern and Central Luzon. The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said, as a result, Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms. Flashfloods or landslides during severe thunderstorms are possible. According to PAGASA, the entire country will have light to moderate winds and slight to moderate coastal waters.

Mayon update: 254 rockfall events monitored in last 24 hours

(Eagle News)–Almost 300 rockfall events were monitored in Mayon in the last 24 hours. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said apart from the 254 rockfall events, also monitored were 17 dome-collapse pyroclastic density current events. Lava flow reaching 2.23 kilometers and 1.3 kilometers long was also detected along Mi-si and Bonga gullies. Lava collapse on both gullies within 3.3 kilometers and four kilometers along Basud gully from the crater was also detected. Sulfur […]

As prices soar, Japan returns to human waste fertiliser

MIURA, Japan, June 30, 2023 (AFP) – It’s cheap, recycled, and has centuries of tradition: “shimogoe” or “fertiliser from a person’s bottom” is finding new favour in Japan as Ukraine’s war hikes the price of chemical alternatives. As in several parts of the world, the use of “night soil” to fertilise crops was once common in Japan. However, the advent of sewage systems and treatment facilities, as well as chemical fertilisers, saw it fall out […]

Smog and extreme heat, an unsafe combo for Texans

By Moisés ÁVILA Agence France-Presse HOUSTON, June 30, 2023 (AFP) — Extreme temperatures have combined with habitual smog in Houston for more than two weeks, and Erandi Trevino feels the hazardous combination in her body. “It burns my face. I feel it in my nostrils,” Trevino says. The heat wave sprawling across the southern United States has lasted since June 14, and the sultry air and humidity make for temperatures that feel like they are […]

Google to block local news in Canada in response to media law

OTTAWA, June 29, 2023 (AFP) — Google on Thursday became the latest Silicon Valley giant to block Canadian users from seeing local news on its platform after Ottawa passed a bill requiring tech companies to pay for such content. The Online News Act became law last week, aiming to support a struggling Canadian news sector that has seen hundreds of publications close in the last decade. It requires digital giants to make fair commercial deals […]

Policeman who killed French teen says ‘sorry’ to the family: lawyer

NANTERRE, France, June 29, 2023 (AFP) – The policeman who killed a French teenager in a Paris suburb on Tuesday, sparking violent protests across the country, has apologised to the family while in custody, his lawyer said. “The first words he pronounced were to say sorry and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family,” Laurent-Franck Lienard told BFMTV late Thursday. “He is devastated, he doesn’t get up in the morning […]

Police brace for more violent protests over French teen’s killing

PARIS, June 29, 2023 (AFP) – French police braced for more violent protests Thursday over the fatal shooting of a teen by a policeman that has left authorities scrambling to contain an escalating crisis. According to an internal security note, the coming nights are expected “to be the theatre of urban violence” with “actions targeted at the forces of order and the symbols of the state”, a police source said. One Paris suburb, Clamart, has […]

Extreme heat kills more than 100 in Mexico: government

MEXICO CITY, June 29, 2023 (AFP) — More than 100 people have died due to extreme heat in Mexico in June, the government said, following a series of heatwaves in the Latin American nation. Scientists say global warming is exacerbating adverse weather, with many countries experiencing record high temperatures. Over 1,000 heat-related emergencies were reported in Mexico between June 12 and 25, of which 104 resulted in deaths, according to health ministry figures released on […]

Geneva airport strike to ground flights Friday

  GENEVA, June 29, 2023 (AFP) – Flights at Geneva’s international airport will be grounded for four hours on Friday morning due to a workers’ strike, affecting thousands of passengers at the start of summer travel season. The strike was called after the airport’s board approved on Thursday a new wage policy contested by staff. There will be no flights between 6:00 am and 10:00 am (0400 GMT and 0800 GMT), affecting some 8,000 passengers, […]

France braces for new protests as anger grows over police killing

PARIS, June 29, 2023 (AFP) – France on Thursday ordered the mobilisation of tens of thousands of police to prevent a further escalation of violence after two nights of clashes over the killing of a teenager by a policeman. Cars and bins were torched in parts of the country, while some 150 people were arrested nationwide following clashes and unrest that included a tramway’s carriages being alight in a Paris suburb. France has been hit […]

EU fears ‘weaker Putin’

BRUSSELS, June 29, 2023 (AFP) – The EU warned Thursday that Russia has become unstable and more dangerous following the brief mutiny by its Wagner mercenaries that exposed President Vladimir Putin as weaker than previously thought. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the “aftershocks” of the Wagner rebellion were still playing out. “A weaker Putin is a greater danger,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said as he arrived for a Brussels summit. […]