Other News

Trump ‘deeply saddened’ by shooting at congressional baseball practice

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump voiced sadness Wednesday after a shooting at a baseball practice in a Washington suburb left a top congressman and several other people wounded. “We are deeply saddened by this tragedy,” Trump said in a statement, adding that he was closely monitoring the developments in Alexandria, Virginia just outside the United States capital, where police have arrested the unidentified gunman. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the members […]

“Staggering” civilian deaths from U.S.-led air strikes in Raqqa, U.N. says

GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) — Intensified coalition air strikes supporting an assault by U.S.-backed forces on Islamic State’s stronghold of Raqqa in Syria are causing a “staggering loss of civilian life”, United Nations war crimes investigators said on Wednesday (June 14). The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of Kurdish and Arab militias supported by a U.S.-led coalition, began to attack Raqqa a week ago to take it from the jihadists. The SDF, supported by heavy […]

Senior US congressman shot at Virginia baseball practice: lawmaker

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Senior Republican Congressman Steve Scalise was among several victims shot and wounded at a baseball practice ahead of an annual game between lawmakers in a Washington suburb, one of his colleagues said Thursday. Fellow Republican lawmaker Mo Brooks told CNN that Scalise was shot in the hip, adding that at least two law enforcement officers and one congressional staffer were shot in Alexandria, Virginia. Scalise, the majority whip who rallies […]

China factory output rises in May but officials guarded

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Output by Chinese factories and workshops topped expectations in May, but officials warned on Wednesday of lingering “unstable and uncertain factors” at home and abroad. The reading on industrial production, a key engine of growth, comes as Beijing wrestles with huge debt and excess capacity left over from massive government-backed infrastructure spending at the height of the global financial crisis. There have been renewed concerns about the strength of the world’s […]

Embassy official says Filipinos affected by massive fire in West London apartment block

(Eagle News) — Many Filipinos were living in the apartment block in West London that was engulfed by a massive fire early Wednesday, killing at least six people. Consul General Senen Mangalile, who is based in the Philippine embassy in London, England, said they did not have an exact figure of Filipinos living in the 27-storey Grenfell Tower in the working-class north Kensington area, but that some of them who were in the evacuation centers for the fire […]

Night of horror in London as blaze traps tower dwellers

  by Alice Ritchie Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) People watched in horror as neighbours found themselves trapped or in desperation leapt to their doom as flames raced through the stricken Grenfell Tower. The last time Hanan Wahabi saw her brother was when he and his family waved to her from their home in an upper floor after she had safely left the blazing building. Wahabi, 39, who lives on the ninth floor […]

Several senators shrug off President Duterte’s absence from recent public engagements

“It’s no big deal,” Senator Panfilo Lacson says (Eagle News) — Several senators on Wednesday dismissed President Rodrigo Duterte’s continued absence from the public eye, with some of them saying he  was just “resting.” “No need to announce ‘the President is resting.’ What for? Hence, if there is no announcement that he is sick, why do we insist that he is sick? He is resting from the public eye! I see no issue at all,” Senate […]

UPDATED: At least 6 confirmed dead in London tower fire, at least 74 hospitalized

Six people were confirmed dead in a massive fire that engulfed a London tower block before dawn on Wednesday and the number is expected to rise, police said. “I can confirm six fatalities at this time but this figure is likely to rise during what will be a complex recovery operation over a number of days,” police commander Stuart Cundy said in a statement. London’s fire commissioner earlier said there have been some fatalities in the […]

Energy market seen as vulnerable to prolonged Gulf crisis

by Omar Hasan Agence France Presse KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (AFP) — While the Gulf’s bitter diplomatic crisis is unlikely to affect energy prices in the short term, a prolonged rift that disrupts Qatar’s gas supplies could send prices soaring, analysts say. With rising United States shale oil output driving a global supply glut, the decision by Saudi Arabia and its allies earlier this month to sever diplomatic ties with Qatar provided only a fleeting boost […]

‘A lot of people’ unaccounted for after tower blaze: London mayor

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — A lot of people” are still unaccounted for after a massive blaze in a London tower block, and fire crews only managed to reach the 12th floor at the height of the fire, mayor Sadiq Khan said on Wednesday. “A lot of people are unaccounted for. Some of them could have found safe refuges in the homes of their neighbours or their friends,” Khan told Sky News television as smoke […]