Other News

Saudi says it is ‘committed’ to oil market stability

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia is committed to stabilizing the global oil market, the energy ministry of the world’s biggest oil exporter said on Tuesday, as prices fell below $48 a barrel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC countries last year pledged to reduce output by around 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) as part of a concerted effort to curb a global oil glut. Saudi Arabia “is committed and […]

Headphone batteries explode during flight to Australia

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A woman suffered burns to her face and hands after her headphones caught fire during a flight to Australia, officials said Wednesday as they warned about the dangers of battery-operated devices on planes. The passenger was listening to music on her own battery-operated headphones as she dozed on the flight from Beijing to Melbourne on February 19 when there was a loud explosion. “As I went to turn around I felt […]

Curbing pollution can prevent 3 million Chinese deaths a year: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — China can avoid three million premature deaths each year if it slashes a type of fine-particle air pollution to United Nations-recommended levels, a study said Wednesday. The average daily particle concentration in 38 of China’s largest cities between January 2010 and June 2013 was about 93 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3) of air, researchers reported in The BMJ medical journal. This was way over the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of […]

Over 800 health workers killed in Syrian ‘war crimes’: report

by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — More than 800 health workers have died in “acts of war crimes” in Syria since 2011, in hospital bombings, shootings, torture and executions perpetrated mainly by government-backed forces, researchers said Wednesday. The Syrian government and its ally, Russia, have turned the violent withholding of healthcare into a weapon of war, according to an analysis published in The Lancet medical journal. This “weaponization” of healthcare, […]

Down’s woman presents weather on French television

PARIS, France (AFP) — Melanie Segard, a 21-year-old woman with Down’s Syndrome, broke new ground for the disabled on Tuesday by presenting the weather forecast on French national TV. Segard provided a summary of the weekend weather on France 2, achieving a personal goal that she hopes will also boost awareness for people with Down’s. She soared to prominence after an advocacy group, UNAPEI, launched an awareness campaign ahead of World Down’s Syndrome Day on […]

Erdogan angers Dutch with Srebrenica jibe

  by Raziye Akkoc with Stuart Williams in Istanbul ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan prompted a fresh outcry in The Netherlands on Tuesday with a jibe about the Srebrenica massacre, warning of retaliation in a spiraling diplomatic crisis. Keeping an uncompromising tone in a tumultuous dispute that risks wrecking the entire Ankara-Amsterdam relationship, Erdogan said a ‘yes’ vote in a April 16 referendum on expanding his powers would be the best […]

Woman in 2001 Israel pizza shop bombing on FBI ‘Most Wanted’ list

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) –The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation placed a Jordanian woman who assisted in the 2001 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem pizza parlor on its “Most Wanted Terrorist” list on Tuesday. The Justice Department unveiled charges against Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi, who was jailed in Israel for eight years in the attack that killed 15, before gaining release in an Israeli prisoner swap with Hamas in 2011. US authorities had hoped […]

Nepal police demolish camp for earthquake displaced

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) – Nepal police Tuesday demolished the largest remaining settlement of people displaced by a powerful earthquake that struck nearly two years ago, a move that will leave hundreds homeless. Around 100 families were still living in the camp in Kathmandu when police wearing riot gear used bulldozers to flatten the bamboo and tarpaulin structures. “The gods will curse the government. We don’t have our home and can’t rent a room from our […]

Scotland sows confusion in May’s grand Brexit plan

by Dario THUBURN Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom – Scotland’s plans for a second independence referendum have wrong-footed Prime Minister Theresa May, who could now be forced into giving the go-ahead for the vote — but only after Brexit. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s bombshell announcement on Monday came at the start of a week in which May had been expected to announce the start of the process for extracting Britain from the EU. Downing […]

Reso on Paris Agreement approved on final reading in Senate

(Eagle News) — Senators on Tuesday posed no objections to the ratification of the Paris Agreement, with all 22 senators present concurring. “I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to my colleagues’ unanimous support on this historic day of the Senate’s concurrence in the accession to the Paris Agreement,” Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on climate change, said. She said the country’s accession to the Paris Agreement “strengthens its role in climate […]

SC justice: De Lima camp’s petition before High Court ‘premature’

(Eagle News) — A Supreme Court associate justice said Senator Leila de Lima’s lawyers going to the High Court to question the legality of her arrest was premature. During oral arguments on Tuesday,  Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. said that De Lima’s camp “was bypassing the (Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court)” where they had filed a motion to quash, after she filed the petition contesting her February arrest before the SC. “Precisely, you are banking on the resolution of the RTC Muntinlupa […]

PDP-Laban members now triple in size as party holds mass oath-taking of new members

(Eagle News) — Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Sunday, March 12, said that his political party had grown three times its size. Pimentel made the pronouncement as he led the oath-taking of the new Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-LABAN) members during the celebration of its 35th anniversary at the Philippine International Convention Center. Among those who were sworn in were Cabinet members, congressmen, governors and mayors including former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos […]