Other News

The Foreign Service Institute and the ASEAN Community

The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and was formally established under Presidential Decree 1060 on 9 December 1976. With the Promulgation of Republic Act (RA) 7157, or the Philippine Foreign Service Act of 1991, the mandate of the institute was revitalized and expanded. “The institute, through its academic, training, research, information, publication, systems development and other programs, shall serve as the center for the development and professionalization of […]

Continue Reading →

NBA: Warriors rip Cavaliers in Finals opener

by Jim SLATER OAKLAND, United States (AFP) — Defending champion Golden State, showing the teamwork and depth that helped produce a record 73 regular-season wins, routed the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-89 in Thursday’s opening game of the NBA Finals. Game two in the best-of-seven series will be played Sunday at Oakland before the scene shifts to Cleveland for two games. Warriors reserve guard Shaun Livingston scored a season-best 20 points, his career playoff high, while Draymond […]

Continue Reading →

Prince death ruled a painkiller overdose

  by Shaun Tandon NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Prince died from an accidental overdose of painkillers, autopsy results showed Thursday, confirming the pop icon as the highest-profile victim of the US epidemic of opioid abuse. Ending weeks of speculation, a medical examiner in Prince’s native Minnesota ruled the 57-year-old’s April 21 death an “accident” caused by self-administration of fentanyl, a powerful opioid used to treat severe pain. The medical examiner’s office, as is customary, […]

Continue Reading →

Obama’s tango partner sets new world record

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — An Argentine tango dancer who made headlines for a sultry dance with US President Barack Obama has set a Guinness world record for tangoing on a platform suspended 60 meters (200 feet) in the air. Perched at eye level with the downtown Buenos Aires skyline, Mora Godoy took a whirl on a platform hanging mid-air beside the Argentine capital’s famed Obelisk monument, setting a new record for tango dancing at […]

Continue Reading →

Chinese giant panda gives birth in Belgium

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — A giant panda on loan to Belgium from China has given birth to a cub, a rare event for the endangered species, the Pairi Daiza zoo said Thursday. The zoo and the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda “have the great pleasures to announce the birth of a panda cub”, Pairi Daiza said in a statement. “Less than 2,000 pandas can be found in the wild, making every […]

Continue Reading →

Seven-year-old boy missing in Japan forest found alive: officials

by Shingo Ito and Kyoko Hasegawa TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A seven-year-old boy missing since being abandoned in a bear-inhabited forest in northern Japan as a punishment nearly a week ago was found alive on Friday and reunited with his parents, officials said. The boy, apparently unharmed and in good health, was discovered at a military base. Reports said he had taken shelter in a hut and found a tap to drink from but was hungry […]

Continue Reading →

Most Asian markets up after Wall St gains, eyes on US jobs

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Stocks mostly rose in Asia Friday following a strong lead from New York, while optimism about a US jobs report later in the day pushed the dollar up against the yen and euro. The upbeat outlook was also evident in oil markets, where prices held around the $50 mark as OPEC’s refusal to cap output was offset by a fall in US stockpiles. With the start of June proving to be […]

Continue Reading →

Clinton says Trump dangerous, unfit to be commander in chief

SAN DIEGO, United States (AFP) — US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton tore into her likely election rival Donald Trump as never before Thursday, saying his foreign policy is dangerously incoherent and labeling him unfit for office. “He is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility,” Clinton said, cranking up the rhetoric in what is already a deeply acrimonious election. “This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear […]

Continue Reading →

Katy Perry visits Vietnam as UNICEF Ambassador

POP singer Katy Perry visited the rural Ninh Thuan province in Vietnam as part of her role as Unicef goodwill ambassador. The singer visited various Unicef-backed institutions and rural villages to highlight the plight of children affected by exclusion or poverty in the region. According to the Unicef press release, in some regions of Ninh Thuan, 20 percent of children don’t go to school and around half of children live in poverty. 15 per cent […]

Continue Reading →

Pop power couple Taylor Swift, Calvin Harris break up

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Two of the biggest names in music, Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris, have called it quits — and are trying to be amicable. A day after gossip sites reported their breakup, Harris tweeted Thursday: “The only truth here is that a relationship came to an end & what remains is a huge amount of love and respect.” In the social media version of confirmation, Swift — who with nearly […]

Continue Reading →

N. Korea accuses South of abducting more restaurant staff

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea has again accused the South of “premeditated” abduction, following the latest defection of North Korean staff working at a Pyongyang-run restaurant in China. The three North Koreans arrived in Seoul on Wednesday — the second such group defection this year after a dozen employees of another restaurant in China defected to the South in April. “This incident, too, was the organised and premeditated abduction by gangsters of the […]

Continue Reading →

Obama lauds US military as history’s greatest, but is it true?

by Andrew BEATTY WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Like many patriotic, flag-pin wearing American politicians before him, President Barack Obama told US military personnel on Thursday that they are part of “the greatest military in the history of the world.” We asked military historians whether his common refrain is true, and if it matters: “It matters a great deal to the cadets and officers and their families and the veterans we honored Monday (on Memorial […]

Continue Reading →
1 … 6,018 6,019 6,020 6,021 6,022 … 7,408