Makati Mayor Abigail Binay has been appointed as a member of the United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments, making her the only Philippine mayor in the assembly. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underscored the importance of the Advisory Group in strengthening the engagement of local and …
Read More »Hontiveros to ERC: Probe NGCP claim
Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday urged the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to investigate and verify claims made by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) that it is spending P8.7 billion on janitorial and security services. The NGCP earlier said the budget is being used for 583 facilities, each …
Read More »DFA puts Gaza on Alert Level 3
Rest of Israel under Alert 2; Movement, deployment of Filipinos still suspended The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday put Gaza under crisis alert level 3, which calls for voluntary repatriation of Filipinos there, as heavy Israeli bombardments continued to hit the Palestinian enclave. Foreign Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega …
Read More »Magnitude 5.0 earthquake rattles Batangas
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake took place on Friday morning in Batangas province, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs). Phivolcs director Teresito “Toto” Bacolcol said the tremor happened around 8:24 a.m. some five kilometers southwest of Calaca, also in the same province. Tectonic in origin, the quake …
Read More »Get out of Gaza City now, Israel’s military tells Palestinians
Israel’s military delivered sweeping evacuation orders for almost half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people Friday ahead of a feared ground offensive aiming at eradicating the Hamas militant group after its grisly assault into Israel, UN officials say. UN says Israel wants 1.1 million people living in the north of Gaza …
Read More »Evacuations from Israel underway as military shuttles Canadians to Greece
Canadian military flights evacuating citizens, permanent residents and their families from Israel began Thursday, says Defence Minister Bill Blair. Four Canadians are now reported to be missing, senior officials say. Canadian flights evacuating citizens, permanent residents and their families from Israel began Thursday with two military planes carrying people from …
Read More »Republican Steve Scalise drops out of U.S. Speaker race, leaving House in deeper chaos
Representative Steve Scalise, whom Republicans nominated to be the next Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, dropped out of the race on Thursday as the party failed to resolve its divisions, prolonging the leadership crisis in the chamber. Small number of Republican hardline holdouts refuse to back their party’s …
Read More »Ottawa woman, 97, charged with historical sexual assaults at residential, day schools
WARNING: This story contains distressing details. Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have laid three gross indecency charges against a 97-year-old Ottawa woman, alleging she was involved in sexual assaults in the 1960s and 1970s in northern Ontario residential and day schools. The accused, Francoise Seguin, was a nun with the Sisters …
Read More »Relatives describe panic, last goodbyes as they tried to stay in contact with those under attack by Hamas
Five days after Hamas militants stormed several Israeli communities, killing hundreds of civilians and soldiers, families of those who are believed to have been abducted in the attack say they are struggling to get information about their relatives and fear for their safety as Israeli blankets Gaza with retaliatory airstrikes. …
Read More »World Bank needs to get ‘better,’ ‘bigger’
MARRAKESH, Morocco: The World Bank’s new president, Ajay Banga, said on Wednesday that the global lender must become “better” and “bigger” to boost its capacity to help developing countries battle climate change, poverty and pandemics. Banga, who was appointed in June, made his plea at the annual meetings of the …
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