Philippine News

AMMAN, Jordan, May 16 ------ Yemen's internationally recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthis reached a deal to free over 1,600 detainees in the largest swap during Yemen's 11-year civil war. The deal was signed in Amman, Jordan, after 14 weeks of negotiations, with U.N. officials and the International Committee of the Red Cross present as observers. Abdelkader al-Murtada, the Houthi head of the National Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, who was involved in the talks

WASHINGTON, May 16 ------ A passenger who was aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius and initially tested "mildly positive" for hantavirus has now tested negative for the rare disease, a spokesperson told AFP. Thomas Kayla -- a media coordinator at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where 16 patients who were on the ship are being monitored -- said, "both tests were negative by PCR and serology." The asymptomatic patient was initially being monitored in a biocontainment un

NEW DELHI, May 15 ------ Foreign ministers from the BRICS nations began a two-day meeting in New Delhi as the expanding bloc faces divisions over the war in Iran, rising energy prices, and growing global economic uncertainty. The meeting brings together diplomats from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, along with newer member countries. It comes as the war in Iran has disrupted global energy supplies and driven up oil prices, and coincides with U.S. President Don

BEIJING, May 15 ------ United States President Donald Trump on Friday (May 15) said he hoped Washington's relationship with China would be "stronger and better than ever before", ahead of a second day of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Trump added in his Truth Social post that Xi had congratulated him on "so many tremendous successes", including the US' relationship with Venezuela, its job market, and its military. In his post, Trump also said that Xi had

May 15 ------ US President Donald Trump said that the end of Russia’s war against Ukraine is “very close,” expressing confidence that Moscow and Kyiv will reach a settlement. “The end of the war in Ukraine, I really think it’s getting very close,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a trip to China. Trump said he believes there will be a settlement between Russia and Ukraine, but did not provide details on the terms of any potential agreement or the status of

KYIV, May 15 ------ Russia carried out its largest aerial attack over a two-day period since the start of its war in Ukraine, pounding the capital Kyiv and other cities with hundreds of drones, Ukrainian officials said. Russia had launched 1,567 drones since the start of Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. At least 15 civilians have been killed over the two days, officials said. He said Moscow had launched more than 670 attack drones and 56 missiles overnight, and a

BANGKOK, May 14 ------ Thailand will cut the visa-free stay period for tourists from 93 countries from 60 days to 30 days to help prevent criminal activity, the foreign minister said. Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkaeow said on Tuesday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will submit a plan to the Cabinet for approval to reduce the visa-free stay period for foreign tourists in Thailand to 30 days from 60 days. He did not say when. Thailand has set a visa-free period for t

ROME, May 14 ------ Italy is testing biological samples from two people for possible hantavirus infection, an Argentine tourist hospitalized with pneumonia and a man from Calabria in voluntary isolation, the Health Ministry said. The Argentine tourist had left an endemic area back home on April 30 and traveled to Italy on a Buenos Aires-Rome flight before later going to Sicily, where she was hospitalized with pneumonia, the ministry said in a statement. Local health authoriti

KYIV, Ukraine, May 14 ------ Russia fired at least 800 drones in a massive daytime barrage on about 20 regions of Ukraine on Wednesday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, including children, in one of the longest attacks by Moscow in the 4-year-old war, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. The attack began in midmorning and lasted for hours in the capital of Kyiv, the western city of Lviv near Poland, and the port of Odesa on the Black Sea, among other population

WASHINGTON, May 14 ------ Supporters of a bill to aid Ukraine and sanction Russia reached a critical threshold that allows them to bypass Republican leadership and force a vote on the House floor in the coming weeks. The legislation seeks to cement U.S. assistance for Ukraine by approving more than $1 billion in security aid and making another $8 billion available in the form of loans. Supporters have been calling on President Donald Trump to act more forcefully to deter Russ

NEW YORK, May 13 ------ Equity indexes dipped as US inflation climbed while oil gained for a third straight day and the dollar rose as hopes faded for a deal to get ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz. In April, US consumer prices (CPI) rose sharply for a second straight month, resulting in the largest annual increase in inflation in nearly three years, bolstering expectations that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates unchanged for a while. The US war on Iran h

RIYADH/DUBAI, May 13 ------ Saudi Arabia launched numerous, unpublicized strikes on Iran in retaliation for attacks carried out in the kingdom during the Middle East war, two Western officials briefed on the matter, and two Iranian officials said. The attacks, launched by the Saudi Air Force, were assessed to have been carried out in late March, the two Western officials said. One said only that they were "tit-for-tat strikes in retaliation for when Saudi (Arabia) was hit." I

May 13 ------ The Kremlin said it was too early to discuss any concrete path to ending the war in Ukraine, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin claiming days earlier that the conflict was “coming to an end.” Speaking after Moscow’s scaled-down Victory Day parade on Red Square, Putin said the Ukraine war is “moving toward its end” but offered no details on what that would mean in practice. Asked about the remarks on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were

GOTLAND, Sweden, May 13 ------ The war game scenario was this: One of NATO’s newest members, Sweden, was under threat by an unnamed country that was building up troops along the military alliance’s eastern border. And in an unusual twist, non-NATO member Ukraine was there to advise on drone warfare — and delivered a critical warning to the alliance. The Associated Press was allowed to witness the Swedish-led military exercise this week as Europe faces not only the threat of R

WASHINGTON/DUBAI, May 12 ------ US President Donald Trump said that a ceasefire with Iran was “on life support” after Tehran’s response to a US proposal to end the war made clear the two sides were still far apart on a number of issues. Iran has called for an end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, where US ally Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Tehran also demanded compensation for war damage, an end to the US naval blockade, a guarantee of no furt

PARIS, France, May 12 ------ Here is a roundup of which countries have confirmed or probable cases of nationals infected by hantavirus after the outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Among living patients, seven cases have been confirmed, and an eighth is listed as "probable", according to the WHO, the UN health body, and certain national health authorities. In addition, three people have died, with two of those confirmed as

KYIV, May 12 ------ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that fighting with Russia was ongoing despite a three-day US-brokered ceasefire, accusing Russia of not wanting to end the four-year war. Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of violating the ceasefire, announced by US President Donald Trump, for over three days from May 9. "There was no silence at the front; there was fighting. We have recorded all of this," Zelensky said in his daily address in the f

KYIV, Ukraine, May 12 ------ A contemporary art fair has been held in the Ukrainian capital with an unusual premise: That art can help a society come to terms with what war has made normal. “Holding the event during wartime means not waiting for a better moment, but working with reality as it is,” said Anna Avetova, director of the Art Kyiv fair. “In this context, art does not stand apart from life – it helps make sense of the present, preserve cultural continuity, and lay th

May 11 ------ Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, said its first-quarter profit jumped 25% as the Iran war disrupted oil supplies and raised prices. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia-based Aramco said it successfully shifted some oil exports to a pipeline to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which has been disrupted by the war. On Sunday, the price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 2.58% to to $103.91 per barrel. That’s below its heights above $119 during the war, but it’s

DUBAI, May 11 ------ An Iranian proposal sent to the United States through mediator Pakistan stresses the need for an end to the war on all fronts and the lifting of sanctions on Tehran, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said, citing an informed source. The proposal emphasizes the necessity of lifting sanctions by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control on Iranian oil sales during a 30-day period and ending the naval blockade on Iran, Tasnim added. Tasnim also quoted th