Philippine News

DOHA/DUBAI/WASHINGTON, July 2 ------ Iran and the United States concluded a round of indirect talks with no sign they had made headway toward a lasting peace, focusing instead on issues that they had supposedly resolved two weeks ago. Sources said negotiators for the two countries spent two days in Doha discussing maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and financial incentives for Iran, two pillars of the initial agreement they signed in June, rather than more difficult top

YANGON, July 2 ------ More than 100,000 people have been killed across all sides in Myanmar since a military coup five years ago triggered civil war, a conflict monitor said. The military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and ending Myanmar's decade-long experiment with democracy. Anti-putsch protests were put down by security forces, but activists quit the cities to form pro-democracy guerrilla groups

July 2 ------ President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited the Irish government to join a European anti-ballistic initiative as part of the proposed Drone Deal framework. He made the announcement during a joint press conference with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "When we talk about security, we are talking about European security. Above all, we are referring to the format we are currently proposing – a European anti-ballistic program to

KYIV, Ukraine, July 2 ------ Ukrainian forces struck Russia's major Ufa oil refinery for the second time in a week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Almost daily long-range attacks on Russian oil facilities have created a fuel crisis and heaped political pressure on the Kremlin as its all-out invasion of Ukraine stretches into its fifth year. The Ufa refinery is one of Russia's largest producers of lubricants and is located more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) f

July 1 ------ Japan has lodged a protest after China installed a mobile offshore drilling rig on its side of the median line in the East China Sea, suspecting that it is conducting exploratory drilling for a natural gas field, sources familiar with the matter said. The protest, lodged Friday, followed the Japanese Defense Ministry’s discovery in late June that the rig had been fixed to the seabed about 400 kilometers northwest of Okinawa’s main island, the sources said. J

PARIS, July 1 ------ French health officials said that there were at least 300 more deaths than expected during a five-day heatwave in May, the country's first of the year. "We recorded 300 excess deaths, corresponding to an increase of nearly 14 percent," said Caroline Semaille, director general of Public Health France, adding that the deaths were due to all causes combined and were not necessarily linked to elevated temperatures. The May heat episode, "characterized by it

STOCKHOLM, July 1 ------ Denmark announced a new military donation package to Ukraine worth around 4.4 billion crowns ($671.8 ⁠million). "Around 1.3 billion crowns is allocated to 'the Danish model', which makes it possible to finance the Ukrainian state's procurement costs through its own defense ⁠industry," the government said in a statement. "In addition, more funds have been ⁠allocated for long-range artillery ammunition." It is Denmark's 30th ⁠military support packa

July 1 ------ People in Ukraine will be aided by essential medical supplies after £20,000 was raised to send an ambulance to the war-torn country. Volunteers from the Malmesbury Stands with Ukraine group in Wiltshire raised the money through events to buy the ambulance, as well as a 4x4 medical support car. The vehicles began their 1,800-mile (2,900km) journey from Malmesbury in to Cherkasy, in central Ukraine, earlier. "Today's the day," said Malmesbury Stands with Ukraine

TAIPEI, Taiwan, June 30 ------ China imposed new export controls on 40 Japanese entities it says are contributing to the country’s “remilitarization,” as tensions with Tokyo rise. Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have been increasingly tense since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year implied Japan could intervene if China used military force against Taiwan, an island democracy China claims as its own. Meanwhile, Japan has accelerated its military expansion, esp

DOHA/DUBAI/WASHINGTON, June 30 ------ Iranian and U.S. negotiating teams were due in ⁠Doha ⁠this week, but Iran said no meeting had been ⁠scheduled as weekend missile fire from both sides tested the interim ceasefire to end the four-month-old war. U.S. President Donald Trump is sending his son-in-law ​Jared Kushner and his envoy Steve Witkoff to lead the negotiating team, according to his press secretary Karoline Leavitt. While Iran is sending its technical delegation to Qata

KYIV, Ukraine, June 30 ------ Russian missiles and drones killed at least 12 civilians and injured 40 others in Ukraine in what President Volodymyr Zelensky described as “horrific attacks.” Since Russia launched its all-out invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago, its forces have conducted bombing in an effort to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure and sap morale. More than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, according to the U.N. A Russian missile targeting i

June 30 ------ Ukraine and Denmark are moving closer to finalizing their defense cooperation, with both sides agreeing to accelerate a major drone agreement and deepen work on European missile defenses. President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Danish Defense Minister Jeppe Bruus in Kyiv on Friday to push forward a drone cooperation agreement between the two countries and discuss broader coordination on European anti-ballistic capabilities, according to the president’s office. “I

LAGUAIRA/CARACAS, June 29 ------ The death toll from Venezuela's devastating twin earthquakes rose above 1,400 as foreign rescue teams poured into the country and authorities pressed on with the search for survivors in the hardest-hit coastal areas. The updated toll came as rescuers fanned out across La Guaira and parts of Caracas, where families and volunteers have spent days pulling survivors and bodies from the rubble, often complaining of scant heavy equipment and a limit

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, June 29 ------ Iran and the United States agreed to halt recent hostilities in the Gulf and renew talks regarding their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reported, a move that could end tit-for-tat strikes that had threatened to unravel an interim peace agreement. The two sides plan to meet Tuesday in Qatar, Axios reported, citing a senior U.S. official. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. The White House did not immediately respond to a

June 29 ------ President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed that the country’s armed forces struck two Russian oil refineries overnight, praising the military for executing what he termed “long-range sanctions” against Moscow. Zelensky confirms strikes on Russian oil refineries In a statement published on Sunday morning, Zelensky detailed the geographical reach of the latest drone operations. “Our warriors started Ukraine’s Constitution Day very accurately. Tonight, our long-ra

June 29 ------ “Our proposal provides that temporary protection should not be granted to newly arriving persons who are not allowed to leave Ukraine because of their military obligations,” said Magnus Brunner, the European commissioner for internal affairs and migration, while announcing proposed changes to European protective status for Ukrainians. Protection status for Ukrainians as such should remain in place, said Brunner at a meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembour

WASHINGTON, June 28 ------ The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose to a new three-year high in May as gas prices peaked, a sign rising costs could pose political problems for President Donald Trump and his political party as midterm elections near. Consumer prices rose 4.1% in May from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said, the largest annual increase since April 2023. On a monthly basis, inflation was 0.4% last month, matching April’s increase and down fr

SAN DIEGO, June 28 ------ To someone who is getting sucked out to sea by a rip current, "Don't panic!" may be difficult to heed, even if that's exactly what you should do. But lifeguards say to not only to relax but flip over and float out of danger. Rip currents are one of the coast's greatest dangers and account for the most beach rescues every year. About 100 people drown from rip currents along U.S. beaches each year, according to the United States Lifesaving Associati

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela, June 27 ------ Desperate Venezuelans raced to find and rescue loved ones trapped alive beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings after two major earthquakes that killed at least 235 people. Buildings cracked, crumbled, and tilted precariously after the quakes, which the United States Geological Survey measured at magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, hit northern Venezuela within less than a minute of each other on Wednesday night. Powerful aftershocks could still be

June 27 ------ France announced the first confirmed case of Ebola identified on its territory, a doctor who had flown back from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is fighting a major outbreak. The case is the first of the deadly hemorrhagic fever identified outside the African continent during the current outbreak, which has also affected Uganda. It is the first time France has detected Ebola. In 2014, during an outbreak in west Africa, two patients were transported to