Philippine News

NEW YORK/LONDON, February 24 ------ U.S. diesel exports to Europe hit an all‑time high in January after the continent strengthened its ban on imports of Russian-derived fuel, and as discounted Russian diesel displaced U.S. fuel in Brazil, data showed and analysts said. The developments show how Western sanctions, aimed at punishing Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, are reshaping markets, allowing U.S. producers to capture premium markets in Europe while forcing Russia to s

NEW YORK, February 24 ------ More than 40 million people were under blizzard warnings in the northeast United States as a winter storm dumped shin-deep snow and officials in New York enforced a citywide travel ban. The so-called "Nor'easter" pummeled the region overnight, disrupting flights and leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered nonessential drivers off the road until midday Monday and shut down schools.

February 24 ------ Russia’s invasion of Ukraine four years ago launched Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, causing immense suffering for civilians and harrowing ordeals for soldiers while rewriting the post-Cold War security order. The fighting enters its fifth year and it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. The U.S. has brokered talks with delegations from Moscow and Kyiv as part of the Trump administration’s yearlong push for peace. But reconciling key diffe

TOKYO, February 24 ------ Ukraine may expect the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to play a role in peace negotiations over Russia's invasion of the country, former Japanese Ambassador to Ukraine Kuninori Matsuda has suggested. Matsuda, 66, served as ambassador from October 2021 and October 2024, when the war in Ukraine began. "Ukraine has high expectations for the Takaichi administration," the former ambassador said in an interview with Jiji Press on

SYDNEY, February 23 ------ Share markets were hesitant, and the dollar slid in Asia on Monday as investors waited for some much-needed clarity on U.S. tariffs, while confidence in the entire AI trade was set to be tested by results from tech-diva Nvidia this week. Oil prices eased ahead of another round of talks between the United States and Iran due in Geneva on Thursday, with the risk of U.S. military strikes lingering if a deal is not done. Confusion loomed large after the

BIHSUD, Afghanistan, February 23 ------ Pakistan said it launched multiple air strikes targeting militants in neighboring Afghanistan, where the government reported children were among dozens of people killed and wounded. The overnight attacks were the most extensive since border clashes in October killed more than 70 people on both sides and wounded hundreds. Islamabad said it hit seven sites along the border region targeting Afghanistan-based militant groups “in the afterma

February 23 ------ President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out any withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the eastern Donbas region as part of a potential peace agreement with Russia, insisting Kyiv will not abandon what he described as its “real defending line.” In an interview with Kyodo News in Kyiv, Zelensky rejected Moscow’s demand that Ukrainian forces pull back from the region, where some of the heaviest fighting of the full-scale war has taken place. “We can’t withdraw fr

KYIV, February 23 ------ Explosions rocked Kyiv before dawn after officials warned of a ballistic missile attack, just two days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion. Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists in the capital heard a series of loud blasts beginning around 4:00 a.m., shortly after an air raid alert was issued. “The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic weapons,” the head of Kyiv’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said on Telegram, urgi

February 22 ------ A traditionalist Catholic community said it has decided to go ahead with ordaining bishops without Pope Leo XIV's approval, despite the Vatican's warning it could divide the Church. The Switzerland-based Society of Saint Pius X, which has about 600,000 followers worldwide, rejected an offer made by the Vatican last week for dialogue, and said it would perform the ordinations on July 1st as planned. Ordaining bishops without the pope's approval would mean ex

February 22 ------ Meta reduced its annual distribution of stock options by about 5 per cent for most of its staff, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg ploughs billions of dollars into its artificial intelligence goals, the Financial Times reported. The Facebook parent did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not independently verify the report. Meta, which also owns Instagram, and other Big Tech companies are competing to outbuild each other with massive data c

NEW DELHI, February 21 ------ The world urgently needs to regulate artificial intelligence (AI), OpenAI head Sam Altman said at a summit in New Delhi on the risks and opportunities posed by the fast-evolving technology. Frenzied demand for generative AI has turbocharged profits for companies while fueling anxiety about the impact on society and the planet. “Centralization of this technology in one company or country could lead to ruin,” Altman said. “This is not to suggest th

WASHINGTON, February 21 ------ The number of days when the weather gets hot, dry, and windy — ideal to spark extreme wildfires — has nearly tripled in the past 45 years across the globe, with the trend increasing even higher in the Americas, a new study shows. And more than half of that increase is caused by human-caused climate change, researchers calculated. What this means is that as the world warms, more places across the globe are prone to go up in flames at the same tim

NEW YORK, February 20 ------ U.S. stocks fell, while oil prices rose with worries about a potential conflict between the United States and Iran. The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% for its first loss in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 267 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.3%. Booking Holdings dropped 6.1% for one of the market’s sharpest losses, even though the company behind the Booking.com, Priceline, and OpenTable brands reported a profit for the

LOS ANGELES, United States, February 20 ------ CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he regretted Meta's slow progress in identifying underage users on Instagram, as he faced stinging criticism at a landmark social media trial over accusations that his company deliberately hooked under-13s. Asked to comment on complaints from inside the company that not enough was being done to verify whether children under 13 were using the platform, the 41-year-old head of Meta, which also owns Facebook

WASHINGTON, February 20 ------ A delegation of U.S. senators was returning from a trip to Ukraine, hoping to spur action in Congress for a series of sanctions meant to economically cripple Moscow and pressure President Vladimir Putin to make key concessions in peace talks. It was the first time U.S. senators had visited Odesa, Ukraine’s third-most populous city and an economically crucial Black Sea port that has been particularly targeted by Russia, since the war began nearly

February 20 ------ Ukraine’s former Armed Forces chief says deep rifts with President Volodymyr Zelensky undermined Kyiv’s 2023 counteroffensive and triggered a dramatic standoff with security services – as he also revealed being approached by Paul Manafort, the ex-campaign chief of US President Donald Trump and ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Since being removed as Ukraine’s army chief in 2024 and appointed ambassador to the UK, Valery Zaluzhny has increasingly

WASHINGTON, February 19 ------ U.S. President Donald Trump will host a Board of Peace meeting in Washington, where he will announce that member states have pledged more than $5 billion for reconstruction and humanitarian efforts in Gaza, the White House said. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday that more than 20 countries would participate in the meeting, adding that member states had committed to providing thousands of personnel for an in

TORONTO, Canada, February 19 ------ Canada introduced new immigration priority categories to bring in skilled workers in fields ranging from research and health care to aviation, and to include certain military recruits. The new categories align with Prime Minister Mark Carney's goals of broadly reducing the number of new permanent residents in Canada while recruiting skilled workers and scholars and boosting defense capabilities to lessen dependence on the United States. The

GENEVA, Switzerland, February 19 ------ Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met for a second day of United States-mediated talks in Geneva, after a “tense” first day of negotiations failed to yield a breakthrough on ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. The US has been pushing for an end to the nearly four-year war, but has so far failed to broker a compromise between Moscow and Kyiv on the key issue of territory. Russia is pushing for full control of Ukraine’s

February 19 ------ Swedish defense company Saab AB and the Ukrainian state enterprise Ukrainian Defense Industry (Ukroboronprom) signed a memorandum of understanding, formalizing their intention to develop cooperation in the fields of aviation and aerial surveillance. It was signed at the Munich Security Conference, underscoring its significance for European security and the integration of defense technologies. This is a partnership between equal entities: a globally renowned