Philippine News

March 2 ------ President Volodymyr Zelensky has advocated for regime change in Iran during his Sunday evening address amid the US’s ongoing military operations against the Middle Eastern nation. On Saturday, the US and Israel launched “Operation Epic Fury,” including strikes against targets across Iran that US President Donald Trump said were part of a campaign to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Iranian state media confirmed on Sunday that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamen

March 2 ------ Three years into Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, with Trump’s ascension to power, the United States of America reneged on its promise to help Ukrainians defending their families and homes “as long as it takes” against a full-scale military attack by a police state intent on wiping their country off the map. Engineered by President Donald J. Trump and a Congress controlled by his allies, the almost-overnight cancellation of US backing to a Ukrainian nat

TOKYO, March 1 ------ Japan will invite young and mid-level defense officials from Pacific Island countries starting in fiscal 2026, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said. Koizumi unveiled the initiative in a lecture he delivered at a meeting in Tokyo with defense ministers from 14 Pacific island nations, including Fiji and Papua New Guinea. In light of China's growing presence in the South Pacific, he emphasized the need for cooperation between Japan and the island

LONDON, March 1 ------ An AI productivity boom, if it materializes, may help buy major economies more time to clean up their strained public finances, economists say, although it won't do the heavy lifting. The stakes couldn't be higher. Debt is above 100 per cent of output across most rich economies and set to rise given ageing population costs, interest bills, and pressure to spend more on defense and climate change. U.S. policymakers are already optimistic about AI-driven

February 28 ------ Oil prices inched down and were on track for a weekly decline after the United States and Iran extended nuclear talks, easing concerns about potential hostilities that could disrupt supply, while OPEC+ may resume output hike at its Sunday meeting. Brent crude futures lost 5 cents to $70.70 a barrel by 0331 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1 cent to $65.20. For the week, Brent was heading for a 1.8 per cent decline, while WTI was set to fall arou

February 28 ------ Anthropic said it would not accede to the Pentagon’s request to eliminate safeguards from its AI systems, despite threats to deem the company a “supply chain risk” and remove it from the Department of Defense’s systems, putting a $200-million contract at risk. The Pentagon’s dispute with Anthropic stems from the AI startup’s refusal to remove safeguards that would prevent its technology from being used to target weapons autonomously and conduct surveillance

GENEVA, Switzerland, February 27 ------ Iran and the United States began indirect talks in Switzerland on Thursday, a last-ditch effort to avert war following the biggest American military buildup in the Middle East in decades. The Oman-mediated discussions follow repeated threats from Donald Trump to strike Iran, with the US president on Feb. 19 giving Tehran 15 days to reach a deal. The US and Iranian delegations arrived at the venue at the Omani ambassador’s residence amid

COPENHAGEN, February 27 ------ Denmark will hold a parliamentary election on March 24, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, seeking to capitalize on a surge in support for her defiant stance against US pressure over Greenland. Frederiksen has spent recent months rallying European leaders against US President Donald Trump's renewed interest in annexing the Arctic island, an effort that opinion polls suggest has bolstered her popularity after public dissatisfaction ove

GENEVA, February 27 ------ US and Ukrainian officials concluded talks in Geneva to discuss advancing efforts to end Russia's four-year invasion of Ukraine, just as Moscow signaled it was in no hurry to sign a deal. An AFP reporter saw the US delegation leaving Geneva's Hotel des Bergues, the venue of the talks, and the Swiss agency ATS-Keystone published a photo of the Ukrainian lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, leaving the hotel. US leader Donald Trump is pushing for an end to

February 27 ------ The war in Ukraine will decide whether Europe or Russia becomes the “third pillar” of a new global order, Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said, two days after the conflict entered its fifth year. NATO member Poland shares borders with both Russia and Ukraine, and its government has been a trenchant critic of Moscow throughout the conflict. “This war will determine which actor becomes the third pillar -- alongside the United States and China -- o

MOSCOW/LONDON, February 26 ------ OPEC+ is likely to consider raising its oil output by 137,000 barrels per day for April, three sources with knowledge of OPEC+ thinking said as the group prepares for peak summer demand and a price boost from tensions between the U.S. and OPEC member Iran. The resumption of output increases after a three-month pause would allow OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and members such as the UAE to regain market share at a time when other OPEC+ members, such

February 26 ------ Iran and the United States are sliding rapidly towards military conflict as hopes fade for a diplomatic solution to their standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program, officials on both sides and diplomats across the Gulf and Europe say. Iran’s Gulf neighbors and its enemy Israel now consider a conflict to be more likely than a settlement, these sources say, with Washington building up one of its biggest military deployments in the region since the invasion of Ir

KYIV, Ukraine, February 26 ------ US President Donald Trump spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of a fresh round of talks Thursday aimed at ending Russia's invasion, both sides said. A White House official gave AFP no further details about the call, which came a day before Ukrainian and US envoys were to meet, and ahead of new trilateral talks with Russia expected in early March. But Zelensky wrote on social media that he had spoken with Trump, and t

KYIV, Ukraine, February 26 ------ More than 1,700 Africans are fighting for Russia in its war in Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, adding that Moscow was using deception to trick them into fighting. Speaking alongside his counterpart from Ghana, Sybiha said that discussions were taking place with governments across Africa to prevent their citizens from being drawn into such schemes. Ghana will chair the African Union regional bloc next year. "We clearly

WASHINGTON, USA, February 25 ------ Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s latest AI model, set to be released as soon as next week, was trained on Nvidia’s most advanced AI chip, the Blackwell, a senior Trump administration official said, in what could represent a violation of US export controls. The US believes DeepSeek will remove the technical indicators that might reveal its use of American AI chips, the official said, adding that the Blackwells are likely clustered at its data c

LOS ANGELES, United States, February 25 ------ A landmark social media addiction trial resumed with a YouTube executive insisting that the Google-owned company's aim was to give people value, not hook them on harmful binge-viewing. YouTube vice president of engineering Cristos Goodrow was pressed to defend the company's self-styled "big, hairy, audacious goal," set more than a decade ago, to increase viewer time to more than a billion hours a day by 2016. As he did last week

KYIV, Ukraine, February 25 ------ Vladimir Putin has not broken Ukraine, its leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as the Kremlin marked the start of the fifth year of its invasion by vowing to keep fighting Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II until it achieves its goals. Moscow had hoped to take Kyiv in the days when it launched its invasion on February 24, 2022. Four years later -- with hundreds of thousands dead, millions forced to flee, much of eastern Ukraine destr

WASHINGTON/GENEVA, February 25 ------ The U.N. General Assembly adopted by a wide margin a resolution supporting Ukraine, backing its international borders and voicing concern over intensifying Russian attacks on civilians and critical energy infrastructure. The vote by the assembly, which has repeatedly supported Ukraine, passed with 107 in favor, 12 against, and 51 abstentions, and was seen as a test of solidarity with Ukraine on the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion.

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.