Philippine News

July 31 ------ According to Kpler, daily Strait of Hormuz crossings falling from roughly 45 to just 13 following the return to conflict, and the vessels still crossing have moved almost entirely onto the unrecognized Iranian route rather than the Omani alternative. Between 7 June and 7 July (the window covering the temporary truce arrangement), Kpler recorded an average of around 45 crossings per day through the Strait of Hormuz. After the return to conflict, that average fel

July 31 ------ Turkish authorities briefly suspended traffic in the business Dardanelles overnight as they worked to clear a bulker bound for Russia that had broken down. According to the reports, the bulker Pilatus Marie (56,632 dwt) was approaching an area known as the Nara turn near the Canakkale Strait portion of the waterway when it ran aground. Built in 2011 and now registered in San Marino, the vessel reported an engine failure, which caused it to ground in the busy wa

DUBAI, July 31 ------ A drone strike on gas vessels in Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta signaled a potential new front in the US-Iran war, raising the prospect of threats to navigation through the Suez Canal, one of the last remaining export routes for Saudi oil. Egypt's cabinet said on Thursday that an initial investigation found an unidentified drone caused a fire on two vessels at Damietta port on Wednesday. The port lies near the Suez Canal, which links the Medite

KUMAMOTO, Japan, July 31 ------ Residents in southwestern Japan camped in classrooms and vehicles, stocked up on water and tried to get back to normal, two days after a powerful quake set off an explosion at a mall, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes in a disaster that killed at least 25 people. Time was running out to find survivors, as rescuers continued to work in the Kumamoto area in Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu, where the magnitude 7.1 earthquake h

July 31 ------ Ukraine received a new 3.47-billion-euro ($3.9 billion) tranche from the European Union under its 90-billion-euro loan program, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi announced. The allocated funds will help finance the procurement of drones, including long-range jet-powered models, as well as missiles and Gripen fighter jets as Russia continues its attacks against Ukraine, according to the EU. "The goal is to help Ukraine quickly secure critical equipment it needs,"

July 31 ------ Ukraine has shifted its long-range drone campaign against Russia’s energy industry from broad attacks on refineries to more targeted strikes on critical components that are hard to replace, according to Financial Times (FT). Ukrainian military planners, drone operators, and energy specialists told the FT that Kyiv’s goal is no longer simply to start fires at refineries or destroy storage tanks, but to keep plants offline for longer and make each strike more c

July 31 ------ ABOUT 1,000 Filipino seafarers aboard some 500 vessels run by shipowners from Southeast Asia are stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, said Mohamad Safwan bin Othman, chairman of the federation of shipowners in the region. Othman, chairman of the Federation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Shipowners Associations, said this was down from the peak period of the crisis when there were 2,000 or more ships stuck in the strait. He estimated that a “big

MANILA, Philippines, July 31 ------ The Philippines has presented its claim to an extended continental shelf in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) before a United Nations commission, asking it to consider the landmark 2016 South China Sea arbitral ruling as it evaluates Manila’s bid, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. The presentation before the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) on Wednesday marked the next step to the Philippines’ partial subm

MANILA, Philippines, July 31 ------ President Marcos has given the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) the go-ahead to submit and unseal the tax records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband Manases Carpio, documents seen to shed light on her alleged unexplained wealth and the supposed discrepancies in her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth. Palace press officer Claire Castro confirmed that Marcos had given the BIR the clearance to open the documents, a rev

MANILA, Philippines, July 31 ------ A Pasig court has suspended the daily wage hike of P85 mandated in Metro Manila. The Department of Labor and Employment confirmed the court order. The validity of the wage hike was questioned in a petition by Readycon Trading and Construction Corp. and R-11 Builders Inc. Instead of a 72-hour temporary restraining order, the court opted for a status quo ante order. Status quo on wages will be maintained while the case is raffled to a court t

July 30 ------ NTERCARGO has called for urgent action to protect seafarers and civilian merchant shipping following a renewed increase in attacks targeting commercial vessels across several strategic maritime regions. In a statement issued on 29 July 2026, INTERCARGO said it had observed a “noticeable shift towards the direct targeting of commercial shipping”, warning that seafarers, who are civilians carrying out essential work, should not be treated as military targets. The

July 30 ------ The Philippines marked a key milestone in its long efforts to revitalize the former shipbuilding operations at Subic Bay as HD Hyundai officially launched its first new construction. The South Korean shipbuilder last year took over the former Hanjin shipyard and restarted operations with a promise of significant investments. The 115,000 dwt petrochemical tanker Orion Jade was launched on July 29 as the first newbuild at the yard, which had ceased operations in

July 30 ------ Tehran has ruled out Oman's proposal for regional joint management of the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, scuppering hopes for a resolution to the impasse that has choked off Gulf trade for months. Oman proposed a new regional deal aimed at resolving the conflict over the critical strait, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February. However, Tehran rule

July 30 ------ The Port of Tyne, along with a section of the River Tyne, will be closed for nine hours on Thursday, July 30, as the recovery operation continues from the allision in the port on July 19. Specialized teams have been working with the port to secure damaged containers and the vessel BG Orange, along with removing the gantry crane that collapsed as the container vessel was struck. Several containers were badly damaged when the WTIV Wind Orca struck the container v

MANILA, Philippines, July 30 ------ Alexie Caimoso Brooks is one of the experienced candidates of the first-ever Reina Filipinas and aiming to be the Pinay delegate at either the Miss Grand International or MGI All Stars. Wearing the Iloilo City sash, she and fellow Reina Filipinas contestants recently visited a branch of Beauty Project as part of their pageant activities. A little over a week from now, three Reina Filipinas will be crowned. With her previous local title an

July 30 ------ If there's one story Angeline Quinto never gets tired of telling, it's how much her life changed after she won Star Power. But for her, that victory was never really about the success she is enjoying today – it was about how it saved her mother and the home they were once forced to give up. At the press conference for her concert Aquinse, Angeline looked back on the months leading up to her win, when her Mama Bob needed heart surgery, and their family home in

July 30 ------ Filipino-Japanese actress Kaori Oinuma celebrated a life milestone as she graduated from college from Philippine Women’s University with a degree in psychology. The 26-year-old celebrity shared her latest achievement through her Instagram page on Tuesday, July 28, showing her official graduation photos. “Every sacrifice, every late night, every setback led me here,” she said in the caption. In an earlier post, Oinuma also shared the behind-the-scenes momen

MANILA, July 30 ------ Heads up, A’Tin! Have you read the reminder on Disney+ Philippines’ regarding SB19’s Lollapalooza streaming? The artcard posted by Disney+ PH had a fine print reminder saying “No replays, only live” - referring to the livestream of SB19’s Lollapalooza performance on July 31. The group’s performance is scheduled on July 30, 3:30 p.m. Chicago Time, or July 31 4:30 a.m. Philippine Time. Fans are also requested to join the stream early because “slight

DUBAI/CAIRO, July 30 ------ The US and Saudi Arabia launched strikes on Iran-backed groups in Iraq, saying they were responsible for drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities, prompting Iran to warn that blaming it for such attacks was a "major miscalculation". The strikes on targets inside Iraq come as Oman proposed a new regional deal aimed at resolving the conflict over the critical Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed

YATSUSHIRO, Japan, July 30 ------ Rescuers were frantically searching on Wednesday for survivors of a 7.1-magnitude earthquake that shook southern Japan, killing at least 13 people, knocking out power to thousands of homes and rupturing roads across the region. Eight people were pulled from the rubble of a partially collapsed shopping mall near the city of Kumamoto that was torn apart by an apparent explosion about an hour after Tuesday's earthquake. Of them, three have die