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BALAGTAS, Bulacan ---- Public Works Secretary Mark Villar on Tuesday inaugurated the 600-meter Balagtas Northbound Entry along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) that is seen to decongest the Cagayan Valley Road. Villar said the Balagtas Northbound Entry is part of the "Build, Build, Build" project of the Duterte administration. It aims to decongest major thoroughfares and to provide comfort for travelers. Luigi Bautista, NLEx president, said when completed, it would serve motorists coming from Nueva Ecija or the eastern parts of Bulacan and are going to Pampanga or other Northern Luzon areas. Bautista said these motorists would no longer have to take the Sta. Rita entry via ...

Keep on reading: NLEx Balagtas Northbound Entry inaugurated

MANILA, Philippines --- It would seem like Malacaang has gotten upset about an online dictionary's Internet-culled meaning of "Duterte." After President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman countered Urban Dictionary's definition of that word, the Chief Executive's Communications Secretary, Martin Andanar, came decrying the description as "inaccurate, illegitimate, and defamatory." Urban Dictionary, a crowdsourced online dictionary meant to give definition to various slang words, recently released its definition of "Duterte" as a "scam, traitor, fake," and "of low quality" after a netizen submitted the word, which it also clarifies as a verb, and adjective, and a noun. READ:Urban Dictionary ...

Keep on reading: Andanar: Urban Dictionary’s take on ‘Duterte’ is ‘illegitimate, defamatory’

  MANILA, Philippines--- The Senate has adopted a resolution honoring former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez for her tireless work on the preservation and conservation of the environment and for upholding children's rights. Lopez, 65, succumbed to brain cancer on Monday. READ:Ex-DENR chief Gina Lopez passes away At the Senate floor on Tuesday, Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III mentioned about Senate Resolution No. 100, "expressing the profound sympathy and sincere condolences" of the Senate on Lopez's passing.   The resolution was initiated by Senator Lito Lapid.   "Out of curiosity, there's a resolution filed honoring former Secretary ...

Keep on reading: Senate adopts resolution honoring Gina Lopez

Gwyneth Paltrow was shocked to find out that she was in multiple Marvel movies with Samuel L. Jackson. Marvel chief Kevin Feige revealed that tidbit of information in an Aug. 9 interview with Empire when he discussed the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) 10th-anniversary photo shoot. The shoot was no mean feat as it gathered stars in October 2017 in one room for a giant class photo. With the breadth of the MCU, some actors were confused as to who belonged to what movie, especially because the shoot took place before the films "Black Panther," "Infinity War," "Ant-Man and the Wasp" and "Captain Marvel" premiered. The shoot was held on the same day that Tony Stark's funeral scene was f...

Keep on reading: Gwyneth Paltrow surprised she was in Marvel movies with Samuel L. Jackson

Naomi Osaka holds on to the top of the WTA rankings on Monday despite injury and elimination from the Cincinnati Masters. The Japanese lost to 20th placed Sofia Kenin in the quarter-finals on Sunday due to a knee injury. Her participation at the US Open is still uncertain. Madison Keys jumped eight spots and is ranked 10th after she won Cincinnati on Sunday. Also on the rise in an otherwise unchanged top 10 is Elina Svitolina who moved up two spots to fifth, a career high for Ukrainian. Sloane Stephens was robbed of her 10th spot in the rankings and sits at 11th after her defeat to Svetlana Kuznetsova in Cincinatti's third round. Meanwhile, Kiki Bertens took two steps ...

Keep on reading: Injured Naomi Osaka maintains top spot

SAN PEDRO CITY ---- Batangas on Tuesday issued a total ban on live hogs and meat products entering the province because of suspected cases of African swine fever (ASF). But Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas, in a phone interview, said the ban was just a "precautionary measure" and clarified there was no confirmed case of ASF in their province yet. Mandanas said Agriculture Secretary William Dar directed him to "take precautions" considering that Batangas, along with Bulacan, is a top producer in the P250-billion livestock industry. "What we are preventing is (having to perform the) culling of hogs. We are protecting our producers," Mandanas said. Inspections The ban came a...

Keep on reading: Batangas bans live hogs, pork entry

MANILA, Philippines---Injuries hit Gilas Pilipinas on Monday after Poy Erram and Matthew Wright went down in practice. Erram turned his right ankle during 5-on-5 while Wright also hurt his right foot earlier. National team coach Yeng Guiao said he's not worried about Erram's injury but he couldn't say about Wright's health status for now with the Phoenix swingman scheduled for a checkup on Tuesday. READ:Still no Fajardo, Pogoy, Rosario at Gilas Pilipinas practice "I haven't talked to Matthew yet, but according to our trainer, he's day-to-day. We will have tests for him tomorrow and then we will know exactly what the problem is. Hopefully, he's going to be okay," Guiao sai...

Keep on reading: Wright, Erram join Gilas’ injury list with Fiba World Cup just 2 weeks away

Patrick Crusius, the suspect in the deadly shooting in El Paso, Texas, has been placed on suicide watch based on the recommendation of medical staff at the jail, according to the El Paso Times which cited an official with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office.

Lil Nas X hasfinallybeendethronedafter 19 weeks atop the American charts, Billboard announced on Monday, Aug. 19, with pop star Billie Eilish besting his viral hit "OldTownRoad". Eilish's song "Bad Guy" spent nine nonconsecutive weeks in second place before finally unseating overnight sensation Lil Nas X's infectious country-trap smash. "Congratulations to billie eilish!! u deserve this!!" tweeted the 19-year-oldrapper on the same day. Like Lil Nas X, Eilish soared to fame over the past few months after releasing an acclaimed debut album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" in March. Prior to its release, Eilish, a goth-inspired 17-year-oldwho is the first musician born i...

Keep on reading: ‘Old Town Road’ finally dethroned from US top singles chart

Manchester United says it is "working to identify" those responsible for the racist abuse aimed at midfielder Paul Pogba on social media following Monday's 1-1 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The Walt Disney Company said on Monday, Aug. 19, its streaming television service will debut in November in United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Netherlands. Offering film and TV entertainment including its "Star Wars" and Marvel franchises as well as its ABC content and an extensive library acquired from 21st Century Fox,Disney+hopes to be a major challenger to Netflix. It will launch in Canada, Netherlands and the U.S. on Nov. 12, and in Australia and New Zealand a week later, the company said and is expected to expand to most major markets within the following two years. The entertainment giant also announced deals forDisney+to be available on Apple, Google, Microsof...

Keep on reading: International launch set for Disney+ streaming service

After teasing that they were back in the studio last April, Crazy Horse announced that their new album will arrive next October. "Colorado" will mark the band's first record in seven years, following their 2012 effort "Psychedelic Pill". It will also be their first release since the retirement of the band's long-time guitarist Franck "Poncho" Sampedro, who is now replaced by Nils Lofgren. Although details about the project are still scarce, Neil Young revealed that the album will feature 10 new songs "ranging from around 3 minutes to over 13 minutes." Among them are the lead single "Rainbow of Colors", which will be released sometime this month ahead of "Colorado". "Billy, Ralphia...

Keep on reading: Neil Young, Crazy Horse announce new album ‘Colorado’

HONG KONG --- At least eight pop stars from mainland China and one each from Taiwan and Hong Kong are publicly stating their support for Beijing's one-China policy, eliciting a mixture of disappointment and understanding from fans. Many of the statements came after protesters opposed to Beijing's growing influence over semi-autonomous Hong Kong removed a Chinese flag and tossed it into Victoria Harbor earlier this month. Lay Zhang, Jackson Wang, Lai Guan-lin and Victoria Song were among the K-Pop singers who recently uploaded a Chinese flag and declared themselves as "one of 1.4 billion guardians of the Chinese flag" on their official Weibo social media accounts. Wang is from Hong Ko...

Keep on reading: Chinese pop stars publicly back Beijing on Hong Kong

HONG KONG - China lashed out at Taiwan on Monday over its offer of political asylum to participants in Hong Kong's pro-democracy protest movement, a day after hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully in the latest massive demonstration in the Chinese territory. The government of Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China considers its own territory, strongly supports the protests, and Hong Kong students in Taiwan held events over the weekend expressing their backing. Taiwan's president made the asylum offer last month, though it's not clear if requests have been received. Taiwan lacks a formal legal mechanism for assessing and granting asylum requests, although it has granted...

Keep on reading: China lashes out at Taiwan over Hong Kong asylum offer

China signaled Tuesday that it could take bigger steps to boost its flagging economy after unveiling what amounted to the slimmest of rate cuts on new loans for companies.

MANILA, Philippines --- Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Monday said he was committed to reminding Israelis of the late President Manuel L. Quezon's act of kindness towards more than 1,000 Jews fleeing the Holocaust during the Nazi regime shortly before the start of World War II. In an organizational meeting between the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Israel should be reminded of the late president's gesture. Quezon had allowed the entry of German Jews, who were escaping the Nazi persecution, and provided them with visas and safe shelter in the Philippines. "Maybe they will be more humane...

Keep on reading: PH to air ‘Quezon’s Game’ in Israel

New European research has found more evidence that suffering from insomnia could increase an individual's risk of coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke. In the first-of-its-kind study, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden looked at data gathered from around 1.3 million people taking part in four major studies. The researchers assessed whether there is a genetic association between insomnia and major cardiovascular diseases, including coronary artery disease, heart failure, atrial fibrillation and stroke. They used a technique called Mendelian randomization, which involves studying genetic variants to see if certain factors are associated with a higher...

Keep on reading: More evidence that insomnia increases the risk of heart disease, stroke

Spotify has announcedthat over the next few months the Premium Family plan will be getting a handful of updates, including the highly requested "Explicit Content Filter" setting. The family subscription allows up to six users of their own account. Parents will soon have the option to set Explicit Content filters for any or several of them specifically. With the update, families will also gain access to a new Family Mix "packed with songs the whole family enjoys." According to the company, it is updated on a regular basis and lets users control whose music is in each session so that family listening time is enjoyed by everyone. Additionally, a "Family Hub" will be coming to the p...

Keep on reading: Spotify launches upgraded Premium Family Plan

MANILA, Philippines --- Contrary to the pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde on Tuesday said policemen in active service cannot own Small Town Lottery (STL) franchises as it would stir conflict of interest in their job as law enforcers. Albayalde made this remark as he revealed that the PNP has received reports that active senior police officers were allegedly involved in operating STL franchises during Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa's term as PNP boss. Dela Rosa was chief of the nation's police force before Albayalde took over in April 2018. "I think kung titingnan mo 'yung civil service law and 'yung code of ethics, ...

Keep on reading: Cops in active service not allowed to own STL franchises – Albayalde

MANILA, Philippines --- House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Monday said Monday he would not derail congressional hearings on anti-political dynasty bills while also insisting that there are good political clans. "Hindi ko pipigilan 'yung debate diyan at kung 'yan ang will ng Congress bakit po hindi? But ako ever since ang stand ko: May good dynasty at may bad dynasty," Cayetano said in an interview with radio DZMM. [I won't stop the debates about that, and if that is the will of Congress, why not. But ever since, my stands has been: There are good dynasties and there are bad dynasties.] "Ang Amerika at [mga] Hapon wala silang anti-dynasty pero maunlad sila. But having said that...

Keep on reading: Cayetano: I won’t block hearings on anti-political dynasty bills