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Even for a volcanic island accustomed to the occasional tremor, this has been an unusual week for Iceland. According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office, around 17,000 earthquakes have hit the southwestern region of Reykjanes over the past week.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG9OjFyAIUY&feature=emb_logo   MANILA, Philippines --- No weather disturbance will affect the country in the next three days, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said Thursday. Cagayan Valley, Cordillera Administrative Region, Aurora and Quezon will have cloudy skies with light rains also due to the northeast monsoon, which will prevail over most parts of Luzon, Pagasa said in its early morning weather update. Possible flash floods or landslides due to light to moderate with at times heavy rains are possible in the Bicol region, Pagasa warned. Metro Manila and the ...

Keep on reading: No weather disturbance in next 2 to 3 days – Pagasa

Speaking publicly for the first time since a trio of allegations surfaced over the past week about inappropriate behavior with women, New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said sorry -- and, importantly, laid out his blueprint for how he thinks he can survive this scandal.

• Pence pushes false election fraud claims in denouncing Democratic reform bill

At least 38 people were killed at pro-democracy protests in Myanmar on Wednesday, the UN's Special Envoy to the country told a briefing Wednesday, in the deadliest day of violence since a military coup on February 1.

    WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives canceled its planned Thursday session after the Capitol Police warned on Wednesday of a possible plot by a militia group to breach the building, an threat that echoed the deadly Jan. 6 attack. The House had been scheduled to debate and vote on a police reform bill on Thursday. But a House Democratic aide said that the police warning, based on intelligence that "an identified militia group" could present a security threat, contributed to the change in plans. Authorities have said right-wing extremists were part of a mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump that stormed the Capitol in January, interrupti...

Keep on reading: U.S. House cancels Thursday session after police warn of possible plot on Capitol

    Broadway theaters, closed for a year, will start to reopen in April for special events in front of limited indoor audiences, authorities in New York said on Wednesday. The NY PopsUp program will serve as a test run for the return of live artistic performances in New York City after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered plays, ballet, opera and concerts in the city. "In April, select Broadway theaters ... will open their doors to audiences for the first time since March 12, 2020, with a series of special NY PopsUp programs," organizers said in a statement. The initiative will "put in motion safety protocols that will eventually be employed for Broadway's retu...

Keep on reading: Dark for a year, Broadway theaters to start limited reopening in April

        LOS ANGELES - Walt Disney Co's latest animated movie, "Raya and the Last Dragon," aims to offer a fresh take on a princess tale in a fantasy world inspired by Southeast Asia and no prince coming to the rescue. The film, which debuts on Friday, tells the story of Raya, a young princess voiced by "Star Wars" actress Kelly Marie Tran, who is hardened by her past. Raya goes in search of the last dragon, Sisu (played by actress Awkwafina), to rid the world of a killer plague. "Everyone from the beginning had a vision for this movie being definitely different from everything that we've historically thought of and seen when we think of the words...

Keep on reading: Disney’s ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ takes audience on an Asian-inspired adventure

      Alphabet Inc's Google will not build or use alternate tools to track web browsing traffic once it begins phasing out existing technology from its Chrome browser next year, it said in a blog post on Wednesday, in a move that will reshape how online advertising works. Google first announced it would get rid of third-party cookies, which for decades has enabled online ads, early last year to meet growing data privacy standards in Europe and the United States. Privacy activists for years have criticized tech companies including Google for using cookies to gather web browsing records across websites they don't own, enabling them to develop profiles on u...

Keep on reading: Google won’t use other web tracking tools after phasing out cookies

    Thirty-eight people were killed in Myanmar as the military quelled protests in several towns and cities on Wednesday, the United Nations said, the most violent day since demonstrations against last month's military coup first broke out. Police and soldiers opened fire with live rounds with little warning, witnesses said. The bloodshed occurred one day after neighbouring countries had called for restraint in the aftermath of the military's overthrow of the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. "It's horrific, it's a massacre. No words can describe the situation and our feelings," youth activist Thinzar Shunlei Yi told Reuters via a messaging app. The ...

Keep on reading: Nearly 40 killed in violent day of protests against Myanmar coup, U.N. envoy says

The Philippines and other Association of Southeast Asian (Asean) countries stand to gain from an anticipated tech exports boom amid the "new normal" of social distancing and working online, Moody's Analytics said on Wednesday. "Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand are especially well-positioned to benefit from the surge in global consumer electronics demand in the short term, but also from a potential longer-term realignment, as the ongoing global tech battle and concerns regarding intellectual property theft will be pervasive," Moody's Analytics economists Shahana Mukherjee, Denise Cheok and Jesse Rogers said in a report titled "Factory Southeast Asia: Global Manufacturing...

Keep on reading: Moody’s bullish on PH

  Leo Austria has seen CJ Perez in action---as his player at San Miguel Beer and not on the opposite end of the floor where he was the Beermen's defensive problem---and readily concluded two things that will come the way of the former PBA Rookie of the Year (ROY) when the league's 46th Season opens April 9. "He will help us a lot," Austria said over the phone on Wednesday night in between deep breaths while doing his early evening walk around his village. "But I assure you, the game will also be a lot easier for him because he won't have to do everything (at San Miguel)." Perez came to the Beermen more than a month ago in a blockbuster trade with Terrafirma and made San...

Keep on reading: Perez arrival boosts Beermen, but Austria believes being at San Miguel will also benefit former ROY

The ongoing Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) loan program for tuition expenses has been expanded so that parents and students alike can also buy electronic gadgets for online classes. In a statement Wednesday, the state-run Landbank said its "Interim Students' loan for Tuition toward Upliftment of education for the Development of the Youth" (I-Study) loan would cover up to P50,000 per student for purchases of desktops, laptops or tablets to be used for online learning. This new coverage will be part of the maximum loanable amounts of P150,000 per student or P300,000 per parent-borrower under I-Study. Also, students of legal age are now eligible to apply for the I-Study pr...

Keep on reading: Students can now borrow to buy gadgets for online learning

Businessman Manuel Pangilinan will proceed with his plan to buy into the Malampaya geothermal gas field but sees the extension of its service contract, which will expire in 2024, necessary to bring in new money to develop near field reserves. Whether or not the First Pacific group is successful in buying the 45-percent stake held by Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEx) in Malampaya---which fuels the power plants that account for almost 40 percent of Luzon's power generation capacity---Pangilinan said the group would also pursue service contract (SC) 72, or the Recto Bank oil exploration project. "If we are fortunate to get SC72 going, we would need the facilities of Malampaya ...

Keep on reading: MVP to pursue bid for Malampaya gas field

Another SpaceX rocket prototype was fueled and ready for a test flight Wednesday, but in the final moments before liftoff, the vehicle's engines sputtered off and the company announced it had aborted the flight.

MANILA, Philippines --- Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has endorsed the United Kingdom's request to be exempted from the 5,000 cap on Filipino nurses allowed to leave the country for jobs overseas. He said he approved the exemption after being assured by the Philippine Nurses Association that the country has around 800,000 registered nurses. The government had limited the number of nurses who could work overseas to 5,000 a year to ensure that it would not run out of health workers during the pandemic. Bello made his recommendation to the Cabinet task force on pandemic policies after the UK Embassy formally replied to his request to have the nurses vaccinated against COVID-1...

Keep on reading: Gov’t approves UK exemption from nurses ban

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) continued its winning streak yesterday on optimism on the recovery of the broader economy with the government's vaccination drive. By the closing bell, the PSEi was up 0.34 percent, or 23.22 points, to 6,942.76 while the all-shares index gained 0.16 percent, or 6.84 points, to 4,186.76. This is the fourth straight session of gains for the PSEi. Malacaang confirmed after trading hours on Wednesday that vaccines developed by AstraZeneca were set to arrive in the Philippines today. Subsectors were mixed despite the overall sentiments at the main index. Subcounters were mostly in negative territory led by mining and oil, servic...

Keep on reading: PSEi gains as vaccination drive fuels optimism in market

The social media frenzy surrounding the potential hiring of La Salle volleyball coach Ramil de Jesus as head coach of the national women's volleyball team may be for naught. Tats Suzara, the president of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF), said a Brazilian coach is due to arrive to "oversee" the women's squad, whose well-loved and well-paid stars have not made a dent in the international scene. "This will change the volleyball landscape of coaches and players here in the country," Suzara told the Inquirer on hiring a Brazilian mentor. "It's about time; two Southeast Asian (SEA) Games already and we came up empty handed." The PNVF is set to announce the team's h...

Keep on reading: La Salle coach for women’s team? PNVF chief says federation will bring in foreigner

MANILA, Philippines --- After seven years, the Philippines will officially resume the deployment of household service workers to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by the end of March. Labor Undersecretary Claro Arellano said the deployment would now be covered by a unified employment contract that provides stringent measures to protect household service workers. The four-party contract, among others, states the rights of the Filipino domestic worker to at least eight continuous hours of sleep every night and paid leave of at least one day every week. They can also keep their passports and cell phones, open a bank account under their name for payment of their salaries and cook their...

Keep on reading: PH to resume house help deployment to UAE

Infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) expects to boost core income this year by 17.6 percent to P12 billion and return to prepandemic earnings level by next year as the domestic economy further reopens with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. In 2020, the conglomerate led by businessman Manuel Pangilinan saw a 34-percent decline in core income to P10.2 billion as pandemic-related lockdown measures cut toll road traffic and corporate demand for utilities and disrupted light railway transit (LRT) operations. But green shoots of recovery were spotted in the fourth quarter of 2020, as MPIC's core earnings improved by 4 percent to P2.5 billion from the third q...

Keep on reading: In this ‘transition’ year, recovering MPIC targets P12-B income