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MANILA, Philippines --- Months after ABS-CBN's franchise bid was denied in the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker Vilma Santos-Recto once again filed a bill renewing the network's 25-year franchise. Santos-Recto, who has been a vocal supporter of ABS-CBN, filed House Bill No. 8298 last January 5---a copy of which was obtained by media on Monday. In filing the bill, Santos-Recto said that ABS-CBN is "the Philippines' largest entertainment and media conglomerate in terms of revenue, operating income, net income, assets, equity, market capitalization, and the number of employees." "Despite the growing popularity of social media, television still remains as a preferred mass me...

Keep on reading: Once again, Vilma Santos-Recto files bill renewing ABS-CBN’s 25-year franchise

Lionel Messi was shown the first red card of his Barcelona career, as Ronald Koeman's side suffered a 3-2 extra-time defeat to Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup final.

LAOAG CITY---The Ilocos Norte provincial government on Monday (Jan. 18) stopped allowing home quarantine for returning residents, officials said. The move came after the Philippines' first case of the more contagious UK coronavirus variant was detected by the Department of Health (DOH) in a returning Filipino last Jan. 13. In December 2020, the provincial government eased its COVID-19 protocol by allowing returning residents to go on 14-day mandatory quarantine at home instead of in isolation facilities of the government. Stranded individuals and returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) had been allowed supervised home quarantine for 14 days with their family members. In an...

Keep on reading: Ilocos Norte stops COVID-19 quarantine at home for returning residents

    MANILA, Philippines --- The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has reminded both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to quickly resolve the case of a police officer accused in the June 2020 rape and killing of a minor from Ilocos Sur. CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said in a statement on Monday that bringing justice to the death of 15-year-old Fabel Pineda would send a strong message to law enforcement agencies --- that wrongdoings would never be tolerated even among public officials. Otherwise, the commission warned that the failure to find a resolution would press culture of impunity further, where women are abused and a...

Keep on reading: CHR to PNP, DOJ: Resolve cop’s rape-slay case of minor in Ilocos

MANILA, Philippines --- Senator Panfilo Lacson has hinted of a possible "attempt to overprice" by roughly P16.8 billion the Philippine government's procurement of the vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech. In a privilege speech during Monday's session, Lacson pointed out the differing information provided by concerned government agencies and officials as well as the discrepancy in the price of the same vaccine being purchased by other countries from the same company. "I am not prepared to accuse anyone in particular of corruption. Rather, it defies logic to suspect at least an attempt to overprice the vaccine. Again, when there is an attempt at overpricing, isn't it also log...

Keep on reading: Lacson smells ‘attempt to overprice’ PH purchase of Sinovac jabs by P16.8B

MANILA, Philippines --- The Philippine government is pushing to include in the proposed "Bayanihan 3" law an indemnification clause for those who will suffer serious adverse effects from COVID-19 vaccines or other vaccine-related injuries. Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Monday said the government is pushing for legislation for compensation for those who would suffer adverse effects from the vaccines. "Hinihiling namin is magkaroon ng legislation for the indemnification. Mas maganda sana na magkaroon ng Bayanihan 3 na isama na rin yung indemnification clause," he said during a House hearing on the government's vaccination program against COVID-19. (We are pushing for legislat...

Keep on reading: Gov’t wants compensation clause in Bayanihan 3 for COVID-related injuries

One programmer based in San Francisco is technically a millionaire, thanks to Bitcoin. However, he has yet to reap the rewards of his earnings because he lost the password to a hard drive that contains the keys to his Bitcoin wallet. Stefan Thomas, who hails from Germany, spoke of how he became consumed with trying to unlock the hard drive called an IronKey, as per a report from the New York Times last Jan. 12. The hard drive has the keys to the wallet which contains 7,002 Bitcoin, worth over $250 million as of writing. He received the amount in 2011 as payment for making an animated video titled "What is Bitcoin?" The IronKey allows users to have 10 guesses before it encryp...

Keep on reading: Man locked out of his Bitcoin account with $250 million has two password guesses left

The 2021 Australian Open is being surrounded by controversy as more and more players are being quarantined ahead of the tournament. Players are complaining of a lack of practice time and provisions while Australians around the world are frustrated at the preference shown to tennis players over citizens.

CEBU CITY ---- A former director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Western Visayas has been arrested to face trial for allegedly supervising the slay of a lawyer here last Nov. 23. Retired Col. Edwin Layese, 51, was arrested inside a blue Toyota Hilux with plate number POE 061 near Fuente Osmea circle on Jan. 13. The same Toyota Hilux with the same plate number was captured by closed-circuit television cameras among the getaway vehicles used by the assailants after killing lawyer Joey Luis Wee. Layese was also identified by Fausto Edgar Benigno Peralta, the confessed gunman, as the person who oversaw the murder of Wee. "Even before Peralta's confession, we alre...

Keep on reading: Ex-military, PDEA exec held for alleged involvement in killing of Cebu lawyer

MANILA, Philippines --- Senator Panfilo Lacson turned the tables on presidential spokesman Harry Roque who earlier branded as fake news the reported P3,629 cost of Sinovac' vaccine for two doses. "We dare ask: Are Secretary Roque and Secretary Galvez saying that Secretary Duque was the peddler of that fake news?" Lacson asked pointedly during a privilege speech on Monday, referring to vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III. The senator raised the question after Roque during his regular briefing dubbed as "fake news" the reported steep price of Sinovac's vaccine, pegged at P3,600. "Ang aking i-a-assure po sa inyo, fake news po 'yung kumakalat...

Keep on reading: Lacson takes Roque, Galvez to task on real price tag of Sinovac

It's a question that has been asked for 50 years -- again and again.

Twitter Inc. on Sunday locked the account of Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a political newcomer known for promoting the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory. The social media platform suspended her account after the newly elected Georgia congresswoman sparred with a state election official over baseless voter fraud allegations. Greene's account "has been temporarily locked out for multiple violations" of Twitter's'civic integrity policy', a company representative said in an emailed statement. Greene accused Twitter of suppressing conservative political voices. "The borderline monopolistic stranglehold a few Big Tech companies have on the American politic...

Keep on reading: Twitter locks account of Republican representative who promoted QAnon

BEIJING--- China reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases for the sixth consecutive day, with rising infections in the northeast fuelling concerns of another national wave when hundreds of millions travel for the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday. Tough new controls in the city of Gongzhuling in Jilin province, which has a population of around 1 million people, brings the total number of people under lockdown to more than 29 million. According to the Global Times newspaper, at least 11 regions in the three provinces of Hebei, Heilongjiang and Jilin have now imposed de facto lockdowns and rolled out extensive testing programs. The National Health Commission reported 109 new COV...

Keep on reading: China reports more than 100 new COVID cases as New Year holiday exodus looms

Catriona Gray is putting her influence to good use once again as she helps jumpstart a campaign to provide aid for children with serious medical conditions. The former Miss Universe made public her plans on the advocacy, being an ambassadress of Make-A-Wish Foundation, as per a video on her Instagram page last Friday, Jan. 15. "Hey [friends]! Last year for my birthday you helped me fundraise [P388,000 (over $8,000)] for SmileTrain Philippines (smiletrain.org) which went towards giving life changing surgeries to children with cleft. This year, for the whole month of January, I'm partnering up with Make-A-Wish Philippines as their first ambassador for 2021," she said. "The Make-A-...

Keep on reading: Catriona Gray’s birthday wish: Raise funds for children with critical illnesses

Phil Spector, who revolutionized 1960s pop music with his "Wall of Sound" production technique but who was imprisoned in 2009 for murder, has died at age 81, authorities said Sunday. In his heyday, Spector was the undisputed king of rock 'n' roll producers, the "Tycoon of Teen" whose music helped define the soaring optimism of a generation. But the sharp suits and dark sunglasses favored by the diminutive genius gave way to prison clothes after he was convicted of the 2003 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson. Spector was pronounced dead Saturday and his "official cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner," according to a statement from the California Departme...

Keep on reading: Phil Spector, pop producer convicted of murder, dead at 81

MANILA, Philippines -- Rival factions of the feuding Yanson clan --- which owns the country's largest bus transport company --- held simultaneous but separate board meetings over the weekend, with each side seeking to assert their influence over the multibillion-peso Bacolod-based enterprise. Control and physical possession of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies, however, remained firmly in the hands of the group led by youngest sibling Leo Rey Yanson who was reelected on Sunday as the chairman and president of subsidiary Bachelor Express Inc. During that annual stockholders meeting, Leo Rey was reappointed chair and president of the company along with family matriarch Olivia V. ...

Keep on reading: Leo Rey Yanson tightens grip over PH’s largest bus firm but rival siblings fight on

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees insisted Sunday he's still deciding if he has played is last NFL season after a painful playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Reports have swirled for a week that the future Hall of Famer would call it a career when the Saints' season ended, even if that came without a Super Bowl shot. "I'm going to give myself an opportunity to think about the season, think about a lot of things, just like I did last year, and make a decision," Brees told reporters after the Saints fell 30-20 to a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team led by quarterback Tom Brady at the Superdome in New Orleans. Although he wasn't able to take the Saints to the Super Bowl, ...

Keep on reading: NFL: Saints quarterback Brees mulls retirement after playoff loss

MANILA, Philippines---More than half of contraband seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in 2020 was illegal cigarettes as prolonged COVID-19 quarantine slashed both supply and demand of expensive, tax-paid sticks. In a statement on Monday (Jan. 18), the Department of Finance (DOF) said that out of the P9.75 billion in smuggled goods which the BOC seized in 2020, 53.5 percent in terms of value or P5.22-billion worth were tobacco and cigarettes. Citing a report of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, the DOF said that 150 out of the 792 anti-smuggling operations by the BOC last year yielded the smuggled cigars and tobacco produc...

Keep on reading: Cigarettes make up half of smuggled items in 2020 amid pandemic, says BOC

Tom Brady threw for two touchdowns and ran for another Sunday to lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over New Orleans in the NFL playoffs while defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City withstood Patrick Mahomes suffering a concussion to oust Cleveland. Six-time Super Bowl champion Brady and a defensive unit that forced four turnovers sparked the visiting Bucs over the Drew Brees-led Saints while Mahomes threw for one touchdown and ran for another before exiting in the third quarter of the Chiefs' 22-17 triumph. "The defense was the key to the game. It was huge," Brady said. "Our defense really balled out, got the turnovers we needed." Both winners advanced to within one game of n...

Keep on reading: NFL: Tom Brady-led Bucs advance, oust Saints