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Pia Wurtzbach expressed her admiration for her fellow Miss Universe queens Catriona Gray and Andrea Meza as she said the two would come out on top if beauty queens were ranked. Wurtzbach, who won the Miss Universe beauty pageant in 2015, said that 2019 winner Gray and current titleholder Meza were "destined for the universe," as seen on her Instagram Story yesterday, Oct. 20. She also showed a photo of the two. "If beauty queens had rankings, they would be at the top!" Wurtzbach told fans. "Kasi if you think about it, kung parang boxing 'to, sila 'yung may pinakamataas na panalo." (Because if you think about it, if this is like boxing, they would have the most wins.) Wurtzba...

Keep on reading: Pia Wurtzbach believes Catriona Gray, Andrea Meza will outshine her if beauty queens are ranked

When Nikki Hudson drove to a local strip mall in Worthington, Ohio, to collect a corsage for her daughter's homecoming, she was met with two billboards plastered with her name.

LONDON --- Music fans globally are spending more time listening to tunes, about 18.4 hours a week on average, and have turned to their favorite artists for comfort during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey published on Thursday. IFPI, the recorded music industry's representative body, said the figure, which equates to listening to 368 three-minute songs, is up from 18 hours in 2019, with listeners mostly turning to subscription audio streaming, video streaming, the radio and short form video apps like TikTok. The "Engaging with Music 2021" study, described by IFPI as the largest of its kind, is based on the views of 43,000 music fans in 21 countries. "The research ...

Keep on reading: Music fans spend more time listening to tunes during pandemic, study says

  VILNIUS, Lithuania -- Lithuania's biggest news portals on Wednesday said they were switching off public comments on their articles about Covid-19 vaccines in an effort aimed at curbing conspiracy theories. Some 71 percent of adults in the eurozone country of 2.8 million people are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 -- a higher rate than many of its neighbors in Central and Eastern Europe. But infection rates have surged in recent days. "We are showing solidarity with the state and society with the common effort to disable the unfounded misinformation spread by anti-vaxxers," Arnas Marcinkus, head of the Association of Online Media in Lithuania, told AFP. "The suc...

Keep on reading: Lithuanian news portals turn off COVID-19 vaccine comments

We recently got our hands on some photos of the latest CAMON model from TECNO Mobile, which is rumored to be coming out in early November in the Philippines. There aren't many details available about the new phone yet, but the tri-camera set-up and classy chrome-inspired colours have us wanting for more. The key feature that caught our eye was the 60x zoom, which, coupled with TECNO's proprietary AI TAIVOS technology, means high-quality photos probably never seen before on a high-end phone. Right off the bat, we see that the CAMON's focus on professional photography has continued to shine with the three-camera setup. With apertures ranging from f/1.6 -- 3.5, and lens from 16-135mm...

Keep on reading: Leaked: A 60x Zoom and all-new Helio G96 mean a complete overhaul for TECNO Mobile’s new CAMON 18 series

    HALABJA, Iraq -- In the Kurdish city of Halabja in northeastern Iraq, municipal director Kwestan Faraj recalls the day when being a woman saved her life. Though equality may be a distant reality for many women in Iraq, in Halabja women have reached top levels of local government. Mayor, university dean, director of the veterinary department, and health spokesperson are some of the senior posts held by women in the city of around 115,000 inhabitants. It marks something of a departure for Iraqi Kurdistan, where public affairs have long been dominated by a handful of men. Tradition and conservative values have meant that women face routine discrimination ...

Keep on reading: In Iraqi Kurdish city, women gain power without parity

After nearly a year without rain, a series of potent Pacific storms are directed at Northern California this week, potentially bringing as much as a foot of rainfall and up to three feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada.

    TSAGAAN KHAD, Mongolia -- Snaking across the barren Mongolian desert, a convoy crawls along the once-busy highway to the Chinese border -- its truckers desperate to finally deliver their cargo of coal after months of brutal Covid-19 delays and no pay. Pre-pandemic, the route was packed with drivers delivering the vital fuel to China -- the world's biggest coal importer -- currently grappling with widespread power cuts threatening its economic growth. But now the line of trucks outside the tiny coal town of Tsagaan Khad has been reduced to a trickle, held up by China and Mongolia's strict coronavirus measures, leaving the drivers stranded without pay or compa...

Keep on reading: Isolated and unpaid, Mongolian coal drivers queue at Chinese border

MANILA, Philippines --- After releasing its initial assessment for 52 cases of drug war killings, the Department of Justice (DOJ) will now focus on reviewing cases in urban areas, Undersecretary Adrian Sugay said on Thursday. "Mayroon pa, 6,000 'yan na natitira na kailangan tingnan. Masyadong marami yan and we have a few months to do it so napag-usapan namin na siguro nararapat na mag-concentrate tayo sa urban areas," he said in a Laging Handa public briefing. (There are still about 6,000 cases that we need to review. That's too much and we have a few months to do it so we have agreed to concentrate on urban areas.) "Ang gagawin natin, ang direktiba...

Keep on reading: DOJ to focus on review of drug war deaths in urban areas

Singapore will extend its Covid-19 restrictions for another month after the city-state reported 18 new deaths from the disease on Wednesday, its highest number of the pandemic.

President Joe Biden wanted the stakes to be perfectly clear when he sat down with nine liberal Democrats in the Oval Office Tuesday to discuss ongoing legislative negotiations.

MANILA, Philippines --- Metro Manila may be placed under the more relaxed Alert Level 2 in the coming weeks if the decline in new COVID-19 cases continues, the Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday. The DOH reported only 642 new COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila and 3,656 new cases nationwide on Wednesday. The capital region now has 13,439 active cases of the disease while the entire country has 67,061 active coronavirus infections. "If this number continues to decline, it is very possible that we can be deescalated in the coming weeks, so hopefully all of us will not be complacent, all of us will work together so that we can reach that goal of having Alert Level 2 in the NCR,"...

Keep on reading: DOH: Alert level 2 in NCR possible in ‘coming weeks’ if decline in COVID cases continues

  QUITO -- Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso on Wednesday refused to testify to a parliamentary committee that is investigating revelations about the 65-year-old in the Pandora Papers leaks. The committee was convened by the opposition-dominated congress to investigate ex-banker Lasso's activities in tax havens. Earlier this month, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) leaked a trove of documents exposing the secret offshore accounts of a host of world leaders, including Lasso. The leaks claimed Lasso, who assumed office in May, controlled 14 offshore companies, mostly in Panama, and closed them after former leftist president Rafael Corre...

Keep on reading: Ecuador president refuses to testify over Pandora Papers leaks

MABALACAT CITY, Pampanga----The government of Angeles City has canceled the scheduled second dose vaccination of some 3,000 residents due to the shortage of Sinopharm vaccine supply. The city government announced Wednesday that it canceled the Oct. 21 and 22 vaccination for Cuayan and Claro M Recto villagers as the second dose of the Sinopharm vaccine did not arrive on time. Citing Department of Health (DOH) guidelines, the city government explained that the vaccine efficacy would not be affected even if the second dose is administered beyond the manufacturer's recommended interval. Some netizens expressed their disappointment over the cancellation, even citing DOH and inter...

Keep on reading: Shortage of Sinopharm vaccine stalls 2nd dose for 3,000 Angeles residents

MABALACAT CITY, Pampanga----At least 21 more residents of Tarlac province have succumbed to COVID-19, the provincial government disclosed on Wednesday, Oct. 20. The fatalities were from the towns of Concepcion (7), Gerona (7), Capas (6), and Tarlac City (1). They included 12 elderly aged between 62 and 90. Nine residents in the province also died on Tuesday from COVID-19. The oldest among the new fatalities was an 85-year-old man from Anao town, while the youngest was a 28-year-old from Camiling. Tarlac on Wednesday registered 58 new COVID-19 patients and 208 recoveries, bringing its active cases down to 455 from 798 a week ago. Tarlac City has the most active cases at 12...

Keep on reading: 21 more Tarlac residents die of COVID-19

North Korea said the United States and the UN Security Council are "tampering with a dangerous time bomb" following a meeting over the isolated nation's most recent ballistic missile test, state media reported.

At least one person was killed and 33 injured in a powerful explosion at a restaurant in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang on Thursday morning, according to local authorities.

      MALLORCA, Spain -- Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma was on the Spanish island of Mallorca where his luxury yacht is anchored, two Spanish newspapers said on Wednesday, on his first trip abroad since he fell out with China's regulators in 2020. The Chinese billionaire has largely been out of public view since he publicly criticized China's regulatory system in a speech last year. His empire promptly came under heavy scrutiny by regulators, that even led to the suspension of Ant Group's $37 billion blockbuster IPO. The Diario de Mallorca newspaper said Ma was seen on Tuesday in the port of Andratx buying home decor at a local store. The superyacht Ze...

Keep on reading: Alibaba founder Ma spotted in Mallorca in rare trip abroad after China scrutiny