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LEGAZPI CITY ---- Heavy rains from Typhoon "Bising" (international name Suriage) on Monday caused a river to overflow and isolate at least seven villages in San Miguel town in Catanduanes. Roberto Monterola, chief of Emergency Operations Center of the province, said the Obo spillway traversing Patagan Salvacion, Patagan Sta. Elena, Obo, Dayawa, Siay, Pacogon, and Arroyao Saday villages became impassable due to the overflowing Bato River. In San Andres town, strong winds and heavy rains softened the soil and toppled an electric post. Monterola said the post partially blocked a road that connects the villages of Codon and Asgad. As of noon Monday, authorities evacuated 10,445 f...

Keep on reading: Overflowing river isolates 7 Catanduanes villages

Lewis Hamilton said he was only human after making a rare mistake in a rollercoaster of an Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Sunday. The error left the seven-time world champion staring at a rare retirement before recovering to fight back and finish second. In a race that resembled a high-speed game of snakes and ladders, the Mercedes driver went from pole to second to a standstill, staring at the barriers and fearing his race was over, then ninth and a lap down and back onto the podium. https://twitter.com/F1/status/1383825148239745024?s=20 It was, he said, like an afternoon from his youth when he would fight his way back through the field with "a dodgy old go-kart"....

Keep on reading: I’m only human, says Hamilton after recovery from rare error

YANGON --- Japan has urged Myanmar authorities to release a Japanese journalist in custody at a Yangon prison, one of at least 65 reporters arrested during the junta's crackdown on anti-coup protests. The military has ramped up its attempts to crush dissent following mass demonstrations against its ousting of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with at least 737 civilians killed and the press increasingly under attack. Freelance reporter Yuki Kitazumi was detained on Sunday, and a Japanese embassy spokesman confirmed that he was transferred overnight from a police watchhouse to the Insein prison. Kitazumi has not been charged yet and diplomats are seeking permission to visit h...

Keep on reading: Japan urges release of journalist detained in Myanmar

"Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous health misfortune, or to take arms against a sea of economic troubles and by continuing to lockdown, end them." You can't manage what you can't measure. But what happens when there is a move to manage what should be measured, resulting in confusion that will inevitably affect far-reaching economic decisions? Take the DOH COVID Situationers, which seem to be at odds with what we see happening at work (The Medical City) and in our neighbourhood (Quezon City). At the end of February, 2021, active cases were below 30K. But now the incidence of COVID at our subdivision is twice what it was last year. By April ...

Keep on reading: Medicine & management: Curing our country

Under President Xi Jinping, China's former leaders have grown accustomed to keeping their heads down.

MANILA, Philippines --- At least five to 10 people die every day in the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) due to COVID-19, the hospital's spokesperson said on Monday. At the same time, PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas Del Rosario disclosed that the hospital's ward and intensive care units are still at full capacity. "Napapansin namin, for the past four weeks, at least minimum of 5 deaths per day ang nakukuha namin sa PGH. A range of 5-10, depende," said PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas Del Rosario in an interview over ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo. (We've noticed for the past four weeks, there have been a minimum of five deaths per day in PGH. It ranges from 5 to 10.) "Kasi yung iba talagang pagda...

Keep on reading: 5 to 10 people die every day in PGH due to COVID-19 — spokesperson

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won a chaotic and crash-halted Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Sunday with Lewis Hamilton second for Mercedes and staying ahead in the championship by a single point. The win, by a commanding 22 seconds at the chequered flag of the season's second race, was the 11th of the Dutch youngster's career. https://twitter.com/F1/status/1383805895339962373?s=20 "It was very challenging out there, especially in the beginning to stay on track to be honest, it was very slippery," Verstappen said of an afternoon that started with most drivers on intermediate tires but some on full wets. Hamilton, winner of the Bahrain season-opener, took a crucial bonus...

Keep on reading: Verstappen wins at Imola as Hamilton fights back

MANILA, Philippines --- President Rodrigo Duterte will respect the decision of Congress should it revoke his order reducing the tariffs on imported pork, Malacaang said Monday. Senators have urged the President to recall his Executive Order No. 128 lowering tariffs on imported pork, saying this would kill the local hog industry. "Nakikinig naman po ang Presidente. At alam naman po ng Presidente na sa ating Saligang Batas, ang talagang mayroong primary jurisdiction pagdating sa taripa ay ang Kongreso," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an online briefing. (The President listens. And the President knows that under our Constitution, Congress has the primary jurisdic...

Keep on reading: Duterte to respect decision of Congress if it voids EO lowering pork tariffs

  MANILA, Philippines -- SM Supermalls plans to inoculate 150,000 of its employees against COVID-19 by the end of the year and would donate excess vaccines, its President Steven Tan said on Monday.     He said SM has ordered a total of 600,000 vaccine doses from different drugmakers including Sinovac BioTech, AstraZeneca and Moderna, and would only need 300,000 doses to immunize 150,000 employees.   A "portion" of the vaccine doses will then be donated.     "As soon as it's available for us, we will start rolling it out. We were a total of 150,000 but I believe we will also be donating a portion of it," he said in an interview over...

Keep on reading: Retail giant SM to inoculate 150,000 employees vs COVID-19 

NEW DELHI --- The Indian capital New Delhi will be under a strict lockdown for six days starting on Monday night, the city's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, adding the healthcare system was at a breaking point because of the worsening COVID-19 outbreak. The city was also facing acute shortages of hospital beds, medical oxygen supplies and key medicines such as the anti-viral Remdesivir, Kejriwal said....

Keep on reading: India’s Delhi to lock down for six days as COVID-19 outbreak worsens

MANILA, Philippines --- The Department of Agriculture (DA) assured the "calibrated arrival" of pork imports into the country as President Rodrigo Duterte's executive order lowering tariffs on such product becomes effective. Facing House lawmakers in a hearing Monday, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said Executive Order No. 128 is "now in effect." "The EO 128 is now in effect and that continues to be implemented by us. Whatever is needed in terms of import clearances being requested by importers, the Bureau of Animal Industry is now issuing said import clearances," Dar said. "We would like to assure that calibrated arrival of said imports will be properly managed and hoping...

Keep on reading: DA assures ‘calibrated arrival’ of pork as EO on import tariff cuts ‘now in effect’

MANILA, Philippines --- The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) want local financial institutions to learn key lessons from one of Indonesia's largest banks in a bid to give so-called unbanked Filipinos greater access to the digital economy through the use of satellite internet technology. In a press briefing, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno held up the business model of Bank Rakyat Indonesia --- which specializes in small-scale and microfinance banking for over 30 million clients --- as a success story that can be replicated locally through the newly approved broadband internet delivery method. "In the case of Bank Rakyat, the bank was able to deploy 51,000 antennas or teleports to conne...

Keep on reading: BSP wants PH banks to copy Bank Raykat Indonesia’s financial inclusion model

  MANILA, Philippines --- Malacaang dispelled Monday notions that President Rodrigo Duterte has been silent amid reported persistent invasion of China in the West Philippine Sea, saying the strong statements of his so-called alter egos reflect the Chief Executive's stance on the issue. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that since Duterte did not renounce the remarks of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. regarding Chinese incursions in Philippine waters, their words are also considered as Duterte's own. "Kapag hindi dini-disown ng Presidente ang mga sinasabi ng kanyang mga alter egos, parang siya na ang nagsasalit...

Keep on reading: Remarks of Duterte’s ‘alter egos’ on China incursion in West PH Sea also his – Palace

GEOJE, South Korea --- Clad in a black wet suit and pink face mask, Jin So-hee's figure cleanly parts the green-blue water until she abruptly dives below the surface, her purple fins disappearing into the deep. When she resurfaces a minute and a half later, her gloved hands grip six or seven sea cucumbers, their spiked backs glistening in the sun. "This is the biggest one, what do we do?" she asks her partner, Woo Jung-min. "The boss is going to be mad. He told us to bring in the really big ones today." Climate change and environmental pollution have made finding enough sea life to harvest more difficult for Jin, Woo, and other South Korean haenyeo, or "sea women". For si...

Keep on reading: For South Korea’s youngest ‘sea women’, warming seas mean smaller catches

A Pacific Island country has banned outward travel from its main island for three days after a body washed ashore that later tested positive for Covid-19, Radio New Zealand has reported.

Xian Lim's birthday greeting for girlfriend Kim Chiu looks back at a conversation they had during their first date. "Naaalala ko pa nung first date natin (I remember during our first date), you told me that you're worried that what we have might not last because of this crazy world we live in," he said as he showed photos of his trips with Chiu on his Instagram page today, April 19. He added that despite critics doubting their relationship and trying to keep them apart, he felt that he is the "luckiest man in the world" to have her by his side. "[Many] years later, nandito pa rin tayo para sa isa't isa, nagmamahalan na parang walang bukas. I love you so much Kim, always reme...

Keep on reading: Xian Lim recalls first date with Kim Chiu: ‘You were worried we might not last’

A two-way travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand opened Monday, allowing passengers to move quarantine-free between both countries for the first time in more than a year.

Terry Rozier scored 34 points to help the Charlotte Hornets snap a four-game losing streak in a 109-101 victory against the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night. P.J. Washington contributed 23 points and eight rebounds off the bench and Miles Bridges added 19 points. Jalen McDaniels also had 13 points for Charlotte. https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1383979894913204227?s=20 Carmelo Anthony pumped in 24 points and C.J. McCollum posted 22 points for Portland. Norman Powell chipped in 17 points, but he was 1-for-8 on 3s. It was the second straight game for the Trail Blazers without injured team scoring leader Damian Lillard. Unlike two nights earlier in a one-point w...

Keep on reading: Hornets snap four-game skid with win over Trail Blazers

More than half of all US adults have now gotten at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

NANCHANGIt had been almost a decade since Wang Shengbian, an aquatic animal specialist, last saw an Ochetobius elongatus in Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake. But he encountered one of the fish recentlyabout 23 centimeters long and weighing 47.4 gramsduring routine monitoring of the lake. Ochetobius elongatus used to be a common fish species in the Yangtze River basin. However, due to environmental destruction, overfishing and human disturbance, its population fell rapidly and it became a critically endangered species. "I was pleasantly surprised and contacted other experts to double-check the species," Wang said. "The small fish was about 1 year old, which indica...

Keep on reading: Fishing ban brings rare species back to China’s largest freshwater lake