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  MANILA, Philippines --- The House of Representatives is ready to work on President Rodrigo Duterte's remaining priority measures to prepare Filipinos for the reopening of the economy and bringing back normalcy to our economy, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said Tuesday. Velasco said the House "must heed the call" of Duterte to bring back normalcy in the lives of Filipinos and help the economy recover in light of the coronavirus pandemic. "The House of Representatives is ready to help and cooperate with President Duterte in pushing for pieces of legislation that will help navigate the country and the economy amid the ongoing pandemic," Velasco said in a statement following...

Keep on reading: House ready to work on priority bills to bring back normalcy on economy

• Live updates: 'This one sucks more than the others,' Osaka says after shock Olympic loss

    Moderna Inc is in talks with U.S. regulators to expand the size of an ongoing trial testing its COVID-19 vaccines in children aged between five and 11, the drugmaker said on Monday. The objective of the discussion with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is to enroll a larger safety database, which increases the likelihood of detecting rarer events, the company said. Moderna expects to have a package that supports authorization in winter of 2021 or early 2022, a company spokesperson told Reuters. Earlier in the day, the New York Times reported the U.S. regulators have asked Pfizer Inc-BioNTech and Moderna to expand the size of the trial. They claimed...

Keep on reading: Moderna in talks with FDA to expand COVID-19 vaccine pediatric study

TOKYO---Japan's women shocked an undefeated U.S. team packed with WNBA players on Tuesday as 3x3 basketball wound down to the elimination stage at its Olympics debut. Mai Yamamoto led with eight points, including a critical two-pointer with about a minute left to put her team ahead. Japan advanced to 5-2 and second place in the pool round. Japan head coach Torsten Loibl said the victory was important to show his team is ready for the knock-out stages. "It's not important to win or lose, but it's a message," he said from the stands moments after the final whistle sounded. A late penalty gave Team USA 1.1 seconds to tie the game with a two-pointer. But Japan's Stephanie...

Keep on reading: Japan women shock undefeated US in 3×3 pool round

      MOSCOW -- Russia has given the green light for clinical trials combining a British shot from AstraZeneca Plc and Oxford University with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine to go ahead, according to Russia's state drug register. The health ministry's ethical committee had in May suspended the approval process for the clinical trials, and requested additional information. According to the state drug register, five Russian clinics will hold trials that are set to finish in early March, 2022. Both the AstraZeneca/Oxford and Sputnik V vaccines involve two doses - an initial shot and a booster - but Sputnik V uses different viral vectors for its two shots. Rus...

Keep on reading: Russia approves trials of combined AstraZeneca/Sputnik V vaccine

Written by Marge C. Enriquez In the monsoon season, drastic change of temperatures and the damp air can spread more bacteria and viruses, thus making us susceptible to colds, dry coughs and coughs with phlegm and even Covid-19. Infectious disease specialist Dr. Joseph Adrian Buensalido said doctors take a complete history, physical exam if needed or order a lab test to determine if the contagion is viral, bacterial or the dreaded Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Researches cite that Covid cases tend to rise when temperatures drop and rainfall increases. Buensalido likens SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) to a criminal on the loose, causing mayhem to people a...

Keep on reading: Zinc and Carbocisteine: Options for this rainy season

  MANILA, Philippines --- Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Tuesday said there is no need for him to apologize as he sought to distance himself from the previous inclusion of Olympian Hidilyn Diaz in the matrices that supposedly illustrate a plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte. "Wala po, as spokesperson, wala po akong kahit anong binintang kay Hidilyn Diaz," Roque said in a press briefing, when asked if Malacaang should apologize for tagging Diaz in the alleged ouster plot. (None, as spokesperson, I did not accuse Hidilyn Diaz of anything.) "Hindi ko po alam yung sinasabi niyong matrix kasi sa tanggapan ko po, at iisa lang po ang opisyal na spokesperson ng ...

Keep on reading: Roque distances from Hidilyn Diaz’s inclusion in oust-Duterte matrix

  BUDAPEST -- About 1,000 Hungarians protested on Monday over allegations that the government used Israeli-made Pegasus spyware for illegal surveillance of public figures in Hungary, drawing comparisons with the country's communist past. Protesters gathered at the House of Terror Museum in the capital, Budapest, which commemorates victims of Nazism and Communism, and marched to the headquarters of the governing Fidesz party. Criticising Prime Minister Viktor Orban, some chanted: "Victator." "This (allegations of illegal surveillance) was the last straw for me," said one protester, Marcell Csupor. "This reminds me of communist systems, and shows that the country is br...

Keep on reading: Hungarians protest against alleged illegal surveillance with Pegasus spyware

Chinese tech stocks are continuing their big sell-off as investors continue to digest Beijing's widening crackdown on private enterprise.

  MADRID -- The number of new COVID-19 cases in Spain continued to increase on Monday, with the 14-day incidence rate reaching 700 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, but officials said the situation was improving in some of the hardest-hit areas. The total number of cases in Spain reached 4.3 million amid the spread of the more contagious Delta variant, while deaths totaled 81,268, 47 more than in the last Health Ministry report released on Friday. "It looks like we are starting to observe a deceleration in the incidence's rhythm of growth," deputy health minister Silvia Calzon told a news briefing, adding that more than 65% of new cases were among people below the age...

Keep on reading: Spain’s COVID-19 incidence rate rises, but officials see signs of hope

• Live updates: The latest on the Tokyo Olympics

The US could see about four times the current rate of Covid-19 cases in the next four to six weeks as the Delta variant spreads and the population hits a wall on vaccinations, the former CDC director told CNN.

  MANILA, Philippines --- President Rodrigo Duterte's final State of the Nation Address (Sona) may have been almost three hours long, but there were still key issues that he failed to emphasize, Vice President Leni Robredo said Tuesday. "Tapos na ang SONA ng Pangulo. Nakarinig tayo ng talaan ng mga numero at mga proyekto. Sa kabila nito, may inasahan sana tayong madiinan na hindi nadiinan," Robredo said in her report aired through her Facebook account on Tuesday. (The President's SONA is over. We heard lists of numbers and projects. And yet there were things we had hoped would be given emphasis but were not.) "Bukod sa paglatag ng mga polisiya, alam din nating may is...

Keep on reading: Robredo: Duterte’s Sona showed key points gov’t failed in pandemic response

  MANILA, Philippines --- The University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) needs P100 million to capacitate its satellite facilities in Visayas and Mindanao in conducting genome sequencing and detect COVID-19 variants of concern. Dr. Cynthia Saloma, PGC executive director, said Tuesday that the two satellite offices should have an annual budget of P50 million each to sequence a capacity of 50 COVID-19 samples per week. "Gumawa kami ng calculation, P50 million [is needed for] each lab that will make them able to sequence 50 samples, 100 samples a week, so 50-50," she told an online media briefing. (We made a calculation. We need P50 million for ...

Keep on reading: UP-PGC needs P100M for genome sequencing in Visayas, Mindanao

Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz made history Monday becoming the first athlete from the Philippines to win gold at the Olympics.

TOKYO--- Japan's great hope for tennis gold Naomi Osaka was on Tuesday beaten in the third round of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic tennis singles tournament in a blow to home spirits. The world number two was swiped aside 6-1 6-4 by Czech Marketa Vondrousova in an early shock on Day Four of the Games. The tennis event has now lost both of its top draw cards after world number one and Wimbledon champion Ash Barty was beaten in Sunday's first round. Osaka, who lit the Olympic cauldron on Friday to open the Games, seemed out of sorts on the Tokyo blue courts and never settled into a rhythm as Vondrousova never looked back. The Japanese player sprayed a costly 18 unforced errors thro...

Keep on reading: Japan’s Naomi Osaka out of Tokyo Olympics third round

SAN ANTONIO, ZAMBALES---At least 474 more persons in this province received Monday their second dose of the vaccine against COVID-19, pushing the total number of fully vaccinated residents to 19,430.   Among them were 131 recipients of the single dose of Janssen vaccine of Johnson & Johnson, said Dr. Noel Bueno, provincial health director.   At least 37,867 residents had received the first dose of the vaccine.   A total of 57,297 doses had been administered in the province. Of this number, 37,867 got other vaccine brands (16,357 AstraZeneca, 21,510 Coronavac).   The province needs to vaccinate 400,000 of its 590,800 residents to achieve...

Keep on reading: Over 19,000 Zambales residents now fully vaccinated vs COVID-19

LAOAG CITY----The African swine fever (ASF) had spread to four more towns in Ilocos Norte, the provincial government said Tuesday, July 27. The viral disease that was first traced in June to some hogs at Barangay Manalpac in Solsona town, has plagued the nearby Carasi, Nueva Era, Marcos, and Dingras towns. The provincial government said agriculture authorities had intensified their monitoring and surveillance in these areas to prevent further transmission of the disease. Hog raisers were also advised to strictly abide by "biosecurity protocols, eliminate meat-based swill feeding, and limit interaction in pig farms." In Solsona town, agriculture officer Ranison Narciso said th...

Keep on reading: ASF spreads to 4 more towns in Ilocos Norte

  MANILA, Philippines --- The proposed economic Charter change remains to be a priority of the executive branch despite it was not mentioned in President Rodrigo Duterte's final State of the Nation Address (Sona), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said Tuesday. "Hindi ko rin alam kung bakit hindi nabanggit ng ating Pangulo [I really don't know why the President did not mention it]...What is clear to us in the IATF-CORE (Inter-Agency Task Force on Constitutional Reform) is that this is a priority of the executive branch," Malaya said in an online briefing. "While we are proposing these three economic bills, these are th...

Keep on reading: Economic Cha-cha still a priority despite no mention in Duterte’s Sona — task force