Inquirer Breaking News

WASHINGTON, United States -- Russia is orchestrating a multi-front offensive involving up to 175,000 troops as soon as next year, The Washington Post reported Friday, as Ukraine warned that a large-scale attack may be planned for next month. Moscow's plans "involve extensive movement of 100 battalion tactical groups with an estimated 175,000 personnel, along with armor, artillery and equipment," a US administration official told the Post on condition of anonymity. While the Pentagon told AFP it would not comment on intelligence matters, it said it was "deeply concerned by evidence that Russia has made plans for aggressive actions against Ukraine." "We continue to support de-...

Keep on reading: Russia planning Ukraine offensive with up to 175,000 troops — news reports

Veteran swingman Wesley Matthews officially is back with the Milwaukee Bucks. Matthews signed with the Bucks on Friday, marking his second stint with the team. He averaged 7.4 points in 67 starts for the club during the 2019-20 season. "Wesley is a proven veteran whose shooting, defense and experience will help us," said Milwaukee general manager Jon Horst. "He is familiar with (coach Mike Budenholzer's) system and our team. We're excited to have him back with us." The 35-year-old Matthews will provide depth for a Milwaukee backcourt led by Jrue Holiday. Matthews spent last season with the Los Angeles Lakers, averaging a career-low 4.8 points in 58 games (10 starts). Matt...

Keep on reading: Veteran Wesley Matthews back with Bucks

UNITED Nations, United States -- United Nations chief Antonio Guterres urged authorities in Sudan to respect freedom of expression and the press, calling the coup-stricken country hostile to journalists in a report submitted Friday to the Security Council. Hundreds of political activists, journalists, protesters and bystanders watching anti-coup rallies were arrested following the country's latest upheaval on October 25. On that date military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power and detained Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, but after international condemnation and the mass protests he reinstated the premier in a November 21 deal. "Amidst an increasingly hostile e...

Keep on reading: UN chief urges Sudan to respect freedom of the press

LUCENA CITY----Police arrested a suspected drug pusher in a buy-bust operation in this city on Friday night, a report said on Saturday. Lt. Col. Reynaldo Reyes, Lucena police chief, reported that anti-illegal drugs operatives collared Christian Magtibay, 25, after selling P500 worth of shabu (crystal meth) to a police agent acting as a drug user in Barangay Ibabang Dupay at 9:57 p.m. on Friday. The suspect yielded four sachets of meth worth P76,320 in the street market. The police tagged Magtibay as a newbie in the illegal drugs trade. He was detained while charges of possessing illegal drugs were being prepared. lzb...

Keep on reading: ‘Newbie’ drug pusher falls in Lucena bust

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) -- George Clooney turned down an offer of $35 million for a day's work for an airline commercial, the star revealed to the U.K.'s The Guardian newspaper. In an interview published in the newspaper on Friday, Clooney said: "I was offered $35 million for one day's work for an airline commercial, but I talked to Amal about it and we decided it's not worth it." Clooney married human rights lawyer Amal Clooney n?e Alamuddin in 2014. The actor, who won a supporting actor Oscar for "Syriana" and best picture for "Argo" said that the airline was associated with "a country that, although it's an ally, is questionable at times, and so I thought: 'Well, if it ...

Keep on reading: What??! George Clooney turned down $35M for one day’s work

CITY OF ILAGAN, Isabela----Ten public schools in Cagayan Valley will start their pilot limited in-person classes in an expanded implementation on Dec. 6. Education Department records showed three of these schools are in the City of Ilagan, two in Santo Nio town in Cagayan, and five in Cauayan City. Listed as pilot schools for the limited in-person classes are Tabang Integrated School and Namuccayan Integrated School in Sto Nio, Cagayan; San Antonio Elementary School, San Lorenzo Elementary School, and Santa Isabel Elementary School, all in the City of Ilagan; Villa Flor Elementary School, Cassap Fuera Elementary School; Maligaya Elementary School Annex, Devera Elementary School...

Keep on reading: 10 public schools in Cagayan Valley to start piloting in-person classes

MANILA, Philippines --- Police arrested a drug suspect and seized over P1.6 million worth of shabu following. buy-bust opertion in Taguig City Friday night. The Southern Police District (SPD) on Saturday said operatives from the Taguig Station Drug Enforcement Unit arrested a Jemily Lasdon in a buy-bust on Friday night. The suspect yielded five sachets of shabu weighing around 245.3 kilograms, a sling bag, P1,000 buy-bust money, and six P1,000 bills. "The arrested suspect is now under the custody of Taguig City Police while the seized illegal drugs will be turned over to SPD Crime Laboratory for chemical analysis. The suspect will be charged for Violation...

Keep on reading: P1.6M shabu seized, drug suspect nabbed in Taguig buy-bust

    SEOUL - South Korea reported a record daily 5,352 new COVID-19 infections and 70 deaths, while a nationwide total of nine cases of the Omicron variant have been confirmed, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Saturday. The government on Friday announced that people visiting restaurants, cinemas and other public spaces will have to show vaccine passes. It is also reducing the limit on private gatherings to six people in the greater Seoul area, from 10 currently, and to eight from 12 for those residing outside of the capital, starting next Monday. The hospitalisation rate was rising rapidly led by severe cases of COVID-19, with the nu...

Keep on reading: South Korea reports record-high COVID-19 cases, deaths

OTTAWA--Canadahas discovered a total of 15 cases of the newOmicronvariant of Covid-19 and severe illness trends across the country could start to rise again, public health officials said on Friday. The federal government said it backed a recommendation of a national advisory board on immunizations that all adults above 50 should receive a booster shot six months after completion of a vaccine series. Ottawa announced last week it will require people arriving by air from all nations except the United States to take a Covid-19 test, and it expanded a ban on travelers from southern Africa to cover 10 nations. "The need for heightened vigilance remains, regardless of which varian...

Keep on reading: Canada reports 15 cases of Omicron variant, says severe Covid trends could rise

LEGAZPI CITY --- Police arrested two drug suspects and seized almost P1 million worth of shabu (crystal meth) in a buy-bust operation in Naga City Saturday morning. Colonel Marlon Catan, city police chief, said the suspects, Ronna Balcueva and her cousin Jacqueline Garay, both 29 years old, were arrested in Barangay Calauag at around 5:45 a.m. Catan said the suspects sold a sachet of shabu worth P75,000 to an undercover agent. During the body search, authorities recovered another sachet or 125 grams of shabu worth P850,000. Balcueva is included in the illegal drugs watch list in the city. gsg...

Keep on reading: 2 drug suspects busted in Naga City sting

  ATHENS, Greece - Pope Francis on Saturday flies into Greece for the first visit by a pontiff in two decades, with Athens under high security amid anti-papal sentiment among Orthodox hardliners. The pope's two-day trip will see him return on Sunday to the island of Lesbos, which he last visited in 2016 during the early years of the migration crisis. But his visit to Athens is the first by a pope since John Paul II in 2001, which in turn was the first papal visit to the city since the 1054 Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Francis is seeking to improve historically difficult relations with the Orthodox Church while also highlighting the plight of tho...

Keep on reading: Pope Francis set for first papal visit to Greece in two decades

MANILA, Philippines --- Police have arrested two Korean nationals for alleged extortion in Pasay City. The Southern Police District on Saturday said the victim, also a Korean national, complained that his vehicle was stolen, allegedly by one Hyunju Kim,whileparked in front of a condominium building last November 4, 2021. Police said that on December 2, the suspects demanded money from the victim in exchange for the stolen vehicle. An entrapment operation was launched, which resulted in the arrest of Lee Giyeoung and Kim Jae Yong at the condominium building at around 9 p.m. on Thursday. A complaint for extortion was filed against the arrested suspec...

Keep on reading: 2 Koreans arrested for alleged extortion in Pasay City

    MANILA, Philippines --- The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) is monitoring a low-pressure area (LPA) within the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR). The weather bureau, in its early morning update, said the LPA was last spotted 970 kilometers east of the Visayas. "Nagsimula itong LPA as a trough or extension ni Typhoon Nyatoh na nasa labas ng ating Philippine area of responsibility at sa ngayon ay patungo ng North Pacific Ocean," said Pagasa weather specialist Benison Estareja. (The LPA started from a trough or extension of Typhoon Nyatoh outside PAR and is now heading towards the North Pacific O...

Keep on reading: LPA spotted east of Visayas; Cloudy with a chance of rain nationwide — Pagasa

  WASHINGTON - The new Omicron variant of COVID-19 could slow the global economic recovery, just as the Delta strain did, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said Friday. "A new variant that may spread very rapidly can dent confidence and in that sense, we are likely to see some downgrades of our October projections for global growth," she said at a Reuters event. In its most recent World Economic Outlook, the fund projected global growth of 5.9 percent this year and 4.9 percent in 2022, but the United States and other major economies suffered sharp downward revisions after the spread of the Delta variant "caused some friction," Georgieva said. "Even before the arrival of...

Keep on reading: IMF chief warns Omicron could slow global growth

    SEOUL - K-pop sensation BTS hopes to hold an in-person concert in Seoul for the first since the pandemic, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday, after the group posted a tweet promising to "see you in Seoul, MARCH 2022". The tweet included hashtags for the group's "Permission to Dance" stage performances, but provided no other details. Yonhap cited unnamed officials at the group's management company, Big Hit Music, as saying they would push to hold the event in person to give fans in South Korea a chance to see the singers. A Big Hit press release said the next city in the BTS tour will be Seoul, but the company did not immediately confirm if the event wo...

Keep on reading: K-pop sensation BTS hopes to ‘see you in Seoul’ in March

    A deeper investigation into Facebook's lack of controls to prevent misinformation and abuse in languages other than English is likely to leave people "even more shocked" about the potential harms caused by the social media firm, whistleblower Frances Haugen told Reuters. Haugen, a former product manager at Meta Platforms Inc's Facebook, spoke at the Reuters Next conference on Friday. She left the company in May with thousands of internal documents which she leaked to the Wall Street Journal. That led to a series of articles in September detailing how the company knew its apps helped spread divisive content and harmed the mental health of some young users. ...

Keep on reading: Facebook whistleblower says transparency needed to fix social media ills

      MADRID - Croatia reached the Davis Cup final after Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic beat Novak Djokovic and Filip Krajinovic 7-5 6-1 in a decisive doubles clash to give the competition's twice former winners a 2-1 win over Serbia on Friday. The Croatians will clash in Sunday's showpiece with either Germany or the Russian Tennis Federation, who meet in the other semi-final on Saturday. Borna Gojo fired Croatia ahead with a 4-6 6-3 6-2 win over Dusan Lajovic in the opening rubber before Djokovic redressed the balance as he brushed aside Marin Cilic 6-4 6-2. Krajinovic's late inclusion in the crunch encounter was a surprise move by Serbia's team captai...

Keep on reading: Croatia edges out Serbia to reach Davis Cup final

    GENEVA - The World Health Organization's (WHO) chief scientist told the Reuters Next conference on Friday that people should not panic over the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant and said it was too early to say if vaccines would need to be reworked. Soumya Swaminathan told the conference that the fast-spreading variant would have to become more transmissible to out-compete the Delta variant, which accounts for 99% of current transmissions. "We need to be prepared and cautious, not panic, because we're in a different situation to a year ago," she said. Swaminathan cited data showing the number of Omicron cases is doubling daily in South Africa, ...

Keep on reading: WHO chief scientist urges people not to panic over Omicron

LAHORE, Pakistan---It took more than a wave of a wand, but Pakistani university students transformed their 150-year-old campus into Hogwarts this week as they kicked off a festival celebrating the fictional young wizard Harry Potter. With its vast halls and soaring archways, Government College University in the eastern megacity of Lahore has long reminded students of the magical school created by British author J.K. Rowling, several students told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "I can't believe I'm in Hogwarts, while being in Lahore of all places," said an excited Raziah Alam, taking part in the festival. "This has been such a fun experience." 'Potterverse' Dressed in costumes...

Keep on reading: Pakistan ‘Potterheads’ turn campus into Hogwarts

LONDON---COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna that use mRNA technology provide the biggest boost to antibody levels when given 10 to 12 weeks after the second dose, a British study published on Thursday has found. The "COV-Boost" study was cited by British officials when they announced that Pfizer and Moderna were preferred for use in the country's booster campaign, but the data has only been made publicly available now. The study found that six out of the seven boosters examined enhanced immunity after initial vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine, while all seven increased immunity when given after two doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine. "A third dose will be effe...

Keep on reading: Pfizer, Moderna jabs give biggest booster impact, UK study finds