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Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone told his players on Saturday that they "haven't done a damn thing" despite an opening-game romp over the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. The Nuggets, led by 27 points from Nikola Jokic and 26 by Jamal Murray, ripped visiting Miami 104-93 on Thursday for a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven championship series ahead of Sunday's game two in Denver. But Malone was not pleased about the opportunities the Nuggets allowed the Heat and urged players not to get swelled heads with pride over winning without playing their best. "I told our players today, 'Don't read the paper, don't listen to the folks on the radio and TV saying that this series is over an...

Keep on reading: Nuggets coach says ‘we haven’t done a damn thing’ in NBA Finals

  SINGAPORE -- Senior officials from about two dozen of the world's major intelligence agencies held a secret meeting on the fringes of the Shangri-La Dialogue security meeting in Singapore this weekend, five people told Reuters. Such meetings are organized by the Singapore government and have been discreetly held at a separate venue alongside the security summit for several years, they said. The meetings have not been previously reported. The U.S. was represented by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, the head of her country's intelligence community, while China was among the other countries present, despite the tensions between the two superpowers. Sama...

Keep on reading: World’s spy chiefs meet in secret conclave in Singapore

  LUCENA CITY -- A jail officer was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen on Saturday night, June 3, in Sto. Tomas City in Batangas province. The victim, Jail Officer 1 Leonardo Carona, assigned to the Cabuyao City jail in Laguna province, was with his wife closing up their mini grocery store for the night in Barangay (village) San Miguel, at around 8 p.m., the Batangas police reported Sunday, June 4. Suddenly, a male motorcycle rider appeared and repeatedly shot Carona with a handgun. The gunman fled after the shooting. The victim was immediately taken to St. Cabrini Medical Hospital for treatment but died 45 minutes later. An investigation is ongoing to establis...

Keep on reading: Jail officer shot dead in Batangas

MANILA, Philippines --- The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) on Sunday announced the latest batch of promotions and appointments made by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., In a Facebook post, the PCO said Marcos promoted officials to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Transportation (DOTr), and its Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), among others. Below is the latest set of the chief executive's appointees: DAR Jose Angelo Martires (Assistant Secretary) Ubaldo Sadiarin Jr. (Assistant Secretary...

Keep on reading: Malacañang bares latest batch of appointees

Jason Hernandez clarified that his annulment with estranged wife, singer Moira Dela Torre, is not yet final, as he insisted that he does not have a new girlfriend. On his Instagram Stories, Hernandez claimed that the "mystery woman" who was with him in pictures that he himself posted on his social media account was just an actress in the music video of his new single,"Ikaw Pa Rin." "I don't have a girlfriend because I am technically still married, and of course I won't have one while my annulment has not been finalized yet," he said.     Hernandez named the actress as Sumaya McEvoy from El Nido, Palawan, who he made a point of stressing to not being a gir...

Keep on reading: Jason Hernandez clarifies marriage status with Moira dela Torre: ‘I don’t have a girlfriend’

MANILA, Philippines --- Alex Eala earned a shot at her third International Tennis Federation (ITF) pro title in her first championship game this year in the W25 Yecla in Spain. The 18-year-old Eala outlasted Lucia Peyre of Argentina in their thrilling semifinal match, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, to reach the winner-take-all final of the $25,000 tournament on Saturday at Yecla Club de Tenis. The Filipino tennis star survived the tough challenge of the 17-year-old qualifier Peyre, who pushed her to her limits before prevailing in the two-hour and 25-minute match. Eala, the No.2 seed of the tournament, plays her first championship game this 2023 against Valentina Ryser of Switzerland on Sun...

Keep on reading: Alex Eala gets shot at third ITF title, enters W25 Yecla final

  BALASORE, India -- Ompal Bhatia, a survivor of the three-train crash in India on Friday, had first thought he was dead. When the train he was traveling in went off-track, Bhatia was with three friends on his way to Chennai for work. The 25-year-old had spent most of the four-hour journey on the Coromandel Express standing. Bhatia, who works in the plywood business, said that just before the trains crashed, leaving nearly 300 dead, some people were getting ready to sleep. The rail car he was in, S3, was so full that there was only standing space. He had held on to a chain, as did his friends. The train is often used by daily wage workers, and people who work as chea...

Keep on reading: India train crash survivor recounts: ‘We thought we were dead’

    BELGRADE -- Tens of thousands of Serbs joined an anti-government protest in Belgrade on Saturday, blaming a culture of violence for the deaths of 18 people in two mass shootings and calling on the interior minister to resign. The protest marked the one-month anniversary of the country's first school shooting on May 3, when a teenager killed ten in an elementary school. In the second shooting on May 4, a 21-year-old man killed eight in a town outside Belgrade. In response to the shootings, the government announced school summer holidays would start on June 6, two weeks earlier than planned. Opposition parties which organized the protest - the fifth in the ...

Keep on reading: Tens of thousands gather in Serbia’s anti-government protest

  LONDON -- British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Saturday he wanted to foster a "close and candid relationship" with U.S. President Joe Biden during a visit to Washington next week that comes after some signs of strains in bilateral ties. Sunak is due to be in the U.S. capital on Wednesday and Thursday for talks with politicians in Congress and business leaders as well as with the president. "The U.S. is our closest ally. We are one another's partner of first resort when it comes to everything from keeping our people safe to growing our economies," Sunak said in a statement ahead of his first official visit to Washington as prime minister. "That's why it is so ...

Keep on reading: UK’s Sunak says he wants to build on Biden ties in Washington trip

  MOSCOW -- Shelling and strikes by Ukrainian forces on Russia's Belgorod region killed two people on Saturday as hundreds of children were evacuated away from the border, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. "The children of Shebekino are very worried about their hometown," Gladkov said on the Telegram channel after escorting about 600 of them from the region's Shebekino and Graivoron districts to Yaroslavl and Kaluga. "I started leaving, they stopped me and with anxiety started asking questions." Shebekino, a town of about 40,000 on the border and other places in the southern Russian region, have been attacked repeatedly the past week, Gladkov has said earlier, forcin...

Keep on reading: Ukraine shelling kills two in Belgorod as hundreds of children evacuated–governor

    CITY OF CALAPAN -- Two New People's Army (NPA) rebels surrendered to authorities on Saturday in Palawan and Oriental Mindoro, police reports said Sunday. "Ka Ernie/Ivan," a former member of NPA's Bienvenido Vallever Command, surrendered at about 1 p.m. with a rifle grenade to authorities at the barangay (village) hall of Caramay in Roxas, Palawan, according to the Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan (Mimaropa) police office. He is now under the custody of the 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company. Another former NPA rebel, "Ka Lynlyn/Zyra", 45, surrendered with a homemade shotgun, a magazine and a rifle grenade to authorities at the 404th l Batallion Mane...

Keep on reading: 2 NPA rebels yield in Palawan, Oriental Mindoro

  MANILA, Philippines --- Over 390,000 bivalent COVID-19 vaccine doses from the Lithuanian government arrived in the country on Saturday night, according to the Department of Health (DOH). In a Facebook post, the DOH said it received the bivalent vaccines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3 in Pasay City. "It is with great pleasure that we have received such generous donations from the Lithuanian government and our sincerest gratitude to our partner agencies for being one with the DOH in seeing that within our reach is a bountiful future, one that is most achievable starting with ensuring that we have sufficient protection against the COVID-1...

Keep on reading: 390,000 COVID-19 bivalent vaccine doses donated by Lithuania arrive in PH

  GILBERT, South Carolina -- In the first full week of his 2024 presidential campaign, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis worked hard to define himself as a candidate to voters --- and just as hard to define the man who stands in his way for the Republican nomination. As he toured 12 cities in three early-voting states, DeSantis, 44, made his case that he is the more conservative and consistent alternative to Donald Trump, the former president and current front runner in the race. Trump fired back in a sudden escalation of the war of words between the two men that not only heightened tensions in the Republican race but also provided insight into DeSantis' initial strategy. ...

Keep on reading: DeSantis chooses his words carefully in escalating war with Trump

  TAIPEI -- China's military rebuked the United States and Canada for "deliberately provoking risk" after the countries' navies staged a rare joint sailing through the sensitive Taiwan Strait. The U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said the guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and Canada's HMCS Montreal conducted a "routine" transit of the strait on Saturday "through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law". "Chung-Hoon and Montreal's bilateral transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the commitment of the United States and our allies and partners to a free and open Indo-Pacific," it said in a statement. The...

Keep on reading: China rebukes US, Canadian navies for Taiwan Strait transit

MANILA, Philippines --- The COVID-19 positivity rate nationwide further decreased to 18.6 percent on June 3, according to Octa Research fellow Guido David. In a Twitter post on Saturday, David said the rate dipped to 18.6 percent from the 19.4 percent recorded the day before. Based on the recent Department of Health (DOH) data, David reported 1,337 new COVID-19 cases nationwide --- 389 of which were from the National Capital Region (NCR). https://twitter.com/iamguidodavid/status/1664958251199242242 He added that other provinces and regions with new cases were Cavite (88), Bulacan (76), Laguna (66), Rizal (58), Iloilo (52), Pampanga (45), Isabela (42), Cagayan (41), Batangas (...

Keep on reading: PH COVID-19 positivity rate dips to 18.6% — Octa

Walt Disney's Pixar Animation Studios has eliminated 75 positions including those of two executives behind box office disappointment "Lightyear," sources said on Saturday, the first significant job cuts at the studio in a decade. The cuts included "Lightyear" director Angus MacLane, a 26-year animator who was part of the senior creative team on such acclaimed films as "Toy Story 4" and "Coco." Galyn Susman, producer of "Lightyear," also departed. Susman had been at Pixar since the release of the original "Toy Story" movie in 1995. MacLane and Susman could not be reached for comment. Michael Agulnek, Pixar's vice president of worldwide publicity since 2015, was also laid off, th...

Keep on reading: Walt Disney’s Pixar targets ‘Lightyear’ execs among 75 job cuts

    SINGAPORE - Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu said on Sunday that a Cold War mentality was resurgent in the Asia-Pacific region although his country seeks dialogue over confrontation. Speaking at the Asia's top security summit in Singapore, the Shangri-La Dialogue, Li took thinly veiled digs at the United States, accusing "some countries" of intensifying an arms race and willfully interfering in the internal affairs of others. "A Cold War mentality is now resurgent, greatly increasing security risks," he said. "Mutual respect should prevail over bullying and hegemony." U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin rebuked China in a speech at the security meet...

Keep on reading: China seeks dialogue over confrontation, defense minister tells security meet