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    MELBOURNE -- Australia on Sunday imposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on 28 Russian-appointed separatists, ministers and senior officials after President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of four regions of Ukraine. The new sanctions targeted individuals who the Australian government said were flouting international law to legitimize Russia's actions in Ukraine through "sham referenda, disinformation and intimidation". "These additional sanctions reinforce Australia's strong objection to the actions of President Putin and those carrying out his orders," Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement. Putin on Friday announced the a...

Keep on reading: Australia expands sanctions against Russians

Hurricane Ian approached Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a powerful storm just one rating shy of the highest category designation given to storms in the United States. Storm strength is defined by the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which assesses hurricane systems on a rating between 1 and 5, according to the National Hurricane Center. The scale, created by and named for wind engineer Herb Saffir and meteorologist Bob Simpson, is used to forecast wind intensity and potential damage. Storm strength is categorized by a hurricane's maximum sustained wind speed and can change throughout the course of a weather event. It does not consider other factors such as storm surge...

Keep on reading: How hurricane categories forecast the scale of destruction

  Moderna Inc has refused to hand over to China the core intellectual property behind the development of its COVID-19 vaccine, leading to a collapse in negotiations on its sale there, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company turned down China's request to hand over the recipe for its mRNA vaccine because of commercial and safety concerns, the newspaper said, citing people involved in negotiations that took place between 2020 and 2021, adding that the vaccine maker is still "eager" to sell the product to China. The company had "given up" on its previous efforts to access th...

Keep on reading: Moderna refused China request to reveal vaccine technology–FT

    LEGAZPi CITY --- Police arrested two drug suspects and seized some P12,000 worth of "shabu" (crystal meth) in separate buy-bust operations in Albay and Camarines Sur Saturday. In Naga City, Katy Parcedes, 23, sold a sachet of shabu worth P500 to an undercover agent in Barangay (village) Balatas at around 7:15 p.m. Police Senior Master Sergeant Tobias Bongon, Naga City police spokesperson, said the authorities recovered a total of four sachets of shabu worth an estimated P5,000 from the suspect. In Ligao City, Albay, Raymart Garcia, 28, was also arrested in Barangay Binatagan at around 7:55 p.m. Police Lieutenant Colonel Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Bicol po...

Keep on reading: 2 nabbed in Bicol drug buy-bust ops

  MANILA, Philippines --- The five rescuers from Bulacan who lost their lives while en route to a rescue mission at the height of Typhoon Karding's fury have received a posthumous award from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). The NDRRMC, in a statement on Saturday, said it conferred the Bakas Parangal ng Kagitingan to George Agustin, Troy Justin Agustin, Marby Bartolome, Jerson Resurrecion, and Narciso Calayag Jr. during the tribute organized by the Bulacan provincial government held at the Bulacan Capitol Gymnasium last Friday, September 30. "Bulacan was once called the 'Land of the Heroes', and I believe that our rescuers p...

Keep on reading: NDRRMC confers posthumous award on 5 fallen Bulacan rescuers

    LUCENA CITY - A motorcycle rider died after figuring in an accident Saturday night along the Maharlika Highway in Pagbilao, Quezon. The Quezon police reported that the still unidentified male driver of a black Honda TMX motorcycle was traversing the outer lane of the highway when his vehicle slid in a section of the highway in Barangay (village) Bukal at around 9:30 p.m. The driver was thrown off the vehicle, landed on the pavement, and was consequently hit by another vehicle behind him. The rider, wearing a white shirt and brown pants, sustained serious injuries and died on the spot. The report did not say if he was wearing a crash helmet. The driver ...

Keep on reading: Motorcyclist dead in Quezon highway mishap

Former President Donald Trump praised the "courage and strength" of Ginni Thomas at a rally Saturday, days after the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas met with congressional investigators about her efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

MANILA, Philippines --- The country will have a breather from weather disturbances in the next few days as no tropical cyclone is forecast to form or enter the Philippine area of responsibility, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said on Sunday. "Magandang balita po dahil sa mga susunod na araw wala pa din tayong nakikitang bagyo na papasok or mabubuo sa ating Philippine area of responsibility (PAR)," Pagasa weather specialist Benison Estareja said. ( No tropical cyclone is expected form or enter PAR in the coming days, that;s good news.) Pagasa, however, earlier said that it expects two to four tropical cyc...

Keep on reading: Pagasa: No tropical cyclone expected in the next few days

At least 127 people are dead and hundreds more injured, police say, after chaos and violence erupted late on Saturday following an Indonesian league soccer match between two of the nation's biggest teams.

    WASHINGTON - U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday cheered Ukraine's capture of the key bastion of Lyman from Russia in eastern Ukraine, saying it was an encouraging battlefield success that would create new dilemmas for Russia's military. "Absolutely, it's significant. We're very encouraged by what we're seeing right now," Austin told reporters at a news conference in Hawaii. Russia had used Lyman as a logistics and transport hub for its operations in the north of the Donetsk region. Its capture is Ukraine's biggest battlefield gain since a lightning counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month. Austin noted that Lyman was pos...

Keep on reading: U.S. cheers Ukraine’s “significant” battlefield success at Lyman

Residents on the small resort island of Polillo are accustomed to severe weather -- their island sits in the northeastern Philippines, on the edge of the Pacific Ocean where storms typically gather strength and turn into typhoons.

  FORT MYERS, Fla./CHARLESTON, S.C. - Florida and the Carolinas, staggered by one of the fiercest storms in U.S. history, faced a massive recovery on Saturday as remnants of Hurricane Ian threatened further flooding along the Eastern Seaboard while leaving tens of billions of dollars in damage in its wake. The number of confirmed fatalities from Ian rose to at least 50, most in Lee County, Florida, which bore the brunt of the storm when it slammed ashore the state's Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane packing maximum sustained winds of 150 miles (240 km) per hour. The death toll was expected to climb higher as floodwaters receded and search teams reached m...

Keep on reading: After Hurricane Ian’s deadly wrath, Florida, Carolinas begin recovery

    KYIV - Ukrainian troops said on Saturday they had taken the key bastion of Lyman in occupied eastern Ukraine, a stinging defeat that prompted a close ally of President Vladimir Putin to call for the possible use of low-grade nuclear weapons. The capture came just a day after Putin proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions - including Donetsk, where Lyman is located - and placed them under Russia's nuclear umbrella, at a ceremony that was condemned by Kyiv and the West as an illegitimate farce. The Ukrainian soldiers made the claim in a video that was recorded outside the town council building in the centre of Lyman and posted on social media by Kyr...

Keep on reading: Ukraine troops say they took key town, Putin ally mulls possible nuclear response

A Russian Orthodox cathedral in New York appears to have been defaced with red paint, following a similar incident in which the Russian consulate was vandalized with red spray paint.

• Pictures show the full extent of Ian's destruction • How to help victims of Hurricane Ian • Florida expects flooding for days in Ian's wake as the Sunshine State and the Carolinas turn to recovery

Before opening day, University of the Philippines (UP) big man Carl Tamayo had no comeback for Evan Nelle, who picked his La Salle squad as the favorite of the UAAP Season 85 men's basketball tournament. Instead, the 6-foot-7 Maroons star let his game do the talking. And his game spoke big words. Tamayo calmly buried two game-clinching free throws in the dying seconds as the Maroons opened its title-retention bid with a come-from-behind 72-69 win over the Archers on Saturday night at Mall of Asia Arena. "If he (Nelle) believes that they are the best team, we respect that. We just did what we have to do to get the win,'' said Tamayo, who finished with 18 points and 19 rebounds a...

Keep on reading: Carl Tamayo lets his game do the talking with monster double-double

National University (NU)-Sta. Elena gave a glimpse of what can be expected of it when the collegiate volleyball season rolls around. The Nationals, who came out steadier when the moment grew bigger, came through with a 25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23 Game 2 victory Saturday and swept Cignal HD for the Spikers' Turf Open Conference crown at Paco Arena. Michaelo Buddin capped a Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) performance with a kill that broke past two defenders as NU-Sta. Elena ended Cignal's reign in men's volleyball. The HD Spikers swept the Reinforced and Open conferences in 2019 before Spikers' Turf was shelved due to the coronavirus pandemic. After dominating the elimina...

Keep on reading: National U bags Spikers’ Turf crown; Almendres is tourney MVP

  About the only thing that has marred the Bay Area Dragons' stay here in the country so far was a sudden change in itinerary for the team. But with everything else going on as planned, including another win added to what has been an unbeaten run thus far, coach Brian Goorjian remains unperturbed. "It's out of our control," Goorjian said after the Dragons overcame a big first-half deficit to pull off a 101-91 victory over the struggling Phoenix Fuel Masters in the PBA Commissioner's Cup on Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum. The Olympic bronze-winning coach was referring to the fact that East Asia Super League (EASL) postponed the supposed start of its inaugural seas...

Keep on reading: Scrubbing of EASL start heightens Dragons’ desire to breath fire in PBA

The National Archives has told the House Oversight Committee that certain presidential records from the Trump administration remain outstanding, citing information that some White House staff used non-official electronic systems to conduct official business.