Ex-PM still facing several other criminal charges in court.
Sep 18, 2026
Singapore Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing’s use of Mandarin and Chinese philosophy in his speech at a major security forum in Beijing has won him praise on Chinese social media, while shedding light on how cultural familiarity and language can be diplomatic tools for the city state. Videos of Chan at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum quoting ancient philosopher Mencius, or Mengzi in Mandarin, have gone viral on platforms such as Weixin and Baidu, with users hailing his command of the language and...
Business tycoon Manny Villar, former Senate president and patriarch of the Villar Group of Companies, expressed confidence Friday that he and his family can dispute the graft charges leveled by the Office of the Ombudsman over the alleged poor service of their PrimeWater Infrastructure Corporation.
The printing agency responsible for producing Philippine passports is seeking a price increase, but Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Theresa Lazaro said the agency has been asked to defer the proposed hike until 2028.
MANILA, Philippines — A University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman committee condemned the alleged violent dispersal by the Philippine National Police (PNP) of a rally decrying Pax Silica. “We hold the Philippine government and the PNP to account for this blatant violation of the right to free assembly and speech,” the UP Diliman committee on
Thailand has moved to make weight-loss pens prescription-only, as a glut of the GLP-1 medicines – which mimic the hormones released once someone is full – floods the black market and influencers swarm TikTok to extol the quick wins of the simple injections. The Southeast Asian nation, which is never far behind wellness or aesthetic trends and has a notorious black market in counterfeit drugs, has seen the uptake of GLP-1 medicines skyrocket, doctors say, including the market-leading Ozempic...
Thai Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has instructed provincial governors to use their legal authority to swiftly deport foreigners who exploit, threaten, or engage in unacceptable conduct toward Thai citizens.
'My main job is really to hand it over to the next gen,' the third-generation Aznar tells Rappler. 'Looking at the IPO process, the requirements, the standards that you are held to, it really coincided with my interest.'
The United States has returned dozens of cultural relics to China ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s coming visit to Washington, a goodwill gesture to help pave the way for a positive summit. At the handover ceremony at the Chinese embassy in Washington on Wednesday, China officials received 58 cultural relics and palaeontological fossils from the cultural property, art and antiquities programme of US Homeland Security Investigations. A further six items were returned a day later by the...
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on Friday called on the public not to share graphic videos and images, as well as unverified information on social media concerning the school shooting incident in Banga, South Cotabato.
LUCENA CITY — A Catholic priest and environmental advocate has urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct a fresh, thorough review of the proposed 1,200-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Atimonan, Quezon, along the coast of Lamon Bay. Fr. Warren Puno, convenor of Quezon for Environment (QUEEN) and director of the Ministry of Ecology at
MANILA, Philippines — Children’s rights advocates on Thursday welcomed the House of Representatives’ approval of the substitute bill for the Children’s Social Media and Online Gaming Safety Act but raised concerns over provisions requiring parental consent for children to access social media and restricting short-form videos. The House Committee on Welfare of Children approved the
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