Philippines

JAKARTA - Indonesia's health minister defended the country's screening process for coronavirus on Thursday and said the absence of confirmed cases in the world's fourth-most populous nation was a "blessing from the Almighty"....

The House committee on labor and employment is expected to conduct a motu proprio investigation into the "unceremonious" closure of Honda Cars Philippines and Nokia and the downsizing of Wells Fargo on Tuesday (March 3)....

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Thursday said Congress should work on passing a law extending for another 25 years the franchise of ABS-CBN, instead of a resolution that would supposedly authorize the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to allow the ne...

ATHENS - Greece reported two new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to three, and said it would suspend all carnival celebrations in the country....

GENEVA - United Nations rights boss Michelle Bachelet called on China on Thursday to provide "unfettered access for an advance team" to prepare her proposed visit, saying it should include a probe into the situation of the Uighur minority....

Defense and military officials were elated by the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 in the third reading at the Senate....

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis is slightly indisposed and has canceled an event at a Rome basilica but is carrying out the rest of his schedule in his residence, the Vatican said on Thursday....

VATICAN CITY - The new leader of the disgraced Legionaries of Christ Catholic religious order, whose founder was a serial sexual abuser, has promised to turn a page as the group enacted new norms to protect children....

Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson on Thursday gave the assurance that the proposed anti-terrorism law has sufficient safeguards to ensure it won't be used against members of the opposition....

BEIJING - As Wang Xiurong drives passengers around the Chinese capital amid the coronavirus outbreak, she has an added layer of protection: a plastic sheet separating her from her passengers....

The Department of Labor and Employment announced on Thursday that it is scaling down the deployment of newly hired overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Hong Kong, Macau, and South Korea in the wake of the threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)....

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Thursday reiterated his belief that Congress has the jurisdiction to resolve the issue on the renewal of franchise of ABS-CBN Corporation, which he said can continue operating through a provisional authority while...

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that the government would ask all elementary, junior high and high schools to close from March 2 until spring break, typically around the end of March....

MILAN - The governor of the region of Lombardy, at the epicenter of Italy's coronavirus outbreak, has placed himself in quarantine after one of his staff came down with the disease....

Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines, was recognized the world's second Trending Destination by TripAdvisor in its 2020 Travellers' Choice Awards....

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Thursday shut schools in several areas and suspended flights to and from Iran to try to stop the spread of new coronavirus, after reporting its first cases of the infection, officials said....

Iran on Thursday confirmed three more deaths from novel coronavirus, taking the total to 22, the highest toll outside China, state media reported....

DUBAI - Iran said on Thursday its death toll from coronavirus had risen to 26 and the total number of infected people now stood at 245, the highest number of deaths from the virus outside China....

Just in time to celebrate National Peanut Butter Lover's Day on March 1, the peanut butter brand Jif has teamed up with Giphy, a Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) search engine, to release a limited-edition jar of Jif peanut butter that replaces the b...

The Department of Education (DepEd) is committed to continuously implement the K to 12 program amid the "multi-faceted challenges" being faced by the agency in its implementation....

The Philippine Center of the International PEN (Poets and Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) will launch "Collected Stories and Tales," the newest fiction title from writer and editor Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo....

Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) President Domingo Egon Cayosa on Thursday (Feb. 27) urged Congress to no longer delay its decision whether to grant or not the renewal of ABS-CBN's legislative franchise....

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) that it can issue a provisional license to ABS-CBN to allow the network to operate after its legislative franchise has expired and the renewal remains pending....

There is nothing wrong with asking for help from the international community to augment relief and rehabilitation efforts for communities affected by Taal Volcano, Malacaang said Thursday....

President Duterte has no complaints about House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano so far but would not interfere with the latest leadership scuffle in the House of Representatives, Malacaang said Thursday....

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday claimed that Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco is plotting to oust him as speaker months before the full implementation of the "15-21" months term-sharing pact for the House leadership that President Dutert...

The Senate has approved on third and final reading the bill that seeks to establish an independent and multi-disciplinary think tank for the energy sector....

The temporary travel restriction imposed on South Korea is expected to be fully implemented on February 29, Saturday, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said....

Malacaang explained that President Duterte was just challenging Filipinos when he said the Philippines should just become a territory of another country if it cannot handle its own affairs and will continue to rely on other countries to solve its problems...

By Noreen Jazul For many years, Down syndrome has been associated with the word 'disability,'; but that has slowly changed as time passed. Around the world, there have been persons with Down syndrome who have proven that what they have is not a dis...

The Makabayan bloc of solons in the House of Representatives is not in any way involved in the supposed attempt to unseat Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano over the ABS-CBN franchise renewal issue, Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Ferdinand Gaite made clear on Thursda...

An official of the third telco firm Dito Telecommunity Corporation on Thursday assured that the company will comply with strict government regulations in its operation....

The Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) said over 2,000 Chinese nationals who work for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) have been deported after authorities discovered they have criminal records in China....

The Bureau of Internal Revenue filed on Thursday tax evasion charges against six business taxpayers based in Makati City for their alleged refusal to pay tax debts of some P153 million....

State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) has ordered offshore gaming operators to surrender their Chinese nationals who are illegally working in the country....

Filipinos who are nutritionally at-risk can soon benefit from food products recently introduced by the Department of Science and Technology - Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) that will aid in fighting malnutrition....

Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminals are focusing their thermal scanners on incoming passengers from South Korea, especially passengers who stayed in Cheongdo county and Daegu City, before allowin...

DAVAO CITY - Authorities here will be intensifying security measures for the 83rd Araw ng Davao celebration even after Mayor Sara Z. Duterte ordered the cancellation of some of the major activities due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) scare....

ILIGAN CITY A twenty-five-year-old woman was arrested by elements of the City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU), led by Police Captain Khuzaimah Pantaran, and personnel from the City Intelligence Branch (CIB), and Iligan City Police Stations 3 and 4 in a buy-b...

BACOLOD CITY The city government of Bacolod has banned the entry of all vessels coming from China, HongKong, and Macau into any of the seaports here to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)....

The Sandiganbayan Third Division has affirmed its decision convicting former Hinabangan Mayor Alejandro Abarratigue of Western Samar and two others of their graft charge involving the irregular purchase of land in 2008....

CEBU CITY — About 300 houses were razed when a fire broke out in a densely populated area in Barangay Suba here on Wednesday night....

KIDAPAWAN CITY Metro Kidapawan Water District (MKWD) has already restored its water production by 80 percent -- three months after four strong quakes hit the city and other parts of Mindanao in October last year, an official said....

KIDAPAWAN CITY A Rufous Night Heron was rescued in a village here by workers of a drop-in center managed by the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), around 8 a.m., on Wednesday....

Malacaang said there was no need for ABS-CBN to wait for President Duterte's guidance in donating the P2.6-million refund for the then-presidential candidate's unaired campaign materials during the 2016 polls....

PANGASINAN Almost 6,000 pigs have been culled in areas reported to have been affected by African swine fever (ASF) in the province....

A federation of teachers on Thursday urged the government - particularly the Department of Education (DepEd) - to reorient the Philippine education system by taking bold measures to correct the "problematic"; K to-12 Program....

DAVAO CITY The Davao Region has continued to dominate the domestic trading among the six regions in Mindanao after posting a growth of 34.2-percent in the quantity of domestic commodities traded or a total of 163.140 million metric tons (MT) in the fourth...

DAVAO CITY The two Philippine eagles that were sent to Singapore last year have yet to breed, according to the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF)....

KIDAPAWAN CITY City Mayor Joseph Evangelista has ordered the suspension of classes in all levels both in private and government-owned schools after the city experienced another strong earthquake, around 903 a.m., today, Thursday....