BEIJING, China – China passed a law on Friday, April 26, strengthening its trade defense capabilities as the United States and the European Union take aim at Beijing over excess industrial capacity. The Tariff Law, approved by China’s top legislature after three rounds of deliberations going back to 2022, signals to China’s biggest trade partners its ability to hit back should they impose tariffs on exports of the world’s No.2 economy. It is the latest addition to Beijing’s arsenal of trade defense instruments as it maintains an uneasy truce with Washington following a trade war that ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – San Miguel looks every bit the favorite to win it all in the PBA Philippine Cup, becoming the first team in a decade to go 8-0. But that feat also comes with imminent danger, considering the last team to win as many games without a loss – the TNT Tropang Texters in the 2014 Commissioner’s Cup – fell short of the championship. That TNT squad actually went 13-0, sweeping all of its games from the elimination round to the semifinals before it bowed to the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers in the finals. In fact, according to PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon, the last four tea ..read more

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken snapped up a Taylor Swift album along with one by classic Chinese rocker Dou Wei during an unexpected detour to a Beijing record store on Friday, April 26, after talks in China meant to ease superpower tensions. En route to the airport after a visit that included a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Blinken popped into the LiPi record store in the Chinese capital’s arts district where the owner handed him an album by Dou Wei, which he bought along with Swift’s 2022 record “Midnights”. One of the a ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – If you’re thinking of going to Boracay or IloIlo, all you have to do head up to Antipolo and ride a bus from there. Yes, Antipolo. We’re not kidding. RRCG Transport and Robinsons Antipolo are now offering daily point-to-point (P2P) bus rides from Antipolo to Boracay and Iloilo starting Friday, April 26.  Here’s what you need to know about the newly launched bus route: Route: stops, travel time, stopovers The bus departs from the Transport Terminal at Robinsons Antipolo at 11 am daily. From the terminal, the route makes stops at Cubao, Batangas, Caticlan, Antique, Ca ..read more

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – The Zamboanga City Delegation was declared the overall champion in the Zamboanga Peninsula Regional Athletic Association (ZPRAA) Games 2024 per the official medal tally report by the Department of Education (DepEd) Regional Office IX. With 102 golds, 97 silvers, and 93 bronze medals, Zamboanga City ranks first with 292 medals. Zamboanga Del Sur and Dipolog City come in 2nd and 3rd, respectively, with a total of 251 and 240 medals. However, Zamboanga Del Sur has 101 golds, 71 silvers, and 79 bronzes, while Dipolog City has 87 golds, 88 silvers, and 65 bronzes. Zamb ..read more

Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler hasn’t played in the team’s Eastern Conference first-round series due to injury, however that hasn’t prevented him from taking a shot at the top-seeded Boston Celtics. Butler trolled the Celtics on Instagram after the eighth-seeded Heat evened the best-of-seven series at one win apiece following a 111-101 victory in Game 2 on Wednesday, April 24. Butler put a photo of his face on Jaylen Brown’s body with a quote from the Boston guard from last season. When the Celtics went down 3-0 to the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals in 2023, Brown said, “Don’t let us get ..read more

Here are today’s headlines – the latest news in the Philippines and around the world: PNP revokes Apollo Quiboloy’s firearms licenses The Philippine National Police revokes the firearms licenses of embattled doomsday preacher Apollo Quiboloy. A Rappler investigation discovered Quiboloy has at least 19 firearms with an estimated value of about P2.3 million. Filipinos find ways to cope with scorching heat The so-called Filipino resilience undergoes a stress test as scorching weather hits the country with elevated heat index levels. It typically soars during the Philippines’ warm and dry seas ..read more

BEIJING, China – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns on Friday about China’s support for Russia’s military, one of the many issues threatening to sour the recent improvement in relations between the world’s biggest economies. Blinken raised the matter during five-and-a-half hours of talks with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Beijing, the latest high-level contact between the countries that have eased last year’s acrimony. “I reiterated our serious concern about the PRC providing components that are powering Russia’s brutal war of aggression agains ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) sided with activist Reina Mae Nasino and her companions, and upheld the voiding of search warrants used for their arrest in 2020. In a resolution, the SC Third Division denied the petition for certiorari filed by Office of the Solcitor General (OSG) challenging the decision that voided the warrants against Nasino, Ram Carlo Bautista, and Alma Moran. In denying the petition, the High Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ (CA) decision that voided the warrants earlier. The OSG also failed to show that the appellate court committed any reversible error ..read more

Claim: Cardiologist and online health personality Dr. Willie Ong, also known as Doc Willie, endorses the product Eyes Blue, which claims to treat multiple eye conditions like blurred eyesight, conjunctivitis, cataracts, corneal ulcer, and macular degeneration.  Rating: FALSE Why we fact-checked this: The Facebook post containing the claim has over 911,000 views, 1,400 reactions, and 481 comments as of writing.  The post shows Ong’s photo edited into a video where a woman in a lab coat talks about the supposed benefits of Eyes Blue, making it seem that Ong endorses the product.  ..read more