A centuries-old settlement submerged by the construction of a dam in the northern Philippines in the 1970s has reappeared as water levels drop due to a drought affecting swathes of the country. The ruins in the middle of Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija province are a tourist draw, even as the region swelters in extreme heat. Parts of a church, municipal hall marker, and tombstones began to resurface in March after several months of “almost no rain”, said Marlon Paladin, a supervising engineer for the National Irrigation Administration. It is the sixth time the nearly 300-year-old settlement ha ..read more

The Indonesian Election Committee (KPU) has officially declared General Prabowo Subianto and Gribran Rakabuming Raka as the nation’s President and Vice President, respectively. Another strategic and crucial moment for Indonesia has just occurred at the Election Commission (KPU), where a public plenary hearing session was conducted on 24 April. The move occurred just two days after the Indonesian Constitutional Court (MK) issued a ruling on 22 April, strongly denying and rejecting illicit claims made by both pairs: Anies Baswedan & Muhaimin Iskandar, and Ganjar Pranowo & Prof. Mahfud M ..read more

Pope Francis on Thursday described the ‘embrace’ as a fundamental human expression where life begins, in an address to some 50,000 members of Catholic Action. He focused on three types of embraces: the missing embrace, the saving embrace, and the life-changing embrace, highlighting their impact on global harmony and personal growth. The pontiff discussed the ‘missing embrace,’ noting that gestures of joy and brotherhood often face resistance or rejection, sometimes leading to violence.  “Wars originate from missing embraces,” he said, explaining how this absence can foster prejudices and ..read more

This morning the West Bengal government appealed to the Indian Supreme Court after the Calcutta High Court decided to cancel the appointments of all school staff selected through a public competition in 2016. There are over 24 thousand people, including teachers and non-teachers, who risk finding themselves suddenly without work. At the beginning of the week, in fact, the local court declared the selection process conducted in 2016 null and void, ordering the School Service Commission – the committee that deals with the recruitment of teachers – to make new hires within the next 15 days and g ..read more

Asked during a new interview if he has any message for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who instigated the war in Ukraine, Pope Francis stated that “a negotiated peace is better than an endless war.” CBS News broadcast some excerpts April 24 from a new interview conducted by journalist Norah O’Donnell with Pope Francis at St. Martha House, the pontiff’s residence in the Vatican. During the exchange, the full version of which will be released on May 19, the Holy Father reflected on world conflicts and especially on the suffering of children during wars. O’Donnell asked the Holy ..read more

The current crisis affecting our agriculture sector caused by the 2024 El Niño phenomenon should no longer come as a surprise. When the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) issued an advisory as early as July last year, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. waited about half a year before issuing Executive Order 53 as a response. He delegated a number of bureaucrats to supposedly oversee preparations as the El Niño task force, even putting up a website specifically for this. But yet again, here we are in the midst of another disaster, with 82,994 fami ..read more

Every day, Dang Phuc and his family members water and weed green vegetable beds in his 2,000-square-meter farmland. They make organic fertilizer from garbage, straw, and manure to grow radishes, spinach, pennywort, and other vegetables; selling these products as their main income, Phuc said, they can earn 40 million dong (about $1,600) per year, even more than from growing rice. “We are delighted to make our farmland viable for growing food to eat and to sell to others. Our farmland has yielded its harvests again,” he said.  But in previous years they failed to cultivate rice, their main ..read more

Environmental groups have slammed a Hong Kong government plan for a high-tech urban development despite warnings it will destroy a crucial wetland habitat for migratory birds, including the endangered black-faced spoonbill. The city’s Advisory Council on the Environment approved a controversial environmental impact assessment for a high-tech development known as the San Tin Technopole on Monday, despite warnings from 10 environmental groups that it would cause the worst damage to the city’s coastal wetland and fishpond habitat in 30 years. “San Tin Technopole … will cause the most extens ..read more

Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, strongly condemned the recent Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, which resulted in significant casualties, predominantly children and women. According to authorities in Gaza, of the 34,151 Palestinian casualties, 14,685 are children and 9,670 are women, with an additional 77,084 injured and more than 7,000 presumed buried under rubble. Türk noted the disturbing rate of casualties, saying that “every 10 minutes a child is killed or wounded.” He said children, though protected under war laws, are disproportionately affected.  He ..read more

Pope Francis on Wednesday opened a new chapter in his ongoing catechetical series on virtues by pivoting to a reflection on the three theological virtues — faith, hope, and charity — which he noted form the key pillars of Christian life. The Holy Father bolstered his analysis by looking at the legacy of St. John Paul II. “Looking at his life, we can see what man can achieve by accepting and developing within himself the gifts of God: faith, hope, and charity,” the pope said to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.  Saturday will mark the 10th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s cano ..read more