MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday, April 23, appeared to douse the fire caused by First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos’ revelation that she is not on good terms with Vice President Sara Duterte. In an ambush interview in Occidental Mindoro on Tuesday, Marcos also brushed aside suggestions to remove Duterte, the Department of Education (DepEd) secretary, from his Cabinet. “Any of the Cabinet secretaries will be replaced kapag hindi nila ginagawa ang trabaho nila. All the other things are not part of the discussion. Kapag hindi na kaya, nagkasakit, sabihin mo lang, papali ..read more

CEBU, Philippines – Journalists, human rights lawyers, student activists, and even survivors of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war reunited and relived the stories of their lives during investigative journalist Patricia Evangelista’s visit to the University of the Philippines in Cebu on Monday, April 22. In a talk with UP Cebu Professor Mayette Tabada, the author of Some People Need Killing recounted the nights she spent chasing after the stories of victims, their families, and the trauma left behind by vigilantes and the lives they took away. “I was reading their stories and it seeme ..read more

The following is a press release from the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 project. Do you want to join a leading European university as a PhD student focussing on leveraging machine learning (ML) to identify errors in large bathymetric datasets, and applying ML techniques to enhance acquired bathymetry data? Hosted at the Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, this four-year position includes collaborative opportunities at the University of New Hampshire (USA), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (USA), and JAMSTEC (Japan) as well as at all partner institut ..read more

Donovan Mitchell recorded 23 points and eight rebounds and Jarrett Allen collected a personal-playoff-high 20 boards to pace the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 96-86 victory over the visiting Orlando Magic on Monday (Tuesday, April 23, Manila time). Cleveland grabbed a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. “(Allen has) been phenomenal and understanding what is necessary and then going and doing whatever he can to impact it,” said Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff of Allen, who has 38 boards over the first two games of the series. “We knew that this series wou ..read more

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Two Malaysian navy helicopters collided in mid-air during a rehearsal for a naval parade on Tuesday, April 23, killing all 10 crew members aboard, the navy said in a statement. The incident occurred at the Lumut naval base in the western state of Perak at 9:32 am on Tuesday morning (0132 GMT), the navy said. “All victims were confirmed dead at the scene and sent to the Lumut naval base military hospital for identification,” the navy said. A video circulating on local media showed several helicopters flying in formation, when one of the choppers’ rotor clipped another b ..read more

GENEVA, Switzerland – More than 70% of the global workforce is exposed to risks linked to climate change that cause hundreds of thousands of deaths each year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Monday, April 22, adding governments would need to act as the numbers rise. Workers, especially the world’s poorest, are more vulnerable than the general population to the dangers of climate extremes such as heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and hurricanes because they are often the first exposed, or exposed for longer periods and at greater intensity. As climate change accelerates, gove ..read more

Jamal Murray hit a step-back jumper as time expired, and the host Denver Nuggets rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 101-99 in Game 2 of a Western Conference quarterfinal series. Murray, who struggled shooting all game, dribbled to the baseline and launched a 15-footer over the outstretched hand of Anthony Davis to give Denver a 2-0 series lead. He was mobbed by teammates in front of the bench as the sold-out crowd celebrated. Game 3 in the best-of-seven series will be played Thursday in Los Angeles. Murray finished with 20 points on 9-for-24 shooting, but came throu ..read more

SYDNEY, Australia – Elon Musk lashed out at Australia’s prime minister on Tuesday, April 23, after a court ordered his social media company X to take down footage of an alleged terrorist attack in Sydney, and said the ruling meant any country could control “the entire internet.” At a hearing overnight, Australia’s Federal Court ordered X, formerly called Twitter, to temporarily hide posts showing video of the incident a week earlier, in which a teenager was charged with terrorism for knifing an Assyrian priest and others. X said it had already blocked the posts from Australian users ..read more

The long-running animosity between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and conservation group Masungi Georeserve Foundation Inc. (MGFI) erupted, with the latter openly calling for the resignation of DENR chief Toni Yulo-Loyzaga. Tensions rose when Loyzaga said MGFI’s 2017 contract, which gave them conservation work of more than 2,700 hectares in the Upper Marikina Watershed, was “void from the beginning.” It was a bold move for Loyzaga, who has evaded select highly controversial issues and the media. Negotiate, groups told the DENR. MGFI, while mum on the call, sent the ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – Sentenced to life imprisonment for graft 23 years ago, a former town treasurer in Cebu province was granted probation by the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan and released from jail. Former Compostela, Cebu town treasurer Dominador Maravillas was convicted in 2001 along with the late town mayor Gilbert Wagas for malversation of public funds, amounting to P367,618, and both were sentenced to reclusion perpetua. They were also fined equivalent to the misappropriated amount and disqualified from government employment. The Sandiganbayan noted Maravillas’ advanced age as a factor ..read more