Five Filipino candidates are vying to be president as the Philippines gets ready to hold its national elections on May 9. Aquino’s successor and former interior minister Manuel Roxas, Vice president and opposition leader Jejomar Binay, Senator Grace Poe, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Miriam Santiago are the candidates vying for the highest position in the country. Incumbent President Benigno Aquino is barred from seeking re-election due to the constitution term limit. Opinion […]
International
Indonesia and Philippines pledge to enforce maritime security
Indonesia and the Philippines on Wednesday (May 4) vowed to increase cooperation to ensure safety on the open seas. Indonesian Foreign Minister Marsudi and her Philippine counterpart Jose Rene Almendras, who visited Indonesia for the first time since taking office in March, met in Jakarta ahead of a trilateral meeting with Malaysia on May 5. Jose Rene Almendras, Philippines Foreign Secretary said and here we quote: “I also came here today to participate in the […]
Red Cross suspends travel after workers kidnapped in DR Congo
KINSHASA , DR Congo (AFP) — The International Committee of the Red Cross announced Wednesday it was suspending planned travel in the restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after three workers were kidnapped. Armed men seized the employees — who a local official said previously were Congolese nationals — Tuesday in the turbulent Nord-Kivu province. “All planned ICRC travel in Nord-Kivu has been suspended until further notice,” the aid agency wrote in a statement. The […]
India bus crash kills 13, injures 53: media
NEW DELHI , India (AFP) — At least 13 people died and 53 others were injured after a bus skidded off a bridge and overturned in northeast India, media quoted police as saying. The bus was travelling from Jharkhand state to Raipur, state capital of Chhattisgarh, when it came off the road at around 10.30 pm local time (1700 GMT) on Wednesday, national news agency Press Trust of India reported. The driver saw a motorcycle […]
Brazil says almost 1,300 hit by Zika-linked microcephaly
BRASILIA , Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s outbreak of Zika which has been linked to the devastating microcephaly birth defect in newborns in 1,271 cases since October has also killed 57 of those babies, authorities said Wednesday. The Health Ministry said in that as of April 30, 3,580 suspected cases had been reported and that another 2,492 were ruled out as false alarms. While 57 babies were known to have died of the condition, another 178 […]
Australia says top IS recruiter killed in US air strike
SYDNEY , Australia (AFP) — Australia’s most wanted Islamic State terror suspect, who was linked to several attacks on home soil, has been killed in a US air strike in Iraq, Canberra said on Thursday. The death of Neil Prakash is considered significant by Australian and American authorities because of his highly prominent and influential role as a senior recruiter for the jihadist group. Attorney General George Brandis said Washington had told Canberra that Prakash […]
Republican Kasich suspends presidential campaign – NBC, Politico
(Reuters) Republican John Kasich ended his longshot presidential bid on Wednesday, NBC News and Politico reported, leaving Donald Trump’s path clear to capture the Republican nomination for the Nov. 8 election. Kasich, 63, the Ohio governor and a former U.S. congressman, had vowed just a day earlier to keep running after U.S. Senator Ted Cruz dropped out following a poor showing in Indiana’s Republican primary on Tuesday. NBC cited an unidentified Kasich campaign source as […]
In U-turn, Britain to let in more Syrian child refugees
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – by Katherine HADDON Britain will admit a limited number of child refugees who have travelled alone from Syria to Europe, Prime Minister David Cameron announced Wednesday, in a U-turn on the politically-charged issue of migration. The government’s change of heart is a victory for Alf Dubs, an 83-year-old member of Britain’s House of Lords who argued that the country should be more compassionate, citing his own story of fleeing […]
Asylum-seekers held in PNG launch Australia court action
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — More than 750 asylum-seekers held in a Papua New Guinea detention camp launched legal action Wednesday to be moved to Australia after a court in the Pacific nation found the centre unconstitutional. Australian lawyers acting for the 757 men — who are held on Manus Island as part of Canberra’s tough policy of sending those who try to reach Australia by boat to camps in PNG and Nauru — sought an “urgent […]
Paris to host Saudi, Qatar, UAE, Turkey FMs for Syria talks Monday
PARIS, France (AFP) — France will host talks next week with the Saudi, Qatari, Turkish and UAE foreign ministers on the breakdown in the Syrian peace process, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said Wednesday. Other top diplomats from “countries that think negotiations should resume at all costs” may also attend the Monday meeting, Le Foll said, without naming them. He was speaking after a cabinet meeting in which French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said he was […]
Floods following drought worsen Ethiopian hunger
by Karim LEBHOUR DERALA , Ethiopia (AFP) — Stuck on a track in eastern Ethiopia, trucks carrying food for the starving are forced to turn back. After one of the worst droughts for decades, the rains have finally arrived, but now only add to the complication of the delivery of food aid. Flash floods have effectively transformed dry dirt tracks into impassable quagmires, adding to the woes of the victims in remote areas, some of […]
Ted Cruz: Tea Party firebrand but no match for Trump
by Michael Mathes DES MOINES , United States (AFP) — Once reviled by fellow Republicans as a “wacko bird” eager to shut down the US government, Ted Cruz believed his arch-conservatism could propel him into the White House — but ultimately proved no match for the Donald Trump steamroller. The senator from Texas, who bowed out of the race after suffering a knock-out blow in Indiana on Tuesday, was not just battling for the Republican […]
