Other News

IRRI’s iron-rich “miracle rice” ready by year 2029: Can the country’s poor wait?

By Rommel B. David It was 11:30am. Passengers were rushing to and from the port area of Allen in Northern Samar in Eastern Visayas. We were among the people at the port entrance. The sweltering temperature coming from the sea doubled the scorching heat of the sun. The humid air dampened our skin while the rays of the sun blinded our eyes. The heat made it difficult to use the improvised ladder to disembark from […]

Divided east Ukraine city calm after battle, rebels seek Russian help

(Reuters) – An uneasy calm returned to the streets of Donetsk on Wednesday after the biggest battle of the pro-Russian separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine, a conflict transformed by the landslide election of a pro-European leader who vowed to crush the revolt. Government forces killed dozens of rebel fighters on Monday and Tuesday in an assault to retake Donetsk International Airport, which the rebels had seized the morning after Ukrainians overwhelmingly elected Petro Poroshenko as […]

Thai military rulers appoint anti-Thaksin advisers

(Reuters) – Thailand’s junta has appointed two retired generals with palace connections as advisers, putting powerful establishment figures hostile towards former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra firmly in the ascendant in the country’s long-running power struggle. Hoping to show things are getting back to normal, the military also relaxed a night-time curfew brought in after it seized power in a May 22 coup, and is expected to speed up efforts to get the economy moving again after months […]

Fire at a South Korean hospital for the elderly kills at least 21

(Reuters) — A fire at a rural South Korean hospital for chronically ill elderly patients killed 21 people and injured eight on Wednesday (May 28) in the second major fire this week while the country still mourns the deaths of more than 300 people in a ferry disaster last month. The fire started after midnight at around 00:27 a.m. at the hospital in the southwest region of Jeolla, the local fire station said. It was put out relatively […]

Philippines might elevate violations of agreement to ASEAN, says President Aquino

(PUERTO PRINCESA CITY) — President Benigno S. Aquino III said he is against developments being done by other claimant countries in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) and that the Philippines might bring the issue to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). Vietnam, Malaysia, China and other countries are building or improving facilities in islands or atolls they claim, which President Aquino said […]

Thai Military Channel Shows Detained Political Protest Leaders

(Reuters) — Thailand’s military-run TV channel aired on Tuesday (May 27) a programme showing several high-profile detainees who were taken into custody after Army chief Prayuth Chan-ochatook over power in a bloodless coup last week. The programme hosted by a presenter and also an army spokesman, showed the accommodation of the detainees. They said the detainees had access to medicine and were being “well looked after” and that they have “never been tied up”. The programme also […]

Ilocos province to experience 9-hour power outage on May 30

LAOAG CITY, May 28 (PIA) – The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) set a nine-hour power interruption in Ilocos Norte and some parts of Ilocos Sur on Friday, May 30. NGCP North Luzon Public Affairs Officer Lilibeth P. Gaydowen said the power outage, from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., is part of the annual preventive maintenance and testing of 100MVA power transformer at the San Esteban substation in Ilocos Sur. “The power interruption […]