Category Archives: Philippines

Pete Hegseth, dogged by scandal at home, pledges US support for Manila against China

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Defence secretary’s Philippines visit, aimed at bolstering ties in Asia-Pacific, comes amid rising tensions with Beijing and calls for his resignation

The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, has met with the Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos, in Manila saying the two countries must stand “shoulder to shoulder” in the face of the threat represented by China.

Hegseth’s meeting at the presidential palace comes as he opens a tour of Pacific allies that risks being overshadowed by a mounting scandal over leaked plans for military strikes.

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Duterte’s arrest gives ‘a sense impunity ends’, says Nobel peace prize winner

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Maria Ressa says rules-based order ‘can perhaps still exist’ but social media is being used to undermine democracy around the world

The arrest of Rodrigo Duterte is a welcome sign that the rules-based order continues to hold, the Nobel laureate Maria Ressa has said, even as the global order has been marred by the US “descending into hell” at the hands of the same forces that consumed the Philippines.

Ressa’s remarks came after Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, made his first appearance before the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague, accused of committing crimes against humanity during his brutal “war on drugs”.

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Monday briefing: Is Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest a sign of the ICC’s strength or its limitations?

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In today’s newsletter: the former Philippines president was arrested and taken to The Hague after a tense standoff. It’s a much needed win for the international criminal court – but success is far from a given

Good morning.

Last Tuesday, chaos erupted at Manila’s main airport as authorities arrested the Philippines’ 79-year-old former president Rodrigo Duterte, who had arrived from Hong Kong. An arrest warrant issued in secret by the international criminal court (ICC) accused him of crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in killings during his brutal “war on drugs”.

Benefits | Keir Starmer is to defy growing anger by driving through welfare cuts for some of the UK’s most severely disabled people, with an overhaul that could see more than 600,000 benefit claimants lose out on an average of £675 a month.

Ukraine | Donald Trump has said he plans to discuss ending the war in Ukraine with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and that negotiators have already discussed “dividing up certain assets”. “We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants,” Trump said, when asked about concessions.

Space | A pair of US astronauts stuck for more than nine months on the International Space Station will be returned to Earth on Tuesday evening, Nasa has said. Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams are to be transported home with another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut after a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft arrived at the ISS early on Sunday.

Business | Buy-to-let has become the largest single type of business in the UK – nearly four times as prevalent as fast food takeaways or hairdressers.

Healthcare | The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has said he believes there is an “overdiagnosis” of some mental health conditions as well as “too many people being written off” – factors he said were key to the government’s welfare measures.

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Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte appears by video link in Hague accused of crimes against humanity – as it happened

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Duterte faces charges over his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers that rights groups say killed tens of thousands. This live blog is closed

Philippine ex-president Rodrigo Duterte is appearing by video link before judges at the international criminal court.

Duterte would follow the proceedings through a video link, a court spokesperson said.

To some Duterte’s arrest this week came as a sudden shock. But for years many brave Filipinos, from priests, politicians, pathologists, to relatives of the victims and journalists, have worked tirelessly, in and out of the spotlight, to expose the horrors of the deadly campaign and collect enough evidence to hold Duterte to account.

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Rodrigo Duterte says he will accept responsibility after ICC arrest over ‘war on drugs’

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Former Philippines president filmed a video message en route to the Hague, saying ‘I will be responsible for everything’

Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has said he will accept responsibility for his government’s so-called “war on drugs” in a video message filmed on board a plane shortly before he was taken into the custody of the international criminal court (ICC).

“Whatever happened in the past, I will be the front of our law enforcement and the military. I said this already, that I will protect you, and I will be responsible for everything,” he said.

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Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest could be telling blow in the Philippines’ dynastic feud

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Former president was surrendered to The Hague amid a row between his family and that of the current president

Few expected things to move so quickly. Supporters of the Philippines’ former president Rodrigo Duterte barely had time to protest before he was jetted off to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his country’s so-called “war on drugs”. According to activists, this bloody crackdown has seen as many as 30,000 people killed since 2016.

The charges brought against the former leader are the culmination of years of work by activists, lawyers and victims, who documented abuses committed under his government, often at great personal risk. But Duterte arguably would not have been surrendered to The Hague if it weren’t for his family’s dramatic feud with that of Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the current president.

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Rodrigo Duterte’s lawyers demand he is returned to the Philippines after ICC arrest

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Daughter accuses government of ‘kidnapping’ the former president as victims of his ‘war on drugs’ express jubilation over his arrest

Lawyers for the former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte have demanded that he be returned to Manila in a petition filed to the supreme court, as victims of the former leaders’ bloody “war on drugs” expressed jubilation.

Duterte, who was flown to The Hague on Tuesday night to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to anti-drugs crackdowns is the first former Asian leader to be served an arrest warrant filed by the ICC. Activists say as many as 30,000 people were killed in the “war on drugs”.

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Duterte flown to The Hague after arrest over Philippines drug war killings

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Ex-president to face charges of crimes against humanity over ‘war on drugs’ that rights groups say left 30,000 dead

The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has left Manila on a plane headed to The Hague, hours after he was served with an arrest warrant from the international criminal court over the killings resulting from his “war on drugs”.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told a press conference that a plane carrying Duterte took off at 11.03pm local time on Tuesday. “The plane is en route to The Hague in the Netherlands, allowing the former president to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his bloody war on drugs,” he said.

Duterte’s youngest daughter, Veronica Duterte, said on social media that the plane had been used to “kidnap” her father.

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Philippines storm survivors join climate protest outside Shell HQ in London

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Greenpeace protest draws attention to worsening typhoons and demands accountability from major polluters

For two days and two nights, Ronalyn Carbonel and her four children clung to the roof of their home as a huge storm raged around them. With the wind battering her village of Rizal, about 10 miles east of Manila in the Philippines, and water swirling through the rooms below them, they had no choice but to wait, hoping that someone would come to rescue them and hundreds of their neighbours.

“We did not have shelter, we did not have food … we just had to wait for the government for two days,” Carbonel said. “It is not easy, no electricity, no light, we just wait for the sun to rise. The children were scared, we had never experienced anything like this.”

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Philippine vice-president Sara Duterte impeached over allegations including plot to kill president

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Move likely to deepen political rift between Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr

Philippine vice-president Sara Duterte has been impeached on a range of accusations that include plotting to assassinate the president, large-scale corruption and failing to strongly denounce China’s aggressive actions against Filipino forces in the disputed South China Sea.

Wednesday’s move by legislators in the House of Representatives, many of them allies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, deepens a bitter political rift between the two highest leaders of one of Asia’s most rambunctious democracies.

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‘Has the world gone mad? It has’: foreign reporters share a view of Trump from abroad

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Journalists from countries that have seen challenges to democracy give their view on the second Trump presidency

What is the view of US democracy from abroad, and what can Americans learn from other nations with a history of political tumult?

During his first term Donald Trump tested democratic norms by undermining trust in fair elections, encouraging political violence and demonizing the media and public servants. He has promised to be a dictator “on day one” of his second term.

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Philippine president removes deputy from security council after alleged plot to kill him

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Vice-president Sara Duterte is facing an investigation over her alleged threat to kill Ferdinand Marcos Jr

The Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, has removed his vice-president, Sara Duterte, from the national security council (NSC) a month after she allegedly plotted to kill him, according to an executive order released on Friday.

The order, signed on Monday by Lucas Bersamin, a lawyer and the Philippines’ executive secretary, removed Duterte and all former presidents from the council, which advises the president on policies affecting national security.

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Critic wrongly jailed by former president of Philippines hopes to return to politics

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Leila de Lima enraged Rodrigo Duterte when she began investigating killings carried out during his ‘war on drugs’

Leila de Lima, one of fiercest critics of the former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs” who was jailed for more than six years on baseless charges, will try to return to politics in 2025.

De Lima was one of the few politicians who criticised Duterte during his time in office, and enraged the former leader when she began investigating killings carried out during his anti-drugs crackdowns. She knew to expect retaliation, she said. “I thought it would just be regular vilification, the slut-shaming, the verbal attacks,” she said. She did not anticipate that she would spend more than six and a half years in prison.

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Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s deputy vows to have him assassinated if she is killed

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Vice-president Sara Duterte tells press conference she has given an assassin the instructions, prompting referral from Marcos’s office over ‘active threat’

The Philippines’ vice-president, Sara Duterte, said on Saturday she would have someone assassinate the president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, if she herself were killed, leading Marcos’s office to vow “immediate proper action”.

In a dramatic sign of a widening rift between the country’s two most powerful political families, Duterte told a press conference that she had spoken to an assassin and instructed him to kill Marcos, his wife and the speaker of the Philippine house of representatives if she were to be killed.

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Weather tracker: Tropical Storm Sara and Super Typhoon Man-yi wreak havoc

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Powerful storm systems bring heavy rainfall, widespread flooding and landslides to Central America and Asia

Tropical Storm Sara has caused significant disruption across Central America in recent days after forming in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday afternoon. It is the 18th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and the third this month. The large number of tropical storm and hurricane formations this season can be attributed to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico being warmer than average, thus providing more energy for the development and intensification of these systems.

Since its formation, Sara has affected Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize and Guatemala, bringing heavy rainfall, widespread flooding and landslides. The slow-moving nature of the storm has exacerbated the damage, prolonging the duration of its impact. However, Sara is losing strength; initially it had sustained winds of 45mph on Thursday but weakened slightly after moving inland, with winds dropping to 40mph by Sunday. According to the National Hurricane Centre, Sara is expected to dissipate into an area of low pressure as it moves north-west toward the southern region of the Yucatan peninsula on Monday.

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More than 650,000 people flee as Super Typhoon Man-yi hits Philippines

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Authorities warn of ‘life-threatening’ surges as sixth storm to pound the country in the past month intensified

Super Typhoon Man-yi has slammed into the Philippines, with the national weather forecaster warning of a “potentially catastrophic and life-threatening” impact as huge waves pounded the archipelago’s coastline.

More than 650,000 people fled their homes before Man-yi, which is the sixth major storm to batter the disaster-weary country in the past month, made landfall.

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Philippines set to be hit by fifth major storm in less than a month

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Tropical Storm Usagi is days away from making landfall, after Typhoon Toraji, Severe Tropical Storm Trami, Typhoon Yinxing and Super Typhoon Kong-rey

The Philippines issued new weather warnings on Tuesday as the fifth major storm in three weeks bore down on the archipelago, days after thousands were evacuated ahead of Typhoon Toraji.

Now a weakened tropical storm, Toraji blew out to sea overnight after causing relatively limited damage and no reported deaths.

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Duterte tells Philippines ‘war on drugs’ inquiry he kept a death squad

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Ex-president says he kept criminals to kill other criminals while mayor and offers no apologies at hearing investigating crackdowns

The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has told a senate inquiry into drug killings under his leadership that he kept a “death squad” of criminals to kill other criminals while serving as a mayor.

The 79-year-old, making his first public appearance on Monday since his term ended in 2022, said he offered “no apologies, no excuses” for his presidency, during which as many as 30,000 people were killed in a “war on drugs”.

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Dozens dead in floods and landslides after tropical storm Trami hits the Philippines

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Rescue workers continue to search for missing after storm brings two months’ rainfall to some areas in 24 hours

The number of dead and missing after tropical storm Trami caused extensive flooding and landslides in the Philippines has exceeded 100, as the president said many areas remained isolated.

Trami blew away from the north-western Philippines on Friday, leaving at least 81 people dead and 34 others missing in one of the south-east Asian archipelago’s deadliest and most destructive storms so far this year, the government’s disaster response agency said. The death toll was expected to rise as reports come in from previously isolated areas.

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Sydney man charged for alleged live online child sexual abuse of young boy in Philippines

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The child’s mother and another woman, aged 22 and 37, were also arrested as part of joint investigation by police in Australia and Manila

A 33-year-old Sydney man has been charged with child sexual abuse offences against a boy living in the Philippines and is facing 10 years in prison.

Australian federal police officers were given information in September about a man in Australia who was allegedly engaging in the live online child sexual abuse of the boy, which was allegedly being facilitated by the child’s mother.

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