Three-year-old has given fresh hope of finding more survivors in a gold-mining village where death toll has climbed to 27
The rescue of a child nearly 60 hours after a landslide hit a gold-mining village in the southern Philippines has been hailed as a “miracle” after searchers had given up hope of finding more survivors.
The girl, who the Philippine Red Cross said was three years old, had been among scores of people missing after the rain-induced landslide hit the village.
Continue reading...Former president has called for his home town, Mindanao, to split from the Philippines as his alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr crumbles
The Philippine government is ready to use “authority and forces” against attempts to divide the nation, a security official has said, after former president Rodrigo Duterte threatened to separate some southern islands from the rest of the archipelago.
Duterte has called for the independence of his home town, Mindanao, from the Philippines as his alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr disintegrated this week over disagreements around efforts to amend the constitution.
Continue reading...Ferdinand Marcos Jr hits back with fentanyl insult amid breakdown in relations between political families
The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte accused his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, of being a drug addict who risked being ousted from office in an expletive-laden tirade that underlined the breakdown in relations between the two powerful political families.
Duterte’s speech on Sunday, in which he claimed Marcos Jr’s allies were trying to remove constitutional term limits so they could cling to power, follows long-running speculation about hostilities between the families.
Continue reading...Cyclone downgraded after dense fog hits parts of the US and India while drought affects Philippines and southern Africa
Tropical Cyclone Kirrily made landfall on the coast of Queensland on Thursday night (local time). Kirrily originated as a tropical low over the Coral Sea, and gradually intensified over several days. The tropical cyclone then quickly intensified on Thursday, reaching a category 2 system by 10am AEST, and category 3 by 3pm, producing gusts of 170 km/h (105mph). As Kirrily moved inland five hours later, it left more than 34,000 homes and business without power in Townsville. However, the cyclone was quickly downgraded back to a category 1 by midnight.
Earlier in the week, dense fog developed from Montana all the way south to the Gulf of Mexico, reducing visibility on Tuesday to less than a quarter mile for many. The combination of last week’s arctic blast, followed by the introduction of warmer air from the south this week, allowed water vapour to condense closer to the surface, which is also known as advection fog. Dense fog reappeared on Thursday morning, affecting just under 99 million people from North Dakota across to central Pennsylvania, and as far south as New Orleans.
Continue reading...Ferdinand Marcos Jr was flown in because concert-goers created ‘unforeseen traffic complications’, bodyguards say
Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr has been criticised for using a presidential helicopter to attend a Coldplay concert north of the capital Manila, bypassing the area’s notorious traffic jams.
On social media, many accused the president of wasting taxpayers’ money, and pointed out that the public has to endure Metro Manila’s infamous traffic daily while commuting.
Continue reading...Filipino nurses for Ohio-based company say they have been forced to pay thousands in fees after signing training contracts
Filipino nurses are calling for the US’s top labor watchdog to review controversial “stay or pay” training repayment agreement provisions that have left them facing lawsuits and thousands of dollars in fees after they quit their jobs.
Training repayment agreement provisions (Trap) are contracts employers require workers to sign before beginning a job and stipulate that if a worker leaves the job before a specified time, they owe substantial fees.
Continue reading...Boat from Philippines with gifts for fishers, troops and coastguard in South China Sea slipped past vessels that intercepted festive flotilla
It looked, for a time, as if Christmas had been cancelled. A Philippine mission by volunteers to bring the festive spirit to the fishers, troops and coastguard crew in the disputed South China Sea was forced to turn back on Sunday after organisers said they had been shadowed and intercepted by Chinese vessels.
But it later emerged that a smaller supply boat had managed to slip past the Chinese vessels.
Continue reading...BoM tracker map shows forecast path of category 2 cyclone will hit north of Cairns and Port Douglas on the Queensland coast at about 1pm with heavy rain, 140km/h winds and storm surge predicted. Follow the latest Australia news and weather updates today
Ceasefire ‘can’t be one-sided’
Emergency management minister Murray Watt is also speaking to ABC RN this morning, and was asked about the PM’s joint letter with his New Zealand and Canadian counterparts urging a ceasefire.
[It] shows that we want to work with like-minded countries towards what would be a just and enduring peace. I think the whole world has been pleased to see the release of hostages and the pause in hostilities that we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, but what we need to do is move towards a sustainable ceasefire …
I think everyone who watches this conflict unfolds on their television screens, is really disturbed about the loss of life that we’re seeing go on at the moment.
I think that’s the value that a country like Australia can play here by really taking that even-handed approach that does call out the abhorrent behaviour by Hamas, but also as a friend of Israel, calls on them to respect international humanitarian law.
We are alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza. The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians.
Continue reading...Forty fishing boats loaded with donations, Father Christmas figurines and nativity had set sail in disputed South China Sea
A Philippine mission to bring Santa Claus to the South China Sea to spread holiday cheer to fisherfolk, troops and coastguard officials was cut short after organisers said Chinese vessels intimidated their convoy.
The flotilla of 40 fishing boats loaded with Christmas donations, Father Christmas figurines and nativity displays set sail from El Nido in Palawan province at 1am local time on Sunday (1700 GMT Saturday), on its way to disputed areas that Beijing claims, without legal grounds, as its own.
Continue reading...Police say explosion at Mindanao State University gymnasium in Marawi could be revenge by pro-Islamic State militants
Philippine forces were on high alert after a bomb killed four people and wounded many more during a Catholic mass in a university gymnasium in the south of the country, an attack the authorities called Islamist terrorism.
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the senseless and most heinous acts perpetrated by foreign terrorists,” said the president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “Extremists who wield violence against the innocent will always be regarded as enemies to our society.”
Continue reading...The magnitude 7.5 quake in Mindanao triggered tsunami warnings in Japan and more than 600 aftershocks
Philippine residents were allowed to return to their homes on Sunday after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the country’s south, killing at least one person, with disaster officials reporting minor damage to some infrastructure.
The Saturday night quake shook parts of Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces, triggering coastal evacuations and tsunami alerts in the country and in Japan.
Continue reading...Hamas released 24 hostages on Friday, including 13 Israelis, one Filipino man and 10 Thai citizens
The group of hostages brought out of Gaza on the first day of the ceasefire with Israel included 13 Israelis, 10 Thai citizens and one Filipino man.
The Israeli hostages included four children with female relatives, who were all visiting family at Nir Oz kibbutz when Hamas attacked on 7 October, and five elderly women, four of them residents of Nir Oz and one from a nearby kibbutz.
Continue reading...Richard Marles says two countries committed to a peaceful region where ‘sovereignty and agreed rules and norms are respected’
Australia and the Philippines have begun joint sea and air patrols in the South China Sea as Pacific nations warily eye an increasingly assertive China.
The three-day exercises follow discussions earlier this year on joint patrols to underscore what the countries say is their commitment to closer cooperation and a rules-based order in the region.
Continue reading...Security officials in Philippines warn against planned trip by dozens of boats, saying it risks stirring tensions with China
A planned Christmas convoy of dozens of boats aiming to bring the festive spirit to Filipino troops on a disputed shoal has been described as “ill advised” by the country’s security officials, who warned of heightened tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea.
The national security council in the Philippines has advised against the proposed trip, warning it is a time of “heightened tensions”.
Continue reading...Shopping mall ceiling collapse among reported damage after earthquake of 6.7 magnitude hits Mindanao region
The death toll from a strong earthquake off the southern Philippines rose to five on Saturday as authorities reported more casualties across two provinces.
The 6.7-magnitude quake that struck the Mindanao region mid-afternoon on Friday caused part of a shopping mall ceiling to collapse, triggered power cuts and sent people fleeing into the streets.
Continue reading...Colonel Medel Aguilar says the Philippines will not stop resupply missions to a grounded warship that have developed into a potential flashpoint with Beijing
The Philippines has accused China of seeking to bully smaller countries into submission and vowed it will continue its missions to deliver supplies to a grounded derelict warship that serves as an outpost in the South China Sea.
The Philippines deliberately grounded BRP Sierra Madre at Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands, in 1999 to guard against expansion by China, and the ship has become a growing flashpoint in the fiercely disputed water.
Continue reading...Former senator was arrested after launching inquiry into ex-president’s brutal war on drugs
The most prominent critic of the former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs” has been granted bail, after more than six years in jail on what rights groups condemned as trumped-up charges.
Leila de Lima, 64, a former senator and human rights commissioner, emerged from court on Monday to cheers from supporters, who chanted “Justice” and “Leila will soon be free”.
Continue reading...Survivors in the Philippines hold prayers and light candles to remember the more than 7,000 dead or missing in one of the strongest storms ever recorded
Survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan will hold prayers and light candles in the Philippines to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the storm that left more than 7,000 people dead or missing.
Haiyan was one of the strongest storms ever recorded and unleashed winds of up to 315km (195 miles) an hour. It whipped up tsunami-like waves that devastated central islands of the archipelago nation.
Continue reading...Killer of Juan Jumalon, 57, pretended to be a listener to enter home studio in Misamis Occidental province
A radio anchor in the southern Philippines has been fatally shot in his studio in a brazen attack witnessed by people watching the programme live on Facebook.
The gunman gained entry to the home-based radio station of Juan Jumalon, a provincial news broadcaster known also as DJ Johnny Walker, by pretending to be a listener. He then shot him twice during a live morning broadcast in Calamba town in Misamis Occidental province, police said.
Continue reading...The Sierra Madre, deliberately marooned by the Philippines in 1999, is crumbling but repair is being made impossible by an effective blockade by Beijing
It is perhaps the most unlikely kind of military base. For more than two decades, a second world war-era ship, BRP Sierra Madre, has stood deliberately grounded in the remote, shallow waters of the fiercely contested South China Sea, carrying the Philippine flag and guarding against Chinese expansion.
But its future is increasingly precarious, and the ship has become a growing flashpoint in one of the world’s most disputed waters.
Continue reading...