LONDON - The British government wants to create an «express freight service» to ensure essential medicines are still available if the U.K. leaves the European Union without a divorce deal.     The Department of Health said Thursday it is inviting potential providers to submit offers for a contract lasting at least a year.   The department hasn't specified what method of transportation the service would use.   British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insists Brexit will happen Oct. 31 whether or not there is an approved agreement with the EU.   Many economists say no amount of planning can prevent economic damage from a no-deal Brexit, w...Keep on reading: UK planning post-Brexit freight service for vital medicines

IRIGA CITY - Detained Sen. Leila De Lima arrived in Iriga City at 7:40 a.m. Thursday to visit her ailing 86-year-old mother, who was discharged from a private hospital in Naga City Wednesday evening.   De Lima was granted a 48-hour furlough by the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205 Judge Liezel Aquiatan and Branch 256 Judge Gener Gito.   From the Legazpi City airport, De Lima was escorted by Legazpi City police's Special Weapons and Tactics team and Albay provincial police to Iriga City.   San Agustin village councilor Elma Gaspi, De Lima's cousin, said that the family welcomed the furlough granted to the lawmaker.   A mass will be held...Keep on reading: De Lima arrives in Iriga City to visit ailing mother

  MANILA, Philippines - A suspect in the abduction of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) officials was killed during a police operation Thursday morning in Bulacan.   National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar told INQUIRER.net that the suspect, Leo dela Fuente was killed in a safehouse in Marilao, Bulacan during a joint operation of the Philippine National Police - Highway Patrol Group (HPG) and NCRPO.   Eleazar said dela Fuente was a member of a notorious kidnapping group that targets government officials.   «Yung grupo nila malaking kidnapping group. Yung grupo na yun, they victimized [government] officials,» ...Keep on reading: Cops gun down suspect in abduction of BIR officials

MANILA, Philippines - Angat Dam's water level slightly increased on Thursday morning, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) reported.   According to the state weather bureau's dam bulletin, the water level at Angat Dam was at 176.72 meters as of 6:00 a.m., Thursday.   This is 0.43 meters higher than the 176.29 water level recorded on Wednesday morning.   Water level at Angat Dam, which serves as Metro Manila's main water source, dropped to critical levels in July, but was slowly replenished by rain showers due to the southwest monsoon.   Despite the recent increase in Angat Dam's water level, ...Keep on reading: Angat Dam water level rises to 176.72 meters

LUCENA CITY -- A drug pusher was shot and killed when he allegedly engaged policemen in a firefight in a buy-bust operation in this city Wednesday night. Anti-illegal drugs operatives shot and killed Pablito Cerion Jr., 34, while conducting a drug sting operation in Barangay (village) Ibabang Iyam around 8:30 p.m., Lucena police chief Lt. Colonel Reydante Ariza, said in a spot report. When Cerion, who was included in the police drug watch list, was about to be arrested, the suspect reportedly drew his caliber .38 gun and shot the policeman while running to escape arrest but missed. Another operative retaliated and shot the suspect who died on the spot. Authorities seized P5...Keep on reading: Alleged drug pusher slain in Lucena drug sting

BAGUIO CITY - Classes have been canceled for the third time this week in parts of Benguet province due to sporadic but intense monsoon rains on Thursday, August 15.     Classes in all levels have been suspended in the mining town of Itogon and in the farming towns of Kapangan and Kabayan.   A deadly landslide struck Itogon at the height of a storm last year.   Classes in pre-school, elementary and high school levels are also suspended in Kibungan and Mankayan. The municipalities of Tublay, Atok, Bokod and La Trinidad suspended classes in pre-school and elementary levels. /gsg  ...Keep on reading: Monsoon rains disrupt classes in Benguet anew

The 12-year-old protagonists of «Good Boys» have mastered the use of lingo like «lit» and «burn,» but they are foggier on just exactly what a tampon is and swear that a nymphomaniac is someone who has sex on land and on sea. They are tantalizingly close to young adulthood and yet tragically far away. «Good Boys» mines that gulf between childhood and adolescence like few films have before. To be fair, few have even tried quite like this. «Good Boys» is rated R which means, as its marketing has playfully highlighted, that its young stars --- Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, Brady Noon --- aren't old enough to see their own movie alone, even though they're the ones launching F-bomb...Keep on reading: Review: Tweens invade the raunchy teen comedy in ‘Good Boys’

ALBANY, N.Y. - The Roman Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, schools and hospitals, the late financier Jeffrey Epstein are some of the targets named in a flurry of sex abuse lawsuits filed Wednesday in New York as the state began accepting cases once blocked by the statute of limitations.     Hundreds of lawsuits were filed as plaintiffs rushed to take advantage of the one-year litigation window, created by state lawmakers this year to give people who say they were victims a second chance to sue over abuse that, in many cases, happened decades ago.   Those suing Wednesday include a woman who says she was raped by Epstein as a teenager in 2002. She filed aga...Keep on reading: Over 400 sex abuse suits filed in New York as litigation window opens

  To signal the opening last week of the Lechon Festival at the Mactan Midtown in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, there was no ribbon-cutting--- just slices of crunchy lechon skin distributed to officials of the city and the president of Megaworld Cebu Properties.   Then a boodle fight started. Amid the spectacle of dancing and singing, guests dug into the food laid out on a table lined with banana leaves. Of course, there was a huge lechon.   The skin was the first thing the guests peeled off from the spit-roasted pig, and then the white meat, the best parts near the belly. These were eaten with rice wrapped in coconut leaf, the pus.   It is not only t...Keep on reading: Glazed with soy sauce (not Coke) and eaten with ‘pusô’: Why Cebuanos claim their ‘lechon’ is best

MILAN --- While two U.S. opera houses immediately canceled performances by famed tenor Placido Domingo following sexual harassment allegations, European opera houses are taking stances ranging from supportive to wait-and-see. The Philadelphia Orchestra and San Francisco Opera immediately announced they would cancel upcoming performances featuring the star and the Los Angeles Opera opened an investigation following an Associated Press story in which numerous women accused the opera legend of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior spanning decades. In Europe, there were no immediate cancellations of the 78-year-old Domingo's performances and even some words of support for t...Keep on reading: European theaters mostly wait-and-see on Domingo accusations

  I bet you'll call me loco if I say that you can feast on authentic tacos at Solaire for P100 apiece. But, in fact, the popular integrated resort's «Taco Tuesdays» promo gives you the real deal---eat genuine taco for that price.   Taco Tuesday is a popular tradition in the United States. Searching for its origin on the internet won't yield significant results. It's just a habit: Americans usually eat tacos on Tuesdays. And most of the time, they do so because of tempting deals offered by restaurants.   As the Philippines becomes more and more of a melting pot, Solaire Resort and Casino's Waterside brings the Taco Tuesday habit to Metro Manila---offering...Keep on reading: Go loco over P100 tacos at Solaire’s ‘Taco Tuesdays’

BELTON, Texas --- Prosecutors in Texas plan to seek the death penalty for a professional MMA fighter accused in the deaths of two people whose bodies were found in a shallow grave in Oklahoma. The Bell County District Attorney's Office has filed formal notice to seek the death penalty against Cedric Marks, 45, District Attorney Henry Garza said Monday. Marks was indicted for the slayings of Jenna Scott, 28, and Michael Swearingin, 32, two friends who were killed on Jan. 3 at a residence in Killeen, Texas, about 127 miles (204 kilometers) southwest of Dallas, according to investigators. Their bodies were found about a week later in a shallow grave in Clearview, Oklahoma, abou...Keep on reading: Death penalty sought against MMA fighter in 2 Texas deaths

        MANILA, Philippines --- The Philippine Army is soon upgrading its aviation battalion into a regiment as it pursues aggressive modernization in the next few years.   «Anytime this year we'll activate from (army aviation) battalion to regiment,» Army's chief of plans and programsCol. Romulo Manuel told reporters Wednesday.   The Aviation Battalion is currently the Philippine Army's sole flying unit.   «Our Army will have its own helicopters to support its ground forces,» he said.   Manuel said the air assets will be bought «little by little,» and they are currently eyeing to have four to eight helicopters i...Keep on reading: Philippine Army to activate Aviation Regiment

MANILA, Philippines --- The Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong on Wednesday reminded Filipinos to avoid several areas amid a series of protests taking place there. Citing reports received by their office, the Consulate said protests would take place on the following dates and areas: August 14 - Sham Shui Po August 15 - Wan Chai Taxation Office August 17 - Charter Garden, Central to Central Government Offices, Admiralty; Hung Hom Pier to Sung Wong Toi Garden, Kowloon August 18 - Victoria Park, Causeway Bay to Charter Road, Central August 19 - «Clean up MTR carriages» August 25 - Kwai Tiang Theatre, Kwai Chung to Tsuen Wan Park The Consulate also reminded Filipinos...Keep on reading: LIST: Consulate urges Filipinos in Hong Kong to avoid protest areas

DAVAO CITY ---- The Davao City government has partnered with two private organizations in a bid to boost efforts at recycling of bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The recycling initiative aims to convert plastic bottles into school chairs. To collect the plastic bottles, the Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc. (CCBPI) has installed a large collection bin shaped in its iconic bottle at Magsaysay Park, the main site of the Kadayawan Festival. Coca-Cola runs the World Without Waste recycling campaign. Sooner, CCBPI will also set up collection bins in People's Park, Rizal Park, Botanical Garden, and Sta. Ana Wharf after getting the nod of the city's Parks Board, ...Keep on reading: Davao City to turn plastic bottles into chairs

MANILA, Philippines --- Former National Youth Commission chairman Ronald Cardema has appealed his case before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) by questioning the poll body's jurisdiction to rule over his qualification as the first nominee of the Duterte Youth party-list. In his motion for reconsideration, Cardema asserted that his case should be resolved by the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) and not Comelec. According to Cardema, Duterte Youth, «through its first nominee, already has the right to serve as party-list representative» since the election was already held and the party-list group has already secured its mandate. "Whether a nominee is qualified or...Keep on reading: Cardema’s plea questions Comelec jurisdiction over disqualification case

LUCENA CITY ---- Top rebel leader Jose Maria «Joma» Sison was convinced that the revival of the anti-subversion law would not end the growth of the people's war. «The revival of the anti-subversion law will not eliminate the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the people's democratic revolution,» Sison, CPP founder, said in a statement from Utrecht, the Netherlands on Wednesday. He warned that the revival of the law would «only serve to further violate the national and democratic rights of the people and will thus incite the broad masses of people to rise.» "The revival of the anti-subversion law can give further license to Duterte's armed minions to violate human right...Keep on reading: Sison: Revival of anti-subversion law won’t end insurgency

LEGAZPI CITY ---- Five suspected New People's Army (NPA) rebels were wounded in an encounter with Army soldiers at a remote village in Caramoan town in Camarines Sur on Tuesday. Major Ricky Aguilar, public affairs chief of the 9th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, said the soldiers were on patrol when they had a five-hour gun battle with some 50 rebels in Barangay Lidong that started around 2 p.m. He said the clash led to the wounding of five rebels, who were brought by their companions while fleeing. Earlier that day, Army soldiers also encountered about 30 rebels in Barangay Itangon, Bula, Camarines Sur town at around 6:30 a.m. The fleeing rebels left behind three b...Keep on reading: PH Army: 5 rebels wounded in Camarines Sur clash

MANILA, Philippines -- Actor Tom Rodriguez had an unexpected trip to the hospital due to an allergic reaction.   The Kapuso actor shared on Instagram Tuesday photos of himself in a hospital bed, as well as rashesthat developed due to his allergies.   Rodriguez, who is currently in Texas, USA for a GMA event, said that he woke up itching, feeling hot and could hardly breathe with hives and inflammation all over his body.   He, however, could not determine what triggered the allergies,although he remembered having a pineapple bought at a local supermarket.   "Good thing I had some prednisone for some allergies and took that right away with antihi...Keep on reading: Allergy downs Tom Rodriguez in US, but not for long

MANILA, Philippines - Six years after its local stock market debut, Resorts World Manila developer and operator Travellers International Hotel Group plans to delist from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).   «The conversion from a public entity into a private company will allow the company to timely address evolving market demands and rapidly changing customer needs without compromising its business strategies to competition,» Travellers told the PSE on Thursday.   The planned voluntary delisting from the main board of the PSE and the mandatory tender offer have been approved by Travellers' board of directors.   About 10 percent of the company's shares a...Keep on reading: Resorts World Manila operator delisting from PSE

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Christopher «Bong» Go urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to strengthen and refile the case against the owner and officers of WellMed Dialysis and Laboratory Center, which was implicated in the alleged fraudulent claims with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).   «Di na dapat magpatuloy ang anomalya sa PhilHeath (Anomalies within PhilHealth must stop),» Go, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said during his opening statement on Wednesday's hearing into allegations of corruption in the state health insurance agency.   "Dapat managot ang dapat managot sa kaso ng Wellmed, I urge the DOJ to refile the case to th...Keep on reading: Bong Go asks DOJ  to refile, strengthen case vs. WellMed 

MANILA, Philippines - Parts of Northern and Central Luzon may experience scattered rains on Wednesday due to the southwest monsoon, the state weather bureau said.   In its daily forecast, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the Ilocos region, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Cagayan Valley, Zambales and Bataan will have cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms.   Pagasa said Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers due to localized thunderstorms.   The state weather bureau likewise warned of possible flash...Keep on reading: Pagasa: Wet, cloudy Wednesday expected

MANILA, Philippines - President Rodrigo Duterte will submit the 2020 National Expenditure Program (NEP) to Congress on Tuesday, August 20, with budget deliberations to follow two days after, House appropriations panel chairman and Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab said Wednesday. «Sa Tuesday, August 20 mag-submit ng NEP ang executive,» Ungab told INQUIRER.net.   Ways and means panel chairman and Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda earlier said Malacanang would submit the NEP on Thursday, August 15.   Despite the change in the date of submission, Ungab said the budget hearings of his committee would push through, as planned, from August 22 to September 29...Keep on reading: Congress to receive NEP on Aug. 20; Budget hearings on by Aug. 22 – Ungab

MANILA, Philippines - Singer and theater actor Nyoy Volante bagged the role of Signor Pirelli in Atlantis Theatrical's musical «Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.»   Volante announced his stint in the musical Wednesday in an Instagram post: «I am Adolfo Pirelli da king of da barbers, da barber of kings... E buon giorno, good day!»   https://www.instagram.com/p/B1HMxuuF-33/   Tony award-winning actress Lea Salonga, who will portray Mrs. Lovett in the musical, also shared the news over her Instagram account.   «You have no idea how long I've been waaaaaaaaiting to announce this!!!!!! @nyoyvolante will be playing Pirelli!!!!!!!!» Salo...Keep on reading: Nyoy Volante is Signor Pirelli in ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’

It may be considered wrong to judge things by physical appearance, but in the case of public infrastructure, created by and maintained under the jurisdiction of the government, how much would physical appearance matter? What does, for example, a public library in a state of disrepair say about the way it is run? Or what can be said about the relevance of a library, decked with the latest technologies and collections, if it is always empty? A law led the way for the creation of more public libraries. In June 1994, Republic Act No. 7743 was passed, an act providing for the establishment of public libraries (congressional, city, municipal and barangay-level) throughout the Philippines. T...Keep on reading: From 24/7 service to ‘estero-telling’: Checking up on the state of public libraries

UNITED NATIONS - The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross warned Tuesday that 70 years after countries adopted the Geneva Conventions to limit the barbarity of war, the terrible suffering in conflicts today shows they are not being respected.     Peter Maurer told a U.N. Security Council meeting marking the anniversary that continued violations of the rules in the conventions doesn't mean they are inadequate, «but rather that efforts to ensure respect are inadequate.»   «We can --- and must --- do more. You can do more,» he told the 15 council members.   The four Geneva Conventions were adopted on Aug. 11, 1949, and have been u...Keep on reading: Red Cross chief: Geneva Conventions are not being respected

LOS ANGELES - In a week dominated by competition shows, «America's Got Talent» dominated the competition.     NBC's variety showcase brought in 9.7 million viewers last week according to the Nielsen company's ratings.   The show chose the singers, comedians, dancers and beatboxers that will be on its season-ending live episodes.   That was well clear of second-place «60 Minutes» on CBS, which brought in 6.8 million viewers.   «Celebrity Family Feud» on ABC was a distant third with 4.8 million as game show revivals, reality shows, news shows and talent contests squeezed dramas and comedies almost entirely out of the top of the rankin...Keep on reading: ‘America’s Got Talent’ dominates the ratings competition

WASHINGTON - Responding to pressure from businesses and growing fears that a trade war is threatening the U.S. economy, the Trump administration is delaying most of the import taxes it planned to impose on Chinese goods and is dropping others altogether.     The announcement Tuesday from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative was greeted with relief on Wall Street and by retailers who have grown fearful that the new tariffs would wreck holiday sales.   The administration says it still plans to proceed with 10% tariffs on about $300 billion in Chinese imports --- extending its import taxes to just about everything China ships to the United States in ...Keep on reading: Trump delays tariffs on some Chinese goods until December

  MANILA, Philippines - Singer and former National Youth Commission (NYC) chairperson Ice Seguerra shared a number of frustrating incidents and admitted not feeling safe when he is prevented from using a comfort room.     https://www.instagram.com/p/B1H5MVsFig7/ Seguerra aired his concern over the issue after a transgender woman was barred from using women's comfort room in Quezon City mall on Tuesday.   READ: Transgender woman in women's comfort room causes stir in QC mall   "This is a real concern. Na hangga't hindi mo pa narararnasan, isasawalang bahala mo lang. Concern na hindi ko kailanman inisip na pagdadaanan ko rin pala. Par...Keep on reading: Ice Seguerra deplores transgender comfort room discrimination

MANILA, Philippines --- Workers in the government and private sectors are balking at any increase in the fee for withdrawing cash from automated teller machines (ATM) that banks are expected to implement as a result of the lifting of a six-year moratorium on fee increases. Government worker Karen said raising ATM fees was «unfair» to rank-and-file employees like her. As a public employee, her salary goes into her account in the government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank). Because Landbank has a limited number of ATMs, Karen withdraws money from teller machines of other banks. "[Landbank's ATMs] are usually offline, especially during paydays. It's very inaccessible. ...Keep on reading: Workers slam plan to hike ATM fees

Your smartphone is your confidante, your hand-held connection to the world and one of your biggest vulnerabilities. Scammers can take advantage of day-to-day tasks that seem innocuous, like checking a bank balance or charging a phone at a public USB port, to exploit personal information for their profit. To keep that data safe, start by understanding the threats you face. Your phone has three main areas of vulnerability: its hardware, it's software and your phone number. Each carries a risk, and there are steps you can take to mitigate them. HARDWARE VULNERABILITY A four-digit passcode alone isn't enough to secure your phone's hardware from intruders. One weakness comes f...Keep on reading: Millennial Money: How to Outsmart Scammers

What happens when two PR girl bosses team up to serve the fast-growing cannabis industry? They roll up a powerhouse joint agency literally. Joint PR merges the talents of public relations veterans Kristen Grossi of talk tech and Alysha Light of FLIGHT PR. Both of these senior-level communications leaders have earned reputations for generating defining results for game-changing startups and global enterprises across tech, marketing, and entertainment. This collaborative venture benefits from the founders' 30 years of combined experience and is fueling the growth of established and emerging companies from every stage of the legal cannabis industry including manufacturing, VC funding,...Keep on reading: L.A. Agency Joint PR Lights Up the Cannabis Marketing Scene

What does it mean to dispute a credit card? How Do You Dispute a Credit Card Charge? or How to reverse a charge? How do you resolve a credit card dispute? Read on as all your unanswered questions will be satisfactorily dealt with in the course of this informative piece. It is essential that you dispute the charge of any unrecognized vendor that appears on your credit card statement. This action is necessary to avoid being liable --- people panic when an unexpected charge shows up on their credit card statement. Instead of panicking and concluding that you have been defrauded, you can take some steps to get the issue resolved because not all erroneous charges are due to fraudulen...Keep on reading: How Do I Dispute a Credit Card Charge?

Quite a number of people who take their health seriously are always trying to figure out: How much CBD should I take? and what is the right dosage of CBD to be administered? Answering this question is a dicey exercise and below are the CBD oil recommended dosage. For the type of CBD products you are taking, CBD tinctures are the strongest and fast-acting to CBD Gummies that are quite potent and very easy to miss a dosage. For one thing, people make use of CBD as a remedy for a wide range of disorders such as blood pressure, chronic pain, anxiety disorders, any form of epilepsy such as draught syndrome and other related ailments. There are so many factors that decide the correct ...Keep on reading: How Much CBD Should I Take?

MANILA, Philippines --- One of the three alleged foreign terrorists showed up at the National Bureau of Investigation «to disavow any terrorist connection,» Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Tuesday. The woman was one of the «three names floated as potential terrorists from an Asian country planning to enter the Philippines. Two of them have no arrival records as per the Bureau of Immigration (BI),» Guevarra said. The BI, he said, was monitoring «further movements of these persons» while the NBI has also been assigned to investigate the alleged terror plot of those linked to violent extremist groups....Keep on reading: Woman tells NBI: I’m no terroist