President Rodrigo Duterte called on Filipinos to move forward with stronger faith as the country celebrates Easter with the rest of the world. “As we collectively strive to overcome the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, I trust that the promise of salvation will inspire us to look ahead for new beginnings and move […]

MANILA Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso was given a Sinovac jab on Sunday, following the government’s decision to allow local chief executives in high risk areas to get vaccinated. The mayor got his first Coronavac shot at the Osmena High School in Tondo district. The vaccine was administered by Vice Mayor Maria Shielah “Honey” Lacuna, […]

NICOSIA, Cyprus: Jordan’s former crown prince said Saturday he is under house arrest, but denied being part of any conspiracy against his half-brother King Abdullah II as he sharply criticized government corruption. In a video sent to the BBC, Prince Hamzah bin Hussein said the army chief of staff had visited him earlier in the […]

ROME: Pope Francis urged his coronavirus-weary flock to not lose hope even through the continued “dark months” of the pandemic as he celebrated a scaled-back Easter vigil service in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday. Due to social-distancing norms, only about 200 masked people were allowed to attend the service, which marks the period between Christ’s […]

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Data affecting more than 500 million Facebook users that was originally leaked in 2019, including email addresses and phone numbers, has been posted on an online hackers forum, according to media reports and a cybercrime expert. “All 533,000,000 Facebook records were just leaked for free,” Alon Gal, chief technology officer at the Hudson […]

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania: Vaccine passports being developed to verify Covid-19 immunization status and allow inoculated people to more freely travel, shop and dine have become the latest flash point in America’s perpetual political wars, with Republicans portraying them as a heavy-handed intrusion into personal freedom and private health choices. They currently exist in only one state […]

SANTIAGO: Latin America and the Caribbean passed the 25 million mark on Friday (Saturday in Manila) for recorded coronavirus cases as a surge in infections saw countries place restrictions on travel and movement while vaccine campaigns catch up. An Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally showed the region reaching the grim milestone of 25,001,533 infections, putting it […]

AFTER three seasons with Rutgers University (RU), Filipino American Ron Harper Jr. has declared for the NBA Rookie Draft. Harper Jr., son of five-time NBA champion Ron Harper, made an announcement on Saturday in an Instagram post. “I will be entering my name into the 2021 NBA Draft while maintaining my eligibility. This has been […]

AFTER 27 months of layoff, former four-division world champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes is back in the boxing ring when he trades leather with Colombian Pablo Carrillo for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) international super flyweight strap. The fight is set on April 4, 2021 at 4 a.m. (Philippine time). At 38 years old, the […]

MUNTINLUPA City has added a fifth village under a localized lockdown in a bid to avoid further transmissions of Covid-19. In a statement on Wednesday, Mayor Jaime Fresnedi signed an executive order putting #229 Compound, Purok 1 in Barangay Bayanan under an extreme localized community quarantine. The village, home to 38 residents from 10 households, […]

New breed ‘Law & Order’ brings back NYPD detective Stabler LOS ANGELES: “Law & Order: Organized Crime” stars Christopher Meloni as police detective Elliot Stabler, whom he played until 2011 on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” This edition shifts from one criminal to another in multi-episode arcs. “You have major antagonists around to build […]

THE group that tracks the country’s coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) numbers has proposed to the government to extend the current enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for one more week to relieve the stress and pressure on the hospitals in the country. In a press conference on Saturday, Octa Research Group said that the impact of the […]



Local government units (LGUs) in the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal can decide if the emergency assistance to locked-down residents will be cash or packaged relief items. The LGUs were given the discretion to decide the form of aid by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department […]

The Producer Price Index (PPI) for the manufacturing sector continued to move downward at -5.3 percent, the same rate recorded in January 2021, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said. In a report, PSA said in February last year, the PPI declined at an annual rate of -3.0 percent. The downturn was attributed to the decreases […]

Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Black Saturday, April 3, 2021. READ: Daily Covid cases skyrocket to 15,310 The Department of Health (DoH) logged its highest single-day total of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases Friday but attributed the sharp increase to the inclusion of delayed reports from testing centers. Friday’s 15,310 cases […]

The Department of Health (DoH) logged its highest single-day total of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases Friday but attributed the sharp increase to the inclusion of delayed reports from testing centers. Friday’s 15,310 cases jacked up the overall total to 771,497, the DoH reported. The tally included the 3,709 cases that were supposed to have […]

THE Philippines logged 15,310 cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in a single day on Friday, its highest, so far, for a total of 771,497 infections. Of the total, 153,809 are active cases, including 3,709 that were supposed to be recorded on March 31 but were affected by the CovidKaya application system backlog, resulting […]

JERUSALEM: Christians in the Holy Land are marking Good Friday this year amid signs the coronavirus crisis is winding down, with religious sites open to limited numbers of faithful but none of the mass pilgrimages usually seen in the Holy Week leading up to Easter. The virus is still raging in the Philippines, France, Brazil […]

THE Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights (CHR) urged its Myanmar counterpart to take action — sounding the alarm over the continued killings, violent dispersals, and “other gross human rights violations” in the now military-controlled country. “We deem it our duty to speak out against atrocities and [express] deep concern over the silence of the Myanmar […]

At 51, Alice Dixson is a first-time mother. The actress announced on her Instagram and Facebook accounts that she has welcomed their “newest little family member,” on Good Friday. Sharing her photo holding a document imprinted with baby’s feet, the actress and former beauty queen wrote, “Despite the unexpected trials this year, God gave us […]

VACCINE czar Carlito Galvez Jr. has clarified that a Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) identification number or PIN is not a mandatory requirement for persons who are expected to receive a jab against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Galvez, chief implementer of the National Task Force Against Covid-19, said potential Covid-19 vaccine recipients may present […]

THE camp of Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo clapped back at Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Epimaco Densing 3rd for calling the second top official of the country as “non-essential.” Lawyer Ibarra “Barry” Gutierrez, spokesman of Robredo, said in his tweet on Thursday that Densing “epitomizes the [administration’s] COVID response”. “With cases rising, hospitals […]

TAIPEI: Dozens of people are feared dead after a packed train derailed inside a tunnel in eastern Taiwan on Friday at the start of a long holiday weekend, with rescuers still scrambling to reach others trapped inside. President Tsai Ing-wen’s office said she had ordered hospitals to prepare for a mass casualty event. “The top […]

TOP security officials of the Philippines and the United States have agreed to continue coordinating in addressing challenges facing the South China Sea, with Washington committing the “applicability” of the two nations’ 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke over the phone with Philippine National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. on […]

NEW YORK: The daughter of an Asian American woman attacked in New York City said Thursday that a person not seen on surveillance video helped the woman by screaming to distract her assailant while others watched and did nothing to intervene. Elizabeth Kari, writing on a fundraising webpage she set up for her mother’s care, […]

Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Good Friday, April 2, 2021. READ: Governor, 11 mayors probed AT LEAST 13 local officials have been asked by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to ex- plain why they were vaccinated out of turn for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). DILG Undersecretary […]

Majority of Filipinos consider religion as very important in their lives, a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed. According to the survey conducted from November 21 to 25 last year, 73 percent of adult Filipinos said religion was very important. The latest figure is 10 points below the record 83 percent in December 2019 […]

NEW MEXICO: A batch of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine failed quality standards and can’t be used, the drug giant said on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila). The drugmaker didn’t say how many doses were lost, and it wasn’t clear how the problem would impact future deliveries. A vaccine ingredient made by Emergent BioSolutions — one […]

At least 13 local officials have been asked by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to explain why they were vaccinated out of turn for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing 3rd said during a television interview on Wednesday the 11 mayors, one governor and one councilor got their […]

NEW YORK: Can I still spread the coronavirus after I’m vaccinated? It’s possible. Experts say the risk is low, but are still studying how well the shots blunt the spread of the virus. The current vaccines are highly effective at preventing people from getting seriously sick with Covid-19. But even if vaccinated people don’t get […]

TOKYO: Japan is set to designate Osaka and two other prefectures for new virus control steps Thursday as infections in those areas rise less than four months before the Tokyo Olympics. Osaka, neighboring Hyogo and Miyagi prefecture in the north have had sharp increases in daily cases since early March, soon after Japan scaled down […]

THE Philippines logged 8,920 cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) on Thursday, pushing the total to 756,199, the Department of Health (DoH) said. Of the number of infections, 138,948 are active, 99 percent of which are mild, moderate or asymptomatic while the rest are severe or critical. Positivity rate is at 21.1 percent with […]

First word IMAGINE how much more clarity and direction there would have been in the nation’s pandemic response had the unelected and unelectable Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) not juggled the concepts of lockdown and quarantine as though they were identical with each other. Imagine also how much more […]

IN a time when it seems news of tangible progress in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is wishful thinking at best, it is a welcome relief to report something encouraging. Such is the case with the directive given by President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday that as many private enterprises as possible be […]