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[alt] => covid
[title] => Makabayan bloc files 'Tax the Rich' bill
[top_author] => Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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[thumbnail] => https://media.philstar.com/photos/2021/09/20/bree-final_2021-09-20_09-40-18955_tn.jpg
[alt] => Filipino contemporary artist Bree Jonson (left) was known for her 'bizarre and otherworldly' artworks (right), which included paintings, sculptures and a collaboration for a local fashion magazine (right).
[title] => Jonson kin lament delayed autopsy on Bree, reported release of Julian Ongpin
[top_author] => Franco Luna
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[article_title] => DOH reports 18,937 more COVID-19 cases
[carousel_alt] => Residents of Dagat Dagatan Navotas City who are on the waiting list receive the Social Amelioration Program budget from the local government unit on Sept. 16, 2021.
[carousel_pic] => https://media.philstar.com/photos/2021/09/20/sap-navotas-1_2021-09-20_13-24-43854_thumbnail.jpg
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[summary] => Monday's new cases pushed the Philippines' total COVID count to 2,385,616.
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[article_title] => Around 155 people a day died of COVID-19 in August — DOH
[carousel_alt] => COVID-19 patients are treated inside the chapel of Quezon City General Hospital on Aug. 19, 2021.
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[carousel_author] => Christian Deiparine
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[article_title] => Senate releases SALN summaries as Palace points at ombudsman process
[carousel_alt] => Senators pose for a traditional group photo during the opening session of the 3rd Regular Session of the 18th Congress, Monday, July 26, 2021.
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[alt] => Filipino contemporary artist Bree Jonson (left) was known for her 'bizarre and otherworldly' artworks (right), which included paintings, sculptures and a collaboration for a local fashion magazine (right).
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[top_author] => Franco Luna
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The COVID-19 pandemic sped up the shift of innovation from Europe and North America towards Asia, UN world rankings showed Monday.
The Global Innovation Index 2021, from the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization, showed surging performances by South Korea and China.
"The pandemic has accelerated the long-term geographical shift of innovation activities toward Asia, even if Northern America and Europe continue to host some of the world's leading innovators," said WIPO.
While the top four in the global rankings remained the same as last year — with Switzerland leading for the 11th year running followed by Sweden, the United States and Britain — South Korea leapt five places to fifth.
The index found "substantial increases in brand values in Korea, in trademarks being filed, but also in cultural and creative services exports," index co-editor Sacha Wunsch-Vincent told reporters, citing the K-Pop phenomenon. — AFP
Ilocos Sur Gov. Ryan Singson on Monday places two cities and 19 towns in the province under Enhanced Community Quarantine for 15 days to arrest the surge of COVID-19 infections.
Singson under Executive Order 106 series of 2021 said, the cities to be placed under ECQ are Vigan and Candon, while the 19 towns are:
Sinait
Cabugao
San Juan
Magsingal
Sto. Domingo
San Ildefonso
Sta. Catalina
San Vicente
Bantay
Caoayan
Santa
Narvacan
Sta. Maria
Santiago
Sta. Lucia
Sta. Cruz
Salcedo
Gregorio del Pilar
and Suyo
Said areas will be on ECQ from September 22 to October 6, 2021.
Ilocos Sur has 32 towns and only two component cities. To minimize the movement of the people, public transportation will be suspended during the ECQ.
The City Health Office of Zamboanga City on Sunday reports a record high of 177 new COVID-19 cases with only 93 new recoveries.
The spike comes amidst the detection of additional 12 new Delta variant cases, mostly from community transmission without travel history, bringing the total to 19 as of Saturday.
The new batch of Delta cases were part of the 21 samples sent by the CHO for genome sequencing through the Department of Health Regional Office-9 to the Philippine Genome Center last August 24. — The STAR/Roel Pareño
Fiji plans to reopen for international tourists by November, aiming to rebuild a pandemic-devastated economy while battling a Delta-variant coronavirus outbreak.
"Our goal is to free our country –– and our economy –– from the rut of the pandemic," Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said in a statement last week.
Once 80 percent of Fiji's eligible population is vaccinated, it will offer quarantine-free travel to visitors from a "green list" of locations.
Of Fiji's eligible population, 66 percent is now fully vaccinated and Bainimarama predicts the country's target will be met by November 1.
Fiji's green list includes Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, Korea, Singapore and parts of the United States.
Visitors would need to be fully vaccinated and test negative for COVID-19 prior to departure.
Once in Fiji, they would stay in designated zones where all contacts, from hospitality staff to tour operators, would be fully vaccinated. –– AFP
A return to classroom learning in some schools is closer to happening, with presidential spokesperson Harry Roque saying the government has authorized face-to-face classes in areas where there is minimal risk of COVID-19 transmission.
The Department of Health and the Department of Education will assess the areas for potential pilot classes. Pilot classes will also need the endorsement of the local government unit and of parents and guardians of the learners who will be involved.
State agents seized P600,000 worth of shabu from two dealers, one of them a minor, entrapped over the weekend in nearby Midsayap town in North Cotabato.
Suharto Mascod Antilino and his 15-year-old accomplice were arrested after selling their illegal merchandise to non-uniformed personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao during a tradeoff in Barangay Poblacion 7 in Midsayap.
The operation on Saturday that resulted in their arrest was assisted by personnel of the Midsayap municipal police. — John Unson
Natural disasters sparked by climate change have forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes in Burundi in recent years, British charity Save the Children says in a new report released on Monday.
It says climate shocks — not conflict — are now the main cause of internal displacement in the landlocked East African country, which has a largely rural population.
"Over 84 percent of all internally displaced people in Burundi... have been displaced due to natural disasters rather than conflict, mostly due to the rise of Lake Tanganyika, Africa's second-largest lake," the charity says. — AFP
Four Afghan refugees, members of the country's robotics team who fled to Mexico after the Taliban's takeover of Kabul last month, participated Sunday in a bike parade in the capital organized to welcome the women.
"First of all, we want to thank Mexico government for making all these facilities for us," one of the team members, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, told AFP.
The group, made up of five team members and one of their partners, were the first Afghan refugees to arrive in Mexico after the Taliban retook the country from the American-backed government after 20 years last month. — AFP
US President Joe Biden has requested early talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, France said on Sunday, in an apparent effort to mend fences after a row over a submarines contract sparked rare tensions between the allies.
But French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said Sunday that there would be a telephone conversation between Biden and Macron "in the coming days" at the request of the US president.
Macron will ask the US president for "clarification" after the announcement of a US-Australian-British defence pact that prompted Canberra's cancellation of the huge contract for diesel-electric French vessels. — AFP
As of last Wednesday night, Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro still had a lot of unanswered questions on the planned shift in the national government’s pandemic response strategy.
Orthopedic surgeon, PBA medical consultant and FIBA medical commission member Dr. Jose Raul Canlas said yesterday the process to hold down the incidence of COVID-19 positive cases will continue to be tedious with cooperation among the pro league’s teams critical in making sure safety protocols are strictly observed.
Despite China’s new notification law, the United States sent a strong message that “nothing China says will deter us,” with the US 7th Fleet conducting on Wednesday freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea and asserting navigational rights and freedoms in the Spratlys.
The Philippine National Police is looking into the possible breach of health protocols at a regional PNP training facility in this city after 51 personnel tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Three towns in Kalinga are considered at critical risk for the spread of COVID-19 even as the province recorded a surge in infections in the past week.
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