TOKYO — A powerful earthquake struck central Japan on Monday, triggering warnings for residents to evacuate some coastal areas, knocking out power to thousands of homes and disrupting flights and rail services to the affected region. ADVERTISEMENTThe Japan Meteorological Agency has issued tsunami warnings for the coastal prefectures of Ishikawa, Niigata and Toyama, marking the first major warnings since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan. Russia also issued tsunami warnings in its far eastern cities of Vladivostok and Nakhodka. “Run!” flashed a bright yellow warning aired on NHK advising residents in specific areas of the coast to immediately evacuate their homes. Another quake, known as the Great Hanshin Earthquake, hit western Japan in 1995, killing more than 6,000 people, mainly in the city of Kobe.

New Year's Day arrived to cheers from tens of thousands of beaming people in Times Square who were showered with confetti and hugs after watching the descent of the lighted ball marking the birth of 2024 with hope for some, even as the world's ongoing conflicts subdued celebrations and raised security concerns across the globe. The march of midnight from time zone to time zone brought the new year first to places like Australia, where more than 1 million people watched a pyrotechnic display centered around Sydney's famous Opera House and harbor bridge — a number of spectators equivalent to 1 in 5 of the city's residents. It would be another 16 hours before New York reached 2024.

The good newsAnd now for the good news of 2023:The pandemic is over; in May, the World Health Organization lifted the declaration of COVID-19 as a global health emergency. It’s been a good year for the person who reportedly gave that knee-jerk advice to Mr. P20-a-kilo rice. The year 2023 has been generally good for Marcos 2.0, based on his still high survey ratings. Let’s hope his chosen replacement, fishing tycoon Francisco Tiu-Laurel Jr., will provide some good news in the ailing agricultural sector this 2024. Perhaps a Supreme Court ruling institutionalizing the reforms will be among the pieces of good news in 2024.

SYDNEY — Jubilant crowds here will bid farewell to the hottest year on record on Sunday, closing a turbulent 12 months marked by clever chatbots, climate crises, and wrenching wars in Gaza and Ukraine. ADVERTISEMENTIn Sydney, the self-proclaimed “New Year’s capital of the world,” more than a million partygoers are expected to pack the city’s foreshore. Even before nightfall, tens of thousands of people gathered at vantage points around the city’s iconic Harbour Bridge, defying uncharacteristically dank weather. The last 12 months brought “Barbiegeddon” at the box office, a proliferation of human-seeming artificial intelligence tools, and a world-first whole-eye transplant. Russia’s is just one of several pivotal elections scheduled, with 2024 looming as the year of the ballot.

A Philippine boat was "rammed" by a Chinese coast guard ship during a resupply mission on December 10, the Philippine coast guard said, in the latest such confrontation in the disputed South China Sea. MANILA, Philippines — Top diplomats of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) expressed concern over escalating tensions in the South China Sea and called on all parties involved to engage in peaceful dialogue. In a statement Saturday, ASEAN foreign ministers said they "closely follow with concern the recent developments in the South China Sea that may undermine peace, security and stability in the region." ASEAN and China have been negotiating over a South China Sea Code of Conduct, but the process has been slow. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, encompassing waters and islands close to its neighbors' shores.

Marcos urges Filipinos to help shape a 'meaningful' transformation in 2024MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Sunday called on Filipinos to embrace a collective spirit and participate in shaping the future of the country. “As we welcome 2024 with great optimism, I call upon every Filipino from every corner of the world to contribute to the future of our beloved motherland,” Marcos said in a message released on New Year’s Eve. “Let us embody the spirit of solidarity through acts of kindness, volunteerism, and compassion, knowing that each of us is a catalyst for our country’s meaningful social transformation,” he added. A survey released by the Social Weather Stations last week suggested that 96% of adult Filipinos are welcoming 2024 with hope, marking a one-point rise from last year and mirroring the pre-pandemic sentiment in 2019. Meanwhile, only three percent of adult Filipinos are entering the coming year with fear, down by two points in 2022.

A senior UN political affairs official condemned attacks against the Russian city of Belgorod, located near the Ukrainian border, as he briefed the Security Council at an emergency meeting convened on Saturday afternoon. Belgorod is located in Russia east of the border with Ukraine. Unsplash/Petr Magera

Cathay Pacific confirmed on Sunday that a flight from Japan to Hong Kong had been delayed last week after a woman who did not have a valid boarding pass and passport managed to board the plane. The flight giant said the incident happened on the CX521 flight, which was scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong from Narita International Airport last Thursday (Dec 28). The cabin crew found a female passenger constantly switching seats and could not show her passport and boarding pass. The flight eventually arrived in Hong Kong over an hour late. The airline expressed its apology for the inconvenience caused and emphasized that the safety of passengers and crew is the company's top priority.

An elderly man was pronounced dead at the hospital after being struck by a garbage truck in Hung Hom on Sunday noon. Around noon today, a garbage truck passing through Man Yue Street, located in Hung Hom, struck an 86-year-old elderly man crossing the road. Paramedics were alerted to the scene and rushed him to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where he was later declared dead. Police arrested the 42-year-old garbage truck driver, surnamed Choi, on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving after a preliminary investigation. It is understood that the elderly man, surnamed Lam, lived in Hung Hom Estate and was heading to a nearby eatery to get a free meal before the accident.

SAN FRANCISCO: Google has agreed to settle a consumer privacy lawsuit seeking at least $5 billion in damages over allegations it tracked the data of users who thought they were browsing the internet privately. The object of the lawsuit was the "incognito" mode on Google's Chrome browser that the plaintiffs said gave users a false sense that what they were surfing online was not being tracked by the Silicon Valley tech firm.

The move is the latest by China to revive tourism and boost the world's second-largest economy following a slump during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourist visa applicants in the U.S. will no longer need to submit air ticket bookings, hotel reservations or an invitation letter, the embassy's notice said. Visa-free treatment will run for 12 months, during which tourists from those six countries can visit China for up to 15 days. The number of inbound tourists to the country plummeted during the pandemic due to the country's strict COVID control policies. International flights to China have picked up since Beijing dropped COVID restrictions a year ago but are still only at 60% of 2019 levels.

WHEN I looked at the calendar last week and found that my last column of the year would fall on the last day of the year, I flipped a coin to decide whether I would write a review of 2023 or a preview of 2024. "Review" was actually the call, so I flipped the coin a few more times. So, let's look ahead instead. There are five predictions for the coming year, but they are not presented in any meaningful order; I consider them all equally likely to happen. Spoiler alert: If you are looking for reasons to be optimistic about the near future, you're in the wrong place.

They told me that it will be a good choice since I can use it daily as it is not covered by the number coding scheme. Is there a law that exempts electric vehicles from the number coding scheme? Non-Fiscal Incentives. This would mean that EV owners can now use their vehicles for the whole week.Aside from the exemption from the number coding scheme, the law provides other incentives to EV users as provided for under Chapter IV, Section 25 thereof, viz. Non-Fiscal Incentives.

Lee’s representatives in a statement begged the public to refrain from spreading false information based on speculation or assumption. In 2016, Oxford Dictionaries chose “post-truth” as the word of the year and defined it as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. Misinformation is false or inaccurate information, meaning getting the facts wrong, while disinformation, which is a subset of misinformation, is false information which is deliberately intended to mislead or intentionally misstating the facts. Pause for a moment, think and contemplate the next time we want to post and share something. Maybe, by pausing a millisecond before we post and share, we can contribute to making this digital world a better place to exist in.

Next Attraction: Movies, series showing in January 2024Clockwise: "Anyone but You," "Echo," "Argylle," and "The Boy and the Heron"MANILA, Philippines — Three, two, one... 2024 is here, and it's time for a fresh year full of surprises and excitement. With so much hope to look forward to, the same could be said for a brand new bunch of movies and shows that will kick off the year. "Anyone but You" (Jan. 17)Directed by Will GluckStarring Sydney Sweeney and Glen PowellSynopsis: Two individuals who previously went on a date together unexpectedly find themselves at a destination wedding in Australia and pretend to be the perfect couple to keep up appearances. "The Color Purple" (Jan. 24)Directed by Blitz BazawuleStarring Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, and H.E.R.