TMT FILE PHOTOIF Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo really wanted to debate former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., she could have done so months ago. Mr. Marcos was there for both, and so were Leodegario "Ka Leody" de Guzman, Norberto Gonzales and Ernesto Abella. The communication went back and forth, giving the network the impression that Miss Robredo would attend in February. But it was puzzling and frankly off putting for Miss Robredo to criticize a rival for doing what she did twice. For CNN, it sounded self-serving, and for Miss Robredo, it was a chance to slam Mr. Marcos for not being there.

MUMBAI — Parts of India recorded their highest average temperatures on record in April, and the scorching weather is expected to stretch into May, authorities said on Saturday. India and neighboring Pakistan have been suffering from extreme heat waves this year, melting pavements, forcing school closures, and triggering health and fire alerts. ADVERTISEMENTNorthwest and central India recorded average maximum temperatures of 35.9°C and 37.78°C (96.6°F and 100°F) respectively in April, the director-general of the Indian Meteorological Department told reporters. Those were the highest since it began keeping records 122 years ago, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra added. RELATEDAs India swelters under extreme heat, Modi warns of fire riskGlobal warming: even cacti can’t take the heatHeat index in Dagupan City stays at ‘danger’ levelATMSubscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address.

In a press launch with some friends from the entertainment media, the ever-glowing movie star in the '80s – Marissa Del Mar – breezed through her advocacy on hand like it was second skin to her. Marissa Del Mar, No. 49 OFW Party-List first nomineeSadly, the industry's maverick and iconic publisher Guillermo recently passed away due to a lingering illness. Rodrigo Roa-Duterte in her recent Party-List venture for mobilizing the private sector and founding the Anti-Human Trafficking OFW Movement or ATOM. 49 OFW Party-List has Jerry Alfante as second nominee, and women's rights advocate Marcelina Sun as third nominee.

(AFP)The Philadelphia 76ers’ playoff hopes suffered a bodyblow on Friday as star center Joel Embiid was sidelined indefinitely after being diagnosed with an orbital fracture and concussion, reports said. Embiid was injured near the end of the Sixers’ series-clinching blowout of the Toronto Raptors on Thursday. ESPN and The Athletic both reported that Embiid was concussed in the incident and also suffered an orbital fracture near his right eye. Embiid suffered a similar injury in 2018 to his left eye that required surgery and led to a three-week layoff. The Sixers did not immediately comment on the reported injury on Friday.

Globe launches Globe Gamer Grounds – an all-in-one gaming platform that will surely ignite the passion in every gamer. As such, Globe has launched the campaign, "Game Well-Played," banding gamers from all over the country to flex the good in gaming, and ignite understanding and draw support for the gaming industry across the Philippines. Meanwhile, Pokemon Unite is yet another exciting game that comes from everyone's favorite Pokemon franchise. With this partnership comes an all-in-one gaming platform that will surely ignite the passion in every gamer: Globe Gamer Grounds. "We developed Globe Gamer Grounds with Telekom Malaysia and Swarmio Media to strengthen our mission to empower every Filipino to pursue a game well-played," said Aligada.

TANJUNG RAMBUTAN, Malaysia — Hundreds of mourners wept, read prayers and banged drums Friday at the funeral of a mentally disabled Malaysian man whose hanging in Singapore this week sparked an international outcry. Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, convicted of trafficking a small amount of heroin into the city-state, was executed Wednesday after more than a decade on death row. Singapore insists the death penalty has helped keep the country one of Asia’s safest places. Datchinamurthy, who was found guilty of trafficking heroin into Singapore, had been scheduled to be executed Friday but it was postponed as he has another pending case in the courts. READ: UN experts urge Singapore to halt Malaysian’s executionSubscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address.

WASHINGTON — White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, as journalists and politicians in Washington were set to kick off a weekend of events around the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner. Bedingfield was the latest in a line of Cabinet members, administration officials and White House staffers to get a positive COVID test. Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week. She remains asymptomatic, a White House official said. RELATED STORY:US Vice President Kamala Harris tests positive for COVID-19 — White HouseSubscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address.

PAGADIAN CITY—Police have arrested a suspect in the killing of a village councilman last Thursday in Diplahan town, Zamboanga Sibugay. Police Col. Alberto Larubis, Zamboanga Sibugay police director, identified the suspect as Richard Pamagan, 44, a resident of Barangay Pamoli-B in Diplahan. ADVERTISEMENTPamagan allegedly was driving the motorcycle used by the gunman to flee after shooting Guinoman councilman Cristuto Halop, 67, inside the barangay hall on Thursday noon. RELATED STORYSuspect in shooting of Zamboanga Sibugay town vice mayor killed – PNPSubscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy PolicyRead Next

Chuang Shuk-kwan (left) and Lau Ka-hin (right). Hong Kong reported 366 new Covid-19 cases and 11 related deaths on Friday, as authorities grounded two flights from Amsterdam and Dubai for a week. Among the new cases, 196 were confirmed through PCR tests, and 170 were positive rapid antigen test results reported by citizens. The overall tally of the fifth wave of the pandemic outbreak has exceeded 1.19 million, the Centre for Health Protection's Chuang Shuk-kwan reported. In the past 24 hours, 205 patients have recovered from Covid-19, and 148 of them have been discharged.

Reigning champion Ateneo is set to open its title retention bid against rival De La Salle in the UAAP Season 84 women’s volleyball tournament beginning next Thursday, May 5. Ateneo Lady Eagles in file photo (UAAP)The Lady Eagles and the Lady Archers clash at 4 p.m. to highlight the return of collegiate volleyball action after a two-year hiatus. Season 84 president Nonong Calanog of host De La Salle earlier announced that a closed-circuit setup is being eyed for the volleyball tournament but further updates have yet to be announced. The last volleyball games, both in men’s and women’s, in the UAAP were played on March 8, 2020 before the remainder of Season 82 was scrapped due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Lady Eagles, then led by their triple tower of Bea de Leon, Maddie Madayag, and Kat Tolentino, bagged the UAAP title in Season 81 after beating the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses in the Finals.

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of independent presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Friday refuted information that he had canceled his sorties for the day in Bicol. Lacson’s spokesman Ashley Acedillo branded such information as “fake news”. That said, it does not take away the disgust over the acts of whoever is/are behind this fake news,” Acedillo said. “It is worth repeating that votes for Ping Lacson and his running mate Tito Sotto are votes for much-needed leadership to fix our country’s ills.,” he pointed out. Lacson’s scheduled activities in Bicol for Friday included courtesy calls and town hall meetings in Catanduanes, Naga, and Albay.

Onic Philippines displayed poise under pressure as it outlasted Nexplay Evos, 3-2, in their best-of-five thriller in the MPL Philippines Season 9 playoffs which ended in the wee hours of Friday, April 29. Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol held the fort for Onic with a 5-1-12 on the jungle Barats pick which he surprisingly utilized throughout the series. MP the King ran wild on his Karina with a 13-1-7 line in the NXPE’s stomping 24-5 Game 1 win. The lackluster showing from MP the King forced Coach Zico to insert John Paul “H2wo” Salonga in Game 4. The veteran jungler didn’t disappoint and provided the spark as NXPE forced a deciding Game 5.

"If they had advised the public (to recycle), the city would have saved at least some resources and reduced some waste." Over the past year Hong Kong has generated a colossal amount of disposable plastic waste from quarantine hotels and isolation facilities, which is not recycled due to fear of contamination. The city's three landfills are almost at capacity as waste management has lagged mainland China and cities like Singapore, and Taiwan, even before Covid-19. The government said in an email response to Reuters that it was "reasonable to expect" a surge in disposable waste, such as masks, RATs and disposable plastic tableware. Official figures show a 33 percent rise in plastic disposables in 2020 with environmentalists expecting waste to have surged further since 2021 as authorities grapple to implement a "Dynamic zero" Covid strategy.

Unfortunately, Filipinos are also recently more inclined to skip breakfast, either due to the heavy demands of day-to-day life or the misconception that a good breakfast is fuzzy and difficult to prepare. The Nutella Good Morning pack phrases — namely, "Tara, Breakfast! ", "Good Morning! The limited-edition Nutella jars are also a good way to greet and express love, a way to share the gift of a good morning with a good breakfast. Nutella's special Good Morning jars are available in most grocery chain stores nationwide.

MANILA, Philippines — The “data breach” suffered by election system provider Smartmatic was actually part of a scam hatched by hackers to con unscrupulous politicians into believing they could manipulate the elections. Mancao said they peddled their scam by presenting old voters’ data that Smartmatic used to prepare for the elections and was stored in a laptop computer that was supposedly stolen by former Smartmatic employee Ricardo Argana. Argana, who initially surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation but was eventually released, was allegedly paid P300,000 by Limpiado, the scam’s alleged mastermind, for the Smartmatic data. The data appeared current because they included voters’ personal details, their precincts and voting history, but actually had nothing to do with the May 9 elections, Mancao said. RELATED STORY:Arrested hackers obtained voters’ data, says cybercrime center chiefSubscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address.