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The first ever all-Filipino cast on Broadway is set to debut its production, Here Lies Love, on July 20 at the Broadway Theatre. Starring Tony Award winner, Lea Salonga, the show marks its return to the stage since its running time at the Public Theater in 2013 and 2014, according to the New York Theatre Guide. The dance-pop musical follows Imelda Marcos, former First Lady of the Philippines, navigating her rise to political power alongside her husband, Ferdinand Marcos, former President of the Philippines. It details the loss of their power when the assassination of their political rival, Ninoy...

Philippine authorities have begun to evacuate thousands of people Thursday after the alert status for Taal volcano, located near capital Manila, was raised following a “magmatic intrusion.” “At 3:16 p.m., the Taal volcano’s main crater generated a short-lived dark phreatomagmatic plume 1 km-high with no accompanying volcanic earthquake,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement. LOOK: Phreatomagmatic eruption of #Taal Volcano from 3:16 PM to 3:21 PM today (July 1, 2021), as viewed from the Main Crater station. | Courtesy of @phivolcs_dost This afternoon, the agency raised Taal’s Alert Level to 3 (magmatic unrest). Stay safe...

BEIJING is using an "insidious" policy of coercion and pressure to assert its control over the South China Sea, a leading Asia analyst has said. China has long claimed sovereignty over the disputed waters, saying that the entire waterway up to the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan belongs to it. Beijing's claim is based on the U-shaped nine-dash line etched onto a map in the 1940s by a Chinese geographer. In 2016, an international court of arbitration dismissed China's territorial claims. Despite the ruling, the People's Republic has in recent years built artificial islands in the waters claimed...

SOARING tensions between China and the US in the South China Sea could easily spill over into armed conflict, according to the Philippines' defense secretary. Delfin Lorenzana said the intense rivalry between Beijing and Washington was the major security concern in the volatile region warned his country would bear the brunt of any escalation in hostilities. Mr Lorenzana told a Manilla defence forum: "If ever a shooting war happens, the Philippines — which is right smack in the middle of the conflict — will be involved whether she likes it or not. "This is the crux of the security challenge...

Aviation authorities on Friday said over 600 Chinese tourists who had entered the country on separate flights from the Chinese city of Wuhan must return home as scheduled in their package tours, giving them no time to extend their stay or to visit other parts of the Philippines. The unprecedented move to send home such a large number of tourists as soon as possible was approved by Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade on Thursday as the government tightened measures to isolate the country from the potentially deadly novel coronavirus that health experts said had originated in Wuhan.

Philippines calls for probe into alleged plot by former US envoy to oust Duterte MANILA (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) -Philippine's parliament Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has called for an investigation into an alleged plot by former US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg to oust President Rodrigo Duterte. In a report on Tuesday by the Manila Times, Goldberg allegedly left a "blueprint" for Duterte's ouster or a "recommendation to the US State Department for the removal of the Philippine President from office". The US State Department has denied there was any such plot. But Alvarez, speaker of the House of...

Tyler DurdenDecember 24, 2016 The United Nations is making a lot of enemies. Yesterday, when the Obama administration refused to veto a UN vote over Isreal settlements, one which provoked Israel to lash out at the Obama administration saying "friends don't act that way", but more importantly defied Trump who in a previous tweet urged Obama to veto the resolution, the President-elect had one message, or rather tweet, to the UN: However, Trump is not the only one to hold a prominent grudge against the international organization, which many have accused of being nothing but an ineffective, if material, waste...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called Barack Obama a "son of a w****" on Monday as he vowed not to be lectured by the US leader on human rights when they meet in Laos. The acid-tongued Duterte bristled at warnings he would face questioning by the US president over a crime war in the Philippines that has claimed more than 2,400 lives in just over two months. "You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum," Duterte told a news conference shortly before flying to Laos to...

Tyler Durden Sep 5, 2016 8:51 AM What was an embarrassing weekend for president Barack Obama, whose arrival at the G-20 summit in China was a case study in diplomatic humiliation, just turned even worse when on Monday, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte warned the US president not to question him about extrajudicial killings, or "son of a bitch I will swear at you" when the two presidents meet at a summit in Laos in the coming days. The topic of Duterte's killing spree, supposedly involving mostly criminals and drug-traffickers, without due process has raised eyebrows most recently by the United...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte railed against the United Nations on Sunday after it called for an end to the wave of killings unleashed by his war on drugs, saying he might leave the organization and invite China and others to form a new one.Two U.N. human rights experts last week urged Manila to stop the extra-judicial executions and killings that have escalated since Duterte won the presidency on a promise to wipe out drugs. About 900 suspected drug traffickers have been killed since he came to power after winning the election on May 9. Duterte on Friday denied that the...

All the women were raped so during the first assault, because they retreated, the bodies they used as a cover, one of them was the corpse of the Australian woman layminister. Tsk, this is a problem. When the bodies were brought out, they were wrapped. I looked at her face, son of a bitch, she looks like a beautiful American actress. Son of a bitch, what a waste. What came to mind was, they raped her, they lined up. I was angry because she was raped, that’s one thing. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and the Philippines have agreed on five locations for U.S. military facilities in the Philippines under a security deal agreed amid rising tensions with China, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Amy Searight said the deal was reached under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) signed last year that grants Washington increased military presence in its former colony through rotation of ships and planes for humanitarian and maritime security operations. Searight told the opening of the annual U.S.-Philippines Bilateral Strategic Dialogue in Washington that Manila was a...

Marco Rubio’s Got Two Words to Sum Up Trump’s ‘Bizarre’ Story About Pig’s Blood By Mike Miller (20 hours ago) | Elections Marco Rubio was asked on “Today” his thoughts about Donald Trump relating a tale during a campaign rally about an American general dipping bullets in pig’s blood and using them to execute Muslim prisoners. Regardless of the veracity — or lack thereof — of the story, Rubio said he hopes the campaign can get back to seriousness, vs. the “circus aspect” surrounding Trump that dominates the news every day.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States vowed on Thursday to keep up air and sea patrols in international waters after the Chinese navy repeatedly warned a U.S. surveillance plane to leave the airspace over artificial islands China is creating in the disputed South China Sea. The Chinese navy issued eight warnings to the crew of a U.S. P8-A Poseidon, the U.S. military's most advanced surveillance aircraft, when it conducted the overflights on Wednesday, according to CNN, which was aboard the U.S. aircraft. When the American pilots responded by saying the plane was flying through international airspace, a Chinese radio operator...

The U.S. is considering deploying aircraft and ships to contest Chinese claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea, U.S. officials said Wednesday. Options are on the table to fly surveillance aircraft and sail Navy ships nearby in a move that puts the U.S. directly into a contentious territorial contest in East Asia, in which, until now, the U.S. has avoided overtly taking sides. The South China Sea is the subject of numerous rival -- often messy -- territorial claims, with China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam disputing sovereignty of several island chains and nearby waters. China...

The move indicates a shift from defence to offence in the East and South China seas Sunday, 08 June, 2014, 10:32amKristine Kwok and Minnie Chan China is looking to expand its biggest installation in the Spratly Islands into a fully formed artificial island, complete with airstrip and sea port, to better project its military strength in the South China Sea, a Chinese scholar and a Chinese navy expert have said. The planned expansion on the disputed Fiery Cross Reef, if approved, would be a further indication of China's change of tack in handling long-running sovereignty disputes from a defensive stance...

CA Democrat's Alleged Arms Trafficking Scheme Linked to Islamist Rebels Joel B. Pollak 26 Mar 2014 The 137-page, FBI-sworn affidavit against California State Sen. Leland Yee, a Democrat who is also running for Secretary of State, and over two dozen other individuals reads like a crime thriller. Beyond the widely reported stories of alleged wire fraud, money laundering, corruption, and bribery, the affidavit contains tales of alleged murder-for-hire plots involving a political consultant close to Yee, as well as large international weapons trafficking operations. Indeed, while the media have fixated on the hypocrisy of a gun-control advocate--Yee sponsored legislation against...

"President Barack Obama has nominated CNN’s Anderson Cooper to be the next U.S. ambassador to the Philippines. The White House announcement on the nomination came on the heels of Cooper’s live reporting on the aftermath of super typhoon Haiyan which has devastated many cities and towns in Central Philippines. He is the host of the popular CNN news program, AC 360. His reports from Tacloban, the worst-hit among the cities in the province of Leyte, gained both praise and criticism."

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - One of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded slammed into the Philippines early Friday, and one weather expert warned, "There will be catastrophic damage." The U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center shortly before Typhoon Haiyan's landfall said its maximum sustained winds were 314 kilometers per hour (195 mph), with gusts up to 379 kilometers per hour (235 mph).

Heavy rain and howling winds are lashing the northern Philippines and Taiwan as Typhoon Usagi goes through the Luzon Strait which divides them. Villages have been evacuated, ferries suspended and flights cancelled. Meteorologists say the storm is the most powerful this year and will bring a cumulative rainfall of 1,000mm (39in) as it heads towards China. The authorities there have announced a red alert ahead of the expected arrival of the storm on Monday. The US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre said on Friday that Usagi was packing sustained winds of 240 km/h (150 mph), with gusts of up to...