After an American novelist drew ire by calling Manila the "gates of hell," a popular Brazilian author pacified Filipinos anger by telling them they knew the way to heaven.
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IMF chief avoids charges in French payout scandal
IMF chief Christine Lagarde avoided immediate charges but was named an "assisted witness" after French prosecutors grilled her for two days over a state payout to a disgraced tycoon when she was finance minister. More »
AFP News - 18 hours agoEU steps up quest to solve youth unemployment
By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European leaders have decided youth unemployment and the risk of social breakdown are among the toughest challenges they face and finding solutions will be a top priority for the coming months. In a letter released late on Friday, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said youth unemployment was one of the most pressing issues for the 27-member European Union. ... More »
Reuters - 13 hours agoHezbollah, Syrian government forces advance in border town
By Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah launched a fierce campaign to seize more rebel territory in the border town of Qusair on Saturday, sources on both sides of the conflict said. Rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad said additional tanks and artillery had been deployed around opposition-held territory in Qusair, a Syrian town close to the Lebanese border. "I've never seen a day like this since the battle started," said Malek Ammar, an activist speaking from the town by Skype. ... More »
Reuters - 5 hours agoFrench soldier stabbed while on patrol near Paris
PARIS (Reuters) - A French soldier patrolling a business neighbourhood west of Paris was stabbed in the neck on Saturday by a man who quickly fled the scene and is being sought by police, President Francois Hollande said. The soldier was patrolling in uniform with two other men as part of France's Vigipirate anti-terrorist surveillance plan when he was approached from behind around 1800 p.m. and stabbed in the neck with a knife or a box-cutter. Hollande, in the Ethiopian city of Addis Ababa, commented on the stabbing to say that the man was still on the run and police were exploring all leads. ... More »
Reuters - 5 hours agoTwo freight trains collide in Missouri, 7 injured
REUTERS - Two freight trains collided at a rail intersection in southeastern Missouri on Saturday, triggering the collapse of a highway overpass when several rail cars derailed and struck a support pillar, authorities said. None of the seven people hurt - two aboard the trains and five people who had been in cars on the two-lane overpass - suffered life-threatening injuries, Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter said in a statement. ... More »
Reuters - 6 hours agoAustrian overcomes fear of heights to aim for slackline record
FRANKFURT, May 25 - An Austrian man tip-toed along a line strung 185 meters (607 feet) off the ground in Frankfurt on Saturday, attempting to set a new world record for "highlining" despite his fear of heights. Reinhard Kleindl, 32, used only his arms to balance as he walked twice along a 30-metre-long polyester rope anchored to the two wings of Frankfurt's U-shaped skyscraper Tower 185 above hundreds of cheering supporters. ... More »
Reuters - 7 hours agoPolanski's Venus seduces on last day of Cannes festival
By Alexandria Sage CANNES (Reuters) - An avenging Venus settling the psychological and sexual score is the star of acclaimed director Roman Polanski's "La Venus a la Fourrure" ("Venus in Fur"), one of the Cannes film festival's two final movies in main competition to premiere on Saturday. The French-Polish director is one of 20 vying for the top Palme d'Or prize to be handed out at the festival on Sunday by a jury led by Steven Spielberg. Polanski won the prize in 2002 for "The Pianist", his semi-autobiographical drama about the Warsaw Ghetto, for which he also won an Oscar for best director. ... More »
Reuters - 8 hours agoNigerian army says rescues hostages taken by Islamists
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's military has freed a number of women and children held hostage by Islamist sect Boko Haram, the army said on Saturday, after its offensive in the northeast of the country overran three of the insurgents' camps. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video earlier this month that the group had kidnapped several women and children in retaliation against security forces who, it says, detained the wives and children of its members without cause. ... More »
Reuters - 11 hours agoJapan PM vows 'all possible' help for Myanmar economy
Japan's premier on Saturday pledged "all possible assistance" to kick-start Myanmar's ailing economy, hailing a major industrial zone near Yangon as a symbol of development for the impoverished nation. More »
AFP News - 12 hours agoEU steps up quest to solve youth unemployment
By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European leaders have decided youth unemployment and the risk of social breakdown are among the toughest challenges they face and finding solutions will be a top priority for the coming months. In a letter released late on Friday, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said youth unemployment was one of the most pressing issues for the 27-member European Union. ... More »
Reuters - 14 hours agoSixth night of violence in Sweden, but police say capital calmer
By Mia Shanley STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Community patrols and a beefed-up police presence helped to calm violence around Stockholm overnight on Saturday but 20 to 30 cars were still torched in poor immigrant suburbs and serious incidents were reported outside the capital for the first time. The rioting in Stockholm abated after a week of masked youths vandalising schools and police stations, setting cars alight and hurling stones at firefighters, police said. "It was much calmer - rocks weren't being thrown at police or firefighters - and that's a sign that it's calmer. ... More »
Reuters - 14 hours agoFreeport Indonesia union says mine shut but maintenance under way
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Between 35 and 40 percent of workers at Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc's Indonesian unit returned to work on Saturday to carry out maintenance work after a tunnel collapse that killed 28 people, a union official said. The resumption of work was a possible sign the firm was gearing up towards restarting operations at the world's No. 2 copper mine. Arizona-based Freeport suspended operations at the remote Papua mine on May 15, at a cost estimated at about $15 million a day in lost production. ... More »
Reuters - 14 hours agoAt least four exposed to radiation after Japan laboratory leak - agenc …
TOKYO (Reuters) - At least four people, and possibly up to 55, were exposed to radiation when radioactive material leaked during a laboratory experiment in Japan, the facility's operators said on Saturday, although authorities were not told of the leak for two days. The radioactive material also leaked outside the nuclear physics laboratory in Tokaimura, 110 km (65 miles) northeast of Tokyo, during the experiment on Thursday, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) said in a statement. The JAEA did not report the leak to the government's nuclear regulator until more than 34 hours later. ... More »
Reuters - 15 hours agoMe and My Philippines: Victor Consunji
Victor Consunji, CEO VConsunji Development Corporation, was named by Philippine Tatler in March 2005 as the country's most eligible bachelor. More »
InFlight - 15 hours agoGuest lineups for the Sunday news shows
WASHINGTON (AP) — Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows: More »
AP - 16 hours ago
- Time matters little to world’s fastest jigsaw puzzle maker
By Maria Feona Imperial, VERA Files Perhaps for breaking a world record, she has already found the answer to every jigsaw puzzle ever made. But Georgina Gil-Lacuna has one more left unresolved: the puzzle of time. And she likes it … Continue reading →
- Meet PH's poorest congressman
Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano remained the poorest congressman in the 15th Congress, a document from the House of Representatives showed.
- Carlos Celdran to Filipinos: Keep calm and ignore Dan Brown
Amid brewing uproar over Dan Brown's "gates of hell" reference to Manila, cultural activist Carlos Celdran sees the author's desrciption is only an exaggeration that should nonetheless encourage Filipinos to get their act together.
- Dan Brown calls Manila 'gates of hell'; MMDA cries foul
A top-selling novelist's new work which alludes to Manila as the "gates of hell" may be fiction, but a Cabinet official is still taking offense.
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- Island politics takes a new shape - The Inbox
By Pablo A. Tariman,VERA Files Battered by typhoons, ruled by two generations of politicians and largely influenced by the Church which has lured many a young islander to take up priesthood for many decades, Catanduanes – the 12th largest island … Continue reading →
- Aze Ong takes crochet to the next level - The Inbox
By Elizabeth Lolarga, VERA Files Photos courtesy of Aze Ong She is not that traditional craftswoman doing crochet while on a rocking chair with the television set on. She does not follow a pattern from a catalogue. Free-spirited Aze Ong … Continue reading →
- The joy of chamber music according to Albert Tiu - The Inbox
By Pablo A. Tariman, VERA Files Chamber music enthusiasts will have another special treat when Singapore-based Filipino pianist Albert Tiu teams up with Belgian clarinetist Marcel Luxen Saturday, June 1 at the Ayala Museum courtesy of the MCO Foundation. A … Continue reading →
- Time matters little to world’s fastest jigsaw puzzle maker - The Inbox
By Maria Feona Imperial, VERA Files Perhaps for breaking a world record, she has already found the answer to every jigsaw puzzle ever made. But Georgina Gil-Lacuna has one more left unresolved: the puzzle of time. And she likes it … Continue reading →
- Chinese, Taiwanese nationals with computer gadgets held - The Inbox
By Leilanie Adriano, VERA Files Laoag City, Ilocos Norte – At least 40 Chinese and 12 Taiwanese nationals who were found with several electronic and computer gadgets and accessories in a resort in Vigan were rounded up and detained for … Continue reading →
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