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CYBER20h agoF.B.I. Disrupts Pyongyang Revenue Stream: North Koreans in U.S. Tech JobsNYT US
POLITICS21h agoRussia arrests Japanese reporter for alleged espionageSuspect was arrested on Russia's far-eastern Sakhalin Island before being transferred to Moscow, says Russia's FSB.Al Jazeera [en]
SCI & TECH21h agoScientists Shocked to Discover ‘D-rex’, a Giant Fungus from Chinese Forests Dating Back 65 Million YearsDeep in the forests of southwest China, scientists have discovered a ‘fungal giant’ that challenges our understanding of how large fungi can become. The newly described species, Dianjunus rex, or “King of Dian,” named for an ancient Chinese kingdom, produces vertical fruiting bodies up to 20 inches high and weighing up to 5 pounds. Scientists […] The post Scientists Shocked to Discover ‘D-rex’, a Giant Fungus from Chinese Forests Dating Back 65 Million Years appeared first on Good News Network.GNN Science
BUSINESS21h agoPH dollar deficit seen narrowing as exports gainMANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is expected to post narrower dollar deficits this year and in 2027 than previously forecast, as stronger exports fueled by the global artificial intelligence boom bolster foreign exchange inflows, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said. The central bank projected a balance of payments (BoP) deficit of $9.2 billion by year-end, […]... Keep on reading: PH dollar deficit seen narrowing as exports gaininquirer · philippines
POLITICS21h agoRussia Detains Japanese Journalist for Alleged EspionageThe main security service said it had detained a reporter for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper in Russia’s far east, where he had been reporting on military recruitment.NYT World
WORLD22h agoChina sentences three people to death for running Myanmar scam centresDozens more were imprisoned for their involvement in telecommunications fraud, trafficking, prostitution and murder.Al Jazeera [en]
POLITICS22h agoTrump: China, Russia ‘have too much to lose’ to help IranPresident Trump late Monday accused China and Russia of having “too much to lose” to enable Iran in the ongoing conflict. “I see so many comments from the Radical Left Morons and Lunatics that China and Russia are helping the ‘wonderful’ Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If they are, it’s at…The Hill
POLITICS22h ago'We'll Keep Waiting': Afghanistan's Dead-End Road To ChinaSatellite imagery sourced by RFE/RL confirms Taliban claims they have completed a road that leads up to China's remote border with Afghanistan. However there is no indication Beijing intends to open the militarized boundary any time soon.RFE/RL
WORLD22h agoWho is Yuki Imai, the Japanese journalist Russia has arrested on espionage charges?A Japanese journalist has been detained on suspicion of espionage on Sakhalin, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said. The agency identified him as a Japanese national and a correspondent for the newspaper Hokkaido Shimbun but did not release his name. He was detained in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk shortly before he planned to leave Russia and taken to Moscow.Meduza [en]
BUSINESS22h ago1st LD-Writethru: China approves Visa subsidiary application to establish bank card clearing institutionBEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank announced on Tuesday that it has approved an application from a subsidiary of U.S. payment giant Visa to set up a bank card clearing institution in China, a step forward in the country's financial opening up.thestar_my · malaysia
POLITICS23h agoHow Maroš Šefčovič talked his way to a China trade breakthroughEurope’s trade chief has won a first concession from Beijing. Now he must convince EU leaders that dialogue can deliver more.Politico Europe
BUSINESS23h agoSSS orders 5 employers: Settle over P3M in unpaid contributionsAT LEAST five business employers in Pasay City were given 15 days by the Social Security System (SSS) to settle contribution delinquencies amounting to P3.19 million or face criminal charges, its top official revealed on Tuesday. SSS President and CEO Robert Joseph de Claro said the non-payment of members’ contributions by some firms in the city was discovered late last week by a RACE (Run After Contribution Evaders) operation. The five erring employers accumulated P1.14 million in unpaid contributions and P2.05 million in penalties, all cited for non-remittance of monthly contributions under Republic Act 11199, or the Social Security Act of 2018, de Claro said. He said that among the violators, a restaurant establishment recorded the highest contribution delinquency at P2.25 million, broken down into over P739,000 in unpaid workers' contributions and P1.51 million in penalties. The SSS chief stressed that under RA 11199, employers must report on their employees to SSS and remit their corresponding monthly contributions. He reiterated that the concerned employers who received the written notices were given 15 days to coordinate with their respective servicing SSS branch office and settle their contribution delinquencies. “Should they fail to act, SSS will take legal action against erring employers by filing criminal cases against them for violating RA 11199,” the SSS chief executive warned. The RACE campaign seeks to enforce compliance with employer obligations under the SSS Law to ensure social security coverage of members. De Claro noted that delinquent employers operate across various business sectors, including management consultancy, restaurant, real estate, carwash, and gambling and betting activities. He said the operation in Pasay formed part of a simultaneous RACE initiative in the National Capital Region (NCR), in which SSS served notices to 419 delinquent employers with contribution delinquencies amounting to more than P169 million. SSS Senior Vice President for NCR Operations Group Benjamin Dolindo Jr. emphasized that employers must remit their workers' contributions religiously to avoid depriving them of SSS benefits. If contribution records are not updated, members will not be entitled to claim SSS benefits or apply for loan programs, Dolindo said. "For example, an SSS member was hospitalized for 10 days due to an illness. Suppose their employer is not remitting the SSS contributions, and in that case, they will be unqualified to receive sickness benefits from SSS because one of the requirements of the said benefit is to have recency in contributions," he explained.manilatimes · philippines
POLITICS23h agoMarcos’ impeachment plot backfiresPRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. undertook the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte to block the shoo-in for the presidency in 2028, so he could get somebody to his liking. If that was the strategy, the latest evidence suggests it has backfired — not because Sara has been untouched by controversy, but because the proceedings have transformed her from an embattled vice president into the country’s most visible opposition figure. The persecution against her has only strengthened her charisma. That fits with philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous aphorism: “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” The more the administration has tried to claim Sara Duterte’s guilt, on trial, the more the public has placed Marcos Jr. and his government on trial. The impeachment was intended to test Sara’s fitness for office. Instead, it has intensified doubts about the administration’s motives, performance and morality. Indeed, Marcos’ minions have become so desperate as to even accuse Sara, as Philippine Star columnist and former Estrada go-fer Ronaldo Llamas did, of being a “traitor” for being linked to a company that was exporting products to China. Does this idiot think that tycoons like Lucio Tan, the Sys of SM, Ramon Ang of San Miguel, the Gokongweis and Carlos Chan, who all have operations in China, as well as the 1,200 local companies that exported to China last year the equivalent of 11 percent of the country’s total exports, are traitors? The other day, the prosecution presented a witness who claimed Sara had billions in unexplained wealth. His basis — “documents” that the prosecution supplied him that he pored over in only three weeks, without even trying to get Sara and her husband’s explanation — crucial in one-topic documents like tax returns and AMLC reports. While he claims to be a forensic accountant, he is not: he is not certified by the Philippine Institute of Certified Forensic Accountants. He is an anti-Sara Yellow activist, having been with groups that have been demanding her impeachment since last year, and had even met with Leni Robredo late last year, for reasons he did not disclose. The strongest evidence that Marcos’ impeachment project has backfired is the latest Pulse Asia presidential preference survey conducted from Sept. 17 to 24, 2026. Sara leads every hypothetical presidential contest presented. She receives 52 percent in a three-way race against former vice president Leni Robredo and Sen. Raffy Tulfo, 57 percent against Sen. Erwin Tulfo and Sen. Risa Hontiveros, 57 percent against Erwin Tulfo and Sen. Bam Aquino, 54 percent against Robredo in a two-way race, and 60 percent against Hontiveros. Message The survey results offer a clear political message: The impeachment has not produced the collapse in Sara’s support that the Marcos camp wanted. The most politically significant result is the 52 percent-30 percent-14 percent in a three-way contest involving Sara, Robredo and Raffy Tulfo. Sara leads Robredo by 22 percentage points and Tulfo by 38 points. More important, however, is the consistency of her advantage. Sara does not lead in only one favorable matchup. She remains ahead when the names are changed, when the field expands and when she faces a rival one-on-one. In the two-way contest against Robredo, Sara leads 54 percent to 40 percent. Against Hontiveros, she leads 60 percent to 23 percent. That consistency points to a durable political base that has survived the impeachment campaign and has even been strengthened by it. Contrast The latest presidential preference figures also become more meaningful when placed beside earlier 2026 data. A Pulse Asia survey conducted from Feb. 27 to March 2 presented Sara in a six-way field and gave her 43 percent, followed by Leni Robredo at 27 percent and Raffy Tulfo at 19 percent. In separate head-to-head matchups, Sara led Robredo 51 percent to 43 percent, while she and Tulfo were tied at 46 percent each. The more recent September survey the shows Sara at 52 percent in the three-way Duterte-Robredo-Tulfo contest, compared with 43 percent in the earlier six-way field. That represents a nine-point increase. The political direction is striking. In March, Sara was either slightly leading or tied with her principal potential rivals. By September, she was leading decisively in every candidate set shown. Lead Her lead over Robredo also widened. In the February-March survey, Sara led Robredo by eight points, 51 percent to 43 percent. In the September two-way contest, her advantage was 14 points, 54 percent to 40 percent. These figures show that the impeachment has not damaged Sara’s presidential prospects. Her position has even become more secure. Sara’s Mindanao base is the foundation of her national lead. A 94-percent preference rating in the region is not merely a favorable result; it is an extraordinary territorial base. She also performed strongly among all socioeconomic groups, receiving 47 percent among Class ABC respondents, 50 percent among Class D and 70 percent among Class E. It is her huge Mindanao base, and her corps of articulate believers in social media, which makes implausible the scenario claimed by Marcos minions that, as in the case of candidate Jojo Binay in 2016, the constant barrage of black propaganda will reduce her votes by election day. But Binay never had a solid base of support as Sara does with her Mindanao and social media followers. As important is the fact that Binay’s support eroded not just because of the Yellows’ black propaganda: it was because a charismatic figure, Rodrigo Duterte, emerged to claim his base. The Marcos minions’ strategy was to bribe senator-judges enough so that there would be the required votes to convict Sara. This indeed worked in late chief justice Renato Corona’s impeachment trial, with President Benigno Aquino III giving the senator judges P100 to P150 million each in pork-barrel funding through the so-called Disbursement Acceleration Plan, getting 20 senators to vote Corona guilty. But Marcos has run out of time for this strategy because the first impeachment move was delayed for a year as the case that there cannot be more than one such move per year was brought before the Supreme Court. Hence, the Marcos minions had to wait a year to file another impeachment case. Penultimate As a result, the Marcos-controlled House of Representatives got to undertake the impeachment process only this year, which is the penultimate year for Marcos’ presidency. This is in contrast to Corona’s impeachment which was undertaken at the middle of the Aquino presidency in 2012, and when his popularity was at its height. This means that senators hoping to profit from Marcos’ largesse if they convict Sara will have only a very limited time, one fiscal year, to do so. Worse for them, the administration has been hit by the worst scandal ever in our history, the ghost flood control corruption scandal, which has, with a more vigilant citizenry, made pork-barrel type of bribes difficult. Because of that scandal, senators who would have been easily bribed during Marcos’ first years would be hesitant to follow his orders: Why should they when he is now a lame duck? The Marcos minions also made a huge mistake in calling Sara’s brother Sebastian “Baste” to the witness stand. Baste proved to have such gravitas that he could replace Sara if she is found guilty and banned from running for the presidency in 2028. The winning Duterte brand could be easily be transferred to Baste. Think about it this way: If Sara accompanies Baste in each and every rally, and if his campaign materials all show his sister raising his hand, voters would not hesitate to check the “Duterte” box in the ballot. Filipinos after all did not vote Benigno Aquino III because they believed that he was qualified just because he carried the Aquino brand. It will be the same phenomenon if it is Baste who runs for the presidency. Marcos and his minions certainly deserve such karmic twist: They spent billions of pesos and expended so much energy to block Sara from being president, yet in the end, it is her brother who will run and win the presidency. Marcos’ minions have actually been on a very wrong tack. About a year and a half to the May 2028 elections, Robredo is still stuck in Naga City in political limbo. No way for Erwin to be anything but senator in 2028. With the elections on the horizon, they find themselves with no viable candidate. Facebook: Rigoberto Tiglao X: @bobitiglao Website: www.rigobertotiglao.commanilatimes · philippines
BUSINESS23h agoEurope's alternative to Trump's China trade warEurope is testing a new response to China Shock 2.0, betting that it can confront Beijing's export juggernaut without resorting to President Trump's tariff-heavy approach.Why it matters: More of the world is beginning to confront the threat that China's industrial overcapacity poses to their industries. But protecting individual sectors will not solve the bigger problem: China's factories are cranking out far more than its own economy can absorb.Driving the news: The European Union and China struck a preliminary deal on Friday to sharply limit Chinese hybrid vehicle exports to Europe.The EU plAxios
WORLD1d agoZverev celebrates year-end No. 1 ranking with Shanghai Masters winAlexander Zverev celebrated securing the year-end world No. 1 ranking with a hard-fought victory over Alexander Bublik to reach the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday. The post Zverev celebrates year-end No. 1 ranking with Shanghai Masters win appeared first on Vanguard News.Vanguard Nigeria
POLITICS1d agoIs this the best time for US strategists to push for abandoning ambiguity on Taiwan?For nearly five decades, the United States’ Taiwan policy has centred on strategic ambiguity by not declaring whether it would intervene militarily in a potential Taiwan conflict. This policy – designed to deter Beijing from using force while preventing Taipei from formally declaring independence – is being challenged by realist US strategists amid a broader debate over America’s role in the world, growing constraints on US military might and a shifting regional balance of power driven by...South China Morning Post
SCI & TECH1d agoKunashir Island's Growth Narrows Gap to HokkaidoThe coastline of Kunashir Island is physically shifting. Over the last 50 years, the southern tip of the Veslovsky Peninsula has extended approximately 380 meters further into the sea, driven by marine currents that continuously deposit sand and expand the landmass. This growth has narrowed the gap between the easternmost point of Kunashir and the Japanese island of Hokkaido to roughly 16 kilometers. This accretion of sand has fundamentally altered the hydrography of the Izmeny Strait. As the land pushed outward, vast sandbars formed in the surrounding waters, creating shallow zones where depths in certain areas have dropped to just a few meters. These physical constraints have effectively closed the route to large-tonnage vessels, limiting navigation to small craft. While the gradual accumulation of sediment reshapes the peninsula, more abrupt volcanic activity is expanding other parts of the Kuril chain. On Raikoke Island, a 2019 eruption increased the total land area by approximately 15%, while a 2009 eruption on Matua Island added between 2% and 3% to its territory. On Iturup, the interaction of sea waves and volcanic debris has resulted in the formation of new coastal ridges.pravda_ru · russia
CONFLICT1d agoPhilippines rejects China’s calls for direct contact amid ‘miscalculation’ warningsThe Philippine military has rejected calls to restore direct communication channels with its Chinese counterpart, despite warnings from Beijing that their absence risks “miscalculation” during confrontations and could further escalate tensions in the South China Sea. On Tuesday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said it would not communicate with its Chinese counterpart in advance of its maritime operations, arguing that such channels were ineffective without mutual respect for international...South China Morning Post
DISASTER1d agoDeadly wildfires leave Borneo wildlife short of waterWildfires in West Kalimantan are leaving wildlife struggling to find fresh water as forest pools dry up and ponds turn brackish, pushing animals toward villages and coastal areas.eco_business · singapore
BUSINESS1d agoCameco (TSX:CCO) and the Korea Nuclear Framework: Why It Matters Now - Kalkine MediaCameco acknowledged a non-binding US–Korea framework to fund Westinghouse reactors in the United States. Here is what it covers.kalkinemedia · australia
POLITICS1d agoTaiwanese finance minister plans to join Apec meeting in Hong KongTaiwanese Finance Minister Chuang Tsui-yun plans to attend the Apec meeting in Hong Kong, where the Chinese finance chief is due to deliver the opening speech. Chuang’s ministry told Reuters on Tuesday she would attend the meeting “as is customary”. Hong Kong is hosting the Apec Finance Ministers’ Meeting on October 20 and 21, while the Economic Leaders’ Summit will take place in Shenzhen next month. China is the summit host for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum this year. In response...South China Morning Post
MILITARY1d agoChina is working on a submarine tank that can operate underwater for 2 hoursA Chinese research team has proposed four types of equipment that could rapidly switch between wartime environments, including operating deep under water for long periods, as multi-domain combat is set to develop in the coming decades. The “heterogeneous” equipment is designed to exceed conventional armoured vehicles by rapidly reconfiguring physical modules and functions within seconds for missions across land, water, air and electromagnetic contest grounds, according to the scientists. The...South China Morning Post
POLITICS1d agoHong Kong renews TV station licences with push for ‘telling good stories’Hong Kong authorities have renewed the free-to-air licences of the city’s television broadcasters with conditions to boost local production of English-language national education shows and programmes aimed at “telling good stories” of the city. The Executive Council, the city’s top decision-making body, approved the renewal on Tuesday, extending 12-year licences to all three broadcasters. These licences will run until 2039 for HK Television Entertainment (HKTVE) and TVB, and until 2040 for...South China Morning Post
WORLD1d agoChina sentences 3 more Myanmar crime bosses to death in scam centre crackdownCourts in China have sentenced three key figures of a notorious Myanmar crime syndicate to death for operating large-scale cross-border telecoms fraud networks and causing the deaths of four Chinese nationals. The Quanzhou Intermediate People’s Court and the Nanan City People’s Court in southeastern Fujian province handed down the rulings against syndicate head Wei Huairen, his nephew Chen Dawei and accomplice Liao Jingfang on Tuesday, following a trial held in May, state broadcaster CCTV...South China Morning Post