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Metro Manila, Philippines – The combined effects of Typhoon Inday and the enhanced southwest monsoon (habagat) have left 17 people reported dead, nine missing, and four injured in parts of the country, said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). In its 6 a.m. situational report on Saturday, July 11, the agency said the fatalities were 10 in Malapatan, Sarangani; five in Calanogas, Lanao del Sur; and two in Bukidnon. Most drowned, while others were killed from landslides. The agency also reported nine missing persons—three from Malapatan, Sarangani, and six from Calanogas, Lanao del Sur—as well as four people injured in landslides in Marinduque, Sarangani, and Lanao del Sur. The NDRRMC said 514,738 people, or 112,505 families, have been affected by the weather disturbances. Of these, around 11,200 from nearly 2,900 families are staying in 77 evacuation centers. It also listed 153 damaged houses, while over ₱16.4 million…

(Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States and Iran had agreed to continue talks despite a recent escalation of hostilities but he flatly declared that the ceasefire reached between the two sides last month was over. The United States also stepped up demands that Iran stop attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, where recent hostilities have pushed oil prices higher, a politically sensitive issue for Trump ahead of November congressional elections. Trump’s comments came on a day of relative calm at the end of a week of renewed conflict, when three Qatari and Saudi commercial tankers came under fire, prompting the U.S. to hit Iranian sites, and Iran to respond with strikes on U.S. military sites in Gulf states. No fresh attacks were reported on Friday as regional mediators sought to salvage diplomatic efforts to permanently end a war that began on February 28 with U.S.-Israeli strikes…

Metro Manila, Philippines-  Southeast Asian foreign ministers will hold their first in-person meeting with Myanmar’s foreign minister since the military seized power in 2021, marking what Philippine officials described as a significant step in the regional bloc’s renewed engagement with the crisis-hit member state. The Department of Foreign Affairs said Friday, July 10,  that Foreign Affairs Secretary and ASEAN Chair Ma. Theresa Lazaro will lead an informal meeting with Myanmar Foreign Minister U Tin Maung Swe on Sunday, July 12, in Bangkok. Thailand’s Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkow will host the meeting. The gathering follows a decision by Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders during the 48th ASEAN Summit in Cebu in May directing foreign ministers to pursue “constructive and principled engagement” with Myanmar while remaining committed to the bloc’s Five-Point Consensus. ASEAN spokesperson Dax Imperial said the meeting reflects the leaders’ recognition that Myanmar remains part of the regional…

Metro Manila, Philippines – Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro brushed aside claims by some Chinese academics that the northernmost Batanes province belongs to China, saying Manila will respond only to official positions taken by Beijing. Speaking to reporters after the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the 2016 South China Sea arbitral award on Friday, July 10,  Lazaro downplayed the remarks, describing them as views expressed by academics rather than official policy. “These are academics. Sometimes the academics really, well, they are academics,” Lazaro said. “We listen to the government, only listen to the government.” She said the Philippines remains focused on official government positions and the implementation of the arbitral ruling, rather than responding to individual academic statements. Her remarks came a day after the Department of Foreign Affairs rejected what it called “revisionist claims” by Chinese scholars over Batanes. “Flights of fancy should not be dignified with…

Metro Manila, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan fifth division has denied the request of detained Senator Jinggoy Estrada to participate in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte for lack of merit. “Allowing the accused-movant to attend the impeachment trial would virtually make him a free man with all the privileges appurtenant to his position. It would not only elevate his status to that of a special class but also make a mockery of the purposes of preventive suspension,” the anti-graft court said in a resolution dated Thursday, July 9. Estrada has been detained at the New Quezon City Jail since June over a non-bailable plunder charge, linked to supposed pocketing of more than half a billion pesos from flood control projects. The Sandiganbayan second division preventively suspended him for 90 days over a separate graft charge – an order implemented by the Senate on June 22.  The fifth division…