Finland on Sunday officially confirmed its intention to join the NATO alliance, expressing readiness to engage in talks with Turkiye on the issues it raised on the Scandinavian country’s membership. The country’s Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy approved its application for NATO membership, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in a news conference alongside Prime Minister Sanna Marin. Niinisto said he is ready to meet with Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the issues that the Turkish president raised recently about Finland’s membership, particularly that the country was tolerating extremists and far-left terror groups, including the PKK, which is on the
The country’s daily average of Covid-19 cases went down to 160 from May 9 to 15, or 0.30 percent lower than the previous week, the Department of Health (DOH) reported Monday. Cases averaged 161 per day from May 2 to 6. In its latest case bulletin, the DOH said there are 1,118 new Covid-19 cases and 16 verified deaths in the recent week. For the same period, 14 cases were added to the tally of severe and critical infections, now down to 588 from last week’s 611. Only 15.6 percent or 438 out of the 2,812 intensive care unit (ICU)
Government employees will now be receiving a night shift differential pay, according to a new law signed by President Rodrigo Duterte. Republic Act (RA) No. 11701, signed by Duterte on April 13, grants a night shift differential pay to government employees including those in government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) working between the hours of 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. “Government employees occupying position items from Division Chief and below, or their equivalent, including those in government-owned or -controlled corporations, whether the nature of their employment is permanent, contractual, temporary, or casual, shall be paid night shift differential at a rate
Troops under the Army’s 30th Infantry Battalion (30IB) overran a communist New People’s Army (NPA) lair following an encounter in the peripheries of Barangay Pungtod, in Bacuag town, Surigao del Norte, Sunday. In a statement Monday, 30IB said soldiers were deployed to check on reports about NPA harassment of civilians in the area. “The NPAs were sowing fear among the residents in the area by forcing them to provide food,” the 30IB said. Before reaching Barangay Pungtod, soldiers were fired upon by the insurgents, resulting in a 30-minute skirmish. Citing intelligence reports, 30IB said the undetermined number of rebels belong
