Day: October 11, 2024

Manila: Elite troops of the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) and their counterparts from the United States, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Australia will participate in this year’s “KAMANDAG 08-24” exercises on Oct. 15-25. In an advisory on Friday, the PMC said it would join the US Marine Corps (USMC) as primary participants in the drills, which stands for “Kaagapay ng Mga Mandirigma ng Dagat.” They will be joined by forces from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, Republic of Korea Marine Corps, United Kingdom Royal Marine Commandos, and Australian Defense Force. Some 2,351 personnel are taking part in the

Manila: The country’s title victory at the recent Asia Pacific Padel Tour (APPT) Grand Slam in Singapore hopes to inspire the youth to learn the sport. Padel is a racket sport of Mexican origin. It is a mix of tennis and squash and is usually played in doubles on an enclosed court surrounded by walls of glass and metallic mesh. Last week, Marian Capadocia, a seasoned tennis player, and Tao Yee Tan defeated Japanese Kotomi Ozawa and Indonesian Beatrice Gumulya, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5, in the Pro female category finals. To reach the championship round, the Filipinas conquered Russian pair Victoria

Ankara: The 2024 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to South Korean author Han Kang. Han was recognized for “her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life,” the Nobel committee announced on Thursday. The author was born in 1970 in South Korea, where she still resides, as the daughter of a “reputed novelist,” the committee said in a statement. It added that she was also interested in art and music. She began her career in 1993 and her “major international breakthrough came with the novel The Vegetarian,” first published in 2007, which

Brussels: A Eurostar train carrying members of the European Parliament from Strasbourg back to Brussels was evacuated Thursday after an explosion that was caused by a technical problem, which has been reportedly solved. The chartered Strasbourg-Brussels train carrying MEPs to attend the European Parliament was evacuated because of a small explosion shortly after it departed, according to Eurostar. Firefighters were reportedly deployed to the scene while the MEPs were transferred to Paris. Media reports, citing authorities, said passengers, including European Parliament officials, were evacuated from the train station because of the presence of “light smoke” coming out from the train.

Manila: After three straight months of power rate hikes, the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) on Friday announced lower electricity rates in October. In a statement, Meralco said the rate this month will decrease by PHP0.3587 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to PHP11.4295 per kWh from PHP11.7882 per kWh in September. Lower charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) have driven the reduction in electricity prices this month. ‘WESM charges decreased by PHP5.1001 per kWh following the completion last month of the collection of deferred May 2024 costs ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission,’ Meralco said. ‘Also contributing to the reduction

Malasiqui: Rate of price increases in the Ilocos Region slowed to 0.6 percent in September this year from 1.8 percent in August primarily due to sufficient food supply, according to authorities. Philippine Statistics Authority – Ilocos Region supervising statistical specialist Teresa Olarte said in a virtual forum on Friday that food and non-alcoholic beverages’ share to the downtrend in inflation in September was 80 percent, while transport contributed 20 percent. Inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages decreased from 2.8 percent in August to -0.3 percent in September. Under the food groups, the inflation rate from August to September of