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MANILA, Philippines — A fire hit a residential area in Mandaluyong on Friday night, according to the Bureau of Fire Protection-National Capital Region (BFP-NCR). In

a situational report, BFP-NCR said that the fire occurred in a residential area at Victoria Street, Pleasant Hills, in Mandaluyong City around 6 p.m. RE

AD: ICU patient killed, 17 others

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SHARED.

Gymnast John Ivan Cruz of the Philippines ties for the men's vault gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games on December 12, 2025.

CHONBURI, Thailand – One door may have closed for John Ivan Cruz, but he made sure to make the most of the opportunity when another one opened. Th

e gymnast from Manila won a gold medal for the second straight Southeast Asian Games as he shared the top prize in the men’s vault at the Thammasat University Rangsit Campus in Pathum Thani on Friday, December 12. Cruz

redeemed himself after he failed to reach the final of the men’s floor exercise, the event where he won his first SEA Games gold in the 2023 Cambodia edition. Althou

gh Cruz finished fifth in the floor exercise qualifications, he failed to make it to the final as only one gymnast per country qualified, with Justine Ace de Leon advancing as the second-best qualifier. “My ma

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MANILA, Philippines – Several groups, including priests, filed a plunder complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte with the Office of the Ombudsman on Friday, December 12. Th

e complaint is hinged on Duterte’s alleged misuse of her combined P612.5-million confidential funds under the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education in 2022 and 2023. Upgr

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PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur – A fire gutted an old commercial building that stored flammable items along Zaragoza Street in Barangay Zone 4 of Zamboanga City on Thursday evening, raising issues about the safety practices among business establishments.

The fire, which broke out around 6 p.m., was contained after firefighters deployed Aqueous Film-Forming Foam

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Water, in partnership with MSpectrum, has completed the physical installation of an additional 3.8 megawatts-peak (MWp) of solar capacity across 10 key facilities.

This milestone reinforces the company’s commitment to sustainability and its journey toward integrating renewable energy into its operations.

The installation utilizes a Grid-Tied system, with the generated solar

A large fire broke out on a Turkish car ferry anchored at the Ukrainian port city of Odesa after it was hit in a strike on Friday.

The company that operates the Cenk T confirmed the attack occurred at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) shortly after it docked at the Chornomorsk port.

Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has blamed the strike on Russia, which has not commented.

The attack came hours after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a limited ceasefire for energy facilities and ports could be beneficial.

Russia has resisted all calls for a ceasefire.

Moscow has threatened to cut "Ukraine off from the sea" in response to Kyiv's maritime drone attacks on Russia's "shadow fleet" tankers thought to be used to export oil - and a main source for funding the ongoing war.

Cenk Denizcilik, the company that owns the cargo ship that operates on the Karasu-Odesa route across the Black Sea, said on Friday that it had been carrying "essential food supplies" when it was hit shortly after anchoring at the Ukrainian port city.

Emergency response measures were immediately activated with the vessel's crew, port fire brigade and assisting tugboats after a fire broke out on the forward section of the ship, the company's statement added.

"At this stage, there are no reports of casualties or injuries among the crew," it said.

Video footage of the attack's aftermath, which was shared on Zelensky's Telegram account, shows crews attempting to extinguish a large blaze on the vessel.

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved government employees’ Service Recognition Incentive (SRI) for 2025 to give thanks for their hard work and loyalty. Base

d on Administrative Order No. 40 dated December 11, a one-time SRI of up to P20,000 will be granted to personnel in the Executive branch, including civilian employees of national

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ONE-TWO.

Swimmers Kayla Sanchez and Heather White of the Philippines win the gold and silver medals, respectively, in the women's 100m freestyle in the Southeast Asian Games on December 12, 2025.

CHONBURI, Thailand – Swimmer Kayla Sanchez stood on top of the podium for the second time, becoming the first Filipino to win multiple gold medals in the 2025 Southeast Asian Games. Th

e 24-year-old accomplished the feat after leading a one-two finish for the Philippines in the women’s 100m freestyle at the SAT Swimming Pool in Bangkok on Friday, December 12. A me

mber of the gold-winning squad in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, Sanchez clocked 54.82 seconds to beat out teammate Heather White, who came away with the silver with a time of 55.36 seconds. The tw

o bested six-time champion Quah Ting Wen of Singapore, who registered 55.60 seconds and settled for bronze. The wo

US President Donald Trump has said the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia will halt fighting "effective this evening".

Trump made the announcement after telephone conversations with the two leaders following deadly border clashes in recent days which have left at least 20 people dead and half a million displaced.

Neither Thai PM Anutin Charnvirakul nor his Cambodian counterpart Hun Manet has commented.

However, after his call with Trump earlier, Charnvirakul told a news conference that a ceasefire would only come about if "Cambodia will cease fire, withdraw its troops, remove all landmines it has planted".

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said both leaders "have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me.

"Both Countries are ready for PEACE and continued Trade with the United States of America."

The long-standing border dispute escalated on 24 July, as Cambodia launched a barrage of rockets into Thailand, which responded with air strikes.

After days of intense fighting which left dozens dead, the neighbouring South East Asian countries agreed to an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" brokered by Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

This week, violence expanded into at least six provinces in north-eastern Thailand and five provinces in Cambodia's north and north-west.

The two countries have been been contesting territorial sovereignty along their 800km land border for more than a century, since the borders of the two nations were drawn after the French occupation of Cambodia.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes and his wife had been under Global Magnitsky sanctions after conviction of ex-president

The US Department of the Treasury has lifted sanctions imposed on the Brazilian supreme court justice who oversaw the conviction of the former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes had been under Global Magnitsky sanctions, which target individuals accused of human rights abuses, since July.

His wife Viviane Barci de Moraes – who was added the sanctions list in September – was also removed from the register on Friday. The

move had been repeatedly requested by Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in negotiations with Donald Trump to roll back the 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports. The dec

ision is a major setback for Bolsonaro and his congressman son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who left his post in Brazil to lobby in Washington for punitive measures over what he called a “persecution” of his father. Trump impos

ed the punishment shortly after imposing tariffs on Brazil, justifying it as a response to what he claimed was a “witch-hunt” against Bolsonaro. Eduardo Bolsona

ro has alleged that he influenced Trump’s decision. Moraes presided o

ver the trial hearing in September when Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting to overturn Brazil’s 2022 election. Days later, the Mag

nitsky sanctions were extended to the justice’s wife. Bolsonaro’s supporter

More images from the estate of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

The Democrats said the 19 images came from a tranche of 95,000 photos the committee received from Epstein's estate as part of its ongoing investigation.

US President Donald Trump, former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon are among the high-profile figures featured in the photos.

The images, many of which have been seen before, do not imply wrongdoing.

It comes one week before a deadline for the US justice department to release all Epstein-related documents, which are separate from the images shared by the committee on Friday.

The individuals featured in the images have not yet commented.

Many of them have previously denied wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

In a statement, Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said: "It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends."

"These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world.

We will not rest until the American people get the truth.

Citizens told to stay at home while ELN guerrillas carry out exercises in response to US president’s cocaine warning Co

lombia’s ELN guerrilla group has ordered civilians in areas under its control to stay home for three days starting on Sunday, while it carries out military exercises in response to “intervention” threats from Donald Trump. The US p

resident said earlier this month that any country that produces cocaine and sells it to the United States was “subject to attack”. The ELN, the

oldest surviving guerrilla group in the Americas, controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia and vowed on Friday to fight for the country’s “defense” in the face of Trump’s “threats of imperialist intervention”. It urged civilians in ar

eas it controls to stay indoors for 72 hours starting at 6am on Sunday. “It is necessary for civ

ilians not to mix with fighters to avoid accidents,” the group said in a statement. Tensions in the surrounding

region have grown in recent months, as the US has ramped up pressure on Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, putting a $50m bounty on his head and ordering a massive military buildup in the Caribbean – as well as a series of deadly airstrikes on alleged narco vessels, killing more than 80 people. With a force of about 5,800 comba

tants, the ELN – the Spanish acronym for the National Liberation Army – is present in more than a fifth of Colombia’s 1,100-plus municipalities, according to the Insight Crime research center. It has also built a growing presence in

neighbouring Venezuela, where it is present in eight of the country’s 24 states, expanding its finances, territorial control and political influence, the thinktank found in a recent report. “The growth of the ELN and the survival o

f the Maduro regime are now connected. So long as Maduro remains in power, the fav