Hans Lee Villorente, a young chess player from Antique, is set to compete in the final leg of the 2023 NCFP Philippine National Amateur Chess Championships to be held on September 9 and 10 via Tornelo and Zoom platforms. Hans Lee Villorente (right) and his father Jerome during a training session. Villorente started learning the rudiments of chess at age four from his father Jerome and has played in numerous chess tournaments, including the 2022 Batang Pinoy Games where he won the silver medal in the standard chess event. Villorente said he has learned a lot in the 2nd AQ Prime FIDE Standard Chess Open Tournament and will apply his learning in his next tournament. The young woodpusher also thanked his parents for their endless support to his chess journey.

The 14-year-old skateboarder Dennis Gu defeated rivals and earned championship honors at the X Games China (youth category) last week, creating a historical record for Hong Kong skateboarders. Gu earned a high score of 36.63 during his run at the Shanghai competition finals last Friday and became the first Hong Kong athlete to earn the gold medal in the youth category. The newly crowned champion said Hong Kong has many excellent X Games athletes and coaches, but there was insufficient support and lack of training grounds and facilities. He hoped that by earning a championship for Hong Kong, he could bring positive changes to the city. Gu also thanked his family and the Skateboarding Association of Hong Kong, China, for their support.

The "government-wide mobilization" level was activated for the first time on Saturday for authorities to coordinate emergency operations and provide support in several districts after Typhoon Saola skirted Hong Kong. The measure was announced in the 2022 policy address to enhance the mobilization protocol by introducing a "government-wide mobilization" level. The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau approved by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu yesterday to activate the level and mobilized over 100 civil servants from different departments to perform relief work following the passage of Saola. Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak Mei-kuen led some civil servants to Sha Tau Kok to help the elderly in temporary shelters return to their residential care homes. Others from the quick response unit were deployed to Tung Chung Heung to clean up garbage, fallen branches, and leaves on roads.

OVER the course of the FIBA World Cup, Filipino boxing legend Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao has met several international delegations to his home. Their meeting was shown in a reel by Filipino American social media influencer Chucky Anthony on Sunday. The Minnesota Timberwolves star said it's "great" to meet a legend like Pacquiao. In photos shared by actress Ruffa Gutierrez on her Instagram page on Friday, Golden State Warriors teammates Kevon Looney and Klay Thompson visited Pacquiao. Photos of Pacquiao and the Italian coach were shown at the Pacquiao's Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Facebook page on Thursday.

Tenugui hand towels have long been a common place feature of daily life in Japan. Originally for wiping off perspiration or drying hands, over the years these thin cotton towels turned out to be very handy for all sorts of essential tasks, from tying up the hair to wrapping shopping parcels. A recent trend is to print tenugui in fashionable designs for interior decoration and to make stylish face masks. We visit an old store in Tokyo to see how they create images with beautiful gradations using the traditional Chusen dyeing technique, with each tenugui being crafted individually by hand. VIDEO BY MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF JAPAN

WHATEVER happens after the Philippines' uneventful campaign in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes believes the national team has a very good, young core that they could lean on for the coming years. Dwight Ramos and AJ Edu FIBA PHOTOSReyes cited Dwight Ramos, high-flying wingman Jamie Malonzo and Rhenz Abando, and the young "Twin Towers" Kai Sotto and AJ Edu as the future of Gilas, which on Saturday, will close its FIBA World Cup classification round match against longtime Asian rival China. So I think, there's a nucleus of guys here that has a bright future ahead," said Reyes, who as in the recent past, has come under fire once more from passionate Filipino cage fans following Gilas' 0-4 record in the World Cup. Utah Jazz superstar Jordan Clarkson is undoubtedly the leader of Gilas with his team-best 24 points per contest average in the world basketball showpiece. "The future with these guys, the core that we have right now, that's a very young core," Reyes pointed out.

(UPDATE) THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will mobilize its "price monitors" to ensure that the mandated price caps on rice are enforced when they take effect on Tuesday, Malacañang said Saturday. Rice stand along Nepa Q-Mart in Quezon city on August 23 2023.the price of the regular rice goes high as 60php per kilo. President Marcos approved on August 31 the recommendation of the DA and DTI for the mandated price ceilings on regular and well-milled rice. Under EO 39, the mandated price for regular milled rice is P41 per kilogram, while the price cap for well-milled rice is P45 per kilogram. However, Salceda also warned that price ceilings can have negative second-round effects, such as shortages, which could be prevented by putting the price ceiling no higher than the equilibrium price.

Palace announces new appointmentsMANILA, Philippines — Malacañang announced new appointments in various agencies yesterday, including National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon and former finance undersecretary Romeo Bernardo, who have been named members of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Monetary Board. The new appointees were revealed in a Facebook post by the Presidential Communications Office. Marcos has also appointed Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) executive minister Eduardo Manalo as special envoy for overseas Filipinos concerns, a post he also held during the time of Duterte. The INC endorsed Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte in last year’s elections. Also appointed were Catherine Miranda and Jonathan Leybag (local government operations officers VIII); Cynthia Carrion (Philippine Retirement Authority board of trustees member); Mark Bocobo (national government representative to the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority board of directors); Reginald Rapanan (Office for Transport Security director IV); Felix Castro Jr. (presidential assistant for Marawi rehabilitation with the rank of assistant secretary) and Wilson Buerano Jr. (Philippine Information Agency deputy director-general).

Philippines welcomes first Chinese e-visa holderShe and her female toddler were onboard a China Eastern flight from Shanghai and were welcomed by BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco and Assistant Secretary Henry Bensurto Jr. of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)’s Office of the Consular Affairs, the BI said. MANILA, Philippines — A Chinese mother who was given the first electronic visa or e-visa from the Philippine government arrived in the country, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported yesterday. She and her female toddler were onboard a China Eastern flight from Shanghai and were welcomed by BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco and Assistant Secretary Henry Bensurto Jr. of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)’s Office of the Consular Affairs, the BI said. The system enabled the BI to “streamline its procedures and expedite the process through less paper-based documents,” it added. The BI said it hopes the e-visa system would help attract more foreigners amid relaxing of travel restrictions enforced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Typhoon Saola made landfall in southern China before dawn Saturday after nearly 900,000 people were moved to safety and parts of the coastal mainland suspended business, transport and classes. It was weakening as it moved in a southwesterly direction along the Guangdong coast at a speed of around 17 kilometers (10 miles) per hour. On Friday, 780,000 people in Guangdong were moved away from areas at risk as did 100,000 others in neighboring Fujian province. Saola passed just south of Taiwan on Wednesday before turning toward mainland China, with its outer bands hitting the island’s southern cities with torrential rain. The typhoon also lashed the Philippines earlier this week, displacing tens of thousands of people in the northern part of the islands because of flooding.

Ships are docked offshore in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. (Reuters)Australian police will stay in the Solomon Islands to provide security for a regional sporting event in November and national elections in 2024, the Pacific Island nation's government has said. China, which has also stepped up its policing cooperation with the Solomon Islands, donated and constructed the Pacific Games stadiums. The island nation made a formal request to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Aug. 4 to extend the Australian police presence until June 2024 to cover the election, the statement said. Discussions with Australia, a major aid partner with a long-standing security relationship with the Solomon Islands, would continue on a "comprehensive security partnership beyond June 2024", the statement added.

Singapore, Singapore — Singapore’s former deputy prime minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was elected president Friday, earning a landslide victory in the city-state’s first contested vote for the largely ceremonial position in more than a decade. The city-state’s government is run by the prime minister, currently Lee Hsien Loong of the PAP, which has ruled Singapore continuously since 1959. “Singaporeans have chosen Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam to be our next President by a decisive margin,” Lee said in a statement. The United States sent a congratulatory message to Shanmugaratnam that pointed to “mutual respect, shared values and common interests” with Singapore. “The presidential election is increasingly being treated as a general election,” said Mustafa Izzuddin, a political analyst with consultancy Solaris Strategies Singapore.

Johannesburg, South Africa — Police in South Africa on Friday arrested more than 100 undocumented foreigners living in a house east of Johannesburg, some as young as 10 years old. ADVERTISEMENTPolice arrested them following a tip-off and invited immigration officers along, home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi told local television stations. The home affairs ministry said it had found only four passports in the house with no South African visas. Motsoaledi said that some of the foreigners were “clearly victims”, adding that a trafficking syndicate could be involved. South Africa — the continent’s most industrialised country — is buckling under a wave of illegal migration triggered by the economic woes in its neighbours.

Several solar panels were blown away in Cheung Sha Wan this morning, while the strong winds also tore down some canopies across the city; luckily, no injuries were reported. The solar panels, measuring a few meters in length and width, were torn down by the gale force wind during Typhoon Saola at around 9 am at Hau Lim House in Lei Cheng Uk Estate. At around 10 am, an outdoor modular house was blown away and landed on Hau Wo Street in Kennedy Town. A van parked nearby was hit with the windshield shattered, no casualties were reported. Meanwhile, a 20-meter by 4-meter fence at the Kowloon West Regional Headquarters collapsed when the T10 signal was in force.

KYIV — Ukrainian children began their second straight school year in wartime on Friday, some heading to new classrooms underground, others bracing to run to bomb shelters to take cover from Russian missiles and drones. Many, at home and abroad, stayed online for a fourth year, their education ravaged by Russia’s invasion and COVID-19. They fled the southern city of Kherson for Thessaloniki in April 2022, but her son Oleksii felt lost in a Greek school. She protested when her son said he wanted to join the Ukrainian military like his father, who is fighting in the east. “My children will attend online classes, although our school offered a bus to transfer children to the subway.”RELATED STORIESYour subscription could not be saved.