MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) said that it intends to procure bivalent vaccines against COVID-19 and make them accessible to the public by the first quarter of 2023. Bivalent vaccines are a type of vaccine that targets specific variants of COVID-19, like the more transmissible Omicron. ADVERTISEMENT“As for the DOH, we are already coordinating with suppliers for the procurement of bivalent vaccines. We are targeting to have vaccines available by Q1 of 2023,” said the DOH in a written response on Saturday. “We are also coordinating with potential donors of COVID-19 bivalent vaccines,” it added.

IMO climate talks end without clear emissions-reduction goal for shippingLONDON, United Kingdom — The climate talks at the International Maritime Organization saw more countries supporting the move to decarbonize shipping by 2050, but the meeting failed to adopt a concrete target to eliminate pollution from the maritime industry. IMO, the United Nations agency that regulates global shipping, is currently revising its existing climate strategy, which aims to only halve emissions from ships by mid-century. Member states are set to meet again in July 2023 to conclude the negotiations. "While no decision was reached this week on tackling the damage shipping does to our planet, we have definitely seen important progress in this direction," said Delaine McCullough, shipping emissions policy manager with Ocean Conservancy. At the IMO climate talks, the Philippines requested for technology transfer and capacity building.

COTABATO CITY – An off duty Marine sergeant was killed in a daring daylight gun attack here Sunday, police said. Major John Vincent Bravo, Cotabato City police station 1 chief, said Marine Sgt. ADVERTISEMENTOne of them pulled a caliber .45 pistol and shot Magno three times before fleeing toward Notre Dame Avenue. Responding village guards and the police still rushed him to a hospital only about 50 meters away but physicians already declared him dead. Scene of the crime operatives found three empty shells for a .45 caliber pistol at the scene.

China's nursing homes are fighting an uphill battle to keep their elderly residents safe as a wave of Covid-19 infections sweeps the country following a relaxation of the government's zero-tolerance virus policy. Facilities are locking themselves off from the outside world with staff sleeping on site, while struggling to get their hands on drugs. Experts fear the country is ill-equipped to manage the "exit wave" of infections as it presses ahead with reopening, with millions of vulnerable elderly people still not fully vaccinated. And eldercare facilities have now been left to fend for themselves as society reopens, the manager of one privately run Beijing home said. "We've had hundreds of patients, with a number of patients coming from nursing homes and in their 90s," though there appeared to be few severe cases, one nurse at a Beijing hospital, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has approved the recommendation of the economic ministry to extend up to the end of next year lower tariff rates on rice and other food items to help combat inflation, his office said on Sunday. The modified rates approved in 2021 were due to expire at the end of this year, but an inflation rate running at 14-year highs warranted an extension of the tariff reprieve until Dec. 31, 2023. That means the tariff rate for imported rice will stay at 35%, while the import levies on corn and pork products will remain at 5%-15% and 15%-25% respectively, the press secretary's office said in a statement. The tariff for coal imports, a key fuel in power generation, will remain at zero beyond the end of next year, but will be reviewed regularly. "We are determined to steer the Philippine economy to meet the 6.0%-7.0% economic growth target for 2023," Balisacan said.

Around 5,000 cyclists participate in Hong Kong Cyclothon on Sunday, after the event's return after a four-year absence. The Cyclothon, starting from Tsim Sha Tsui, has two races of 50-kilometre and 30km ride, and launched under gusts with the lowest temperature this morning recording only 9.4 degrees. The 50km ride with over 2,800 participants started at 5.20 am from Salisbury Road near Empire Centre in East Tsim Sha Tsui heading for Ting Kau Bridge. The finishing point is located at Salisbury Road opposite the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. A rider was hit by a hoarding during his race as the wind blew some of the boards around the course.

The woman was later rescued as police arrested three men and a woman. The incident occurred at 10.23am this morning when the woman was leaving the prison and walking to the minibus stop. That was when three men suddenly approached and assaulted the woman before they abducted her onboard a blue minivan. The woman’s friends and relatives attempted to stop the attackers but in vain, while the woman continuously cried for help. According to sources, the woman left the prison after visiting her husband who was jailed for dangerous driving.

Read this in The Manila Times digital edition. CHAPRA, India: Toxic hooch has killed at least 37 people in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, where alcohol is banned, officials said on Saturday, with unconfirmed reports putting the death toll at more than 70.Selling and consuming liquor is banned in several parts of the South Asian country, driving a thriving black market for potent backstreet moonshine sometimes laced with ethanol that kills hundreds every year.Families of the victims in the latest tragedy said people from several villages drank a locally made tipple known as "Mahua" or "Desi Daru" on Monday at a wedding and other events.Many then complained of stomach pain and vision loss and started vomiting. By Thursday, more than 20 people were dead, and on Saturday about a dozen were hospitalized in critical condition. "More than two dozen people have lost lives in the last 48 hours," a police official told Agence France-Presse (AFP), saying 37 people had died so far. He was unable to confirm local media reports that 71 had died.Police have detained more than 100 people in connection with illegal manufacturing and selling liquor in the last three days, while 600 liters of hooch have been seized.Local authorities have been trumpeting their use of drones, helicopters and motorboats to crack down on the black market, but the most recent incident is just the latest in a string of similar deadly cases.

The field of world politics or sometimes called international relations seeks to understand how the people and countries of the world get along or why they do not get along. There are mysteries in analyzing countries of the world through the prism of world politics. The study of world politics is the main reason for this textbook. Today’s students of world politics must accept the fact that the environment can change suddenly. As the authors wrote in the book: “We study world politics because the bad things that happen in the world distress us and because the good things give us hope that, through understanding and effort, the world could be a better place.”Thank you to Tim Bautista for this book.

Affordable and sufficient food firstWith the Philippines facing supply shortfalls and high prices on a number of agricultural and food items, San Miguel Corp. (SMC) president Ramon S. Ang is confident his latest initiatives will help attain the goal of food self-sufficiency for the country in the medium term. It is therefore not a surprise that the Philippines was only 64th out of 113 countries in the 2021 Global Food Security index of UK-based Economist Impact and 146th out of 171 in the second quarter 2022 global food security index of Deep Knowledge Analytics. Severe food insecurity means that a person either runs out of food or goes an entire day without eating at times. The Department of Agriculture is banking on a 40 percent budget increase for next year to boost domestic production and shore up food security. Let us hope for all our sakes that the president will continue to make agriculture and food his priority, and food security, his legacy.

File photo: Communist Party of the Philippines leader Jose Maria Sison delivers his speech during the formal opening of the Philippines peace talks in Rome on Jan 19, 2017. (AP)Jose Maria Sison, who launched one of the world's longest-running Maoist insurgencies, has died at 83, the Communist Party of the Philippines announced Saturday. The US State Department designated the communist party and its armed wing foreign terrorist organisations in 2002. Since 1986, successive Philippine administrations have held peace talks with the communists through their Netherlands-based political arm, the NDF. In recent years, the government has claimed that hundreds of communist rebels have surrendered in exchange for financial assistance and livelihood opportunities.

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has sworn in Alfredo Pascual as Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) said Saturday. Pascual’s appointment as DTI chief was earlier bypassed by the Commission on Appointments (CA), and as such, he will have to be reappointed by the President, CA member Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito said. (President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. led the oathtaking of Alfredo Pascual as secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry yesterday, December 16). READ: ‘Is he God at Peza?’ Leadership row raised vs DTI chief at confirmation hearingDespite the criticisms, the President maintained confidence on Pascual as DTI chief, the OPS said. RELATED STORIESADVERTISEMENTPascual excellent choice as DTI chief, says ConcepcionDOJ affirms legality of Panga’s assumption as Peza OIC, says DTI/MUFRead Next

The government clarified that free COVID-19 nucleic acid testing has all along been provided to designated groups, including persons undergoing voluntary testing at the community testing centres and specimen collection stations. A government spokesman stressed that the relevant testing policy remains unchanged, intending to detect confirmed cases early. Persons subject to compulsory testing or undergoing voluntary testing, citizens aged 60 or above, inbound persons, staff of public hospitals and residential care homes (RCHs), and visitors to public hospitals and RCHs are still eligible for free testing, the spokesman added. The concerned persons can receive free testing by booking online or using the Testing Registration Code in the "LeaveHomeSafe" app when they register for testing. Those aged 15 or below, 65 and above, and persons with disabilities can still undergo free testing even without booking.

A family of three committed suicide by burning charcoal at their Yuen Long home on Friday suspectedly because they were frustrated for being unable to settle the daughter's debts worth over HK$600,000. The case was initially listed an attempted suicide and was changed to dead bodies found. On Tuesday, Shum attempted suicide once already by taking pills and opening the gas pipe. The parents told relatives they wished to commit suicide on Wednesday and the family couldn't be reached the next day. The cousin then visited the family's Yuen Long home in the evening, only to find the trio had killed themselves already.

Doing less and living more moreOne day, Henry Thoreau told his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson that the key to the good life was to “simplify, simplify, simplify.” Emerson replied that “just using one word might have sufficed.” These intellectual giants know something that we do not. But we have discovered that all the hustling and bustling have left out the fun of doing the very things we used to love doing. We love doing stuff, learning, building, and starting things, and we love things that challenge or enrich our lives. Today we are living more and doing less and doing things that matter. And when we do… all things simplify and become dim in the Light and Glory of His Face.