DEPARTMENT of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Alfredo Pascual said there are many investment opportunities for business partners in Israel. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOSpeaking at the 26th general membership meeting of the Israel Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Pascual said that Israeli investors continue to find the Philippines a suitable destination for investments. Pascual said the IMT cluster provides the Philippines with upgrading opportunities in aerospace, automotive and semiconductors. Israel will be able to partner here to help expand and develop the IMT cluster. In the TMT cluster, it will provide the Philippines opportunities from the digitization of services.

PAKISTAN observes today, August 5, Youm-e-Istehsal (Day of Exploitation) to protest against the illegal annexation of Kashmir into the Indian territory. The military siege created a humanitarian crisis: Kashmiris faced acute shortages of essential commodities, life-saving drugs and infant food. The government of Pakistan announced the observance of Youm-e-Istehsal (Day of Exploitation) on August 5 to mark the anniversary of India's illegal revocation of the special status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). The people and government of Pakistan observe the occasion to show solidarity with the people of IIOJK, and to expose the plight of Kashmiris and the Indian atrocities against them. The government, leadership and people of Pakistan remain firmly committed to the cause of the Kashmiris' right of freedom.

ADVERTISEMENTThe bulk of the removed posts, or about 5 million, were flagged for breaching the platforms’ violence and incitement policies, said Melissa Chin, Meta’s content policy manager for Asia-Pacific. ‘Patient zero’Filipinos’ heavy use of social media has made them highly vulnerable to manipulation by coordinated and well-funded false information channels. In response, David Agranovich, director of threat disruption at Meta, said the company had been expanding initiatives to take down more fake accounts. In September 2020, Meta removed 155 accounts, 11 pages, nine groups and six Instagram accounts for violating their policy against foreign or government interference and showing coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign or government entity. — WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCHRELATED STORYOver 100 fake accounts traced to PH police, military shut down by FacebookRead Next

A total of 30 people traveling to Hong Kong from Africa were found infected with malaria, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said on Thursday. One of them has died from malaria in quarantine, while four others are in serious condition in the intensive care unit. The CHP recorded a total of 30 imported malaria cases involving 30 male patients aged 25 to 57 arriving in Hong Kong from July 1 to August 1, among which 21 of them arrived from Guinea, Africa. It was understood that all the 30 came from the same Chinese company and had worked in Africa and are returning to the mainland via Hong Kong. They were found with malaria when undergoing quarantine at hotels including the Silka Seaview Hotel, Hotel COZi Oasis, and the Panda Hotel.

LOS ANGELES: The directors of "Batgirl" said on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) they were "shocked" that the $90-million superhero film had been axed by the studio and will now not be released in any format. We still can't believe it," directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah wrote on Instagram. The movie had completed principal photography and much of the postproduction work — where special effects, sound and graphics are added — was also done. "I feel blessed to have worked among absolute greats and forged relationships for a lifetime in the process!" Streaming platforms' belt-tightening"Batgirl" appears to have fallen victim to a change in corporate strategy after a merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery.

Not all heroes wear capes, and apparently, they may come in the form of an absolute stranger driving alongside you on the highway. With the driver’s view blocked, the van slowed down but did not pull over immediately to handle the problem. It was at this moment that another vehicle races up - just a couple of inches next to the van. The mysterious good samaritan then leans out and pulls the cardboard sheet off the van’s windshield before speeding back up and driving away using the mid lane. “Things could easily go sideways if any of them panicked,” one netizen commented, while another said the driver could have “caused something bad with good intentions.”

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday he will launch a fact-finding mission into an attack in the front-line Ukranian town of Olenivka that killed prisoners held by Moscow-backed separatists. Russia and Ukraine both requested an investigation, Guterres told reporters. He said the terms of reference for the mission, which would need agreement from Russia and Ukraine, were being prepared. ADVERTISEMENTRELATED STORIESUkraine warns of new Russian offensive; Sweden, Finland move closer to joining NatoWar in Ukraine: Latest developments‘Too early’ to celebrate grain shipment—ZelenskyUkraine president asks gov’t to study legalizing same-sex marriagesSubscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy PolicyRead Next

QUEZON, Isabela—A pickup truck fell Wednesday into a ravine in Barangay Nambaran, Tabuk City, Kalinga province, injuring eight people. Major Garry Gayamos, Kalinga police spokesperson, said some victims were barangay healthcare workers from San Francisco village in Rizal town, also in Kalinga. Rescue workers responded to the accident and brought the victims to the Kalinga Provincial Hospital and Juan Duyan District Hospital. INQRELATED STORIES2 hurt as dump truck falls into ravine in KalingaPolice give more details of car mishap in Kalinga that killed 13 peoplelzbSubscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy PolicyRead Next

Run aground on a reef with a broken hull is the fate of the once iconic Jumbo floating restaurant. According to the Hainan Maritime Bureau, the 80-meter-long boat that once housed a restaurant capable of seating 2,000 diners is stranded on a reef in the South China Sea with its broken hull in a deteriorated state. The iconic ship restaurant capsized near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea en route to Cambodia on June 19. The local Sansha Maritime Bureau followed up on the capsizing incident, with the provincial Hainan Maritime Bureau reporting that the ship was overturned and its superstructure has been disintegrated since the time of the sinking. Even though it was not wholly sunk, said the restaurant owner, there was no hope for Jumbo to be salvaged.

A fire broke out at a logistics company warehouse in Fan Ling Military North Village at about 5am this morning, where the body of a person suspected to be male was retrieved from the scene. The fire, with a footprint of 3,600 square meters at fire alarm level three, engulfed what locals said was a former cold storage facility. Once the fire - a long way from the water source – was confirmed as level three, firefighters deployed two water jets, two rescue teams, and several vehicles to extinguish the blaze. No one was injured according to the judgment of firefighters during the initial rescue progress, but the fire was extinguished with the remains of a male found in the warehouse. The fire services department urged the public to keep their doors and windows closed and stay calm if they are affected by the smoke and odor from the wind.

RIO DE JANEIRO: Conjoined twins born in Brazil with a fused head and brain have been separated in what doctors described on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) as the most complex surgery of its kind, which they prepared for using virtual reality. Arthur and Bernardo Lima were born in 2018 in Brazil's northern state of Roraima as craniopagus twins, an extremely rare condition in which the siblings are fused at the cranium. Members of the medical team, which included nearly 100 staff, prepared for the delicate final stages of the surgery on June 7 and 9 with the help of virtual reality. British neurosurgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani, the lead surgeon for Gemini Untwined, called the prep session "space-age stuff." "To do it in virtual reality was just really man-on-Mars stuff."

WASHINGTON: Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray of Britain crashed out in the opening round of the ATP and WTA Washington Open on Monday (Tuesday in Manila), falling to Sweden's Mikael Ymer. Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, playing her first singles match in nearly a year, was also eliminated in the opening round, falling to Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Ymer won 75 percent of his first-serve points, 49-of-65, and smashed 37 winners past Murray, who made only 25 with 35 unforced errors, five more than Ymer. Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep, coming off a Wimbledon semifinal run, beat Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 7-5. Pegula won the most recent WTA Washington event in 2019 after two missed years due to Covid-19.

The Observatory said that a broad trough of low pressure will hit southern China with heavy showers and thunderstorms in the next few days. Showers will lessen as the trough departs. From tomorrow to Friday, the weather will be cloudy with showers, heavy at times and thunderstorms. There will be occasional showers on Saturday with a few thunderstorms, and the temperature will be around 27 and 31 degrees. The Observatory also announced that another patch of low pressure will bring unstable weather to the South China Sea early next week and may develop into a tropical cyclone, though its path and intensity are still being determined.

"We need to have a pool actually of manpower so that we can have this vibrant digital economy," Edillon noted. This would include the imposition of a value-added tax on digital service providers, which would generate an initial revenue impact of about P11.7 billion in 2023. There is still potential for more digital transformation initiatives, and the Covid-19 pandemic has only emphasized how important they are. The Philippines' digital economy has a lot of room to grow because of its youthful and tech-savvy population, the firm added. "So it gets from agriculture, and then also, you know, sends it over to the service sector.

YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar's military government has extended its state of emergency for another six months, state media said on Monday, with its chief saying elections could only take place once the conflict-wracked country was "stable and peaceful." The junta declared a state of emergency after ousting Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government on Feb. 1, 2021, plunging the Southeast Asian country into turmoil. The junta chief also invited the leaders of a number of the country's established ethnic rebel groups for the second round of face-to-face meetings. Myanmar has about 20 ethnic rebel armies — many of which control swathes of remote border territory — and have fought each other and the military for decades. Several ethnic rebel groups attended a first round of "peace talks" with the junta in May, although groups fighting alongside anti-junta rebels stayed away.