What you need to know about the rematch between Robert Luna and Alex Villanueva to be the next L.A. County sheriff.
Oct 31, 2026
COTABATO CITY — The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (Opapru) on Saturday urged members of the newly constituted Bangsamoro Parliament to bridge diverse perspectives and work together as the region begins its first regular parliamentary government. In a statement, Secretary Mel Senen S. Sarmiento, Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and
BULAKAN, Bulacan—Centuries-old arches that once symbolized the divide between the rich and the poor, even in death, remain standing at a Roman Catholic cemetery in this town, the former capital of Bulacan province. At the municipal cemetery behind the Nuestra Señora de la Asunción Church, at least two old arches still stand as reminders of
SAN ILDEFONSO, Ilocos Sur – Fire struck four houses in Barangay Nalbo in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte on Friday. No casualties reported, local authorities said. According to Laoag City Vice Mayor Carlos Fariñas, the fire was reported to him at 6:52 a.m. via a Facebook Messenger call from a resident in the area. Fariñas said
COTABATO CITY — The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Inter-religious Dialogue (ECID) welcomed the election of Abdulraof “Sammy Gambar” Macacua as chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). “A historic step for the peace process. Mr. Macacua is the first to hold this office in the
ILIGAN CITY – In the run-up to All Souls’ Day here, business is brisk for merchants flowers and candles, two of the most common items Filipinos bring when visiting cemeteries during the annual observance. At the Alimyon Festival in Barangay Poblacion, flower vendors gather in stalls provided by the local government, creating a central marketplace
ILIGAN CITY — While families visit cemeteries to remember their departed loved ones, a group of young Iligan residents sees the annual observance of All Souls’ Day as an opportunity to earn extra income for their households. For Arjay Cabanlit and his friend Paul Kennerth Zalsos, the days leading to Nov. 2 mean spending long
SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic pledged Friday to give media outlets and other websites a single way to prevent their content from being scraped to train artificial intelligence (AI) models, amid growing criticism and legal battles involving news publishers. Publishers currently have to implement multiple blocking commands for every bot that crawls
China is further narrowing access to a key government recruitment programme for overseas-educated graduates, limiting their pathways into the country’s civil service and party-state system. More than a dozen provincial-level regions, including Beijing and Shanghai, opened applications for the 2027 xuandiaosheng recruitment rounds in September and October. Xuandiaosheng, or the “selected graduates” system, is designed to select and train university graduates to become elite cadres and officials...
Chinese archaeologists are set for a hi-tech turn, with the latest five-year blueprint aiming to deploy AI and deep-sea robots to trace Chinese history, decipher the origins of East Asian humans and expand the country’s cultural soft power. Scientists will develop technologies such as remote sensing, ancient DNA analysis, underwater archaeology robots and artificial intelligence (AI) models for virtual restoration of excavated artefacts, according to the 15th five-year work plan for...
Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan hosted her German counterpart, Elke Budenbender, in Beijing on Friday for a tea reception in a bid to showcase Beijing’s soft power and foster closer bilateral ties. Peng stressed the rich cooperation with Germany in areas including education and culture, according to official news agency Xinhua. She also expressed hope that people from the two countries would “visit each other more often, continuously deepen mutual understanding and foster closer people-to-people...
MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has temporarily suspended all road excavations in national and city roads in Metro Manila. The suspension is meant to avoid worsening the expected heavy traffic congestion to be brought by the Christmas season. In an advisory on Saturday (October 31), the MMDA said that the temporary
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol — Flower prices in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, have increased by around P10 to P30 ahead of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, or Undas, prompting vendors to offer bundled arrangements as more affordable options for customers. A bundle that previously cost P75 now sells for P100, while a P100 bundle has