Trump surveys Hurricane Laura damage in post-convention trip
President Donald Trump tours damage from Hurricane Laura, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020, in Lake Charles, La. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) LAKE CHARLES, La. — President Donald Trump got a firsthand look Saturday at the damage from Hurricane Laura on a post-Republican National Convention trip that allowed him to use the trappings of his office to try […]
Biden, aiming at Trump, says he won’t use military as ‘prop’
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) WASHINGTON — Joe Biden said on Saturday that as president, he would never use the military “as a prop or private militia” and […]
Zuckerberg says Facebook erred in not removing militia post
FILE – In this Feb. 15, 2020 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks on the second day of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. Zuckerberg, on Friday, Aug. 29, says Facebook made a mistake in not removing a militia group’s page earlier this week that called for armed civilians to enter Kenosha, Wis. […]
‘7 bullets, 7 days’: Protesters march for Blake in Kenosha
Hundreds march at a rally for Jacob Blake Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020, in Kenosha, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) KENOSHA, Wis. — Roughly a thousand people gathered Saturday in Kenosha for a march and rally against police violence, about a week after an officer shot Jacob Blake in the back and left the 29-year-old Black man […]
Such a drag: Lockdown takes toll on ‘Golden Gays’
MANILA, Philippines — “Golden” queens are living in a shabby apartment in Pasay City, pining for the drag shows they starred in before the COVID-19 pandemic put everything on hold. Founded in the mid-1970s, the Home for the Golden Gays shelters “indigent” elderly gay men in Metro Manila. The youngest is 59 years old and […]
Saliva-based tests for COVID-19 eyed
TRIED AND TESTED Health workers conduct swab testing in Quezon City. (Photo by GRIG MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer) MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) is looking into whether saliva-based tests can be an “acceptable and feasible” method to detect new coronavirus infections. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that studies were still […]
200 volunteers join ‘lagundi’ trials
MANILA, Philippines — Despite the skepticism of Western-oriented physicians, Filipinos have been using different parts of the Vitex negundo plant (known as lagundi in Tagalog and dangla in Ilocano) to treat various ailments long before Jesuit missionaries wrote about it in 17th-century chronicles. Many of the claims of folk apothecaries have been validated by several […]
Will the real opposition party please step forward?
In a healthy democracy, the opposition performs an important role in policymaking and overall governance. Its members debate, challenge and offer alternatives during policymaking and execution of laws by the government of the day. The opposition also checks the conduct of those in power. In fact, democracy is often described as messy because of the […]
Flouting the rules, flaunting connections in high places
We remember the immortal, though awkwardly phrased words of the late Manila Mayor Fred Lim as the lawyer Larry Gadon flouts the rules on mask-wearing. Mr. Gadon said he would not wear a mask in public because he thinks little of the virus and the effectiveness of mask-wearing, a global mandate against the virus. Masks […]
The chastisement of our leaders and our nation
You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped; You were too strong for me, and You triumphed. All the day I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage is my message; the word of the Lord has brought me derision and […]