Headline

Earthquake Kills 72 In Philippines

Published

2 months ago

October 2, 2025

The death toll from a powerful earthquake in the central Philippines rose to 72 on Thursday, officials said, as the search for the missing wound down and rescuers turned their focus to the hundreds injured and thousands left homeless.

The bodies of the three victims were pulled from the rubble of a collapsed hotel overnight Wednesday in the city of Bogo, near the epicentre of the 6.9-magnitude quake that struck on Tuesday.

“We have zero missing, so the assumption is all are accounted for,” National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokesman Junie Castillo said, adding that some rescue units in Cebu province have been told to “demobilise”.

The government said 294 people were injured and around 20,000 had fled their homes. Nearly 600 houses were wrecked across the north of Cebu, and many are sleeping on the streets as hundreds of aftershocks shake the area.

“One of the challenges is the aftershocks. It means residents are reluctant to return to their homes, even those houses that were not (structurally) compromised,” Castillo said.

Cebu provincial governor Pamela Baricuatro appealed for help on Thursday, saying thousands needed safe drinking water, food, clothes, and temporary housing, as well as volunteers to sort and distribute aid.

President Ferdinand Marcos flew to Cebu with senior aides on Thursday to inspect the damage.

He also visited a partially damaged housing project in Bogo, built for survivors of the 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the deadliest natural disasters to hit the Philippines.

Eight bodies were “recovered from collapsed houses” in the project following the quake, a local government statement said.

A tiny village chapel in Bogo was serving as a temporary shelter for 18-year-old Diane Madrigal and 14 of her neighbours after their houses were destroyed. Their clothes and food were scattered across the chapel’s pews.

“The entire wall (of my house) fell, so I really don’t know how and when we can go back again,” Madrigal told AFP.

“I am still scared of the aftershocks up to now; it feels like we have to run again,” she added.

Mother-of-four Lucille Ipil, 43, added her water container to a 10-metre (30-foot) line of them along a roadside in Bogo, where residents desperately waited for a truck to bring them water.

“The earthquake really ruined our lives. Water is important for everyone. We cannot eat, drink, or bathe properly,” she told AFP.

“We really want to go back to our old life before the quake, but we don’t know when that will happen… Rebuilding takes a long time.”

Many areas remain without electricity, and dozens of patients were sheltering in tents outside the damaged Cebu provincial hospital in Bogo.

“I’d rather stay here under this tent. At least I can be treated,” 22-year-old Kyle Malait told AFP as she waited for her dislocated arm to be treated.

More than 110,000 people in 42 communities affected by the quake will need assistance to rebuild their homes and restore their livelihoods, according to the regional civil defence office.

Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Most are too weak to be felt by humans but strong and destructive quakes come at random, with no technology available to predict when and where they might strike.

AFP

Headline

Benin Republic Presidency Breaks Silence On ‘Military Takeover’

Published

7 hours ago

December 7, 2025

Editor

Benin Republic military
Military personnel in Benin on Sunday said they had ousted President Patrice Talon, but the Presidency said he was safe and the army was regaining control.

Talon, 67, a former businessman known as the “cotton king of Cotonou,” is due to hand over power in April next year after 10 years in office marked by strong economic growth and rising jihadist violence.

West Africa has seen several coups in recent years, including in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, and most recently Guinea-Bissau.

Early on Sunday, soldiers calling themselves the “Military Committee for Refoundation” (CMR) said on state television that they had met and decided that “Mr Patrice Talon is removed from office as president of the republic.”

The signal was cut later in the morning.

Shortly after the announcement, a source close to Talon told AFP the president was safe.

“This is a small group of people who only control the television. The regular army is regaining control. The city (Cotonou) and the country are completely secure,” they said.

“It’s just a matter of time before everything returns to normal. The clean-up is progressing well.”

A military source confirmed the situation was “under control” and said the coup plotters had not taken Talon’s residence or the presidential offices.

The French Embassy reported on X that “gunfire was reported at Camp Guezo” near the president’s official residence in the economic capital and urged French citizens to remain indoors.

Benin has a history of coups and attempted coups.

Talon, who came to power in 2016, is due to end his second term in 2026, the constitutional maximum.

The main opposition party has been excluded from the race to succeed him, leaving the ruling party to compete against a so-called “moderate” opposition.

Talon has been praised for driving economic development but is often accused of authoritarianism.

(AFP)

Headline

JUST IN: Soldiers Announce Military Takeover Of Govt In Benin Republic

Published

8 hours ago

December 7, 2025

Editor

A group of soldiers appeared on Benin’s state television on Sunday to announce the dissolution of the government in what is being described as an apparent coup, marking yet another power seizure in West Africa.

Identifying themselves as the Military Committee for Refoundation, the soldiers declared the removal of the president and all state institutions.

President Patrice Talon, who has been in office since 2016, was scheduled to leave office next April after the presidential election. His party’s preferred candidate, former Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, had been widely viewed as the frontrunner. Opposition candidate Renaud Agbodjo was disqualified by the electoral commission on the grounds that he did not have “sufficient sponsors.”

The takeover comes a month after Benin’s legislature extended the presidential term from five to seven years while retaining the two-term limit.

(AFP)

Headline

EU Fines Elon Musk’s X €120m For Violating Digital Content Rules

Published

1 day ago

December 6, 2025

Editor

Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, has been hit with a €120 million ($140 million) fine by European Union tech regulators for violating multiple provisions of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).

This marks the first significant penalty imposed under this landmark legislation.

On Friday, the European Commission announced the fine, citing various violations by X, including misleading platform features and a lack of transparency in research practices.

Regulators pointed out that one of the violations involved the misleading design of the blue verification checkmark. This feature is now linked to subscription payments instead of identity validation, which the EU described as “deceptive and potentially harmful.”

The Commission also criticized X for not maintaining transparent advertising records and for restricting researchers’ access to publicly available data on the platform.

This ruling is likely to heighten diplomatic tensions between Brussels and Washington. U.S. officials from the Trump administration had previously condemned Europe’s regulatory approach toward major tech companies, claiming that EU policies unfairly target American firms and restrict free expression.

However, the European Commission defended its stance, stating that enforcement under the DSA is not influenced by nationality. They emphasized that the legislation is designed to promote online accountability, protect users, and ensure transparency in digital operations—standards that are increasingly becoming global benchmarks.

“The DSA does not discriminate by company origin,” the Commission argued, maintaining that the penalties reflect Europe’s commitment to protecting democratic values and responsible digital governance.

The fine marks a significant test case for the EU’s new regulatory regime and could set precedent for similar action against other platforms not in full compliance with the law.