Author: Press Room

MANILA: The Philippines expressed alarm on Saturday (Apr 5) over the arrest of three Filipinos in China on suspicion of espionage, saying they were ordinary citizens and the arrests could be retaliation for Manila’s crackdown against alleged Chinese spies. Chinese authorities arrested the Filipinos and accused them of working for the Philippine intelligence agency to gather classified information on its military, the state-run China Daily reported earlier this week, citing state security officials. It said the three had confessed to the crime. The Philippines’ National Security Council disputed Beijing’s accusations, saying the three were former recipients of a government scholarship…

US President Donald Trump’s widest-ranging tariffs to date have come into effect – a move that may trigger retaliation and escalate trade tensions, upsetting the global economy. The initial 10 percent “baseline” tariff took effect at United States seaports, airports and customs warehouses at 12:01am ET (04:01am GMT) on Saturday, ushering in Trump’s full rejection of the post-World War II system of mutually agreed tariff rates. Among countries first hit with the 10 percent tariff are Australia, Britain, Colombia, Argentina, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The trade gaps, said the White House, were driven by an “absence of reciprocity” in relationships…

The Senate approved Republicans’ budget blueprint just after 2:30 a.m. on Saturday to clear the way for passing President Trump’s domestic agenda, after Democrats forced an overnight session to protest the G.O.P. push to deliver what the president has called “one big beautiful bill” of spending and tax cuts.The 51-to-48 vote, mostly along party lines, was a crucial step in the Republican effort to fast-track budget legislation through Congress and shield it from a filibuster through a process known as reconciliation. Disagreements between Republicans in the House and the Senate about what should be in that bill had paralyzed them…

A woman in Florida risked her life to save her beloved dog, Kona, after a 6-and-a-half-foot alligator grabbed the pet’s head in its mouth during an evening walk. “Suddenly, I saw the eyes. I saw it turning itself around so I started pulling her right away, ‘Kona, let’s go,’ but she’s a really strong dog,” Kim Spencer told FOX 13 with Kona by her side on her couch. In a split second, the alligator had gotten Kona’s whole head in its mouth. “She’s facing it, it’s facing her, and it suddenly jumped at her and got her, so she was in all the…

Pakistan have ended a disappointing tour of New Zealand on another sombre note, losing the third one-day international by 43 runs.While Pakistan made a bold effort to chase down New Zealand’s 8-264 on Saturday, they fell short again and were dismissed for 221 in a match reduced to 42 overs per side due to a wet outfield.New Zealand fast bowler Ben Sears took 5-34, his second five-wicket haul in consecutive matches.Pakistan made a strong start to their chase despite a shocking injury to opener Imam-ul-Haq, who retired hurt in the third over after being struck in the head by a…

China’s chamber of commerce representing traders in food products called on “China’s food and agricultural products import and export industry to unite and strengthen cooperation to jointly explore domestic and foreign markets”. The metals and chemicals traders’ chamber said the tariffs “will push up the import cost for US importers and the consumption cost for consumers, exacerbate domestic inflation in the US, and increase the possibility of a US recession”. Trump’s broadest tariffs to date took effect on Saturday, with a 10 per cent “baseline” tariff hitting most US imports except goods from Mexico and Canada. Dozens of economies, including China,…

On a Monday morning last fall, Ukrainian drone pilots watched what had become a familiar scene unfold on a drone’s live feed: Russian soldiers pointed their guns at two Ukrainians, who seemingly surrendered. Then, the footage showed, the Russians shot them point blank.The video, provided by a pilot who said he had witnessed the killing on the feed, was verified by The New York Times and the Centre for Information Resilience, a nonprofit organization. It appeared to show the Ukrainian prisoners executed near the village of Novoivanovka in the Kursk region of Russia.“There were no polite words spoken among us…

A coalition of 21 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the federal agency charged with supporting the nation’s libraries.The lawsuit, brought by the attorneys general of New York, Rhode Island, Hawaii and other states, was filed days after the agency, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, put its staff on leave and began cutting grants. The suit argues that the steep cuts there and at two other small agencies violate both the Constitution and other federal laws related to spending, usurping Congress’s power to decide how federal funds are spent.The…

Here Comes The Sun: Dancer and actor Mikhail Baryshnikov and Marcel the Shell – CBS News Watch CBS News Dancer and actor Mikhail Baryshnikov sits down with Anthony Mason to discuss his role in “The Cherry Orchard” at Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York. He also voices his opinion on the ongoing war in Ukraine. Also, David Pogue meets the creators of Marcel the Shell, an animated character who stars in the film “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.” “Here Comes The Sun” is a closer look at some of the people, places and things we bring you every week…

Microsoft owns lots of Nvidia graphics processing units, but it isn’t using them to develop state-of-the-art artificial intelligence models.There are good reasons for that position, Mustafa Suleyman, the company’s CEO of AI, told CNBC’s Steve Kovach in an interview on Friday. Waiting to build models that are “three or six months behind” offers several advantages, including lower costs and the ability to concentrate on specific use cases, Suleyman said.It’s “cheaper to give a specific answer once you’ve waited for the first three or six months for the frontier to go first. We call that off-frontier,” he said. “That’s actually our…