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Lee Sun-kyun, a popular South Korean actor best known for his role in the Oscar-winning movie Parasite, was found dead in a car in Seoul after weeks of an intense police investigation into his alleged drug use.  Lee, who faced allegations of illegal drug use, was found in Seoul park, …

Doctors in India’s most populous city are sounding the alarm over what they say is a fivefold increase in cases of a severe inflammation of the lungs called hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Experts link the spike directly to Mumbai’s growing pigeon population, since their droppings are the leading cause of the disease …

Beijing has imposed its will over the maritime expanse that it claims under the invalidated nine-dash line. Amid the intensifying friction between the Philippines and China in the West Philippine Sea, the United States remains the counterbalance despite Beijing’s insistence that the superpower exit from the territorial dispute. It would …

CHINA’S ACTUAL EEZ. This map created by the website MarineRegions.org and released on X (formerly Twitter) shows the extent of China’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in contrast to its claimed erstwhile nine-dash line, which was invalidated by a United Nations arbitral court in a case filed and won by the …

Existing vaccines against COVID-19 are effective against the new Omicron subvariant JN.1, the Department of Health said on Monday.  “We have yet to receive evidence that the vaccines we received, even the new vaccines available in other countries, do not offer protection,” Health Undersecretary Eric Tayag said in a television …

Local business leaders are cautiously optimistic about the country’s economic growth in the coming year as continuing challenges in the areas of geopolitics, ease of doing business, and overall global economic slowdown are weighing down on investors’ confidence, but remained positive that the domestic economy will continue to outperform its …

Pope Francis devoted his Christmas Day blessing to a call for peace in the world, noting that the biblical story of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem sent a message of peace. But he said Bethlehem “is a place of sorrow and silence” this year.  Around 70,000 people filled St. …

Amid reports that Israeli airstrikes killed at least 100 people overnight, a Christian Palestinian man living in a refugee camp reflected on the 11-week battle between Israel and Hamas that has now stretched into Christmas.  Strikes that began hours before Christmas Day persisted into Monday. No season of joy for …

Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has confirmed his arrival at what he described as a snow-swept prison above the Arctic Circle, saying he was in excellent spirits despite his tiring 20-day journey.  Russian opposition politician calls himself Father Frost, describes clothes to stay warm at penal colony. Putin critic …

When Meirav Leshem Gonen last spoke to her daughter, Romi, on Oct. 7, the 23-year-old was trying to escape the Hamas assault on the Nova music festival in Israel. Instead, she was taken hostage. Gonen fears time is running out to bring Romi home since it appears there’s no end …