MANILA: The first mpox case reported by the Philippines this year is a mild variant and not the deadly strain sparking global alarm, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said Wednesday.
The highly transmissible Clade 1b strain of the virus has killed hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has also been detected Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Sweden.
“It’s the old variant,” Herbosa said of the virus that struck a 33-year-old Filipino male, referring to the mild Clade 2 variant.
“It’s not as alarming as the Clade 1b,” Herbosa said.
He said the patient had not traveled outside the country and was “still confined” in the hospital.
“For us doctors, that means the virus is circulating in the community,” Herbosa said.
Nine mpox cases were reported by Philippine authorities in 2022 and 2023, with the previous most recent one last December.
President Ferdinand Marcos on Tuesday ordered health officials to continuously monitor areas and people vulnerable to the virus.
Philippines says new mpox case ‘not’ deadly variant
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Philippines says new mpox case ‘not’ deadly variant
- The highly transmissible Clade 1b strain of the virus has killed hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- Nine mpox cases were reported by Philippine authorities in 2022 and 2023, with the previous most recent one last December
South Korea court ousts impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol
- Millions of Koreans watched the court hand down its verdict live on television
- Yoon’s removal, which is effective immediately, triggers fresh presidential elections, which must be held within 60 days
SEOUL: South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Friday unanimously upheld President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment over his disastrous martial law declaration, stripping him of office and triggering fresh elections after months of political turmoil.
Yoon, 64, was suspended by lawmakers over his December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament. He was also arrested on insurrection charges as part of a separate criminal case.
Millions of Koreans watched the court hand down its verdict live on television, with the country’s main messaging app KakaoTalk saying that some users were experiencing delays due to a sudden surge in traffic.
“Given the serious negative impact and far-reaching consequences of the respondent’s constitutional violations... (We) dismiss respondent President Yoon Suk Yeol,” acting court President Moon Hyung-bae said while delivering the ruling.
Yoon’s removal, which is effective immediately, triggers fresh presidential elections, which must be held within 60 days. Authorities will announce a date in the coming days.
The decision was unanimous, and the judges have been given additional security protection by police. Outside the court, AFP reporters heard Yoon supporters shouting death threats.
Yoon’s actions “violate the core principles of the rule of law and democratic governance,” the judges said in their ruling.
Sending armed soldiers to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers from voting down his decree “violated the political neutrality of the armed forces.”
He deployed troops for “political purposes,” the judges said.
“In the end, the respondent’s unconstitutional and illegal acts are a betrayal of the people’s trust and constitute a serious violation of the law that cannot be tolerated,” the judges ruled.
Opposition party lawmakers clapped their hands as the verdict was announced, calling it “historic,” while lawmakers from Yoon’s party filed out of the courtroom.
Yoon is the second South Korean leader to be impeached by the court after Park Geun-hye in 2017.
After weeks of tense hearings, judges spent more than a month deliberating the case, while public unrest swelled.
Police raised the alert to the highest possible level Friday. Officers encircled the courthouse with a ring of vehicles and stationed special operations teams in the vicinity.
Anti-Yoon protesters gathered outdoors to watch a live broadcast of the verdict, cheering at many of the lines and holding hands. When Yoon’s removal was announced, they erupted into wild cheers, with some bursting into tears.
“When the dismissal was finally declared, the cheers were so loud it felt like the rally was being swept away,” Kim Min-ji, a 25-year-old anti-Yoon protester, said.
“We cried tears and shouted that we, the citizens, had won!”
Yoon, who defended his attempt to subvert civilian rule as necessary to root out “anti-state forces,” still commands the backing of extreme supporters.
Outside his residence, his supporters shouted and swore, with some bursting into tears as the verdict was announced.
This year, at least two staunch Yoon supporters have died after self-immolating in protest of the controversial leader’s impeachment.
A police official said that one person had been arrested in the vicinity of the court, with others trying to destroy police buses with batons.
Embassies — including the American, French, Russian and Chinese — have warned citizens to avoid mass gatherings in connection with Friday’s verdict.
The decision shows “first and foremost the resilience of South Korean democracy,” Byunghwan Son, professor at George Mason University, said.
“The very fact that the system did not collapse suggests that the Korean democracy can survive even the worst challenge against it — a coup attempt.”
South Korea has spent the four months since the martial law declaration without an effective head of state, as the opposition impeached Yoon’s stand-in — only for him to be later reinstated by a court ruling.
The leadership vacuum came during a series of crises and headwinds, including an aviation disaster and the deadliest wildfires in the country’s history.
This week, South Korea was slammed with 25 percent tariffs on exports to key ally the United States after President Donald Trump unveiled global, so-called reciprocal levies.
Since December, South Korea has been “partially paralyzed — it has been without a legitimate president and has been challenged by natural disasters and the political disaster called Trump,” Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, said.
Yoon also faces a separate criminal trial on charges of insurrection over the martial law bid.
Acting president Han Duck-soo will remain at the helm until the new elections are held.
Rubio tries to reassure wary allies of US commitment to NATO as Trump sends mixed signals
- “President Trump’s made clear he supports NATO,” the top US diplomat tells NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels
- America's allies needed Rubio's reassurance as US firepower ensures that NATO’s ability to deter Russia is credible
BRUSSELS: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration’s new envoy to NATO are seeking to reassure wary members of the US commitment to the alliance.
Rubio on Thursday decried “hysteria and hyperbole” in the media about US President Donald Trump’s intentions, despite persistent signals from Washington that NATO as it has existed for 75 years may no longer be relevant.
Rubio and newly confirmed US ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker are in Brussels for a meeting of alliance foreign ministers at which many are hoping Rubio will shed light on US security plans in Europe.
“The United States is as active in NATO as it has ever been,” Rubio told reporters as he greeted NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte before the meeting began. “And some of this hysteria and hyperbole that I see in the global media and some domestic media in the United States about NATO is unwarranted.”
“President Trump’s made clear he supports NATO,” Rubio said. “We’re going to remain in NATO.”
“We want NATO to be stronger, we want NATO to be more visible and the only way NATO can get stronger, more visible is if our partners, the nation states that comprise this important alliance, have more capability,” he said.
Whitaker said in a statement that “under President Trump’s leadership, NATO will be stronger and more effective than ever before, and I believe that a robust NATO can continue to serve as a bedrock of peace and prosperity.” But he added: “NATO’s vitality rests on every ally doing their fair share.”
Concerns about US commitment to allies
Despite those words, European allies and Canada are deeply concerned by Trump’s readiness to draw closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sees NATO as a threat as the US tries to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine, as well as his rhetorical attacks and insults against allies like Canada and Denmark.
Rubio and Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen met on the sidelines of the meeting. They didn’t respond to a shouted question about Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark which Trump has his eye on, but they smiled and shook hands in front of US and Danish flags.
Trump’s imposition of new global tariffs, which will affect allies, have also added to the uncertainty and unease.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot warned that NATO’s unity is “being tested by the decisions taken and announced yesterday (Wednesday) by President Trump.”
Asked about concerns among European allies about a possible US troop drawdown and the importance of getting clear messages from the Trump administration, Rutte said: “These issues are not new. There are no plans for them to all of a sudden draw down their presence here in Europe.”
Indeed, the Trump administration hasn’t made its NATO allies aware any plans that it might have. But several European countries are convinced that US troops and equipment will be withdrawn, and they want to find out from Rubio how many and when so they can fill any security gaps.
“We need to preempt a rapid retreat, but we’ve had nothing precise from the US yet,” a senior NATO diplomat said before the meeting, briefing reporters on his country’s expectations on condition that he not be named.
In Washington, the chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee criticized “mid-level” leadership at the Pentagon for what he branded as a misguided plan to “reduce drastically” the number of US troops based in Europe. The US Defense Department hasn’t made public any such proposal.
“They’ve been working to pursue a US retreat from Europe and they’ve often been doing so without coordinating with the secretary of defense,” US Sen. Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, said at a hearing with US European Command and US Africa Command military leadership.
It wasn’t immediately clear what “mid-level bureaucrats” Wicker was talking about.
Rutte’s dilemma
NATO’s secretary-general is in a bind. European allies and Canada have tasked him with keeping the United States firmly in NATO. Around 100,000 US troops are stationed in Europe along with the Navy’s 6th Fleet and nuclear warheads. US firepower ensures that NATO’s ability to deter Russia is credible.
This means he can’t openly criticize Trump, who is commander in chief of the United States, NATO’s biggest and best-equipped armed forces.
What is clear is that US allies must ramp up defense spending even more than they already have since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, so that they can defend Europe with less American help and keep Ukraine’s armed forces in the fight.
“The US expects European allies to take more responsibility for their own security,” Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said, which means that “European NATO countries rapidly have to strengthen the European pillar of NATO and have to increase their defense spending.”
Since US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned last month that American security priorities lie elsewhere — in Asia and on the United States’ own borders — the Europeans have waited to learn how big a military drawdown in Europe could be and how fast it may happen.
In Europe and Canada, governments are working on “burden shifting” plans to take over more of the load, while trying to ensure that no security vacuum is created if US troops and equipment are withdrawn from the continent.
Trump defiant as tariffs send world markets into panic
- Trump dismissed the turmoil, insisting, “It’s going to be a booming economy. It’s going to be amazing”
- “Let Donald Trump run the global economy. He knows what he’s doing,” says commerce chief amid howls of protest even from some Republicans
WASHINGTON: Wall Street led a global markets bloodbath Thursday as countries around the world reeled from President Donald Trump’s trade war, while the White House insisted the US economy will emerge victorious.
The S&P 500 dropped 4.8 percent in its biggest loss since 2020. The tech-rich Nasdaq plummeted 6.0 percent and the Dow Jones 4.0 percent.
Shock waves also tore through markets in Asia and Europe in the wake of Trump’s Wednesday announcement, while foreign leaders signaled readiness to negotiate but also threatened counter-tariffs.
Trump slapped 10 percent import duties on all nations and far higher levies on imports from dozens of specific countries — including top trade partners China and the European Union.
Separate tariffs of 25 percent on all foreign-made cars also went into effect and Canada swiftly responded with a similar levy on US imports.
Stellantis — the owner of Jeep, Chrysler and Fiat — paused production at some Canadian and Mexican assembly plants.
Trump dismissed the turmoil, insisting to reporters as he left for a weekend at his Florida golf resorts, that stocks will “boom.”
The 78-year-old president says he wants to make the United States free from reliance on foreign manufacturers, in a massive economic reshaping that he likened to a medical procedure.
“It’s what is expected,” he said of the market reaction. “The patient was very sick. The economy had a lot of problems.”
“It went through an operation. It’s going to be a booming economy. It’s going to be amazing.”
Trump ‘knows what he’s doing’
Amid howls of protest abroad and from even some of Trump’s Republicans, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urged patience.
“Let Donald Trump run the global economy. He knows what he’s doing,” he said on CNN. “You’ve got to trust Donald Trump in the White House.”
But China demanded that the tariffs be immediately canceled and vowed countermeasures, while France and Germany warned that the EU could hit back at US tech firms.
French President Emmanuel Macron called for suspending investment in the United States until what he called the “brutal” new tariffs had been “clarified.”
The 27-nation EU and other countries also sought to negotiate as they refrained from immediate retaliation.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for “frank discussion on the substance with the Americans.”
Beijing said it was “maintaining communication” with Washington over trade issues, and EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic planned to speak with US counterparts on Friday.
However, Brazil’s president vowed to take “all appropriate measures.”
Gold — a safe-haven investment — hit a new record price, oil fell and the dollar slumped against other major currencies.
The head of the World Trade Organization, which helps manage global trading, warned the upheaval may lead to contraction of “one percent in global merchandise trade volumes this year.”
’You can’t fight the US’
Trump is brushing off warnings about triggering a global economic slowdown and politically damaging price rises at home.
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell broke ranks with Trump, slamming tariffs as “bad policy.”
“Preserving the long-term prosperity of American industry and workers requires working with our allies, not against them,” he said.
It remains unclear to what extent Trump is using the tariffs shock to engage in negotiations on trade deals — or whether he really intends to try to force all competitors to play by US rules.
He said he would negotiate “as long as they are giving something that is good.”
But earlier, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told CNN that the president made it clear that “this is not a negotiation.”
And Lutnick also struck a hard line, saying, “You can’t really fight with the United States.”
“You’re going to lose. We are the sumo wrestler of this world.”
Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called “nations that treat us badly.”
That included an additional 34 percent on goods from China — bringing the new added tariff rate there to 54 percent.
The figure for the European Union was 20 percent, and 24 percent on Japan.
For the rest, Trump said he would impose a “baseline” tariff of 10 percent, including on another key ally, Britain, which will come into effect on Saturday while the higher duties will kick in on April 9.
‘Frightening’: US restaurants, producers face tariff whiplash
- Trump has unveiled a sweeping 10 percent tariff on most US trading partners, set to take effect on Saturday
- The list covers about 60 partners including the European Union, China, India and Japan
WASHINGTON: From European wines to industrial tools, global tariffs launched by US President Donald Trump this week promise to sweep through the world’s biggest economy, impacting everyone from restaurant owners to industrial manufacturers.
For Brett Gitter, who makes his quality control instruments in China-based factories, Trump’s planned tariff hike on goods from the country marks a further price surge to potentially startling levels for customers.
“I add a surcharge at the bottom of every invoice to cover the expense of the tariff,” he told AFP.
“The bottom of the invoice now is going to say 54 percent,” he added, referring to a new rate hitting Chinese imports starting next Wednesday.
All of this stacks on an existing 25 percent rate Chinese imports already faced before Trump returned to the presidency, he said, although he tried to absorb some of the earlier duties.
“That’s a lot,” he added. “That’s going to alarm people.”
This week, Trump unveiled a sweeping 10 percent tariff on most US trading partners, set to take effect on Saturday.
He declared that foreign trade practices have caused a “national emergency,” imposing levies to boost his country’s position.
Additionally, “worst offenders” that have large trade imbalances with the United States will face even higher rates come April 9.
The list covers about 60 partners including the European Union, China, India and Japan.
Gitter said his customers, who are American manufacturers too, will have to decide if they want to foot the higher bill.
“Other countries that have similar types of product have added tariffs too,” he said.
“Where does my product made in China fit, and how bad does it take a hit compared to other competitors?“
Andrew Fortgang, who runs three restaurants and a wine shop in Oregon, worries about Trump’s additional 20 percent tariff on European Union imports — specifically, wine.
The rate is also taking effect April 9.
“Probably 25 percent of our revenue is from imported wine,” he told AFP, noting that the steep tariff will bite.
For these sales to vanish would be “really frightening,” he said.
Beyond that, “everything from oil, to mustards, cheeses, and meats, they are just not fungible, they are not made here,” Fortgang said. “It’s going to add up.”
While he expects he would be forced to pass on some costs to consumers by hiking menu prices, high inflation after the Covid-19 pandemic have weighed on customers.
“You’ll kind of reach a tipping point,” he said, “on how much you can raise prices.”
US Wine Trade Alliance president Ben Aneff called the plan “a disaster for small businesses.”
“Restaurants really rely on large margins in order to effectively subsidize the rest of their business,” he said, adding that consumers will likely see higher prices.
“We import about $4.5 billion worth of (wine) from the EU and US businesses make almost $25 billion from those imports. There is no plug for that hole,” he told AFP.
Others in the food and beverages sector have already been hit by Trump’s multiple waves of tariffs.
Bill Butcher, a craft brewer in Virginia, earlier saw a shortage of glass bottles for his beers when metals tariffs took effect in March — as industry giants pivoted away from aluminum cans to avoid added costs.
Now, he awaits suppliers’ verdict on how much the incoming tariffs on European goods will add to costs for the grains and hops needed in his brews.
“It’s just a lot of uncertainty and chaos in our supply chain,” he said.
Gitter, whose business is based in New Jersey, has tried “many times” to relocate production to the United States.
“There’s a lack of infrastructure in the US to support what we do,” he said.
The printed circuit boards used in his instruments, for example, require chips made in East Asia.
Will Thomas, whose company transforms coils of steel into metal products, added: “We import from necessity, not desire.”
While he is not hard hit by Trump’s partner-based tariffs this week, earlier 25 percent duties on steel and aluminum imports have eaten away at his profits.
“I’m hoping this is not another nail in the coffin for foreign supply,” Thomas said.
“I would just like the leaders of the countries to be able to sit down and work things out.”
Lawyers for a detained Tufts student from Turkiye demand she be returned to Massachusetts
- Rumeysa Ozturk was taken into custody by federal agents in Boston on March 25 and next day and moved to an immigration center in Basile, Louisiana
- She is among several people with ties to US universities who publicly expressed support for Palestinians during the war in Gaza and who recently had visas revoked
BOSTON: Lawyers for a Tufts University doctoral student from Turkiye who was seized by immigration officials off a street near Boston argued in federal court Thursday that she should be returned to Massachusetts, while the US government insisted it did nothing wrong in moving her to a detention center in Louisiana.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was taken into custody as she walked along a suburban street March 25. After being transported to New Hampshire and then Vermont, she was put on a plane the next day and moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Basile, Louisiana.
“She was grabbed by federal agents in front of her home and taken over the course of several hours to Vermont without any way to contact counsel or counsel to contact her and with her location for period 22 hours being undisclosed to the Department of Justice attorneys in this case,” Adriana Lafaille, one of her attorneys, told the court.
Ozturk’s lawyers asked US District Judge Denise Casper to order that she be immediately returned to Massachusetts and released from custody. If Ozturk isn’t returned to Massachusetts, Lafaille added, she should be taken to Vermont.
Mark Sauter, a Justice Department lawyer, argued that ICE had a plan for her transport before she was detained and only moved her to Louisiana because there was no bed space for female immigration detainees in New England.
“There was no attempt to manipulate the jurisdiction,” Sauter told the court.
The US attorneys have argued the case should go before an immigration judge.
Ozturk had been moved to Vermont by the time Casper in Boston had ordered authorities to keep her in Massachusetts, they said.
Ozturk’s lawyers said at the time they filed the petition, they had no way of knowing where she was. They have said her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process.
Casper issued no immediate decision on the matter after hearing arguments.
Ozturk is among several people with ties to American universities who attended demonstrations or publicly expressed support for Palestinians during the war in Gaza and who recently had visas revoked or been stopped from entering the US.
She was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in The Tufts Daily last year criticizing the university’s response to student activists’ demands. The student activists were demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.
On Thursday, her lawyer released a letter from Ozturk in which she talked about her research and said she would continue to stand up against injustice.
“I believe the world is a more beautiful and peaceful place when we listen to each other and allow different perspectives to be in the room,” she wrote.
“Efforts to target me because of my op-ed in the Tufts Daily calling for the equal dignity and humanity of all people will not deter me from my commitment to advocate for the rights of youth and children,” she added.
Outside court Thursday, about 50 protesters chanting “Rumeysa Ozturk Now” and ICE Out Of Boston” marched and held up signs like one reading: “No More Abductions.”
Recently, two dozen of Ozturk’s colleagues and Tufts University submitted letters to the court backing that request, describing her as a gentle, compassionate and cherished member of the Tufts community.
Reyyan Bilge, a close friend who collaborated with Ozturk on research, was present in court Thursday and described her as a “wonderful student, a wonderful human being.”
“It’s like a nightmare,” she said. “Who would have thought? She came here to do her job as a student, as an exceptional student ... Out of the blue, she was taken for doing nothing wrong, How would you feel if you were to be either your daughter, or your niece, or like someone that’s close to you?“
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed the termination of Ozturk’s visa last week. The official said investigations found she had engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a US-designated terrorist group, but provided no evidence.
Hamas militants invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing about 250 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 50,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and destroyed much of the enclave.
