New Zealand welcomed a new
prime minister on Wednesday, six days after Jacinda Ardern’s shock resignation ahead of an
upcoming election.
Chris Hipkins,
44, was sworn in on Wednesday at an inauguration ceremony in the capital
Wellington.
Hipkins was
first elected to Parliament in 2008 and spearheaded the country’s Covid-19
policies in 2020. Before becoming prime minister, he was minister of education,
minister of police, minister for the public service, and leader of the house.
Hipkins was
unanimously endorsed on Sunday by the ruling Labour party to succeed Ardern
as its leader. He was the only nominee.
“I have experienced such love,
compassion, empathy and kindness in the job. That has been my predominant
experience. So I leave feeling gratitude for having this wonderful role for so
many years,” Ardern told reporters at the event.
WEATHER update:
|
Eastern Visayas, Aklan, Capiz, Albay, Masbate, Sorsogon,
Catanduanes, Palawan, and Romblon |
Cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms |
Shear Line |
Possible flash floods or landslides due to moderate to at
times heavy rains |
|
Cagayan Valley, Cordillera Administrative Region, the rest of
Bicol Region, Aurora, Quezon, Oriental Mindoro, and Marinduque |
Cloudy skies with rains |
Northeast Monsoon |
Possible flash floods or landslides due to moderate to at
times heavy rains |
|
Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon |
Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with light rains |
Northeast Monsoon |
No significant impact |
|
The rest of the country |
Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or
thunderstorms |
Localized Thunderstorms |
Possible flash floods or landslides during severe
thunderstorms |
·
“IF I CAN HELP IN WHATEVER WAY, WHY
NOT?”
Former Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan
says he is open to helping the administration of President Bongbong Marcos “in
whatever way” as the latter grapples with price problems and supply shortages
hounding local onions.
Pangilinan, who is currently busy as a
farmer and agri advocate, once served as Presidential Assistant for Food
Security and Agricultural Modernization under then President Noynoy Aquino and
used to head the Senate Committee on Agriculture and National Food Authority.
He ran for vice president together with
then Vice President Leni Robredo who vied for the presidency in the 2022
elections but was soundly defeated by the tandem of Marcos and his running mate
then Davao City Mayor and now sitting Vice President Mayor Sara Duterte.
NASA insists it will be a near miss with no chance of the
asteroid hitting Earth.
NASA said Wednesday that this newly discovered asteroid will
zoom 2,200 miles (3,600 kilometers) above the southern tip of South America.
That’s 10 times closer than the bevy of communication satellites circling
overhead.
The closest approach will occur at 7:27 p.m. EST (9:27 p.m.
local.)
Even if the space rock came a lot closer, scientists said most
of it would burn up in the atmosphere, with some of the bigger pieces possibly
falling as meteorites.
NASA’s impact hazard assessment system, called Scout, quickly
ruled out a strike, said its developer, Davide Farnocchia, an engineer at the
agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
“But despite the very few observations, it was nonetheless able
to predict that the asteroid would make an extraordinarily close approach with
Earth,” Farnocchia said in a statement. “In fact, this is one of the closest
approaches by a known near-Earth object ever recorded.”
The National Economic and
Development Authority (NEDA) has released the country’s development plan for
this year until 2028, which sets targets on economic growth, unemployment and
poverty reduction as the government aims to bring the economy back on a high
growth path.
Released over the weekend, the Philippine Development Plan (PDP)
for 2023 to 2028 aims for a deep economic and social transformation to promote
job creation and accelerate poverty reduction by steering the economy back on a
high growth path.
“Over the next six years, the development agenda of the
Philippines will be guided by the headline targets that prioritize poverty
reduction and inclusive growth,” the PDP said.
Under the PDP, the aim is
to maintain high levels of economic growth from six to seven percent this year
to 6.5 to eight percent annually from 2024 to 2028.
In the January to September period of 2022, the country’s gross
domestic product (GDP) growth averaged 7.7 percent.
𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐔𝐒$52 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐑 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐄𝐅-8
The Philippines, through the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR), will build resilient, inclusive, and sustainable
communities post-pandemic as it prepares its portfolio of environmental
projects for consideration under the 8th funding replenishment of the Global
Environment Facility (GEF-8).
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