BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces made major gains in the six months since launching the operation to retake Mosul, but the battle for Iraq’s second city and the war against the Islamic State group are far from over. Tough close-quarters fighting in heavily populated areas of Mosul is still ahead, and IS…

IT was my first time to visit Qatar. After a nine-hour flight, my friends and I stepped into a world-class airport and rode a “car lift” (“taxi” in our parlance) to Doha, seeing its gleaming skyscrapers and modern streetlights glow in the night. The words “sleek and modern” came to…

WHILE watching the procession of carrozas with life-sized statues of saints and tableaus depicting the passion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday in Baliuag, Bulacan, the text printed on the T-shirts of a group of participants caught my attention. It said: “He died for me, I’ll live for Him.” The…

THE date April 11, 2017 will be remembered as the day the dreaded kidnap-for-ransom terror organization the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) penetrated Bohol, an island province famous for its tarsiers, Chocolate Hills, and many other tourist attractions. Onboard three pump boats, each powered by two 16hp engines, 11 heavily armed…

OF the seven continents—Africa, Australia, Europe, North and South America—, Australia is the smallest (at 7,692 million square kilometers) but almost as big as the United States of America, and almost 20 percent of this continent is classified as desert. So why is immigration the hottest topic? Precisely because what…

In the first quarter, the Philippine peso depreciated against the US dollar. Internationally, this was attributed to President Duterte’s policies. In reality, it has a lot to do with the expected US rate hikes. But there is a reason why misguided geopolitics now overshadows the Philippines. IN the recent quarter,…

These current headlines are disturbing. “Japan readying for North Korea emergency” “US carrier-led strike group sent to Korean Peninsula” “China warns of ‘storm clouds gathering’ in US-North Korea standoff” “US may launch strike if North Korea reaches for nuclear trigger” “North Korea: Whatever comes, we will handle it.” “North Korea…

This is a week for Christians to review their lives and ask if they practice the values they say they live by. There are of course hundreds of thousands of good, dedicated and committed Catholics who are also great Christians. They are involved in the parish justice and peace, in…

Today, April 16, was the sixth day in 1945 of what had gone down in history as the Bataan Death March. It began on April 10, 1945, a day after Major General Edward King surrendered Bataan to General Masaharu Homma, Commander of the Japanese Expeditionary Forces in the Philippines in…

PARIS: One wants to ban Pokeman Go, another lays claim to knowing France the best of all 11 candidates for president after crisscrossing the country on foot for nine months. But with the main candidates hogging the limelight in a rollercoaster race full of upsets and scandals, the underdogs are…