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Driving trailer trucks is one of the better-paid jobs which have survived the Covid-19 pandemic and more women have been getting behind the wheel. A profession traditionally dominated by men, its doors are slowly opening to wives and mothers who have shattered the gender glass celing. As the job market dries up because of the Covid-19 crisis, many women are looking for secure work with steady pay to supplement the family income, even if it lands them in unfamiliar territory. On her work days, Natthinan Sawasdi, 37, gets into the driver's seat of a 18 or 22-wheel trailer truck belonging to the Mon Transport company based in Laem Chabang port in Chon Buri. She picks up freight from customers, most of them in neighbouring Rayong, and brings it back to the port for export. She covers a distance of around 200km on each return trip, and doesn't find the job too stressful. Employed in October last year, Ms Natthinan said she has grown more confident in handling large trucks and her ... » Learn More about Muscling in on male territory

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Richard Gordon threatened to file plunder charges against transportation officials as he accused the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) of being turned into campaign fundraising centers. Gordon, chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee, said in a Senate radio program on Saturday that he had acceded to the request of Sen. Grace Poe to investigate private motor vehicle inspection centers (PMVICs) after his committee found grave irregularities in LTO operations. Gordon said the committee found ground to file plunder charges after its investigation of two irregular contracts in the supply of license plates and uncovered an alleged conspiracy to set up a monopoly in the sale of motorcycles. “It’s definitely plunder, with such huge amounts,” Gordon said. “P477 million in advance payments—that’s 10 times [the threshold amount for] plunder.” He was referring to the advance payments former LTO officials approved in ... » Learn More about LTO, DOTr execs tagged as campaign fundraisers

It’s more a case of David and Goliath than “Batman v Superman.” Indeed, while the two conflicting parties grappling for their versions of the truth in HBO’s explosive four-part documentary “Allen v. Farrow” are both Hollywood celebrities, you don’t need to be an expert at rocket science to realize just how powerful one is compared to the other. We’re talking about four-time Oscar-winning writer-actor-director Woody Allen (“Annie Hall,” “Manhattan,” “Hannah and Her Sisters”) and his muse-turned-nemesis actress Mia Farrow (“Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Great Gatsby”). In the ’80s and early ’90s, the fabled couple did 13 films together. Woody, who’s now 85 years old, has made a film every year for 40 straight years, and is now preparing to shoot his 51st film—how prolific can you get? Mia Farrow (right) with Ronan (left) and Dylan—PHOTO COURTESY OF HBO Power couple Woody and Mia were considered a Hollywood power couple until their 12-year romance (they never married and lived in ... » Learn More about ‘Allen v. Farrow’: Docu on 29-year-old sexual abuse case a moral reckoning in the age of #MeToo

This year, expect observance of the Allhallowtide season—encompassing Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day—to be a bit different due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since cemeteries were earlier ordered closed on these days, many celebrities have opted to commemorate their loved ones at home. Halloween parties are out of the question, because mass gatherings are still discouraged. And then there are others who will have to spend the holiday at work, stuck in lock-in tapings. But these won’t stop them from observing family traditions, they said. At the end of the day, the occasion is all about honoring departed loved ones and making sure that their memories will live on. And it shouldn’t really matter where or when they do it. Kyline Alcantara Kyline Alcantara I will be working during All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. But nevertheless, I will not forget to say a prayer for my beloved loved ones who passed away. We don’t usually have Halloween parties. Instead, ... » Learn More about A different kind of Allhallowtide season this year, even for these GMA stars

The dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital is calling on Thai people to have faith in Covid-19 vaccines and cooperate with efforts to halt the spread of the virus. Dr. Prasit Watanapa was speaking during a Facebook Live broadcast, saying Thailand needs to build up herd immunity if the virus is to be suppressed. With over 100 million people now vaccinated worldwide, Prasit used his broadcast to update Thais on results so far. He says early findings give cause for optimism, with a decrease in the number of new cases and less harmful side-effects from vaccines. A number of countries have now embarked on huge vaccination programmes, with Israel leading the way. The US has so far vaccinated nearly 7% of its population, the UK has vaccinated nearly 13%, while Israel has vaccinated a massive 34% of its population to date. Prasit says the rate of new infections in the UK has dropped from over 62,300 cases on January 6 to 18,000 currently. The country began its vaccine rollout ... » Learn More about Medical expert calls on Thais to trust vaccines and help control Covid-19

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has assured Filipinos that the government is strengthening its efforts to address higher food prices. “We will continue working to augment the supply of meat, particularly pork, to ensure that Filipinos have access to affordable, nutritious and adequate food,” Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua was quoted as saying in a statement on Friday. This comes after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced that the country’s headline inflation rose to 4.7 percent from January’s 4.2 percent on higher prices of food, especially pork. The acceleration was the fastest since 5.1 percent in December 2018. The NEDA pointed to the continued outbreaks of the African swine fever (ASF) in the country and lower local production of cattle and poultry last year for February’s consumer price growth. Outbreaks of the hog disease that began in Luzon in the second half of 2019 have dampened supply, leading to ... » Learn More about NEDA: Govt bolstering efforts on food inflation

CAIRO: A United Nations humanitarian agency warned that more than 16 million people in Yemen would go hungry this year, with already some half a million people in the war-torn country living in famine-like conditions. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said the risk of large-scale famine in the Arab world’s poorest country “has never been more acute,” adding that the years-long conflict, economic decline and institutional collapse created enormous humanitarian needs in all sectors. The stark warning comes a day before a pledging conference co-hosted by Sweden and Switzerland. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will appeal for $3.85 billion in relief aid for Yemen this year. The response to the UN appeal is unlikely to meet expectations, given that the coronavirus pandemic and its devastating consequences hit economies around the globe. Wealthy Gulf donors such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which contributed generously to ... » Learn More about Famine stalks 16M people in Yemen

ADDIS ABABA: United Nations leaders on Thursday (Friday in Manila) alleged possible crimes against humanity in Ethiopia’s Tigray region including by Eritrean troops, as they urged a pullout by the neighboring country, which denies involvement. The UN also warned of potentially catastrophic hunger as it pleaded for urgent humanitarian access, although divisions at the Security Council stopped the international community from showing a common front. A week after Amnesty International said that Eritrean troops massacred hundreds of people, the UN rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, joined calls for an investigation. Her office said it had corroborated information about incidents including indiscriminate shelling in the regional capital of Mekele and towns of Humera and Adigrat in November when Ethiopia launched an offensive. It had also verified “reports of grave human rights violations and abuses including mass killings in Axum and in Dengelat in central Tigray by Eritrean armed ... » Learn More about UN blasts Tigray for war crimes vs humanity

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo received the country's first Covid-19 jab on Wednesday, as the government kicked off a mass vaccination drive to clamp down on soaring case rates. In a procedure broadcast live on television, the 59-year-old leader, was inoculated at the state palace along with his health minister and several senior officials, as well as business and religious leaders. "I don't feel it at all," he said with a laugh after receiving the injection, the first of two required. He will get the second at a later date. This week, domestic regulators approved a Covid-19 vaccine produced by China's Sinovac, announcing that its efficacy stood at a relatively low 65.3 percent, according to tests performed in Indonesia. The Muslim-majority nation's top religious body also approved the vaccine as halal -- meaning permissible under Islam -- in a move that could help convince wary citizens. Previous vaccination drives have met resistance among some segments of the country's ... » Learn More about President Jokowi gets first coronavirus jab

Medics battled exhaustion and the risk of Covid-19 as they raced Monday to treat scores of people injured by a devastating earthquake in West Sulawesi. At least 81 people were killed and thousands left homeless by the powerful 6.2-magnitude quake that struck early Friday, reducing buildings to a tangled mass of twisted metal and chunks of concrete in the seaside city of Mamuju. Masked doctors treated patients with broken limbs and other injuries at a makeshift medical centre set up outside the only one of the city's hospitals that survived the quake relatively intact. "The patients keep coming," Nurwardi, manager of operations at Mamuju's West Sulawesi General Hospital, told AFP earlier. "This is the only hospital operating in the city. Many need surgery but we have limited resources and medicine." The open-air triage centre was desperately short of staff, and those on hand worked frantically despite the risk of contracting coronavirus. The hospital was scrambling to open ... » Learn More about Medics in West Sulawesi overwhelmed by quake casualties