MANILA (Reuters) — Senator and boxer Manny Pacquiao on Tuesday sued for libel an influential celebrity evangelist followed by millions of Filipinos, after he accused the eight-division world champion of embezzling funds intended for a $70 million sports complex.

HONG KONG (Reuters) —  Shares of Macau casino operators plummeted as much as a third on Wednesday, losing about $18 billion in value, as the government kicked off a regulatory overhaul that could see its officials supervising companies in the world's largest gambling hub.

MANILA (Reuters) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered members of his cabinet to get his consent before appearing at Senate investigations, fueling accusations from activists and some politicians of an attempt to stifle scrutiny.

PALIKIR, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services) — On Sept. 14, 2021, Teresa Filepin, consul general of the Federated States of Micronesia based in the U.S. Territory of Guam, sent a request to the FSM Department of Foreign Affairs for the consulate to be temporarily closed, with its staff revert…

MANILA (Reuters) — The Philippines' capital region will exit wide-scale coronavirus restrictions from Thursday, as the government launches a pilot test of localized lockdowns, amid efforts to balance reopening the economy and containing the spread of the coronavirus.

MANILA (AFP) — Classrooms in the Philippines were silent on Monday as millions of schoolchildren hunkered down at home for a second year of remote lessons that experts fear will worsen an educational “crisis.”

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam lost eight people this weekend and another life earlier this month, raising the island's death toll related to the Covid-19 pandemic to 168, according to the government of Guam.

(Reuters) — North Korea carried out successful tests of a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend, state media said on Monday, seen by analysts as possibly the country's first such weapon with a nuclear capability.

MANILA (Reuters) — Several communities remain flooded and without power after a strong typhoon battered the Philippines' northernmost islands, the authorities said on Sunday, displacing thousands of people.

PALIKIR, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services) — A three-person team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently wrapped up a three-week trip to Kosrae State in the Federated States of Micronesia, during which they were able to work closely with Kosrae State Government, th…

TARAWA (TAK) — The Tourism Authority of Kiribati has welcomed the announcement of Kiribati President  Taneti Maamau on his government’s decision to open Kiribati national borders from January 2022.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam lost four more lives on Sept. 8, raising the island’s death toll linked to Covid-19 to 159, the Joint Information Center confirmed Friday evening.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Wednesday there was a need for a comprehensive review of his country's alliance with the United States, complaining Manila got less from its relationship with Washington than non-treaty allies despite growing pressu…

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) — A misinformation campaign on social media in support of Chinese government interests has expanded to new languages and platforms, and it even tried to get people to show up to protests in the United States, researchers said on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) — Hundreds of millions of children in South Asian are suffering because their schools have been closed because of the coronavirus but they lack online devices and connections for remote learning, UNICEF said on Thursday.

AUCKLAND (RNZ Pacific/Pacnews) — The Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police network says one of the biggest challenges countries in the region face with drugs washing up on their shores is geography and that Covid-19 could be making recruitment easier for drug traffickers.

KOROR (Island Times/Pacnews) — The two identified Covid-19 positive cases have recovered and released from hospital after testing negative two times, 24 hours apart after nearly 14 days in quarantine according to Palau's Ministry of Health & Human Services.

NOUMEA (RNZ Pacific/Pacnews) — New Caledonia has detected three cases of Covid-19 in the community and ordered a two-week lockdown from midday Tuesday.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam's Covid-19-related deaths increased by two to 153 and the number of hospitalized patients went up to 63 on Tuesday.

SYDNEY (Reuters) — Covid-19 daily infections in Sydney fell for a third straight day on Tuesday but still lingered near record levels as the outbreak spurred a spike in vaccination rates in the hard-hit western suburbs of Australia's largest city.

SEOUL (Reuters) —  South Korea has test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine or SLBM, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday, becoming the first country without nuclear weapons to develop such a capability.

SEOUL (Reuters) — North Korea has elevated a general long seen as a rising star in the country's powerful military and a major player in its missile program to a position in the presidium of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea or WPK politburo, state media reported on Tuesday.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam's latest wave of Covid-19 cases is becoming so severe that hospital beds are starting to run out, daily numbers of new cases hover between 100 and 200, and both the unvaccinated and fully vaccinated are ending up at hospitals, but the Delta variant is jus…

PALIKIR, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services) — On Sept. 6, 2021, and per the advice of the Covid-19 Task Force, FSM President David W. Panuelo extended the mandatory Guam-based pre-quarantine for repatriating citizens and residents to 10 days from its previous requirement of seven  days.

PAPE'ETE (AP/Pacnews) — It's France's latest challenge in juggling resources to battle the pandemic in former colonies that stretch around the world.

MANILA (Reuters) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday denied allegations that medical supplies like personal protective equipment and face masks were overpriced, lashing out at lawmakers probing government officials over emergency purchases last year.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Elizabeth Toves Kang has been trying to get old vehicles left by people unknown to her off of her CHamoru Land Trust lot in Dededo.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) — Australia reported 1,684 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday as authorities race ahead with vaccinations in a bid to end lockdowns on the populous southeast coast in the hope of making Christmas as close to normal as possible.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam’s 151st Covid-19-related fatality occurred at Guam Regional Medical City at approximately 8:36 a.m. Thursday, the Joint Information Center reported Friday evening.

HAGÅTÑA (Pacific Island Times) — While many lament the tragic end to the two-decade U.S. operations in Afghanistan following the return of the Taliban, Guam soldiers who served tours of duty in the war-torn nation see the silver lining.

MANILA (Reuters) —  Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte's daughter has named several politicians, including her father's closest aide and preferred successor, whom she said have offered to run with her in next year's presidential election.

POHNPEI (AP/Pacnews) —  Federated States of Micronesia President David Panuelo said Wednesday he’ll continue to walk around his island nation without fear, despite an alleged death threat against him over his government’s vaccine mandate.

(U.S. Department of Justice-Office of Public Affairs) — The Justice Department announced Thursday that it has filed suit against the Territory of Guam and the Guam Retirement Fund or GRF alleging defendants violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 or USE…

MANILA (Reuters) — Scores of healthcare workers protested in the Philippine capital on Wednesday to demand an end to what they called government neglect and unpaid benefits, as pressure builds at hospitals fighting one of Asia's longest-running coronavirus epidemics.

TAIPEI (Reuters) —  China's armed forces can "paralyze" Taiwan's defenses and are able to fully monitor its deployments, the island's defense ministry said, offering a stark assessment of the rising threat posed by its giant neighbor.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Singapore's high court ordered two news bloggers to pay Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong a combined S$370,000 ($275,113) in damages on Wednesday, over an article about the status of the home of his late father and the city-state's modern-day founder, Lee Kuan Yew.

MANILA (Reuters) — A row between rival factions in the Philippines's ruling party escalated on Sunday when a group led by boxing star Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao tried to remove President Rodrigo Duterte from his role as party chairman by electing their own.

CANBERRA (Reuters) — Australia will receive 500,000 doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine from Singapore this week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday, after Canberra agreed a swap deal in a bid to curtail surging coronavirus infections.

TOKYO (Reuters) — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is set to replace an unpopular long-term ally as he seeks to shore up support ahead of a party leadership election he must win before the general election planned for October, media said on Tuesday.

MANILA (Reuters) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's long-time aide has rejected the endorsement of the ruling party to run as its candidate in the May 2022 elections, a development that some analysts said may open the way for Duterte's daughter to stand.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) — New Zealand reported its first recorded death linked to U.S. drugmaker Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine, the health ministry said on Monday, after a woman suffered a rare side effect leading to inflammation of her heart muscle.

SUVA (Pacnews) — Fiji has recorded 396 new cases of Covid-19 Sunday, increasing the total number of cases 45,957 and 477 death since the outbreak in April.

MANILA (Reuters) — Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has lengthened coronavirus restrictions in the capital region and some provinces, his spokesperson said on Saturday, as the Southeast Asian nation logged a new record in daily Covid-19 infections.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — As Guam's recent Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations rates have gone from bad to worse, coupled with mandatory vaccination executive orders, the number of people lining up to get vaccinated has gotten longer than usual.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A man was recently arrested and criminally charged in connection with a Facebook post threatening to assassinate President David W. Panuelo of the Federated States of Micronesia over the defendant's objection to the Covid-19 mandate in the island nation, the F…

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam's Covid-19 Area Risk Score nearly quadrupled from 7.7 more than a week ago to 23.4 on Wednesday as the number of hospitalized patients and new infections increased further, according to data from the government of Guam's Joint Information Center.

MANILA (Reuters) — Philippine activists and the families of victims in a drug war that has killed thousands view with dread the possibility of President Rodrigo Duterte staying on as vice president for six more years after his time in the top job ends next year.

SEOUL (Reuters) — South Korea reported 20 Covid-19 deaths for Wednesday, the highest daily count this year, as the number of severe cases more than doubled since the current and worst wave of infections began in July.