After spending two years in hospitals in occupied East Jerusalem where they had been receiving treatment, 76 Palestinian patients and their attendants were unable to return to Gaza due to Israeli restrictions.
Published On 18 Nov 2025
The senator claimed on Monday that her brother had a cocaine addiction that had impacted his rule and sloppy decision-making.
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The president’s spokesperson, communications undersecretary Claire Castro, dismissed the allegations as being unfounded and described them as repeat accusations that have been refuted for a long time.
Senator Imee told a sizable crowd at a religious organization’s rally in Manila that her brother’s drug use began during Ferdinand Marcos Sr’s presidency, which lasted from 1965 to 1986, and continues to this day.
Without providing evidence, she claimed that the president’s addiction contributed to a “flood of corruption, the lack of direction, and very wrong decisions, as well as the absence of accountability and justice.” She also claimed that the president’s wife and kids were drug users.
Castro criticized the senator for not speaking out against former president Rodrigo Duterte, who has acknowledged past use of fentanyl and who, in the eyes of some, may be connected to corruption along with his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. Both parties have denied any wrongdoing.
His campaign manager released reports from a private hospital and the national police laboratory that showed Marcos Jr. had a cocaine and methamphetamine test negative results when he was running for president in 2021.
Imee’s statements have been disregarded by Castro as a distraction from ongoing inquiries into a corruption scandal involving flood control projects that might involve some of her Senate allies.
Sen. Imee, I congratulate you on helping with the investigation your own brother has been conducting, and condemn all those who are corrupt, Castro said. Don’t support or conceal them. Let President Marcos put an end to corruption.
The Marcos administration is looking into allegations of corruption related to phony flood control initiatives that have cost taxpayers billions of pesos. Officials are accused of pocketing payments from contracts to build tens of thousands of flood defenses, many of which were never constructed or were constructed in poor quality.
According to the Department of Finance, corruption in flood control projects will cause the Philippine economy to lose up to 118.5 billion pesos ($2 billion) between 2023 and 2025. According to the nation’s minister of economic planning, up to 70% of the public’s flood control funds may have been lost since the scandal emerged.
The Philippines has experienced more than 20 storms this year, which adds to the crisis. Typhoon Fung-wong, which displaced 1.4 million people and killed 28 others, was most recently responsible for the deaths of at least 269 people in early November, according to Typhoon Kalmaegi.
On Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Manila to demand accountability from the government, including Marcos’ allies. Hunderts of thousands of people showed up for the three-day rally organized by the influential Philippine religious group Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), which disrupted offices, roads, and schools.
By the end of the year, Marcos has promised that the scandal’s officials would be subject to legal action. There won’t be a happy Christmas for them, he declared.
In 2022, the INC had supported Marcos and Sara Duterte’s candidacies. The INC has since switched its support to Duterte, the vice president, following a disagreement between Marcos and Sara Duterte.
Nearly 100 days after the inquiry began, no notable arrests have been made despite the formation of a panel to look into alleged corruption. The crackdown was seen by Marcos as part of a wider effort for accountability and transparency, which his father’s father was accused of having experienced.
After his emails with the scandalous financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were made public, former Harvard president Larry Summers has apologized and said he will step down from the public life.
“I feel incredibly sorry for my actions and am aware of the harm they have caused.” In a statement released by CBS News on Monday, Summers said, “I take full responsibility for my foolish decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”
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As part of my wider effort to rekindle trust and repair relationships with the people who are most important to me, he said, “I will be stepping back from public commitments while continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations.”
In response to ongoing inquiries regarding the former financier’s relationship with President Donald Trump, the 20, 000 pages of documents obtained from Epstein’s estate and released last week by the US House Committee on Oversight included the emails.
In August 2019, Epstein committed suicide while the charges of sex trafficking were pending. He previously received a light 13-month sentence after being found guilty in 2008 of scheming against a minor for prostitution and soliciting prostitution. Epstein had regular contact with celebrities, world leaders, and famous people like Summers prior to his downfall in 2019.
Between Epstein and Summers’ emails, which run from at least 2017 to 2019, cover a variety of subjects, including Trump’s first presidency and personal matters.
Following a Washington Post article about Barrack Jr’s relationship with both Trump and political lobbyist Paul Manafort, Summers advises Epstein in an email from 2017 that his “pal,” billionaire Thomas Barrack Jr., should not be covered by the media.
He wrote, “The public link to Manafort will be disastrous.” This is an incredible]expletive show.
Summers emails Epstein about getting a ticket to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which Epstein appears to decline in another December 2018 email.
Summers previously served as President Barack Obama’s adviser and as the Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton. He also held the position of Harvard’s president from 2001 to 2006 when he was forced to step down over remarks suggesting that women were less adept at math and science because of biological differences.
According to NBC News, he has previously held positions such as chair of the OpenAI board and distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. After leaving, he remained a Harvard professor.
Summers’ emails to Epstein show that he still believes in his views on women more than ten years later. Epstein wrote in an October 2017 email about an event that featured “a lot of slathering to Saudis” that he “yipped about inclusion.”
Without mentioning that women make up more than 51% of the population, he wrote in the email to Epstein.
Summers appeared unsatisfied with the wave of resignations over sexual and personal misconduct by US public figures in another email from the same month.
In the email to Epstein, he wrote, “I’m trying to figure out why the American elite thinks that if you murder your baby by beating and abandonment it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard, but you hit on a few women ten years ago and can’t work at a network or think tank.”
He and Epstein go over the details of their relationship with a female coworker in another email exchange that occurred late in November and early December 2018, and how Summers should handle the circumstance.
“Think for now that I’m only going to be with her as an economics mentor.” I believe I’m currently in the “seeed very warmly in rearview mirror” category. She was “tired,” so she didn’t want to have a drink. I abruptly left the hotel lobby. Summers wrote to Epstein in a letter to him that made him believe that he was avoiding a bullet.
Published On 18 Nov 2025
Due to an escalating diplomatic row over Taiwan, Chinese film distributors have suspended the release of two Japanese anime movies.
Super Hot! Crayon Shin-chan the movie The Hot Kasukabe Cells and Dancers at Work! will not be screened as originally scheduled in mainland China, according to the state-run CCTV of China.
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Following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion that Tokyo might use force militarily if China attempted to overthrow Taiwan, the move comes at a time when Tokyo and Beijing’s relationship are at their lowest point in years.
According to CCTV, distributors made the “prudent” decision to postpone the releases in light of the Chinese audience’s perception of the Japanese films overall.
Film distributors claimed Takaichi’s “provocative remarks” would unavoidably affect Chinese viewers’ perceptions of Japanese films, according to CCTV. They also stated that the companies would “follow market principles and respect audience preferences” by halting the release dates.
The postponements allegedly complied with a well-known playbook in Chinese statecraft, according to Edith Cowan University’s expert in economic coercion, Naoise McDonagh.
According to McDonagh, “China is typically careful to target trade that is not necessary for China, but which will have a significant impact on Japanese firms, causing both financial costs and symbolic pressure,” McDonagh said.
According to McDonagh, these incidents give Beijing the ability to “assign some degree of influence” on other governmental decision-making processes that affect China’s red line by signaling that parties who violate its interests will pay costs.
Beijing responded to Takaichi’s comments with a number of retaliatory measures, including a warning against visiting Japan and deploying warships in waters close to the disputed Senkaku Islands, with the delayed film releases.
Japan issued its own travel advisory for China on Monday, instructing its citizens to observe local customs, stay away from crowd-clogged locations, and use caution when speaking with Chinese people.
Minoru Kihara, the head of Japan’s cabinet, stated to a regular media briefing on Tuesday that its recommendations were based on “the social circumstances” of various nations, and that its most recent statement reflected recent reports about the tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.
After Beijing claimed that Chinese Premier Li Qiang had no plans to meet Takaichi on the eve of the G20 summit this weekend in South Africa, Kihara added that Tokyo had an “open stance” on dialogue with China.
In a bid to ease conflict between the countries, Kihara made the remarks as Masaaki Kanai, Japan’s top official for Asia-Pacific affairs, met with Liu Jinsong on Tuesday in Beijing.
Taiwan, which China calls home, is considered to be a part of its territory and has pledged to “reunify” it with the Chinese mainland, using force if necessary.
Due to the island’s close proximity to Japanese territory and its proximity to international waters, Japan is concerned about China’s position on Taiwan.
Published On 18 Nov 2025
