DENPASAR: Thousands of Balinese braved pandemic restrictions and flooded the streets of the resort island’s capital on Friday to send off the king in a lavish cremation ceremony.

MANILA: Presidential bets expressed frustration over the result of the opposition’s unification talks before the filing of candidacy for the 2022 elections but said they would be open to take part in unification talks again should the opportunity arise.

MANILA: An offshore earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 hit Davao Oriental province in the southern Philippines on Sunday afternoon, reported Xinhua.

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations said destruction caused by Typhoon Rai in the Philippines had been “badly underestimated” in initial assessments, tripling the number of people “seriously affected” to nine million.

MANILA: A faction of administration party PDP-Laban announced Friday that it has adopted Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio (pic, right) as its vice presidential candidate for the upcoming elections, but opted not to back any presidential bet as it said it is still evaluating contenders for Malacañang.

JAKARTA: The Indonesian Health Ministry reported that confirmed cases of Omicron in Indonesia had totalled 882 as of Thursday morning, largely constituting foreign travellers coming from Saudi Arabia.

MANILA: Nine police officers are set to face criminal charges over the killing of Calbayog City, Samar Mayor Ronaldo Aquino and some of his staff members in March last year.

JAKARTA: An Indonesian court sentenced an Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militant to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for his role in the 2002 bombings that killed more than 200 people on the resort island of Bali.

MANILA: A lawmaker in the House of Representatives is pushing for an inquiry into the controversial “no vaccination, no ride” policy of the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

MANILA: Presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (pic) will be part of the final list of candidates for the May 9, 2022 polls, an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said .