Author: user user

Thai teen sensation Nene Royal is ‘America’s Got Talent’ season 21 champion

Thailand’s teenage guitar sensation Nene Royal won the US$1-million top prize on ‘America’s Got Talent’ (AGT), capping a viral run that made the 16-year-old a national celebrity and drew support from across her home country.

Rattikarn Amloy – better known by her stage name Nene Royal – was crowned the winner during the live results show on Sept 23, beating nine other finalists after emerging as the clear favorite before the finale.

During the final on Sept 22, she did a rendition of American rock duo The White Stripes’ 2003 track ‘Seven Nation Army,’ accompanying herself on guitar.

‘You should win. Give her the million, America,’ judge Howie Mandel said after the performance.

Fellow judge Melanie Brown praised Nene’s ‘mysterious, mystical stage presence’ before adding: ‘You’re from the best place in the world: Phuket, Thailand. I love to go there.’

Nene’s victory caps a rapid rise that began with a swaggering rendition of The Cranberries’ Zombie, tearing through the song on guitar.

The audition amassed more than 200 million views across AGT’s official online platforms, more than any other act this season.

Nene’s run sparked an outpouring of support in Thailand, where her international profile drew backing from some of the country’s most powerful business and political figures.

Among her most prominent corporate supporters was billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, patriarch of one of Asia’s wealthiest families. His Charoen Pokphand Foods rented space on a giant screen in New York’s Times Square to feature Nene alongside messages of support from Thai fans ahead of the live rounds.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul also threw his support behind Nene, directing tourism officials to explore ways to promote the teenage guitarist.

He also hosted her at Government House, where she played guitar while he sang a Thai rock song. Officials have discussed featuring her in campaigns promoting the country’s ‘Amazing Thailand’ tourism brand.

Her victory comes as Thailand increasingly looks to entertainment and popular culture to bolster its global profile and tourism appeal.

HBO’s The White Lotus (2021 to present) recently showcased the country’s luxury resorts and tropical scenery to an international audience in its third season, spurring interest in its Thai filming locations.

For Nene, the US$1-million prize marks a remarkable ascent from the Phuket night market where she once played for donations.

She started playing at age seven on a 1,600-baht (S$61) guitar, a considerable expense for her family at a time when her father earned just over 10,000 baht a month. To help pay for lessons, he encouraged her to perform at the market.

After her performance in Tuesday’s final, Nene reflected on how far she had come.

‘I was so young when I touched the guitar,’ she said. ‘I was thinking, in my mind, I was like ‘I really want to become a rock star.’ My dream comes true.’

Philippine Treasury scales back upcoming retail T-bond sale

The Marcos administration is cutting the size of its upcoming retail Treasury bond (RTB) sale by more than half from last year amid elevated yields and several auctions still lined up for the rest of 2026.

This is according to National Treasurer Sharon Almanza, who said the notice of offering could be released soon, subject to market conditions.

RTBs are government securities that can be purchased by small investors, with the minimum investment typically set at P5,000.

‘We are not going to raise the usual volume that we’ve been raising in the past. It will definitely be lower by more than half from last year’s new money,’ Almanza told reporters on the sidelines of the Department of Finance’s Senate budget hearing.

‘We still have many auctions for the rest of the year. With our position right now, we don’t need a bigger volume,’ she added.

Last year, the Bureau of the Treasury raised P425.51 billion in new money from its 31st RTB offering, which carried a five-year tenor and a 6-percent annual coupon.

If the Treasury cuts the amount by more than half, the new-money target for the upcoming RTB could fall below P200 billion, although Almanza did not give a specific target.

As of end-July, the government had already raised around P1.55 trillion through Treasury bills and bonds. This leaves the Treasury about P371 billion left to raise under its P1.92-trillion gross domestic borrowing program for 2026.

The Treasury has yet to release its fourth-quarter auction schedule and target amounts. It typically holds at least four auctions each month for both Treasury bills and Treasury bonds, giving it other avenues to raise funds for the remainder of the year.

Aside from RTBs, Almanza said the Treasury was also exploring another retail dollar bond (RDB) before the end of the year as existing RDBs mature

Treasury data showed that one RDB worth P69.28 billion is due on Oct. 8, tagged with a 1.375-percent coupon.

Biliran school threat prompts tighter security in Eastern Visayas

Police have tightened security around schools across Eastern Visayas after discovering a threat letter at the Biliran Province State University (BiPSU) campus in Naval.

This development came as authorities remain on heightened alert over campus violence following recent school shootings in Tacloban City and South Cotabato.

Authorities found the threat letter inside the BiPSU Student Center on Tuesday, prompting the university’s Crisis Management Team, Naval Municipal Police Station (MPS), and the Biliran Police Provincial Office to respond and conduct a security assessment.

Naval Mayor Gretchen Stephanie Espina also convened a coordination meeting with police, the Biliran Forensic Unit, and BiPSU President Victor Canezo Jr. An emergency meeting with the parents and teachers association was held to brief parents on the incident.

Authorities are continuing their investigation into the threat letter. No other details about its contents or the circumstances surrounding its discovery have been released.

The Biliran incident comes amid heightened concern over school violence following the June 22 shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, where three students were killed and several others wounded.

On Sept. 18, another school shooting at Banga National High School in South Cotabato left two students and the alleged 16-year-old gunman dead and several others injured.

The South Cotabato shooting was followed by reports of online threats against schools, including an alleged threat to carry out a shooting at a school in neighboring Sultan Kudarat.

In Biliran, Naval police had also earlier responded to a separate report of an alleged plan by unidentified high school students to carry out a shooting at the BiPSU Laboratory High School.

Naval MPS coordinated with the BiPSU Crisis Management Team, laboratory high school faculty, and the Dalangpan Team of the Naval local government to assess and validate the report.

Police Regional Office 8 (PRO-8) director PBGen. Romano Cardiño said police units in the region have been directed to treat reports of threats against schools with urgency and to coordinate with school authorities and local governments.

‘The safety of our learners is a shared responsibility,’ Cardiño said in a statement, urging parents and guardians to closely monitor their children’s activities, behavior, and interactions, and to report any unusual or concerning information immediately.

‘Every report deserves our attention, and through early reporting and coordinated action, we can prevent threats from escalating and help keep our schools safe,’ he added.

PRO-8 said police units are increasing their visibility around schools, maintaining regular communication with school officials and strengthening mechanisms for the prompt reporting and assessment of security concerns.

The regional police office is also coordinating with the Department of Education, local government units and other concerned agencies to ensure that reports of possible threats are promptly relayed, assessed and acted upon.

Authorities reminded the public to report suspicious activities or objects and avoid spreading unverified information that could cause unnecessary alarm./

Electoral violence and disunity: Backward to the future – 2

Awolowo’s appointment as vice chairman of the Federal Executive council in 1967 was to help the military prosecute the civil war determinedly. Awolowo had right to be bitter against his enemies but he did not show it as a disciplined man. He however allowed himself to be put in a tight corner when he defended the federal blockade of Biafra during the civil war which led to starvation of the struggling people of Biafra. In spite of all attempts to bridge the East-West divide in Nigeria, it has not been possible. The Igbo and the Yoruba have always been on opposite sides in Nigerian politics. The Igbo supported Shehu Shagari and Alex Ekwueme became vice president after the military left power in 1979 but when Moshood Abiola won the presidential election in 1993, the Igbo elite were not on his side until the poor man was murdered in military detention. When Jonathan was in power, the Igbo elite ensured the absence of the Yoruba from the government. The Yoruba joined other disgruntled Nigerians to bring Buhari into democratic power in 2015 and 2019 but unfortunately to the disappointment of everybody.

The Igbo blamed the Yoruba for all the evil of the Buhari regime especially his nepotism and religious and regional bias in his appointments. One can therefore understand the anger of the Igbo in the fact of the Tinubu candidacy in 2023. But the question to ask is whether Tinubu’s contest of the 2023 election was necessarily against Igbo interest.

There were two political parties in Nigeria, the APC and the PDP. Because of putting all their eggs in one basket, the Igbo were marginally represented in the APC as they have pitched their tent for the past 23 years with the PDP. It was in this situation that Tinubu emerged the presidential flagbearer of the APC and, against the PDP’s unwritten rotational constitution, Abubakar Atiku the former vice president bulldozed his way into being the presidential card carrier of the PDP. This was his third time of being a presidential flag carrier of a major party. He ran against Buhari in 2019 and Peter Obi was his running mate. Realizing his failure to win the ticket in the PDP, Obi went over to Labour Party as a born again socialist even though he is a self-declared billionaire. Millions of young people flocked to him as a liberator from the deadweight of the two existing parties the PDP and the APC. Democracy is not necessarily defined by elections, but in fact by the rule of law, independent institutions, free press and right of free association and religion are as important as periodic elections in a democracy. But to have a thriving democracy, everyone must abide by the rules of engagement and accept the decision of the electorate as announced by the electoral umpire.

This is where we are today with a disunited country underlapped by existing festering sore of tribalism and ethnic hatred complicated by fight for territorial sovereignty and group rights. This has become the usual scenario in our country where losers always say they have been rigged out and their mandates have been stolen. A bevy of lawyers encourages them to feel this way and that the courts would eventually declare them winners. The lawyers do this out of enlightened self-interest and for the huge Naira harvest they expect to reap. Most times the courts uphold the decision of the electorate. Sometimes the courts’ decisions favour those who lost at the polls. The acrimony surrounding the elections of 2023 has been at the greatest decibel that I have ever heard since I have witnessed electoral contest in Nigeria. The anger has been laced with ethnic jingoism bordering sometimes on call to arms by the losing candidates and their ethnic cohorts. One would have thought that anybody contesting an election should have known that the probability of losing is a possibility. But it seems that Nigerian politicians are the worst kind of people in the world because they go into elections with wrong motives and bank on the certainty of winning to the extent that some borrow money or sell properties just to contest elections and when they lose, they will want to bring the entire state structure down on everybody’s heads including those of the electorate.

I grew up in a political home and I can assert that this tendency is a new thing to me. Any casual reading of the last election cannot but come to the conclusion that it was the most competitive election we have had in this country. What followed were calls for cancellation, even asking the military to take over or secession. I would have dismissed these vituperations but for the fact that they came from very senior ethnic jingoists who have served at the higher echelons of the federal government just because their ethnic cohorts lost election which, on all grounds of probability, they could not have won. Politics is a game of numbers. It is also a matter of aggregating interests and coalitions to pursue such interests in a peaceful way. Sometimes in the heat of the competition, less disciplined and knowledgeable people get carried away and misbehave but that is not sufficient grounds to throw away the baby with the bath water. Issuing threats of planned disruptions of constitutional process is not the way forward.

What the 2023 election and its aftermath have taught many of us is that we are probably not ready to abide with democratic practices and principles guiding electoral competition. The second lesson, I think, we should all learn is that, we as a people, are still the same as Awolowo described us in his 1947 book with the title of Path to Nigerian Freedom that ‘there are no Nigerians as there are French or Germans and that Nigeria is ‘a geographical expression’. The man who became the first and last prime minister of the federation of Nigeria in 1957, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa also agreed with Awolowo that ‘Nigeria was a British intention’. When the politically ebullient Nnamdi Azikiwe told the leader of the Northern Peoples Congress, NPC, Ahmadu Bello on the eve of independence in 1960, that Southern and Northern Nigerians should forget their differences, he was quietly told that ‘they should not forget their differences but they should rather understand them’. These comments were pregnant with meaning for the post-independence Nigeria and even for now.

I am a beneficiary of the size of Nigeria. I will always favour preserving the federation as a going proposition but not at all cost and at the expense of the people’s happiness. My best friends are not Yoruba people and I have people I cared very much for outside Yorubaland. I have had to endure being subjected to ethnic recrimination if not outright hatred because somebody from my ethnic cohort won an election in a plural country. I want this country to succeed but it is not through insults and bullying that the country can be united. I would like us to give every ethnic group or nation because we are actually a multinational country, with equal right to hold the highest position in the country without weaponising region and ethnicity to accomplish it. I also would like to keep all my non-Yoruba friends without fear that there is an undeclared mistrust between us because of being born in two different ethnic groups, a situation that we could not control. This is why we have to come up with a grundnorm that will preserve individual territorial interest within an overarching federal structure and sovereignty.

I would like our leaders to eliminate the possibility of my children and other Nigerians holding each other in contempt or disrespect because of the birth places of their parents. I do not want any group to be subject to group ethnic abuse and hatred and anything that can be done to prevent this should be done. This will include education right from kindergarten to university on civility and respect for individual and group territorial rights as well as constitutional device to loosen up the country instead of unity at the point of the gun that has been pointed to our heads since 1966. To start with, our government must do whatever it can to control the social media to prevent them from plunging the country into ethnic war on the scale of what happened in Burundi and Rwanda.

Unfortunately the mainstream media are beginning to source their information from the social media. Unfortunately this feeds foreign media which is then given back to us as revealed wisdom! Media without control cannot be justified on the grounds of their fundamental human rights and democratic rights to express themselves. There can be no absolute rights in an explosive situation where lives and society itself are threatened. There must be a state of people living in peace before they can enjoy democracy!

AAF holds classic car exhibition during Formula 1 weekend

A classic car exhibition is being held at the Seaside National Park as part of the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which is being hosted by Baku for the 10th time.

The exhibition is organized by the Azerbaijan Automobile Federation (AAF).

Visitors can view the retro cars at the Formula 1 fan zone during the race weekend.

Complementing the speed and excitement of Formula 1, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey through different eras of automotive history.

Asian Games: PH mixed 4×400 relay reaches final with national record

The Philippine mixed 4×400-meter relay team broke the national record and advanced to the final of the Asian Games 2026 athletics competition on Thursday.

Naomi Kaylia Johnson, Michael del Prado, Gabriel Borado and Victoria Bossong clocked 3 minutes, 19.68 seconds in Round 1 Heat 1 at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium.

The time lowered the Philippine record of 3:22.53 set by Del Prado, Jessel Lumapas, Frederick Ramirez and Maureen Schrijvers on July 15, 2023.

The Filipinos finished fourth in their heat and eighth overall, edging Sri Lanka by 0.13 seconds for the final qualifying spot.

Bahrain topped the qualifying (3:15.73), followed by China (3:15.97) and Vietnam (3:16.08).

The Philippines will return to the track at 9:15 p.m. for the final, where it will start in Lane 3.

The ‘sari-sari’ store as bastion of community healthcare

Medicine should never feel out of reach. Yet for many Filipinos, a trip to the pharmacy can mean literally crossing mountains and streams for a handful of tablets.

In a remote sitio in Barangay Kalawakan, Bulacan, for instance, getting to the nearest pharmacy can mean traveling almost a dozen kilometers without public transportation. A single trip to town can cost more than P400 one way. For some, the only alternative is to walk-a trek that takes well over an hour, even in good weather.

So they go to the ‘sari-sari’ store near them.

A new study by Ateneo de Manila University researchers explores sari-sari stores as potential points of access to medicine and healthcare, leveraging their ubiquity and accessibility within local communities.

The study, ‘Sari-sari Stores as Community Pharmacies? A Qualitative Exploration of Sari-sari Stores Selling Medicines in the Philippines,’ by Melissa Louise Prieto, Gamaliel Galigao, Ana Rica Navarra-Cruz, Louise Gabriel Jimenez, and Gideon Lasco, was published in the August 2026 issue of the Acta Medica Philippina journal.

Almost invisible

The study shows that most of the medicines sold by sari-sari store owners are for common illnesses: headaches, diarrhea, fever, colds, and stomachaches. The drugs include familiar over-the-counter, nonprescription medicines sold in small quantities, like paracetamol, mefenamic acid, ibuprofen, and loperamide.

Such a scene is ordinary enough to be almost invisible: A neighbor walks up to the nearest sari-sari store, asks the ‘tindera’ (seller) for a few tablets, purchases them piecemeal or ‘tingi-tingi,’ then goes home.

Yet behind this familiar transaction is a larger story of proximity, affordability, and formal healthcare gaps in communities.

‘The sari-sari store, as a venue to observe interactions between the consumers, the government, and the medical and pharmaceutical world, shows us its social, political, and economic relevance,’ the researchers write.

The study draws on ethnographic insights from interviews with 14 sari-sari store sellers. The findings show that distance is a major factor why some store owners choose to sell medicines: In communities without nearby pharmacies, keeping common medicines within reach can save residents the cost and time of traveling to town.

The same is true of store hours: One seller said they kept the store open until midnight to make medicines available hours after the town pharmacy had closed for the day.

The sellers, serving as the eyes and ears of their communities, learn which medicines people ask for, what they can afford, and what their neighborhood tends to need. Some begin selling medicines after noticing demand from the people around them. They adapt to the communities they serve.

Healing, comfort

‘Sari-sari stores bring valued ‘things’ in close proximity to the people who look to them for healing and comfort,’ the researchers say.

This is where the sari-sari store becomes more than just a place to buy medicine. Embedded in everyday Filipino life, the stores reveal how people rely on informal systems of care alongside formal institutions.

Yet the study also reveals the boundaries of the services these sari-sari stores offer. Sellers do not see themselves as doctors or pharmacists; 11 of the 14 study subjects refuse to sell antibiotics and other prescription medicines, advising customers to directly seek care from healthcare professionals when necessary.

‘Strictly speaking, the sale of pharmaceuticals through sari-sari stores is illegal, unless the outlet is duly licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There are, however, layers of liminalities, such as due considerations for geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas and medicines not captured in the FDA circular,’ the researchers say.

The researchers approach the issue through a medical anthropology lens and recommend against blanket prohibitions and punitive measures. They argue that policies should account for the economic and geographical barriers that shape access to medicine.

‘We see the value in recognizing the role of sari-sari stores in the health system, as well as in accounting for economic and geographical barriers before imposing top-down prohibitions,’ they stress.

Sari-sari stores are neither replacements for pharmacies nor substitutes for the country’s healthcare system. The stores do not stand outside or simply beside the healthcare system, but occupies an ambiguous but necessary space between the household and formal institutions-a place shaped by poverty, distance, convenience, trust, and necessity.

Sari-sari stores tell us what happens when the system is too far away, too costly, or simply unavailable to those who need it.

Danika Geronimo is with Ateneo Research Communications. Visit archium.ateneo.edu for more information.

Buy Nothing smartphone at MyShops and get 6 GB of mobile internet from Azercell for 6 months

Nothing smartphones are available on a 12-month installment plan with no interest or additional fees

Azercell and MyShops have launched a joint campaign for customers purchasing Nothing smartphones. Customers can buy Nothing smartphones with a down payment starting from AZN 60 and pay in installments over 12 months with no interest or additional fees.

Customers who purchase a Nothing smartphone will receive 6 GB of mobile internet from Azercell every 28 days for 6 months. In addition, selected Nothing smartphone models come with a smartwatch as a gift from Azercell.

The offer is available to both new and existing Azercell subscribers. Prices for Nothing smartphones included in the campaign start from AZN 719.

The campaign is available

Asian Games: Alas beach volleyball pair Francisco, Abdilla bow out

One Alas Pilipinas men’s beach volleyball team bowed out of the Asian Games after Lerry John Francisco and Ranran Abdilla lost to Oman’s Al Hashimi Mazin and Al Jalaboubi Hood, 21-14, 28-26, Thursday at Hekinan Ryokuchi Beach Court.

Abdilla, playing with new partner Francisco, will miss the knockout round for the second straight Asian Games stint after going winless in Pool A.

Abdilla and Francisco gave themselves a chance in the second set, holding three set points -the last at 22-21-and saving four match points before falling short of a spot in the round of 16.

The pair opened their campaign with a loss to Qatar on Monday.

Two Alas women’s teams have already qualified for the round of 16, with Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons going for a group sweep Friday.

Khy Progella and Sofiah Pagara will also aim for a Pool G sweep against Hong Kong’s Wing Tung To and Wing Man To on Saturday.

Alas men’s James Buytrago and Ronniel Rosales, who are 1-1 in Pool C, fight for survival against Indonesia’s Bintang Akbar and Sofyan Rachman Efendi on Sunday.

Legarda ‘raring to come back’ to the Philippines, says her spokesperson

Sen. Loren Legarda is ‘raring to come back’ to the Philippines as soon as possible, her spokesperson said Thursday.

In an interview with the Inquirer, lawyer Tony La Viña said there is no definite date for Legarda’s return from France.

The senator is undergoing treatment for a serious lung disease that, the lawyer said, can flare up when she is under stress.

His statement comes amid an ongoing ombudsman investigation involving Legarda and her son, Batangas First District Rep. Leandro Leviste.

Her absence raises questions on whether she will still be able to vote in the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte.

La Viña said he cannot not disclose the specific details of Legarda’s condition, as it constitutes privileged information.

But he said it can possibly be an autoimmune disease that Legarda has been having for a long time.

‘When the treatment is done, that’s when she will return. As far as I know, I don’t know if there’s a specific date,’ La Viña said.

Asked whether Legarda will return to the Philippines if the complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman proceeds, La Viña said the senator’s decision will depend on the state of her treatment at that time.

‘But she’s raring to come back. She wants to return, right? As soon as possible,’ the counsel said.

La Viña added that Legarda’s desire to return was ‘not so much for impeachment’ but for her advocacies.

‘No flight’

Legarda has been away since Aug. 2, only a few days after the Office of the Ombudsman announced that she and her son would be subject to a preliminary investigation over P10 billion ‘ghost’ solar power projects.

She has, so far, filed six medical leaves, with her recent extension before the Senate reaching until Oct. 9.

La Viña pushed back against suggestions that Legarda’s continued disappearance was meant to evade the allegations against her.

‘There’s no flight here. So there’s no evasion,’ he said, adding that there was no warrant of arrest against the senator.

‘She’s not running away from anything,’ La Viña said, maintaining that Legarda had no connection to her son’s solar business.

He said Legarda was responding to the allegations against her through her lawyers, who had filed their counter-affidavits before the Ombudsman.

According to La Viña, the complainant had also since submitted a response, but he was not privy to its contents.

He said Legarda and Leviste may submit another response before the matter is subjected to resolution, which he said could take 30 to 60 days.

Case against Legarda not part of intimidation

When asked whether Legarda, as a member of the Senate minority, agreed with Sens. Alan and Pia Cayetano’s view that the cases against some senator-judges could be part of pressure on them, La Viña said Legarda does not see it that way.

‘I asked her about that, and she said that she does not see it that way. She doesn’t see it that way. This is not about the impeachment,’ he maintained.

Instead, the lawyer attributed the controversy involving the mother and son to the Rep. Leviste’s anti-corruption campaign in the House of Representatives.

He said Leviste began encountering problems after raising issues involving contractors and fellow lawmakers.

‘Because he obviously ruffled feathers at the House,’ La Viña noted.

Legarda on impeachment trial

Meanwhile, La Viña said he believes that Legarda is monitoring the impeachment proceedings, particularly the Senate’s decision on the conviction threshold.

He initially said, per his understanding, Legarda can no longer vote because she had not participated in the trial.

However, when told that Sen. Erwin Tulfo had said in a press briefing on Wednesday that senators who were physically present on voting day could still vote, La Viña said he was unsure which interpretation will ultimately apply.

The impeachment court on Wednesday amended the threshold ruling so the two-thirds needed for conviction will be computed based on senators legally and factually capable of participating at the time of voting, rather than a fixed 16 votes.

Shortly after, Tulfo subsequently clarified that the chamber had not lowered the two-thirds requirement.

He said that senators who will return and are physically present on the day of voting will be allowed to vote, regardless of whether or not they are able to physically attend all or some of the trials.

‘So is Loren. When Senator Loren gets better, then she may vote,’ Tulfo pointed out.

La Viña then mentioned that he did not know whether Legarda will return in time for the voting.

He observed that the defense had yet to present its case.

The spokesperson estimated that the proceedings can take another 30 days, potentially bringing the voting to November or December.

‘So hopefully, she can already return at that time,’ La Viña told the Inquirer.