ֱ

Philippines, UAE team up to restore the world’s most polluting river in Manila

Special Philippines, UAE team up to restore the world’s most polluting river in Manila
Philippines First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos, left, presides over a signing ceremony of an agreement between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and UAE-based nonprofit, Clean Rivers Foundation, on Feb. 12, 2025. (Liza Marcos/Facebook)
Short Url
Updated 19 February 2025

Philippines, UAE team up to restore the world’s most polluting river in Manila

Philippines, UAE team up to restore the world’s most polluting river in Manila
  • About 63,000 tonnes of plastic waste flows through the Pasig River annually, study shows
  • UAE’s Clean Rivers also pledged $20m to fund cleanup efforts, prevent solid waste pollution

Manila: The Philippines and the UAE have teamed up to restore the Pasig waterway, the world’s most polluting river, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.

The Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources signed an agreement with the UAE-based nonprofit Clean Rivers Foundation on the sidelines of the World Governments Summit in Dubai last week in a ceremony witnessed by First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos.

“The agreement will provide the framework for projects that support the improvement of the Pasig River and prevent waste from leaking into it, which will also promote the preservation of the river ecosystem, enhancing economic opportunities and advancing tourism activities,” the DFA said in a statement.

The Pasig River, which runs through the heart of the Philippine capital, was ranked as the most polluting river out of over 1,600 others around the world in a 2021 study published in the Science Advances journal.

The Philippines is also the largest contributor of plastic waste that ends up in the world’s oceans, emitting more than 356,000 tonnes annually — about 63,000 of which came from the Pasig River.

The agreement also “expands the partnership between the Philippines and the UAE to areas that will prioritize the preservation and enhancement of the environment toward securing a sustainable future,” the DFA added.

As part of the partnership, Clean Rivers had announced its commitment of up to $20 million for Philippine programs aimed at rehabilitating the Pasig River and supporting initiatives that prevent waste leakage.

“We look forward to working closely with the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and local organizations to turn the tide on river pollution,” Clean Rivers said in a statement.

The fund pledge from the UAE will also help “support sustainable solutions for communities” living along the Pasig River, as it will restore its ecological, commercial and residential value, DENR said in a statement

“With plans for green infrastructure to trap waste and projects to stop pollution at its source, the partnership marks a major step toward a cleaner, healthier Pasig River,” DENR said.

For Filipino environmental NGO BAN Toxics, the new cooperation with the UAE is a welcome first step in rehabilitating the waterway.

“We’re hopeful that it could do something good for the rehabilitation of the Pasig River, which we know has been, historically, a victim of environmental degradation,” Jashaf Shamir Lorenzo, BAN Toxics deputy executive director, told Arab News.

Though efforts to prevent waste leakage are helpful, Lorenzo said that such projects would be more effective if they tackled the root of the pollution issue.

“The thing with waste management is it should start with waste reduction,” he said. “We could reduce the waste in the first place, not just waste leakage, but the production of these products and how we could replace them with more sustainable alternatives, how we could prolong the lives of these products.”


New details in Air India crash probe shift focus to senior pilot, WSJ reports

New details in Air India crash probe shift focus to senior pilot, WSJ reports
Updated 15 sec ago

New details in Air India crash probe shift focus to senior pilot, WSJ reports

New details in Air India crash probe shift focus to senior pilot, WSJ reports

A black-box recording of dialogue between the Air India flight’s two pilots indicates it was the captain who turned off switches that controlled fuel flowing to the plane’s two engines, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with US officials’ early assessment of evidence uncovered in the crash investigation.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Air India did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. 


Pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested at Tour de France

Pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested at Tour de France
Updated 16 July 2025

Pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested at Tour de France

Pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested at Tour de France
  • The protester, who was holding a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, got past security barriers and ran toward the finish line

TOULOUSE: A protester wearing a t-shirt reading “Israel out of the Tour” was arrested on Wednesday after running onto the final straight of the Tour de France 11th stage.
The protester, who was also holding a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, got past security barriers and ran toward the finish line in Toulouse as Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen won a sprint finale.
The man was intercepted by a race staff member and arrested, the local prefecture said.
Several police officers have been assigned to protecting the Israel-Premier Tech team during the Tour. The team was set up by Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams, but there are no Israeli riders in this year’s race.
With the Gaza war causing international controversy, last year the team said it had asked its riders not to wear jerseys with any reference to Israel while out training as a precaution.


French town withdraws pop festival funding over Kneecap appearance

French town withdraws pop festival funding over Kneecap appearance
Updated 16 July 2025

French town withdraws pop festival funding over Kneecap appearance

French town withdraws pop festival funding over Kneecap appearance
  • Saint Cloud said its council had now voted to withdraw the subsidy
  • The group have said they are committed to the Palestinian cause

NANTERRE, France: A town that hosts one of France’s biggest pop festivals announced Wednesday that it was withdrawing its subsidy to the event because controversial Irish rappers Kneecap had been booked to play.

British police are investigating Kneecap’s lead singer under a terror offense after he was accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag at a concert last year. The Lebanese militant group is banned in Britain.

Police said they are also investigating videos allegedly showing calls for the death of British lawmakers.

The Paris suburb of Saint Cloud approved a 40,000 euro ($46,500) subsidy this year for the Rock En Seine festival that last year attracted 180,000 people over four days.

The town council said the money had been agreed before the lineup was announced. Kneecap are to appear at the event on August 24. Saint Cloud said its council had now voted to withdraw the subsidy.

A statement said the town “finances, within its means, a cultural and artistic project. On the other hand it does not finance political action, nor demands, and even less calls to violence, such as calls to kill lawmakers, whatever their nationality.”

The town said it respects the festival’s “freedom” to decide its lineup and had not sought “any kind of negotiation with the aim of influencing the program.”

Kneecap have been taken off the bill for festivals in Scotland and Germany this year because of the controversy.

The group have said they are committed to the Palestinian cause but have denied any terrorism connection. Singer Liam O’Hanna, who appears under the name Mo Chara, has condemned the charges against him as political. O’Hanna is to appear in court again four days before the Rock En Seine show.


South Korean teacher, mother arrested for stealing exam

South Korean teacher, mother arrested for stealing exam
Updated 16 July 2025

South Korean teacher, mother arrested for stealing exam

South Korean teacher, mother arrested for stealing exam

SEOUL: A teacher and a parent of a high school student in South Korea have been arrested for breaking into a school to steal exam papers, police told AFP on Wednesday.

The country is known for placing extreme emphasis on academic achievement — with its annual college entrance exam forcing airplanes to be grounded during English listening tests.

The pair are accused of breaking into a high school in Andong, about 270 kilometers south of the capital Seoul, at around 1:00 a.m. on July 4 to steal exam papers, triggering an alarm and leading to their arrest.

“A 31-year-old teacher and the 48-year-old mother have confessed to the crime,” said a detective at the Andong Police Station, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The teacher was a private tutor for the student while working at the school, where she was employed until February last year, authorities said.

Police suspect the pair may have committed similar thefts in the past, helping the student ace academically, and that money was exchanged between the teacher and the mother.

“They tried to steal exam papers across many subjects, not confined to Korean, which the suspect was teaching,” the detective told AFP.

A school maintenance worker was also arrested for aiding the late-night breach, investigators said.

The student, who had maintained top grades since enrolling in 2023, has been expelled and her grades nullified, according to the Yonhap news agency.


Trump says supporters questioning Jeffrey Epstein case are ‘weaklings’

Trump says supporters questioning Jeffrey Epstein case are ‘weaklings’
Updated 16 July 2025

Trump says supporters questioning Jeffrey Epstein case are ‘weaklings’

Trump says supporters questioning Jeffrey Epstein case are ‘weaklings’
  • Trump says Republicans are not sticking together
  • Some supporters want more details on sex offender’s case

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday attacked fellow Republicans critical of his administration’s handling of the case of dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
On social media and in the Oval Office, Trump lashed out at allies he said were falling for a “hoax” pushed by Democrats, who “unlike Republicans ... stick together like glue.”
Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, was facing federal charges of sex-trafficking minors when he died by suicide in jail in 2019. He had pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed after his death.
Some of Trump’s most loyal followers were enraged when the Trump administration last week reversed course on its pledge to release documents it had suggested contained major revelations about Epstein and his alleged clientele.
“It’s all been a big hoax,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s perpetrated by the Democrats and some stupid Republicans, and foolish Republicans fall into the net and so they try and do the Democrats’ work.”
On Truth Social earlier in the day, Trump said of Republicans raising concerns about the case: “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!” The backlash over the Epstein case has laid bare tensions inside Trump’s coalition and is testing one of Trump’s most enduring political strengths: his ability to command loyalty and control the narrative across the right.
A former Trump adviser, Mike Flynn, on Wednesday said on X that the matter was not a hoax. “With my strongest recommendation, please gather your team and figure out a way to move past this,” he said.
The Justice Department last week concluded there was “no incriminating client list” or any evidence that Epstein may have blackmailed prominent people. The review also confirmed prior findings by the FBI that Epstein killed himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial, and that his death was not the result of a criminal act such as murder.
Some House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, have continued to call for the Justice Department to release more Epstein documents. But Republicans have blocked efforts by Democratic lawmakers to push measures that would force the agency to make those documents public.
Trump, who knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s, on Wednesday again defended Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the matter and said she could release any credible documents related to the case.
“Whatever’s credible, she can release,” he told reporters. “If a document’s there that’s credible, she can release. I think it’s good.”
But he was also eager to move past the issue.
“I’d rather talk about the success we have with the economy,” he said.