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Filipinos turn to virtual-assistant roles in post-COVID job market

Special Filipinos turn to virtual-assistant roles in post-COVID job market
A Filipina virtual assistant, Nathalie Mago, works from home in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Aug. 24, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 27 August 2025

Filipinos turn to virtual-assistant roles in post-COVID job market

Filipinos turn to virtual-assistant roles in post-COVID job market
  • 1 in 8 virtual assistants globally comes from the Philippines
  • Salaries comparatively higher than their office-based peers

MANILA: Filipino virtual assistants are emerging as a new sector in overseas work, with more than 1 million believed to be serving foreign clients online, from their homes in the Philippines.

The Philippine Department of Labor and Employment defines a virtual assistant as “a self-employed worker who specializes in offering administrative services to clients from a remote location, usually a home office,” and the typical tasks as “scheduling appointments, making phone calls, making travel arrangements, and managing email accounts.”

The trend has been fueled by the practice of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. While in many other Asian countries, people started to return to the office, Filipinos, due to their English skills started to find employers abroad.

In its 2023 advisory, the DoLE estimated that 1 out of 8 million virtual assistants on the global freelancing platform Upwork were from the Philippines. By 2025, that number could reach 1.5 million, according to HireTalent.ph — a service launched in response to the sector’s boom.

“Post-COVID things went up, because a lot of companies shifted online and wanted to build a remote-first workforce. The Philippines was a great place because of affordability, time zone ... great English skills, cultural adaptability with Western standards,” Justin Gluska, HireTalent.ph CEO and founder, told Arab News.

Filipino virtual assistants work for both individual clients and small companies, mainly in the US, UK, and Australia, but interest has been growing as well in Gulf countries, where more than 2 million Filipinos live and work.

“Markets in the Middle East are definitely becoming popular. We’re seeing a big influx in our UAE registrations. Employers with businesses there are starting to hire more and more in the Philippines,” Gluska said.

“The Middle East is great because the time zone difference is very good compared to most other regions in the world.”

Working from home and saving time and money on commuting — especially in traffic-heavy cities such as Manila — virtual assistants can comparatively earn more than their office-based peers.

Angel Cuala, operations lead at HireTalent.ph, estimates that the lowest pay for virtual assistants is around $34 per day, compared with the government-set minimum daily wage of about $12 in the country’s capital region.

But the job comes with no insurance, benefits and guarantees.

“Comparatively, VAs earn much more than those in local office jobs. Yet, we should understand that many VAs are offered to work part-time only, so they often seek a second client,” Cuala said. “Let’s also not forget that many clients don’t give 13th-month pay and other benefits.”

What this form of employment gives, especially to young talent, is a sense of freedom and flexibility.

Keziah Mendoza, a 20-year-old from Mindoro province, has been working as a virtual assistant for over a year now. She chose the job after the example of her mother, who worked in the business before it became a trend.

“A friend introduced her to Craigslist, which at the time was a good place to find online jobs. As I grew up, I saw how working online gave her the freedom to travel, spend time with family, and pursue hobbies while still earning a living. That kind of flexibility inspired me to do the same,” Mendoza said.

For now and at her age, what the job offers is enough for her to live comfortably, with the only challenges being occasional problems with internet or power interruptions during typhoons.

“I haven’t worked in a traditional office job, but working online has given me a great deal of freedom,” she said. “Like my mom, I can travel, spend time with my family, and enjoy hobbies or time with friends, all while working from home.”


Trump levies new sanctions on Russian oil giants in a push on Putin to end Ukraine war

Trump levies new sanctions on Russian oil giants in a push on Putin to end Ukraine war
Updated 11 sec ago

Trump levies new sanctions on Russian oil giants in a push on Putin to end Ukraine war

Trump levies new sanctions on Russian oil giants in a push on Putin to end Ukraine war
  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the new sanctions were a direct response to Moscow’s refusal to end its “senseless war” and an attempt to choke off “the Kremlin’s war machine.”

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration announced Wednesday new “massive sanctions” against Russia’s oil industry that are aimed at moving Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table and bringing an end to Moscow’s brutal war on Ukraine.
The sanctions against oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil followed months of calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as bipartisan pressure on Trump to hit Russia with harder sanctions on its oil industry, the economic engine that has allowed Russia to continue to execute the grinding conflict even as it finds itself largely internationally isolated.
“Hopefully he’ll become reasonable,” Trump said of Putin not long after the Treasury Department announced the sanctions against Russia’s two biggest oil companies and their subsidiaries. “And hopefully Zelensky will be reasonable, too. You know, it takes two to tango, as they say.”
The US administration announced the sanctions as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was in Washington for talks with Trump. The military alliance has been coordinating deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, many of them purchased from the United States by Canada and European countries.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the new sanctions were a direct response to Moscow’s refusal to end its “senseless war” and an attempt to choke off “the Kremlin’s war machine.”
Bessent added that the Treasury Department was prepared to take further action if necessary to support Trump’s effort to end the war. “We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions.”
The announcement came after Russian drones and missiles blasted sites across Ukraine, killing at least six people, including a woman and her two young daughters.
The attack came in waves from Tuesday night into Wednesday and targeted at least eight Ukrainian cities, as well as a village in the region of the capital, Kyiv, where a strike set fire to a house in which the mother and her 6-month-old and 12-year-old daughters were staying, regional head Mykola Kalashnyk said.
At least 29 people, including five children, were wounded in Kyiv, which appeared to be the main target, authorities said.
Russian drones also hit a kindergarten in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, later Wednesday when children were in the building, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. One person was killed and six were hurt, but no children were physically harmed, he said.
Rutte, in his Oval Office appearance, went out of his way to underscore that the weaponry the US is selling Europe to provide to Ukraine has been essential to helping stop many attacks like the one that ravaged the kindergarten.
“We need to make sure that the air defense systems are in place, and we need the US systems to do that, and the Europeans are paying for that,” Rutte said. “It is exactly the type of actions we needed, and the President is doing that and trying everything to get this work done.”
Zelensky said many of the children were in shock. He said the attack targeted 10 separate regions: Kyiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Cherkasy and Sumy.
Peace efforts stall
Trump’s efforts to end the war that started with Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor more than three years ago have failed to gain traction. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration with Putin’s refusal to budge from his conditions for a settlement after Ukraine offered a ceasefire and direct peace talks.
Trump said Tuesday that his plan for a swift meeting with Putin was on hold because he didn’t want it to be a “waste of time.” European leaders accused Putin of stalling.
Meanwhile, in what appeared to be a public reminder of Russian atomic arsenals, Putin on Wednesday directed drills of the country’s strategic nuclear forces.
Zelensky urged the European Union, the United States and the Group of Seven industrialized nations to force Russia to the negotiating table. Pressure can be applied on Moscow “only through sanctions, long-range  capabilities and coordinated diplomacy among all our partners,” he said.
More international economic sanctions on Russia are likely to be discussed Thursday at an EU summit in Brussels. On Friday, a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing — a group of 35 countries that support Ukraine — is to take place in London.
Zelensky credited Trump’s remarks that he was considering supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for Putin’s willingness to meet. The American president later said he was wary of tapping into the US supply of Tomahawks over concerns about available stocks.
Russia has not made significant progress on the battlefield, where a war of attrition has taken a high toll on Russian infantry and Ukraine is short of manpower, military analysts say. Both sides have invested in long-range strike capabilities to hit rear areas.
Ukraine says it hit key Russian chemical plant
The Ukrainian army’s general staff said its forces struck a chemical plant Tuesday night in Russia’s Bryansk region using British-made air-launched Storm Shadow missiles. The plant is an important part of the Russian military and industrial complex, producing gunpowder, explosives, missile fuel and ammunition, it said.
Russian officials in the region confirmed an attack but did not mention the plant.
Ukraine also claimed overnight strikes on the Saransk mechanical plant in Mordovia, Russia, which produces components for ammunition and mines, and the Makhachkala oil refinery in the Dagestan republic of Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 33 Ukrainian drones over several regions overnight, including the area around St. Petersburg. Eight airports temporarily suspended flights because of the attacks.
In other developments, Zelensky arrived Wednesday in Oslo, Norway, and after that flew to Stockholm, where he and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson signed an agreement exploring the possibility of Ukraine buying up to 150 Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets over the next decade or more. Ukraine has already received American-made F-16s and French Mirages.
Trump says Russia is on the agenda for upcoming Xi talks
The US president is expected to meet next week with Chinese President Xi Jinping when the two leaders travel to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
Beijing has not provided Russia with direct support in the war, but has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine, according to a US assessment.
Trump has said he believes the Russia-Ukraine war would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia and placed tariffs on China of 50 percent to 100 percent for its purchases of Russian petroleum.
“I think he could have a big influence on Putin,” Trump said of Xi Jinping.
Beijing has yet to confirm that Trump and Xi will meet.


New York attorney general urges public to report ICE activity after raid targets vendors

New York attorney general urges public to report ICE activity after raid targets vendors
Updated 8 min 50 sec ago

New York attorney general urges public to report ICE activity after raid targets vendors

New York attorney general urges public to report ICE activity after raid targets vendors
  • James urges public to document ICE operations via new online form
  • Trump’s immigration crackdown targets major cities, including New York

NEW YORK: New York State’s attorney general on Wednesday urged the public to submit photos, videos and other documentation of federal immigration operations to her office for review, a day after a high-profile raid targeted Manhattan street vendors.
Attorney General Letitia James said her office would review footage and other information from operations shared through a “Federal Action Reporting Form,” saying in a statement that “every New Yorker has the right to live without fear or intimidation.”
President Donald Trump, a Republican, has launched an aggressive immigration crackdown in major US cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Wednesday that the Trump administration would send more than 100 federal agents to the city to ramp up enforcement, citing an unnamed source.
Protesters in the cities have used phones to record ICE operations, which critics say have employed racial profiling and swept up many immigrants with no criminal records. The immigration raid on New York City’s Canal Street, a prominent shopping area known for bargain prices and imitation goods, triggered pushback in the street from residents in the vicinity.
When asked for comment on James’ oversight effort, US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said it “looks like obstruction of justice.”
The new effort to record possible abuses by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and other federal agents is part of a broader resistance by Democrats. US Representative Robert Garcia, a Democrat based in Los Angeles, said on Monday that he and other Democrats would launch an online site to track the agency’s operations and urged the public to record ICE activity.
The Trump administration in March gutted the DHS offices charged with monitoring civil rights abuses as part of its government downsizing efforts.
The ICE monitoring effort by James, a longtime Trump foe, could further inflame political tensions with the White House. James, who brought a civil fraud case against Trump in 2022, was charged earlier this month with lying on a mortgage application, as the Trump administration stepped up its use of government power against his perceived political enemies.
DHS said Tuesday’s operation targeting Canal Street resulted in nine arrests of alleged immigration offenders from Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and Guinea, including some with prior criminal arrests. Four people were arrested for allegedly assaulting law enforcement and another for obstruction of justice, DHS said.
Democratic US Representative Dan Goldman, whose district includes Canal Street, said his office had helped secure the release of four US citizens detained by ICE.
“Dozens of masked federal agents stormed Lower Manhattan, roughing up protesters and indiscriminately arresting people,” Goldman said in statement.
The Canal Street raid came after at least two prominent pro-Trump influencers posted videos in recent weeks focusing on African immigrants selling goods along the busy thoroughfare. One of the influencers, Savanah Hernandez, said in an October 19 post on X that African immigrants without legal status were operating a black market there and urged ICE to visit the area and arrest the vendors.
“I don’t know that ICE officials saw my post,” Hernandez said in an email. “However, the White House has been very responsive to on the ground reporters who have utilized X to share their stories.”
The normally bustling street was largely empty of street vendors on Wednesday, a Reuters witness said.


North Korea says tested ‘cutting-edge’ new weapon system

North Korea says tested ‘cutting-edge’ new weapon system
Updated 16 min 50 sec ago

North Korea says tested ‘cutting-edge’ new weapon system

North Korea says tested ‘cutting-edge’ new weapon system

SEOUL: North Korea said on Thursday it had tested a “cutting-edge” new weapon system using hypersonic missiles aimed at bolstering its defenses against Pyongyang’s foes.
The launch was detected by Seoul’s military on Wednesday and was Pyongyang’s first of its kind in months.
It came a week before world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, are set to descend on South Korea for a major regional summit.
Top military official Pak Jong Chon declared the “new cutting-edge weapon system is a clear proof of steadily upgrading self-defensive technical capabilities of the DPRK,” state news agency KCNA said, using North Korea’s official acronym.
KCNA said the test was aimed at enhancing the “sustainability and effectiveness of strategic deterrence against potential enemies.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was not reported to have attended the launch.
State media said the two “hypersonic projectiles” had been launched south of the capital Pyongyang and had hit a target in the country’s northeast.
Images shared by KCNA showed a missile flying through the air, before hitting a target and exploding in a hail of black dirt and smoke.
Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can maneuver mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept.


British universities ask prime minister to help scholarship students evacuate from Gaza

British universities ask prime minister to help scholarship students evacuate from Gaza
Updated 38 min ago

British universities ask prime minister to help scholarship students evacuate from Gaza

British universities ask prime minister to help scholarship students evacuate from Gaza
  • The 25 Palestinians were awarded fully funded places at Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Exeter, Glasgow, Sussex, and University College London
  • They could lose their places at the universities this year if they are not able to leave Gaza by the end of the week, PM Keir Starmer is told

LONDON: Twenty-five Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip who were awarded scholarships at British universities will lose their places for this year if they are not evacuated from the war-ravaged territory by the end of this week, university chiefs told the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer.

The students received fully funded places to study for undergraduate degrees, master’s and doctorates at Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Exeter, Glasgow, Sussex, and University College London.

However, they could lose their places if they are not included on lists for evacuations planned for Oct. 22 and 26 and remain stuck in Gaza, university chiefs warned Starmer in a letter.

Vice-chancellors, principals and presidents from the seven universities also criticized a government ban that prevents the Palestinian students from bringing dependents with them to the UK. They urged ministers to use their “powers of discretion” to allow families of students to settle in the country, The Independent newspaper reported on Wednesday.

They said Palestinian students face an “impossible choice” between the chance to attend a British university and leaving their families behind in a war zone. Only nine of the students would like to bring dependents, the newspaper reported.

Students pursuing a doctorate can begin their studies later, but the others might lose their places because the next evacuation lists will not be available for another month, the university officials said.

They praised the government for the assistance it provided for previous evacuations of scholarship students from Gaza, and its efforts to secure a ceasefire in the territory, and requested urgent updates on a timeline for the evacuation of the remaining students.

“We are increasingly concerned that some eligible students are yet to be called forwards for the evacuations next week, and a small number of students have been given the impossible choice to leave behind their children in order to take up their university places, including babies as young as three months old, or children where there is no other parent alive,” the officials wrote.

UNICEF plans to evacuate students and their families from Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Oct. 26, pending approval from the UK’s Foreign Office.

Thirty-five British rabbis and bishops endorsed the call from university chiefs on Wednesday, saying that “compassion should not be hindered by bureaucracy.”


France’s jailed ex-president Sarkozy targeted by death threats, prosecutor office says

France’s jailed ex-president Sarkozy targeted by death threats, prosecutor office says
Updated 23 October 2025

France’s jailed ex-president Sarkozy targeted by death threats, prosecutor office says

France’s jailed ex-president Sarkozy targeted by death threats, prosecutor office says
  • The former president has been assigned two armed police officers for protection during his incarceration, a measure that has sparked complaints from prison guard unions

PARIS: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was targeted by death threats from an inmate at Paris’s La Sante prison, where he began serving his sentence this week, prompting a probe, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.
“On October 22, 2025, the Paris prosecutor’s office was informed by the director of La Sante prison of a video circulating on social media, clearly filmed by an inmate, in which he made threats upon Nicolas Sarkozy’s arrival at the facility,” the prosecutor’s office said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
Three inmates were questioned as part of the investigation, and two mobile phones were seized during a search of the prison, it added.
Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, on Tuesday began serving a five-year sentence after being convicted of conspiring to raise campaign funds from Libya. The former president has been assigned two armed police officers for protection during his incarceration, a measure that has sparked complaints from prison guard unions.