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President Duterte attended the twin summits of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), his last before stepping down next year, with a virtual address from Malacanang.

Travellers heading to Bohol will only need the proof of full vaccination as a requirement and a government-issued identification card for entry.

Malacañang expressed confidence Tuesday, Oct. 26 that the government would be able distribute the P1-billion fuel subsidy it had committed to the public transport sector before the end of the year.

SYDNEY, Australia — Australia on Wednesday authorised booster shots of Covid-19 vaccines for over-18s, with the third dose expected to be offered to the entire population from next month.

KABUL, Afghanistan– Women activists in Kabul held up signs that read “why is the world watching us die in silence?” on Tuesday, protesting the international community’s inaction on the crisis in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON, United States — A medical panel of US government advisors endorsed the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in five-to-11-year-olds Tuesday, paving the way for younger children to get their shots within weeks.

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was brought home late Tuesday, his office said, after a day of intense international pressure following his removal in a military coup.

LONDON, United Kingdom — Britain’s 95-year-old Queen Elizabeth II will not attend the COP26 UN climate conference in Glasgow, after “advice to rest” from doctors following an overnight hospital stay, her Buckingham Palace office said Tuesday.

SYDNEY, Australia — Australia will lift a ban on citizens travelling overseas without permission, the government announced Wednesday, with the country’s border set to open to skilled workers and international students by year’s end. More than 18 months after Australia closed its international borders, fully vaccinated citizens will no longer have to seek an exemption to leave the country, a joint statement from the health and home affairs ministries said. It comes as the country’s adult double-dose vaccination rate edged closer to an 80 percent target. Home Affairs minister Karen Andrews said that while Australian citizens were currently being prioritised, more travel restrictions — including for some non-citizens — would be eased as vaccination rates increased. “Before the end of the year, we anticipate welcoming fully vaccinated skilled workers and international students,” she said. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who foreshadowed the changes earlier this month, said Australia was now “very close” to announcing a reciprocal travel bubble with Singapore, which announced late Tuesday that Australians no longer had to quarantine on arrival. Qantas flights to the city-state are scheduled to resume on November 22. “We’re working to a timetable around about then which will see other visa-holders — in addition to Australians returning or going to Singapore and returning who are double vaccinated — being able to come to Australia,” Morrison told Channel 7 television. On March 20 last year Australia introduced some of the world’s toughest border restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic. For almost 600 days, countless international flights have been grounded, and overseas travel has slowed to a trickle. Families have been split across continents, tens of thousands of nationals were stranded overseas and foreign residents were stuck in the country unable to see friends or relatives. Quarantine arrangements for returning vaccinated residents will depend on where they arrive in Australia. While Sydney has scrapped quarantine for returning travellers, other Australian states with lower vaccination rates still have mandatory and costly 14-day hotel quarantine requirements.

China placed a city of four million people under lockdown on Tuesday, ordering them not to leave home except in emergencies, in a bid to eradicate a Covid cluster of just a few dozen confirmed cases. Beijing imposed strict border controls after the coronavirus was first detected in China in late 2019, slowing the number of cases to a trickle and allowing the economy to bounce back. But as the rest of the world opens up and tries to find ways to live with the virus, China has maintained a zero-Covid approach that has seen harsh local lockdowns imposed over handfuls of cases.

BANGKOK, Thailand — Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi testified for the first time in a junta court on Tuesday, four months after being put on trial by the military, a source with knowledge of the case told AFP.

President Duterte has welcomed the signing of the Philippines-Republic of Korea (ROK) free trade agreement on Tuesday, Oct. 26.

President Duterte has reiterated his call for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to remain united in pursuing peace, stability, and prosperity in the South China Sea in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 Arbitral Award.