On Aug. 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender following its invasions of countries in the Asia Pacific region. Its colony in Korea was divided into two spheres, with the south administered by the United States and the north by Russia. The two Koreas existed with tension between them and this culminated in June 1950 when the North invaded the South. The two Koreas have been at war ever since.

US LINGUISTS on Friday chose “they” as their Word of the Decade, recognizing the growing use of third-person plural pronouns as a singular form to refer to people who identify their gender as neither entirely male nor entirely female.

TRADE Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said the sugar regulator needs to allow the food industry that sells to domestic markets to import sugar if local sugar prices cannot match import prices for the sweetener.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has set its production target for palay, or unmilled rice, at 19.6 million metric tons (MT) for 2020, with production receiving a boost from seed distribution backed by the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).

FEDERAL RESERVE officials downplayed concerns about the impact of geopolitical uncertainty on the US economy amid flaring tensions with Iran, even as a record of the central bank’s meeting last month showed that downside risks remain on their minds.

FIGHTING in a Philippine Basketball Association finals for the third time in the last four years, the Meralco Bolts and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings are not putting much on talk and instead are bent on letting their game speak for themselves when their best-of-seven championship series rolls off tomorrow.

DERRICK HENRY rushed for a franchise playoff-record 182 yards and scored a touchdown to lead the Tennessee Titans to a 20-13 victory over the New England Patriots in an American Football Conference (AFC) wild-card game on Saturday night at Foxborough, Massachusetts.

SYDNEY -- Tennis world number two Novak Djokovic said he is concerned that smoke might cause some problems at the Australian Open later this month as bushfires continued to blaze across large sections of the southeast on Sunday.

THE Philippine Embassy in Iraq advised Filipino workers there to go on leave after a US strike killed a top Iranian commander in Baghdad’s international airport.

THE Health department warned Filipino travelers to check themselves for flu-like conditions after reports of a mysterious respiratory disease that is affecting people in China.

THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) wants Congress to empower it to conduct dawn raids without a court order, as it bolsters its probe of dishonest or fraudulent rivalry in trade and commerce, according to the agency’s year-end report.

A BUSINESS chamber said the economy would probably grow by as much as 7.5% this year, thanks to continuing reforms, increased infrastructure spending and a benign inflation environment.