China county makes diamonds 'as cheap as cabbage' through industrial-scale production

VNExpress - Sep 20, 2026

Zhecheng County in China's Henan Province has become a major hub for lab-grown diamonds, accounting for about 60% of the country's production.

Read full article

More News

DBM releases P27.4B for DOH program for indigents

Sep 20, 2026

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Budget and Management has released a P27.4-billion budget to the Department of Health to strengthen health care services for indigent and financially incapacitated patients under the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) program. Of the total budget, P19.145 billion will be allocated to DOH Centers for

Tita Eggie, right before my eyes

Sep 20, 2026

LOS ANGELES — I was visiting my father’s grave on his death anniversary at a cemetery for dead soldiers in this city last Sept. 13 when I learned that my old boss and mentor Eugenia Duran Apostol, founder of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), had died in the Philippines at age 100. Suddenly, I realized

[Just Saying] Phantom judges in the impeachment court

Sep 20, 2026

Constitutional provisions must never be fragmented and parsed into isolated words and phrases, each assigned a standalone meaning detached from the whole

8 years on, UP’s martial law museum still awaits construction

Sep 20, 2026

MANIL, Philippines — Along CP Garcia Avenue at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, Quezon City, a 1.4-hectare property is reserved for a museum meant to keep alive the stories of Filipinos who suffered human rights violations under the regime of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Eight years after plans were formalized, however,

Isolated by flood, Zambales village builds its way back

Sep 20, 2026

SAN MARCELINO, Zambales — For the first time in what seemed like a very long while, the sky above this remote community was finally bright. On Sept. 13, there was no steady curtain of rain, no dark clouds threatening another downpour and no river swollen by another night of heavy rains. Under the morning sun,

This week’s milestones: Sept. 20 to Sept. 26

Sep 20, 2026

Sept. 21, 2022 The National Historical Commission of the Philippines installed a historical marker at Basay, Negros Oriental, to commemorate “Ang Pagdaong ng USS Crevalle.” On May 11, 1944, the USS Crevalle, a submarine of the US Navy that reached various parts of the Philippines and confronted Japanese naval forces, arrived on the shores of