Legazpi City (24 April) -- A joint investigating team composed of technical personnel from the Bikol regional offices of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) has investigated the death of two persons in Sitio Gintong Araw, Barangay Panique in Aroroy, Masbate.

MANILA, April 22, 2009-One of the influential Catholic Church institutions slammed as "unjust" the arrest warrant issued against whistleblower Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada for alleged perjury crimes.

BANGKOK, April 24 (PNA/Xinhua) -- The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had expressed confidence in Thailand's politics and hoped the Thai government would be able to restore stability, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said Friday.

VATICAN, April 20, 2009-- "Galileo and the Vatican" is the title of a new book that gathers together the documents of the commission created by Pope John Paul II on the famous Italian scientist and seeks to debunk the black legend and other myths about this case.

LONDON, April 24 -- British Foreign Secretary David Miliband is to attend the next General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, where he will seek full backing of the European Union (EU) to the changed US policy towards Iran. "We will encourage the EU to state its clear support for the new US approach," Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch-Brown (pictured) said in a written parliamentary statement published Friday.

LEGAZPI CITY, April 22 (PNA) -- The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) regional office in Bikol has announced that 366 Bikolano youths have qualified as DOST- SEI undergraduate scholars for SY 2009-2010.

DAET, Camarines Norte, April 20 (PNA) - The Daet municipal government led by Mayor Tito S. Sarion distributed some 2,817 bags of assorted fertilizers to farmers in nine rice-producing villages here to boost the town's rice production.

PILI, Camarines Sur, April 20 (PNA) - Some 350 agricultural engineers from all over the country are gathered at the Camarines Sur State Agricultural College (CSSAC) here for the 59th Philippine Society of Agricultural Engineers (PSAE) annual general convention scheduled April 20-24.

CEBU CITY, April 20 (PNA) -- A total of 32 Catholic bishops and archbishops from all over the country are expected to attend the celebration on April 28 of the 75th founding anniversary of the Cebu Archdiocese.

A local environmental group has expressed its support of the Bikol bishops' opposition to the ongoing mining operations at Rapu-rapu, Albay. PANGATAMAN-Bikol (Bicol Center for Environmental Protection) external vice-president Engr. Virgilio Perdigon, says his group "welcome[s] and support[s] this letter to the Pope by the bishops because it is a way to highlight the environmental degradation being experienced by the island of Rapu-rapu and also the whole region as well."