Today in the World: Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte Announces 2028 Presidential Bid
This is the Today in the World report, Thursday 19 February 2026 edition. The lead story comes from the Philippines.
Sara Duterte to contest Philippine elections
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte said yesterday (18 February) that she will run for president in the 2028 elections.
She blamed incumbent leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr for the country’s problems, including corruption.
The daughter of imprisoned former leader Rodrigo Duterte is regarded as one of the strongest potential candidates in the 2028 elections according to opinion polls.
“It took 47 years for me to understand that my life was never meant to be my own,” Duterte said at a press conference.
Duterte apologised for helping Marcos win the 2022 elections, when she ran as his vice-presidential candidate and helped him capitalise on her family’s large support base.
First Ramadan prayers at Nusantara capital
To mark the start of Ramadan 2026, residents performed Tarawih prayers at the State Mosque of the Nusantara Capital (IKN) yesterday (18 February).
The worship was attended by the imam and muezzin from the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta.
Ustaz Irfan Rosady, a preacher from the Ministry of Religious Affairs in East Kalimantan, stressed the importance of purifying one’s intentions in all activities, including Ramadan.
“Let us correct our intentions. For if we err in conducting our lives and worship, then we must be prepared to fall into a valley of humiliation. Therefore, let us strengthen and straighten our intentions in observing Ramadan,” he said.
Australia projected to be saddled with debt at highest levels since World War II
Australia will cease to be a low-debt nation and will be more vulnerable in future crises without spending controls and tax reform.
New analysis by the e61 Institute shows that combined gross federal, state and territory government debt as a share of the economy will reach levels not seen since World War II by 2028.
Although Australia’s debt remains in the lower half among developed nations with no “imminent debt crisis”, e61 chief executive Michael Brennan said nearly two decades of deficits had eroded the country’s financial health.
“Without tax reform, spending controls will be needed to avoid burdening future generations with a fragile, unfair and inefficient Australian economy,” he said.
Zuckerberg denies lawyer’s accusations
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied accusations from a lawyer claiming he had misled Congress about the company’s social media platform design, amid a landmark trial concerning social media addiction among teenagers.
At the Wednesday (18 February) hearing, Zuckerberg was questioned about his statements to Congress in 2024, when he said the company did not give its teams goals to maximise the time users spent on their applications.
Mark Lanier, the lawyer for a woman who alleges Meta damaged her mental health as a child, showed the jury emails from 2014 and 2015 in which Zuckerberg outlined goals to increase user time spent on applications by double-digit percentages.
Zuckerberg said that whilst Meta previously had goals linked to the amount of time users spent on applications, the company had changed its approach.
“If you’re trying to say my testimony was inaccurate, I very much disagree with that,” Zuckerberg said.