A martial arts robot in China just kicked a kindergarten student in the stomach during a live demonstration, and the video is now spreading across social media.
The humanoid robot was performing a spinning kick in front of a crowd when a young boy moved too close. Seconds later, the machine’s foot slammed into the child’s abdomen, causing him to double over in pain.
The robot involved was reportedly Unitree’s G1, one of China’s most advanced humanoid robots.
While the child was not seriously injured, the incident has reignited concerns about whether humanoid robots are being deployed too quickly in public spaces.
And this wasn’t an isolated case.
Earlier this year, the same robot model reportedly struck another child while performing at a festival. During China’s Robot Olympics last month, a robot also veered off course and crashed into a spectator.
The incidents are raising uncomfortable questions as humanoid robots become increasingly common at malls, parks, exhibitions, and public events.
The machines can dance, fight, run, and even perform martial arts. But critics say many still struggle to safely react to unpredictable human behavior, especially around children.
For now, the viral footage is serving as a reminder that while robots may be getting smarter, they are still far from perfect.
And for one little boy, the future of AI arrived with a kick to the stomach.
MANILA, Philippines — Executive Secretary Ralph Recto on Monday dismissed the plunder and technical malversation charges filed against him over the transfer of 60 billion pesos in PhilHealth reserve funds to the National Treasury as a mere nuisance and harassment suit.
The Cabinet official demanded that the complaint be forcefully thrown out, maintaining that he bears no criminal liability for the transaction.
The statement followed a move by physician and public health advocate Tony Leachon to file criminal charges before the Office of the Ombudsman against Recto and several other Cabinet members regarding the alleged diversion of the health state insurer’s funds.
Recto argued that the fund transfer was legally mandated under the 2024 General Appropriations Act, noting that Congress had explicitly directed the Department of Finance to carry out the order.
The Executive Secretary also emphasized that Supreme Court justices themselves have cleared him of criminal liability because he was merely implementing the law in good faith.
According to Recto, who cited remarks from several associate justices, his actions as the finance chief at the time were executed solely to fulfill his official legal duties.
Meanwhile, Malacañang stated that it respects the filing of the complaint, acknowledging that any individual has the right to take legal action.
Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro remarked during a Monday press briefing that the public must now wait to see if the case will progress or be dismissed.
Leading global AI smart devices provider HONOR Philippines generated buzz yet again as the highly anticipated HONOR 600 is seen at the Miss Philippines 2026 Coronation Night on May 10, ahead of its official launch on May 14.
The HONOR 600 captured the crowning of each of the nine queens; Miss Eco Teen Philippines 2026 – Trexy Paris Roxas, Miss Teen Universe Philippines 2026 – Catherine Wardle, Miss Charm Philippines 2026 – Apriel Smith, Miss Cosmo Philippines 2026 – Bella Ysmael, Miss Eco International Philippines 2027 – Jenrose Javier, Miss Tourism World Philippines 2026 – Marian Arellano, Miss Supranational Philippines 2027 – Allyson Hetland, and Miss Philippines Worldwide 2026 – Nicole Borromeo.
Following its high-profile appearance at both Miss Universe Philippines 2026 and Miss Philippines 2026 coronation night, the HONOR 600 is officially set to launch on May 14, 2026. The upcoming smartphone is poised to raise the bar in mobile innovation with next-generation AI features, stylish design, and all-day performance tailored for today’s users.
To learn more about this exciting news, visit HONOR’s website www.hihonor.com, and follow HONOR Philippines on Facebook (Facebook.com/HonorPhilippines),Instagram (Instagram.com/honorph/) and TikTok: (Tiktok.com/@honorphilippines) for exclusive teasers, launch updates, and big reveal.
Ant International, a leading global digital payment, digitization, and financial technology provider, published its 2025 Sustainability Report, the 2nd since the Company began independent operation.
This is also the first year Ant International has integrated sustainability metrics into the management’s performance evaluation framework. As Eric Jing, Chairman of Ant Group and Ant International, said, “Accountability must be structural, not aspirational. When sustainability outcomes are valued as much as revenue growth or operational efficiency, the whole organization is more likely to align accordingly, just like how it might work with entire economies.”
In the Company’s 6Ts Sustainability Framework (Travel, Trade, Thrive, Tech, Talent, Trust), Inclusion remains the critical objective. “Our success relies on our ability to innovate for small businesses and emerging markets to thrive above social and technological shifts. Doing great by doing good should be our strategic differentiator,”said Peng Yang, CEO, and Douglas Feagin, President, at the Report’s launch.
● Alipay+ and Antom, the Company’s Global Paymentpillars, now connect 2 bn user accounts globally to over 150 mn merchants. This vibrant ecosystem of interoperability links up more than 10 national QR systems and supports 300+ payment methods in over 220 markets, including all card schemes, and 50 digital wallets, bank apps and BNPL apps.
● Beyond payment, WorldFirst and Bettr, our Global Account and Embedded Finance services, support over 1.6 mn SMEs and provide credit access to 30 mn MSMEs and underserved users, integrating new AI and blockchain capabilities.
● The inclusion metric was built systemically into major innovation projects, for instance, more SME-friendly agentic payment and AI commerce tools, an AI-as-a-Service platform for emerging markets, and the EPOS SME AI solutions.
“We will continue to double down on responsible innovation and collaboration to achieve our shared vision: a more inclusive, prosperous, and trustworthyglobal economy,” said Yang.
In 2025, Ant International’s sustainability work focused on 3 priorities across the 6T arenas:
1. Democratizing FinAI for SMEs and Emerging Markets
Ant International rolled out various AI tools to ensure that emerging markets and SMEs are able to leverage AI without massive infrastructure or capacity investments.
Payment AI & Agentic Commerce :
▪ Antom Copilot 2.0 completes payment integration, onboarding, risk, and chargeback resolution in a secure, automated workflow.
▪ Antom Agentic Payment Solution enables AI agents to securely initiate and complete card- and APM-based transactions in a pioneering payment mandate model.
FinAI Capacity Building:
▪ FinAI-as-a-Service platform, the GenAI Cockpit gives toolkits to fintechs, such as Malaysia’s TNG eWallet, and easypaisa, Pakistan’s first digital bank, to build flexible and autonomous AI commerce solutions, from customer-service assistants to sales copilots.
▪ Custom-made agentic AI assistants, such as Alipay+ Voyager, an agentic AI travel companion embedded in super apps.
▪ Open-sourced AI FX solution delivers FX forecasts with up to 93% prediction accuracy across complex, volatile currency markets.
▪ EPOS360, an AI-powered SME operation and financing platform, rolls out in Southeast Asia.
2. Enhancing Compliance and Technology Foundations of Trust
The Company invested heavily in 2025 in technologies and partnerships on AML and security.
▪ SHIELD 3-in-1 Transformer model, supported by 7 bn parameters, identifies high-risk transactions with over 95% precision, while raising payment success rates by up to 13.5%.
▪ Digital Wallet Guardian Partnership shares risk tech, anti-fraud, and funds protection solutions among wallet partners to protect consumers and merchants.
▪ The Alipay+ Privacy Enhancing Technology (PET) program was cited by Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Commission in its practical guidance for industry application.
Meanwhile, advanced technology applications must be harnessed by rigorous compliance standards and practices. In 2025, we further expanded:
▪ Our Risk Management Committee mechanism, which implements a comprehensive risk governance framework from the corporate level down to the ground unit level.
▪ Our 3-layered Anti-Money-Laundering program is anchored in a global baseline of minimum control standards to ensure consistency and integrity across all markets. We also use AI-powered risk detection and security review tools to improve accuracy and efficiency.
The Company plans to accelerate investments in global and local compliance capabilities to meet evolving regulatory and risk environments.
3. Digitalizing Public Participation to Drive Social Impact
In 2025, working with partners from New York to West Java, our people started new grassroots efforts to support youth, environment, and community projects with digital expertise.
▪ As the Innovation Partner for Sustainability of the New York Liberty, Alipay+ began supporting the New York Liberty, the WNBA champion team, on Liberty Sneaker Drives for underprivileged groups, the Math Hoops project to build youth skills, and the Threes for Trees project in NYC and Brooklyn.
▪ AlipayHK launched a main digital channel for charity fundraising after the Tai Po fire, raising HK$200 million from 450,000 super app users in the first three days.
▪ Ocean Buddy, an in-app mini-program for whale-shark protection in Indonesia, was launched in collaboration with DANA and Konservasi Indonesia, leveraging gamification to connect users’ everyday digital activities to marine protection.
▪ 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion, a joint initiative with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and over 50 global partners, has certified 9,504 since 2018, 55% of whom are women.
“Sustainability is increasingly becoming our primary driver of responsible innovation, “said Leiming Chen, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant International. “We will work together to ensure that as we expand globally, our progress remains inclusive, measurable, and impactful for the communities we serve.”
Fashion lovers and moviegoers have officially entered their Runway era in the wake of the smashing success of The Devil Wears Prada 2 – and Google is in the center of the larger, global cultural conversation as fans worldwide turn to Search to learn more about the movie.
Following its premiere in the Philippines last April 29, the sequel to the iconic 2006 film has both decisively dominated the box office and completely taken over Google Search.
With a massive $233 million opening weekend in cinemas around the world, The Devil Wears Prada 2 – which comes 20 years after the original and tackles topics that are more apt for today’s times – has sparked a greater cultural conversation that’s as sharp as a designer stiletto and knows no borders.
From parents planning the ultimate movie night to students obsessed with every new outfit, everyone is turning to Search to keep up with the drama.
Have you seen the “Strut”?
Google has driven the talk surrounding The Devil Wears Prada 2 with a fun and engaging interactive feature on Search.
If you haven’t tried it yet, Google has tucked a chic little Prada 2 Easter egg into your search results. When you look up the film and click that iconic red heel icon, a stylish silhouette struts right across your screen. It’s a playful nod to the film’s legendary fashion roots, and it’s clearly a hit, as more than 10 million fans have already clicked the shoe to join the fun.
The Trends Everyone is Chasing
And of course, Google’s biggest role is facilitating conversations about the film both online and offline.
Google Search is full of lookups with various keywords related to the movie. Here’s what’s trending right now as fans dive deeper into Miranda Priestly’s world:
The Cast: Moviegoers are eager to see which favorites returned to the office (and who the new “clackers” are). “The Devil Wears Prada 2 cast” is one of the top breakout searches surrounding the movie, but of course, there’s always “Miranda Priestly,” “Andy Sachs,” “Meryl Streep,” “Anne Hathaway,” and more.
The Reviews: Fans are checking in to see others’ feedback by searching “The Devil Wears Prada 2 reviews” on Search, to see if they think the sequel captures that same magic we fell in love with 20 years ago.
The Cinemas: People are actively hunting for the best big-screen theater experience to see every fabric texture in 4K by searching “The Devil Wears Prada 2 cinema.”
Whether you’re a lifelong fan or a new consumer of The Devil Wears Prada, the official data from Google Search shows we’re all still under Miranda’s spell – and we won’t stop talking about this cinematic phenomenon anytime soon.
Your money is losing value faster than you think. Here’s how some Filipinos are fighting back
Your grocery bill creeping up is not your imagination. The main takeaway is simple: inflation is now outpacing most savings, but some higher-yield options are starting to close that gap.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has raised its 2026 average inflation forecast to 5.1%, driven by global pressures and elevated oil prices. Even with occasional fuel rollbacks, the ripple effect continues to push up the cost of food, transport, and basic services.
That creates a quiet problem. If your savings are sitting in a low-interest account, they are effectively shrinking in real value. What PHP 10,000 can buy today may be noticeably less a year from now.
This is where products like Salmon Bank Time Deposits are gaining attention. The bank offers interest rates ranging from 6% to 8% per annum, starting with as little as PHP 5,000. At the higher end, deposits of PHP 1 million and above can earn up to 8% p.a.
Even after the 20% withholding tax on interest earnings, these rates can still keep pace with the BSP’s 5.1% inflation projection. In practical terms, that means your savings are less likely to lose purchasing power over time.
Security is another concern as people look for safer ways to park their money. Deposits in Salmon Bank are insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) for up to PHP 1 million per depositor, and the bank operates under BSP regulation. The institution, formerly the Rural Bank of Sta. Rosa Laguna, has been around since 1963.
Behind the bank is Salmon Group Ltd., backed by investors including the International Finance Corporation.
As prices keep rising, the real question is no longer whether you are saving, but whether your savings can keep up.
Shell Lubricants has been ranked the world’s leading supplier of finished lubricants for the 19th straight year, according to the Global Lubricants: Market Analysis and Assessment 2025 report by Kline & Company.
The recognition highlights Shell’s continued leadership in the global lubricants industry while addressing evolving customer needs across automotive and industrial sectors.
The company said the ranking reflects its role as a long-standing partner to businesses and consumers worldwide seeking performance and reliability in lubrication solutions.
Canva announced the acquisition of MangoAI and Cavalry to strengthen its artificial intelligence capabilities and expand its professional creative software portfolio.
The global visual communication platform said the deals support its long-term product roadmap by integrating advanced AI technology and professional design tools into its unified ecosystem.
The purchases mark Canva’s fourth and fifth acquisitions in the past two years following the earlier additions of Affinity in 2024, Leonardo in 2024, and MagicBrief in 2025 as the company pushes to build a comprehensive suite of visual communication solutions.
The company said adding Cavalry and MangoAI will accelerate the development of technology and expertise aimed at expanding creative possibilities for teams, creators, and designers.
Canva reported that more than 265 million people now use the platform worldwide, including teams from more than 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies.
Its artificial intelligence tools have been used over 24 billion times while the platform added more than 50 million new users in 2025 as visual communication becomes more central to workplace collaboration.
The company also said it closed 2025 with more than $4 billion in annualized revenue, representing a 36 percent increase from the previous year, alongside more than 31 million paid seats and its ninth consecutive year of positive free cash flow.
Canva co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Cliff Obrecht said the company continues to focus on making creative tools widely accessible while expanding options for professional designers.
He said Affinity has already surpassed five million downloads within months of its launch, signaling strong demand for professional-grade design tools within the Canva ecosystem.
Obrecht said the addition of Cavalry will help integrate motion design with vector and layout capabilities to give designers a more complete creative environment.
Cavalry, a United Kingdom-based 2D animation platform widely used by motion designers, will enhance Canva’s professional creative suite.
The platform was designed by animators to streamline the production of motion graphics and animation through faster and more flexible workflows.
Canva said the technology will complement Affinity’s photo, vector, and layout editing tools to create a fully interoperable design ecosystem for creative professionals.
Cavalry co-founder Chris Hardcastle said the partnership creates an opportunity to expand motion design capabilities while making animation tools more accessible to a wider community of creators.
The animation platform is already used by companies including Amazon, Meta, Google, and Netflix for professional creative production.
Cavalry founders Chris Hardcastle, Ian Waters, and Adam Jenns will join Canva as part of the acquisition to help guide the development of the company’s professional design offerings.
The deal represents Canva’s seventh acquisition of a Europe-based company following earlier purchases of Affinity in 2024, Flourish in 2022, Kaleido in 2021, Smartmockups in 2021, Pexels in 2019, and Pixabay in 2019.
Separately, Canva also acquired MangoAI, a United States startup focused on artificial intelligence systems designed to optimize video advertising performance.
The company said MangoAI’s technology will help strengthen its AI-driven marketing and creative tools as demand grows for automated and data-informed content production.
MangoAI developed proprietary algorithms and reinforcement learning systems that analyze advertising platform signals to automatically refine video content for stronger performance.
Canva said the technology can improve advertising results while reducing the time and costs associated with testing and optimizing marketing content.
The acquisition builds on the AI-driven marketing capabilities introduced through the earlier purchase of MagicBrief and will enhance CanvaGrow, the company’s marketing intelligence platform.
MangoAI co-founder Nirmal Govind will join Canva as its first Chief Algorithms Officer, a newly created position that reflects the company’s growing investment in artificial intelligence research and product development.
Govind previously served as Vice President of Data Science and Engineering at Netflix and brings more than two decades of experience developing large-scale machine learning and AI systems.
He will lead personalization and algorithm development across Canva while working closely with the company’s AI Lab on future visual AI technologies.
MangoAI co-founder Vinith Misra, a former machine learning scientist and leader at Roblox and Netflix, will also join Canva as reinforcement learning lead within the company’s research laboratory.
Following a successful pilot program, TransUnion Philippines, an information and insights company, and Mastercard (NYSE: MA), a global technology company in the payments industry, are working together to give financial institutions a broader and more timely view of consumers’ financial behavior.
By combining TransUnion’s comprehensive credit, identity and alternative data insights with Mastercard’s aggregated transaction intelligence, the collaboration supports stronger decision-making, more meaningful customer engagement for lenders, and sustainable growth across the Philippines’ lending ecosystem.
TransUnion, the Philippines’ first private comprehensive credit reference agency, helps institutions better understand consumers’ likelihood and ability to maintain credit commitments, even those who may not have held a credit product before.
Mastercard’s behavioral signals, which are based on aggregated indicators of spending activity, further complement and supplement these insights, enhancing lenders’ understanding of consumers’ financial capacity and risk.
For lenders, the collaboration will strengthen how institutions identify and engage credit-ready consumers.
New-to-credit (with no credit history) and thin-file (with minimal credit history) consumers can be difficult to assess using traditional information alone, as there may be insufficient data to support confident decision-making.
The enriched insights generated will allow lenders to reduce friction in the application review process and better tailor and align product offerings with consumers’ demonstrated financial patterns.
The combined view helps financial institutions distinguish between applicants with similar profiles, understand emerging opportunities within existing portfolios, and engage customers appropriately based on wider financial activity.
For consumers, the outcome is a decision process that is more accurate, timely and reflective of their financial behavior, resulting in credit experiences that feel more personalized, accessible and suited to their personal circumstances.
Ultimately, this will contribute to greater financial inclusion, enabling Filipinos to access more economic opportunities.
In addition to the expanded data coverage, Mastercard, through its consulting services, has collaborated with TransUnion to enhance data propositions for financial institutions, portfolio margin optimization, and strengthened collections strategies.
“This collaboration builds on TransUnion’s existing strengths in alternative data and analytics,” said Peter Faulhaber, president and CEO at TransUnion Philippines.
“By enriching our existing insights with Mastercard’s behavioral data, we’re helping institutions make more confident decisions while ensuring more Filipinos, especially those with limited credit histories, can be offered fair and relevant access to the financial system.”
“Mastercard is committed to strengthening the foundations of a more inclusive financial ecosystem,” said Jason Crasto, country manager for Mastercard in the Philippines.
“Our collaboration with TransUnion brings together complementary data assets that help financial institutions see a fuller picture of everyday economic participation.
This combined intelligence enables lenders to design responsibly, grow sustainably and extend credit opportunities to people who have historically been underserved.”
The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) World Championship recently ended in Jakarta. Despite the support of local fans, the Indonesian team Alter Ego lost the grand final to the Philippine representative Aurora Gaming PH, which secured its first world championship title.
In this 1xBet review, you will learn everything you need to know about the recently concluded tournament.
Interesting facts
The M7 World Championship ran from January 3 to 25. It was the seventh MLBB world championship and the second to be held in Jakarta.
Notably, the Philippines has only hosted the world championship once before, jointly with Malaysia: the M5 World Championship in 2023.
Historically, our esports players have dominated world championships. Six out of seven M World Championships have been won by teams from the Philippines, with only the debut M1 title going to EVOS Legends from Indonesia.
The reigning M6 World Championship holders, Fnatic ONIC PH, couldn’t defend their title, finishing fourth in MPL Philippines Season 16 and failing to qualify for the tournament.
The Philippines also boasts the most significant representation at the M7 World Championship. Every fourth player in the tournament (36 out of 153) represented our country, and of the 22 squads in the main stage, esports players from the Philippines competed in 9!
Group stage
The Indonesian team Alter Ego was the first to advance to the playoffs with a perfect 3-0 record. This squad qualified for the World Championship for the first time in five years, finishing second in the MPL Indonesia Season 16 regional league. The second participant in the final stage, with the same 3-0 match score, was the Malaysian team Selangor Red Giants.
The following three squads lost only one game each and made it to the playoffs with a 3-1 result: Aurora Gaming Turkey, Aurora Gaming PH, and Team Liquid PH.
Remarkably, two teams, the Turkish and Filipino ones from the Serbian organization Aurora Gaming, showed almost identical outcomes. Notably, Aurora’s official partner is the global betting company 1xBet.
In the decisive stage of the group stage, Team Spirit proved stronger than CFU Gaming (2-0), Yangon Galacticos beat CG Esports (2-0), and ONIC struggled but managed to defeat Team Falcons (2-1).
Playoffs
In the very first playoff match, fate brought both teams from the Philippines together. In a fierce duel, Aurora Gaming PH prevailed over the season leaders, Team Liquid PH (2-1). It’s noteworthy that after the defeat, our squad refused to give up and won two more games in the lower bracket against ONIC and Aurora Gaming Turkey with the same 3-1 score.
Only the future finalists, Alter Ego, were able to stop Team Liquid PH in a fierce clash that ended 3-2. Team Liquid PH were considered the main favorites for the tournament, but finished only fourth.
After winning the opening match, Aurora Gaming PH confidently overcame Alter Ego (3-1) and then took revenge on Selangor Red Giants for beating their sister team, Aurora Gaming Turkey, in the upper bracket final (3-2).
The grand final turned out to be a repeat of the upper bracket semifinal, with Aurora Gaming PH and Alter Ego facing off. Both teams had suffered only one defeat throughout the tournament, and their strength and form were roughly equal, so analysts expected a serious struggle in all seven games.
Nevertheless, the intrigue was evident only in the first two games, where the scales remained balanced until the very end. At the decisive moments, Aurora Gaming PH players demonstrated superior performance, confidently bringing the score to 2-0.
At this point, Alter Ego seemed to break down mentally and gave up the next two games with little resistance. Each match lasted just over 10 minutes, and Aurora Gaming PH claimed the grand final with a clean 4-0 victory! The title of Finals MVP was deservedly awarded to the team’s roamer, Dylan “Light” Catipon.
Aurora Gaming PH’s victory has once again confirmed the Philippines’ dominance in MLBB esports – our representatives now have 6 out of 7 world championship titles to their name!
1xBet Philippines legit brand, sincerely congratulates its partner, Aurora Gaming PH, on their resounding triumph at the M7 World Championship, the main tournament of the year!
