Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

READ: LACSON TO TANDEM WITH SOTTO

SEN. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson on Tuesday said he was weighing his options whether to retire from politics or run in tandem with Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto 3rd in the 2022 national elections. Sotto had voiced his intention to run for vice president in next year's polls but said he would only do so if Lacson sought the presidency. The three-term senator admitted that Sotto had urged him to seek the presidency next year.

READ: SURVEY ON METRO MAYORS

IF elections were held today, three mayors in Metro Manila would be reelected

while five others would face stiff competition, a survey showed. Quezon City Mayor Ma. Josefina "Joy" Belmonte, Pasig City Mayor Victor "Vico" Sotto and San Juan City Mayor Francisco "Francis" Zamora all got high approval ratings in the non-commissioned survey conducted by RP-Mission and Development Foundation Inc. (RPMDinc) from May 20 to May 30, 2021. The poll dubbed "NCR Mayor: Pulso ng Bayan 2022" covered eight cities: Quezon, Manila, Pasig, San Juan, Caloocan, Parañaque, Muntinlupa and Malabon.

READ: WORLDWIDE STING

POLICE arrested more than 800 people worldwide in a huge global sting involving encrypted phones that were secretly planted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, law enforcement agencies said Tuesday. Policemen in 16 countries were able to read the messages of global underworld figures as they plotted drug deals, arms transfers and gangland hits on the compromised ANOM devices. Mafia groups, Asian crime syndicates, motorcycle gangs and other organized crime syndicates around the world were all monitored using the spiked phones as part of Operation "Trojan Shield".

READ: FDA APPROVES EUA FOR PFIZER

THE Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an amendment to the emergency use authorization (EUA) granted to Pfizer to include children ages 12 years and above. The amended EUA was issued by the FDA on May 28 and now includes an indication that allows the use of the vaccine for "individuals aged 12 years and older."

READ: WHO CALLED VAXX MANUFCTURERS

IN World news, The World Health Organization called on Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers to give Covax first refusal on new doses, or commit half of their volumes to the global jab equity scheme. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said manufacturers should turn their attention to the Covax Facility, which has struggled to get donation funded doses to poorer countries.

READ: JEFF BEZOS

AMAZON founder Jeff Bezos will ride his own rocket into space next month, joining the first crew to fly in a Blue Origin capsule. The second richest man on earth announced he will launch on July 20 from Texas along with his firefighter brother Mark and the highest bidder in a charity auction.

READ: WORLD BANK

HEADLINING Business: The World Bank slashed its 2021 Philippine gross domestic product projection due to the larger-than-expected first quarter economic contraction, increase in Covid-19 cases and the imposition of stricter quarantine measures in the second quarter. During the launch of the latest Philippines Economic Update on Tuesday, World Bank senior economist Kevin Chua said the economy is now projected to grow by 4.7 percent, significantly lower than the 5.5 percent earlier projection.

READ: US' WOMEN'S OPEN

TOPPING sports: With her conquest of the US Women's Open on Monday, Filipino golf sensation Yuka Saso rose from No. 22 to No. 9 in the Olympic golf rankings on Tuesday. The cutoff for the women's Olympic qualification is June 28 and with Saso's current ranking, she is practically assured of a spot in the one-year delayed Games.

READ: NOVAK AND NADAL

NOVAK Djokovic and Rafael Nadal beat their teen opponents to reach the quarterfinals of the French Open. Djokovic outlasted Lorenzo Musetti in five sets while Nadal stopped 18th-seeded Jannik Sinner in 3.

READ: EDITORIAL

RIGOBERTO Tiglao and Fr. Ranhilio Aquino are today's front page columnists. Tiglao talks about the 'West Philippine Sea' appellation: Aquino's brainwashing trick and a curse. Fr. Aquino writes about the Lessons we should have learned in the pandemic.

THE editorial discusses how the energy crunch presents a difficult paradox. Read a full version on the paper's opinion section and listen to the Voice of the Times.

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For The Manila Times, this is Christian Crow Maghanoy reporting. Good morning.