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‘Huge’ overfishing problem shows need to ratify ocean treaty: Greenpeace
Overfishing in international waters has surged in the past five years and demonstrates the need to ratify a recent global treaty to protect the high seas, a Greenpeace report said Wednesday. The non-governmental network is calling on as many countries as possible to sign the treaty next week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Finalized in June, the text was hailed as a "historic" accord with the potential to better safeguard the oceans. A key element in the treaty is the creation of a legal framework to protect high seas marine areas -- beyond 230 miles (370 kilometers) from coastlines -- whose good health is vital to humanity. But without enforcement of the accord, such protections are minimal, the report warned. "Reality at sea is moving in the opposite direction from the ambition laid out in the Treaty," it said. Governments must step up immediately, urged Greenpeace oceans campaigner Chris Thorne, aboard the group's ship Arctic Sunrise, which was docked Wednesday in Long Beach, California for an event marking the report's release. To protect 30 percent of Earth's land and oceans by 2030, the target adopted last year by the COP15 convention on biological diversity, "there is no time to waste," he told AFP. Fishing hours on the high seas increased by 8.5 percent between 2018 and 2022, according to the report, which compiles data from an organization capable of tracking boat movements via their transmitters. Such intensification is especially pronounced in the ecologically sensitive areas identified by the UN as potential future marine sanctuaries. Greenpeace reported fishing there has increased by 22.5 percent over the same period. "Overfishing is a huge problem," Thorne said. "That fishing pressure is just absolutely unsustainable, and it's pushing our oceans to the brink." Greenpeace's report notes that in the span of 30 years, stocks of Pacific bluefin tuna have collapsed by more than 90 percent. It also draws attention to the damage caused in open seas by longline fishing, which uses cords fitted with thousands of baited hooks dozens of miles long. The destructive method catches many sharks by mistake. 'Let her heal' Given such dire situations, using the treaty to create high seas sanctuaries is crucial, said Samantha Murray, a marine biodiversity specialist at the University of California San Diego. "We have up to 670 percent greater biomass inside highly protected and fully protected reserves," she told reporters. "When we sort of leave the ocean alone and let it be who she is and let her heal, we get more complex ecosystems that can be more resilient." In order to come into force before the next UN Ocean Conference, in 2025, the treaty will need ratification from at least 60 nations. This would enable convening a conference of the parties, empowered to create the marine sanctuaries. Scientists and non-governmental organizations have already identified a dozen priority high seas zones needing protection. They include the Costa Rica Thermal Dome, a nutrient-rich marine biodiversity hotspot hospitable to blue whales; the Emperor seamount chain of underwater mountains near Hawaii; and the Atlantic's Sargasso Sea region. In addition, the Salas y Gomez and Nazca ridges off Chile's coast may be among the first sanctuaries to see the light of day. The post ‘Huge’ overfishing problem shows need to ratify ocean treaty: Greenpeace appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Hong Kong’s top court to rule on same-sex marriage
Hong Kong's top court will decide Tuesday whether to recognize same-sex marriages, rendering a verdict in one of the most consequential cases on the subject in the city's history. Over the past decade, LGBTQ activists in the former British colony have won piecemeal victories in court, striking down discriminatory government policies on visas, taxes, and housing benefits. But the case brought by jailed pro-democracy activist Jimmy Sham -- set to be decided at 2:30 pm local time (0630 GMT) Tuesday -- will be the first time Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal has directly addressed the issue of same-sex marriage. Since launching his challenge in 2018, Sham, 36, has twice failed to convince the courts that Hong Kong should legally recognize his marriage to a same-sex partner, which was registered in New York nearly a decade ago. In his most recent setback, in August 2022, appeal judges wrote that Hong Kong's constitutional text "only provides access to the institution of marriage to heterosexual couples". Sham has argued the city's ban on same-sex marriage violates his right to equality, while the lack of a policy alternative -- such as civil unions -- does the same, in addition to breaching his right to privacy. British rights lawyer Karon Monaghan, representing Sham, told the court in June the ban disadvantages same-sex couples in areas such as inheritance and housing rentals. A poll this year found that 60 percent of Hong Kongers supported same-sex marriage, compared to just 38 percent a decade ago. Some international businesses in the city have also backed marriage equality campaigns, crediting it as a way to attract talent. But the city's Beijing-approved leadership has shown little appetite for passing laws that advance LGBTQ equality. Rights advocacy has partly gone underground after Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, following huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the finance hub. Sham, a prominent democracy campaigner, is one of dozens of activists behind bars awaiting prosecution under the security law on charges unrelated to LGBTQ rights. In July, a radio show promoting gay rights aired by Hong Kong's public broadcaster was canceled after a 17-year run. The post Hong Kong’s top court to rule on same-sex marriage appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Oscar-winning UK actress turned MP Glenda Jackson dies at 87
British actress Glenda Jackson, the two-time Oscar-winning actress who went on to become an MP, died on Thursday at the age of 87, her agent said. Lionel Larner said Jackson "died peacefully at her home in Blackheath London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side". "She recently completed filming 'The Great Escaper' in which she co-starred with Michael Caine," he added. The film tells the true story of a World War II veteran who escaped his care home to attend a commemoration of the D-Day landings in France. Jackson won the Best Actress Oscar in 1970 for her leading performance in Ken Russell's film adaptation of author D.H. Lawrence's novel "Women in Love". She won it again in 1973 for her role in "A Touch of Class", in which she played a woman falling in love with the man with whom she is having an affair. Despite her status as a formidable actress, she frequently showed her lighter side with appearances on the popular British comedy series the "Morecambe and Wise Show". Jackson was elected as a Labour MP for her local London constituency of Hampstead and Highgate in 1992 and served as a transport minister in Tony Blair's government between 1997 and 1999. Labor leader Keir Starmer said Jackson's death "leaves a space in our cultural and political life that can never be filled". "From award-winning actor to campaigner and activist to Labour MP and government minister, Glenda Jackson was always fighting for human rights and social justice," he added. Alastair Campbell, Blair's influential press chief in government, called her "one of the finest actresses of our lifetime". "I sometimes felt she found the transition to politics harder than she expected. But a great life well lived," he tweeted. 'Formidable' Jackson also advised Labor's Ken Livingstone when he was London mayor on housing policy and campaigned against homelessness in the capital from 2000 to 2004. She was born on 9 May 1936, in Birkenhead, a small port town near Liverpool, northwest England, to a bricklayer and a cleaning lady. At 16 she went to work in a chemist's shop, doing amateur dramatics in her spare time. When she was 18 she won a scholarship to the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Jackson stepped down as an MP in 2015 and returned to the stage after an absence of 23 years for a rare gender-swapping role in a London production of "King Lear" in 2016. In 2018, aged 82, she won her first Tony -- the equivalent of the Oscars for theatre -- for best actress in "Three Tall Women" and a year later reprised the role of "King Lear" on Broadway for a performance. The New York Times described it as "powerful and deeply perceptive". Jackson was married to actor Roy Hodges from 1958 to 1976. Their son Dan Hodges is a political columnist. In 1978, she was made a Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. The post Oscar-winning UK actress turned MP Glenda Jackson dies at 87 appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Drug trafficking charge against De Lima dismissed
Jailed Philippine human rights campaigner Leila de Lima was acquitted Friday on one of two remaining drug trafficking charges filed against her under the Rodrigo Duterte administration, court officials said, putting her a step closer to freedom. De Lima, a former senator, and justice minister, has been detained since February 2017 on charges she and human rights groups say were fabricated as payback for going after Duterte and his deadly war on drugs that left thousands dead. About 50 supporters chanted "Free Leila Now" and "Junk the Fake Evidence" as they gathered outside the heavily guarded courtroom, which was off limits to the media. The former senator and justice minister, 63, and another defendant "are hereby acquitted of the crime charged on the ground of reasonable doubt," said a written copy of the ruling released by regional trial court judge Abraham Alcantara. "Glorious day," a relieved de Lima told reporters as police escorted her back to a police coaster after the court session, describing the result as the "beginning of my vindication". Despite the acquittal, she will stay in jail as her trial in the other criminal case continues. She has applied for bail and is waiting for the judge's decision. De Lima, 63, faces life in prison if convicted of the remaining charge. She is accused of taking money from inmates inside the country's largest prison in exchange for allowing them to sell drugs while she was justice minister from 2010-2015 under then-leader Benigno Aquino. But the prosecution's case has been falling apart as two of their witnesses died and one of the three charges against her was dismissed. Multiple witnesses have recanted their testimonies, claiming they were coerced into making allegations against de Lima. A UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded in 2018 that de Lima's detention was "arbitrary given the absence of a legal basis" and that her right to a fair trial had not been "respected". Since President Ferdinand Marcos took power, there have been renewed calls from diplomats and rights defenders for de Lima to be released. Before her arrest in 2017, de Lima had spent a decade investigating "death squad" killings allegedly orchestrated by Duterte during his time as Davao City mayor and then in the early days of his 2016-2022 presidency. She conducted the probes while serving as the nation's human rights commissioner, and then from 2010 to 2015 as justice secretary in the Benigno Aquino administration that preceded Duterte's rule. De Lima won a Senate seat in 2016, becoming one of the few opposition voices as the populist Duterte enjoyed a landslide win. But Duterte then accused her of running a drug trafficking ring with criminals. The charges were an act of "vengeance" by Duterte to silence her and warn others not to oppose him, de Lima told AFP previously. Campaigning from behind bars, de Lima made a failed bid for re-election to the Senate in last year's elections. The lawyer and mother of two has been held in a compound for high-profile detainees, rather than in one of the Philippines' overcrowded jails. It is not unusual for court cases to drag on for years in the creaky justice system, which is overburdened, underfunded and vulnerable to pressure from the powerful. The post Drug trafficking charge against De Lima dismissed appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
In Mecca, dreams of a ‘green hajj’
A smaller carbon footprint, less waste, and more environmentally friendly — this year’s pilgrimage to Mecca, dramatically scaled down due to coronavirus, has opened up the prospect of a “green hajj”. This year’s dramatically downscaled Hajj pilgrimage has had a much less adverse effect on the environment than previous years (AFP Photo/STR) In addition to being a logistical and security headache, one of the planet’s largest gatherings, which drew some 2.5 million people last year, also typically poses huge environmental challenges. The procession of so many worshippers, over a short time and in a limited space, results in an assault on the desert kingdom’s delicate environment. Thousands of vehicles generate substantial air pollution, while the pilgrims leave behind an avalanche of waste, including enormous quantities of plastic water bottles. This year’s hajj, limited to a maximum of 10,000 attendees, was by all accounts literally a breath of fresh air. But for environmental activist Nouhad Awwad, it’s not so much the size of the crowd that determines the impact on the environment but more “our collective behaviour”. “This year’s hajj, although taking place at a difficult time globally, can be a source of hope,” the Greenpeace campaigner told AFP. “It gives an idea of what a green pilgrimage could look like,” she added. The scenes in Mecca since the hajj began on Wednesday are very different from those of past years. Rather than the vast crowds that move between the sites, casting rubbish as they go and sometimes prone to deadly crushes, the movement of the pilgrims has been limited and orderly. Even the pebbles they use to symbolically “stone the devil” have been sanitised, as part of elaborate amenity kits provided by authorities that include disinfectant and masks. “Everything is clean and there are only a few municipal workers collecting the small amounts of garbage,” Azim Allah Farha, a pilgrim from Afghanistan who has performed the hajj several times before, said at Mount Arafat, the site of one of the main rituals. One of those workers, Rahim Fajreddine, recalls the hundreds of tonnes of rubbish — plastic bags, cans and food plates — left in past years at the rocky hill outside Mecca where pilgrims pray and repent in the high point of the hajj. “Large numbers of workers had to be mobilised to remove all the debris they left behind as they passed,” he recalled. Eco awakening Until recently, the environment was not a central concern of Saudi Arabia when it came to the hajj. As “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques”, the kingdom was concerned primarily with accommodating as many pilgrims as possible, mindful of the long waiting lists for Muslims, who must complete the hajj at least once in their lifetime if they are able. Huge extensions have been built in recent decades to increase the capacity of the two mosques and pilgrimage sites. Saudi Arabia hopes to welcome 30 million pilgrims to the kingdom annually by 2030. However, by 2018 the local authorities launched a waste separation programme and began to consider recycling. Signs in several languages were posted to encourage the pilgrims to do their bit and dispose of their waste properly. This year, despite the relatively tiny number of pilgrims, the municipality deployed more than 13,000 cleaners to the holy sites, equipped with hundreds of skips, according to an official statement. ‘This is our future’ Awwad said that although this year’s hajj is leaving a small environmental footprint because of the constraints generated by the global pandemic, in the future the same outcome must be achieved by choice. “By investing in sustainable development and adopting green practises, we can continue to live our traditions and perform our rituals while keeping our skies clear of pollution and our streets free of waste,” the activist said. She imagines “a hajj with its millions of pilgrims in total symbiosis with their environment, in a Mecca powered by solar energy”. In a kingdom that ranks as the world’s top energy exporter, and where the shift to renewables is going slower than planned, her vision is unlikely to become a reality any time soon. “But this is the future we should all be working towards,” she insisted......»»
Philippines announces decisive measures amid tensions with China
Manila [Philippines], March 28 (ANI): Amid the escalating tensions in the South China Sea, Philippine President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr has announced decisive measures to protect his country's sovereignty and maritime rights while ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. Marcos, known as Bongbong, said that the measures, aimed at addressing what he said is the "open, unabating, and illegal" actions by China's Coast.....»»
His Peace
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Isaiah 26:3.....»»
Gela Atayde masaya sa kasalang Ria-Zanjoe: My heart is at peace
ISANG heartfelt message ang alay ng Kapamilya artist na si Gela Atayde para sa bagong kasal niyang kapatid na si Ria Atayde at sa asawa nitong si Zanjoe Marudo. Matatandaang nitong Sabado, March 23, kasabay ng kaarawan ni Ria ay ikinasal sila ni Zanjoe sa Quezon City na in-officiate ni Mayor Joy Belmonte. Sa latest.....»»
Shohei Ohtani says interpreter stole money, denies knowledge of gambling debts
Shohei Ohtani says he was unaware Ippei Mizuhara had gambling debts and that he had been lied to repeatedly by the interpreter who had been by his side since he joined Major League Baseball in 2018.....»»
Old habits die hard
In a 2018 article, I wrote about how I spent most of my weeknights playing video games and streaming random TV series, reality shows and movies......»»
Singaporean embassy in India extends Holi wishes, shares images of celebrations in Barsana
New Delhi [India], March 24 (ANI): As Indians across the world geared up to ring in the festival of colours, the Singaporean embassy in the national capital extended its greetings for Holi, wishing that the festival would bring peace and joy to all. It also shared mesmerising pictures of Holi celebrations in one of India's oldest and most popular pilgrimage sites, Barsana, in Uttar Pradesh. A post on the official X handle.....»»
PUBG Mobile continues steady rise in Philippines
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Singaporean embassy in India extends Holi wishes, shares images of celebrations in Barsana
New Delhi [India], March 24 (ANI): As Indians across the world geared up to ring in the festival of colours, the Singaporean embassy in the national capital extended its greetings for Holi, wishing that the festival would bring peace and joy to all. It also shared mesmerising pictures of Holi celebrations in one of India's oldest and most popular pilgrimage sites, Barsana, in Uttar Pradesh. A post on the official X handle.....»»
Bohol artist to receive Da Vinci International art prize
A Bohol-based visually impaired artist will hold his first exhibit in Milan, Italy as he was among the winners in this year’s Leonardo Da Vinci International Art Prize......»»
Diffusing tension
In his 2024 State of the Union Address, President Joseph Biden doubled down on his rhetoric against China as he boasted revitalized partnerships in the Pacific. He rattled off India, Australia, Japan, South Korea and the Pacific Islands. He said the United States is standing up against China’s economic practices while standing up for peace across the Taiwan Strait......»»
Catriona Gray naka-focus sa kalusugan, may struggle sa scoliosis
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Catriona Gray reacts to Miss Universe s fake inclusivity issue
Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray hoped that the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) would prove that the pageant's inclusivity shouldn't be seen as "token thing" after owner Anne Jakrajutatip had a leaked viral video about the pageant's alleged "fake inclusivity." .....»»
Chocolate hills resort: Bohol governor tells DENR to take legal action ASAP
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The provincial government of Bohol wants to find out how the controversial resort located within the famous Chocolate Hills was allowed to construct and operate despite an investigation that started way back in 2018. Bohol Governor Erico Aris Aumentado on Thursday, March 14, 2024, urged the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR).....»»
FACT CHECK | Self-proclaimed ‘Son of God’ Pastor Apollo Quiboloy indicted in the US in 2021, not 2018
MindaNews fact-checked the claim made by Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name, that he and his lawyers have been waiting for the start of his trial for sex trafficking and other crimes in the United States (US), but that the courts have always postponed it since […].....»»
Catriona Gray, Sam Milby dunay gi-atubang nga problema sa ilang relasyon
Duna kunoy gi-atubang nga problema sa pagkakaron ang engaged couple nga sila si Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray ug Sam Milby. Kini ang gipahibaw sa Cornerstone Entertainment, ang talent management sa duha. Matud sa Cornerstone nga gibuhat nila ni Catriona ug Sam ang tanan para masulbad ang maong problema. ALSO READ: Catriona Gray, Sam Milby.....»»