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GCash sets sights on further international expansion
With GCash Overseas, Filipinos in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia can now download and use the GCash app, whether they have Philippine SIMs or local mobile phone numbers in the countries or territories where they live......»»
Wanted for high-profile crimes killed in Bangsamoro police operation
A suspect in a series of motorcycle theft, multiple murder, extortion and operation of a drug den, who has links with local terrorist groups, was killed while his companion was wounded in a shootout with policemen in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte on Thursday......»»
Man jailed for stealing items from school
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A 26-year-old man landed in jail after being caught stealing from an elementary school in Barangay Langtad, Naga City, Cebu, early Wednesday morning, March 20, 2024. The suspect was identified as Angelito Cudias Apeliano, 26, an unemployed resident of Barangay Pasil, Santander, Cebu. In a phone interview with CDN Digital, Police.....»»
LTO summons road rage suspect
The Land Transportation Office yesterday issued a show-cause order against a motorcycle rider who slashed the tire of a delivery van in another case of road rage that went viral on social media......»»
ICC can t probe Philippines drug war, Marcos tells Germany s Scholz
MANILA, The Philippines: This week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz the International Criminal Court (ICC) has no authority to probe the bloody war against drugs conducted by his predecessor. Marcos discussed the Hague-based ICC's probe during a bilateral meeting with Scholz while visiting Germany. Former President Rodrigo Duterte officially withdrew from the i.....»»
‘Katapusan na’: This 80-year-old nun thought she would die at EDSA
Watch this video interview with Sister Cho Borromeo, an 80-year-old Franciscan nun, who recounts People Power from the perspective of church workers waiting to be bombed.....»»
Bombed Village
Barangay Can-ayan in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon looks so beautiful and calm on Sunday morning (21 January 2024). Who would think that on Christmas Day last year, the people here awoke to the sounds of artillery and bombs being dropped on suspected New People's Army positions in a military operation that reportedly killed 10 rebels. MindaNews photo by H. MARCOS C. MORDENO.....»»
A-plus : Jo Koy grades his Golden Globes 2024 hosting, reflects on bombed jokes
Filipino-American comedian Jo Koy is still proud of his historic hosting of the Golden Globes despite the huge waves of criticism that went his way......»»
Russia accidentally bombs own village near Ukraine
MOSCOW — Russia said it had accidentally bombed a village in its southern Voronezh region near Ukraine on Tuesday but stressed there were no casualties. The accident occurred the same day as Russia hit Ukraine with a large-scale missile attack. It is not the first such incident during Moscow’s almost two-year-long Ukraine offensive. “On January 2,.....»»
Acapulco hurricane survivors still struggling to get word to loved ones
Andrea Fernandez, who is eight months pregnant, is distraught, unable to let her husband in another state know that she is fine after Hurricane Otis devastated the scenic resort of Acapulco, on Mexico's Pacific coast, leaving at least 27 dead. But "there is no (cellular) service. I haven't been able to communicate for three days," she said, jostling on a bridge with about 20 others keen to make a call or text to let loved ones know that they are well. "I'm desperate," she said through tears. This picturesque tourist haunt, which lured Hollywood stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Elvis Presley in the 1950s and '60s, is now a bustling city of 780,000 people, living in high-rises and houses on hills and mountains. But it had never experienced a Category 5 hurricane like Otis which -- in a single day -- killed at least 39 people and made local landmarks built over decades look like they had been bombed. Cell phones intermittently pick up signals in some parts of the port, but the situation is hit or miss. One local woman could be overheard telling her loved ones: "There is no way to get out of here! I'll talk to you again when I can. Everything here is gone. It's horrible." Some disgruntled survivors have told local media they were angry to hear tourists were taken to safe places to ride out the storm -- in sharp contrast to the population as a whole. At one point, some tourists keen to contact kin approached journalists on the port's main avenue, Costera Miguel Aleman, asking them to pass on details of a sick person who needed to be evacuated from a damaged building. Francisco Perez, 50, is desperate to get word to his mother. He has accused the authorities of a grossly inadequate response to the devastation Otis wrought. "(They put) some portable (phone) antennas at a couple of places, but... what are we supposed to do?" he asked angrily, as people's focus began turning to the lack of reliable water and food. Otis strengthened with dramatic speed, growing in just hours from a tropical storm to the most powerful category of the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale before hitting land early Wednesday. The World Meteorological Organization described the hurricane as "one of the most rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones on record," exceeded in modern times only by another Pacific hurricane, Patricia, in 2015. The speed with which Otis intensified took the government and weather forecasters by surprise, leaving little time to issue warnings and prepare residents for its arrival. The post Acapulco hurricane survivors still struggling to get word to loved ones appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Netanyahu says Israel ‘preparing’ Gaza ground war
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel is readying a ground war in Gaza, pressing ahead with plans that have troubled allies and threaten to worsen an already cascading humanitarian crisis. Facing ever-louder international calls to temper Israel's ferocious 19-day bombing campaign in the Hamas-controlled territory, Netanyahu delivered a nationally televised address. He told fellow Israelis still grieving and angry after Hamas's bloody attacks: "We are in the midst of a campaign for our existence," while insisting Israel will decide how the war is prosecuted. On 7 October, throngs of Hamas gunmen poured from Gaza into Israel, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 222 more, according to official tallies. US President Joe Biden is among the foreign leaders stepping up public calls for Israel to "protect innocent civilians" and to follow the "laws of war" as it pursues Hamas targets. Thousands of Gazans are already believed to have died in Israel's aerial assault, with the toll expected to rise substantially if tens of thousands of Israeli troops massed around Gaza move in. Biden on Wednesday said he had privately suggested Israel should get hostages out if possible before any ground invasion. "It's their decision, but I did not demand it", Biden said, as he called on Congress to allocate more money for Israeli defense. Speaking in Cairo, French President Emmanuel Macron warned: "A massive intervention that would put civilian lives at risk would be an error." But boasting of "raining down hellfire on Hamas" and killing "thousands of terrorists", Netanyahu said his war cabinet and the military would determine the timing of a "ground offensive" to "eliminate Hamas" and "bring our captives home." "I will not detail when, how, or how many," he said. 'It's a massacre' Gaza's Hamas-controlled health ministry puts the number of Palestinian deaths at 6,500, including many children and 700 people killed in a single 24-hour window this week. AFP could not independently verify the ministry's claims, and US President Biden has stated he has "no confidence" in the Hamas ministry figures. While the exact toll from the war in Gaza is unclear, the depth of the suffering is not in question. Entire neighborhoods have been razed, overflowing hospitals carry out procedures without anesthetic, and residents have been forced to use ice cream trucks as makeshift morgues. "They're not waging war on Hamas, they're waging war on children," raged Abu Ali Zaarab, after his family home was bombed in the southern town of Rafah. "It's a massacre." About 1.4 million people -- more than half the population -- have been displaced, according to the United Nations. The UN says 12 of the territory's 35 hospitals have closed due to damage or insufficient fuel, and a key UN aid agency serving almost 600,000 Palestinians "began to significantly reduce its operations." Israel has cut off Gaza's normal supply corridors for water, food, and other necessities, and fewer than 70 relief trucks have entered the impoverished territory since the war began. None contained fuel, which Israel fears Hamas will use for rockets and explosives. Aid agencies have warned that more people will die if medical equipment, water desalination plants, and ambulances stop operating because of a lack of fuel. Once the generators stop, hospitals will "turn into morgues", the Red Cross has warned. Hospitals are also struggling with a shortage of medicines and equipment. "There's not enough anesthetic," said Ahmad Abdul Hadi, an orthopedic surgeon working at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. "The wounded are in severe pain but we can't wait for the procedure, so we're forced to do the operation. We performed a number of surgeries without anesthetic. It's tough and painful, but with the lack of resources, what can we do?" A regional 'explosion' The war has sparked fears of a regional conflagration if it draws in more of Israel's enemies. Since October 7, Israel has launched thousands of reprisal strikes in Gaza, but it has also hit targets in Lebanon and Syria. Late Wednesday, Lebanon-based Hezbollah fired what Israel said was a surface-to-air missile at an Israeli drone. Israel's military said it had intercepted the missile and "struck the source of the launch" in retaliation. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria's government are backed by Iran, which denies Israel's right to exist. Tehran's top diplomat on Wednesday accused Israel of carrying out "genocide" in Gaza. Jordan's King Abdullah became the latest leader to warn that ongoing violence could "lead to an explosion" in the region. His wife Queen Rania accused Western leaders of a "glaring double standard" for not condemning Israel's killing of Palestinian civilians in its bombardment of Gaza. Violence has also risen sharply in the occupied West Bank, where health officials said more than 100 Palestinians had been killed, mostly in raids by Israeli troops or in clashes with Israeli settlers. The post Netanyahu says Israel ‘preparing’ Gaza ground war appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Crypto crackdown intensifies on Hamas finance
Cryptocurrency has become the latest front in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, analysts say. Israeli and US authorities have intensified their financial hunt into Hamas in recent days as they track illicit funds via digital currencies. Ari Redbord, global policy head at crypto tracking specialist TRM Labs, said there is now less crypto transfer activity on pro-Hamas support networks as a result. "We are seeing a lot less activity in some respects since the war began," Redbord told AFP. This is "primarily because Israel has been very aggressive and successful in taking down these fundraising efforts", he added. Israel has bombed Gaza in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas militants who, while firing a massive rocket barrage, killed more than 1,400 people and took 222 hostages on 7 October, according to Israeli authorities. Israeli strikes have now killed more than 6,500 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Shadowy world Cryptocurrency is regarded as a speedy way to move cash that is unregulated by any central bank and is less traceable than a traditional bank transfer. The shadowy world of digital units, based on decentralized blockchain technology, has gained notoriety for illicit transactions due to its under-the-radar appeal. Two weeks ago, Israeli police revealed they had located and frozen accounts linked to Hamas that sought "to solicit donations on social networks" via Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange. A Binance spokeswoman said it "follows internationally recognized sanctions rules, blocking the small number of accounts linked to illicit funds". Redbord, formerly a senior US government adviser, said Hamas had adopted crypto from 2019 at the latest, to seek funding via the Telegram messaging network and even on its own website. Hamas decided in April that it would no longer accept cash via Bitcoin due to increased global surveillance of the world's biggest digital unit. Crypto fundraising is now operated via a network of Hamas-linked support groups. TRM Labs has closely monitored virtual crypto wallets linked to such support groups since the start of the war. And it has concluded that much smaller amounts of cash than usual are being moved. Two weeks after the attacks, support group Gaza Now received less than $6,000 in one of its crypto wallets, Redbord noted. That compared with $800,000 in total since the wallet's creation in August 2021. Meanwhile, authorities are well aware that digital assets are a minor part of a complex funding picture. The US State Department estimates that Iran funnels $100 million per year to Palestinian groups including Hamas. 'Small piece of puzzle' "Cryptocurrency is a very small piece of a larger financing puzzle for Hamas," said Redbord. "They are looking to Iran; they're... imposing taxes on the Palestinians; they have a network of charities and a diaspora of supporters who are sending donations not in cryptocurrencies." "But crypto does play a role," he said. Digital currencies still represent a significant revenue stream for Hamas and other allied groups. Crypto addresses identified by Israel as being linked to Hamas received about $41 million between August 2020 and July 2023, according to Israeli analytics and software firm BitOK. Other crypto addresses linked to Islamic Jihad received in excess of $154 million between October 2022 and September 2023, with some still active, it adds. Some players in the sector simply turn a blind eye. "Some cryptoasset businesses are intentionally or unwittingly allowing misuse of the crypto ecosystem," said Joby Carpenter, an expert on the industry. "This trend is magnified where exchanges are based in lightly or unregulated jurisdictions," he told AFP. The post Crypto crackdown intensifies on Hamas finance appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
‘Shame on int’l media’
As the conflict between the state of Israel and the Hamas terror organization intensifies, international media coverage has thus far been described as dismal and heavily slanted against the Jewish nation. Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss cited as an example the Hamas missile attack on the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, which was hit directly a few days after the 7 October attack by a rocket fired from Gaza, resulting in Israeli deaths and injuries. In contrast, an explosion on 17 October at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City that resulted in a massive number of fatalities and injuries was splashed all over broadcast and print media and was immediately blamed on an Israeli air strike, a narrative peddled by Hamas. Investigations by Israel and the United States proved that a missile launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Gaza-based terror group more radical than Hamas, had misfired and landed on the hospital grounds. “Nobody in the media reported that an Israeli hospital was bombed in Ashkelon, which had so many patients injured and killed. The rockets were shot at the hospital. No media picked it up and condemned nobody,” Fluss lamented during an interview with Daily Tribune editors. “So, for me, this incident is a shame on the international media. These news (outfits) and (media) people sort of still live with this image that it is the ratings that must (dictate the news coverage),” Fluss said. New York Times sorry US publication The New York Times issued on Monday an unprecedented admission that it had “relied too heavily on claims by Hamas” in its reporting of an explosion at a Gaza hospital. The newspaper issued the statement five days after running a headline on its front page, above the fold, reading: “Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinians Say.” “The Times’ initial accounts attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the blast,” according to NYT’s editor’s note. “However, the early versions of the coverage — and the prominence it received in a headline, news alert, and social media channels — relied too heavily on claims by Hamas and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified,” the NYT continued. NYT editors also acknowledged that “the report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was.” The note said Times reporters quickly edited the story on the website, as Israeli officials denied striking the hospital. Nonetheless, it added, “Given the sensitive nature of the news during a widening conflict and the prominent promotion it received, Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation and been more explicit about what information could be verified.” Islamic Jihad missile Israeli officials have vehemently denied responsibility for the explosion at the Al-Ahli Hospital and have released audio files of Hamas officials admitting that the blast was caused by a Palestinian Islamic Jihad projectile that fell onto Gaza. Also provided were images showing that the parking lot where the blast occurred did not have a crater in the ground, and there was no structural damage to nearby buildings, both of which typically would have been left by an Israeli Defense Forces strike. Recurring phenomena Media bias, as Fluss indicated, is a persistent issue. Terror groups like Hamas know this and take full advantage to sway public opinion. “As a result, coverage is often selective, stories get framed misleadingly, or certain perspectives go missing,” according to the American Jewish Committee, or AJC, which is the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people. “Instead of focusing on Hamas’ massacre of Israeli civilians, Israel’s efforts to thwart terrorists, destroy terrorist headquarters and weapons sites, and prevent more civilian deaths, some major media outlets characterize Israel’s targeted response as attacks on innocent and beleaguered Palestinians — feeding an unequivocally false narrative,” the AJC said. It added that Western media outlets often use the term “militant” to describe Hamas and other terrorist groups. For example, in the New York Times coverage of Hamas’ unprovoked attack on Israel on 7 October, the word “terrorists” was nowhere to be found on the front page of its website. The AJC said, “Hamas is not a militant group. It is a terrorist organization internationally designated as such by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Israel, Japan, and others that has fired thousands of rockets and slaughtered Israeli civilians in cold blood.” Hamas has set two long-term goals articulated in its charter: The end of the Jewish state and the creation of an Islamic state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. In the current conflict, Hamas has murdered over 300 Israelis and wounded nearly 2,000. “Using the term ‘militant’ to describe Hamas diminishes the true threat that the terror group poses. Media outlets need to call a terrorist a terrorist,” the AJC added. No occupation Some media accounts on the Gaza Strip often blame Israel’s “occupation” as the root cause of the conflict. Fluss pointed out, however, that Israel does not occupy the Gaza Strip and has had no presence in the coastal enclave for nearly two decades. From 1948 to 1967, the Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt, which took control of the territory during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, also known as Israel’s War of Independence. After the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel took control of the Gaza Strip from Egypt. In 2005, Israel, facing huge political pushback, withdrew from the Gaza Strip, and dismantled its settlements and military forces in the name of peace and in hopes of creating a better future. However, those hopes were shattered after Hamas came to power through elections and, with it, violence and rocket attacks on Israeli civilian population centers. Since 2007, when Hamas violently ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip, it began launching tens of thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel. Hamas terrorists also infiltrated Israel through land, sea, and air incursions from Gaza to murder and abduct Israeli civilians. Over 600 Israelis were murdered on the 7 October large-scale infiltration into Israeli territory from Gaza. The post ‘Shame on int’l media’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Flesh and blood
Perhaps in all the years in this lifetime that Israel has been at war, we Filipinos never made enough sense of what it is really about. Not until we learned, since 7 October, how cruel and bitter it can be — in the photos of a grown man forever captured screaming into the air over his dead nephew’s body; of shrouded bodies that may never be identified; or a clip of a father holding plastic bags of his kids’ remains. And the babies. And the burned bodies. And the blood splattered all over a bomb shelter. No one — unless it is you or yours — can imagine how it truly feels. If you can feel rage and grief at seeing images alone, how much more can your heart take if it were happening right before you? “We are all human,” a father said on Tiktok. It was he who posted about that father with the plastic bags. “There is no difference between me and this man. When we talk of kids getting killed, bombed, or put on fire, it doesn’t really matter what you believe in, where you come from, or what religion you follow. This is never acceptable! You just have to be a human being to stand up and say stop.” Now I am not sure whether this man was genuine (heaven knows there has been plenty of fake and biased news) or if it was propaganda designed to turn sympathy toward a specific cause. But what he said about being human was true. Amid all the atrocious crimes we have seen in the war raging in Gaza, we need to view the whole situation through our humanity. When Gaza struck Israel the way Hitler hit the Jewish people — with extreme violence and a detailed plan to eliminate the enemy in very specific ways — we recoiled. We remembered. But when Israel defended itself, many condemned it. Why? Many immediately concluded that the war was a Palestinian issue, or about Israel’s attempt at occupation or conquest. It is not. So, while it is natural to react the way we do over civilian casualties and collateral damage — likely letting our emotions get the better of us — we need to muster the sense to take it all in with the correct perspective. We must know more, learn more. Shooting from the hip or erupting without understanding — well, wouldn’t that be just as bad as the perpetrators of the war? What is fact and what is fiction? We must seek the truth in light of the misinformation being deliberately spread on social media. One such claim was debunked on Associated Press recently, about the bombing of a hospital in Gaza supposedly by the Israeli military. This was spread in a social media post written in Arabic. AP said, “No such post exists on the military’s actual social media pages and its top Arabic-speaking spokesperson confirmed his office had issued no such statement.” To think this is but one aspect of the entire issue. Let’s begin with the fact that Hamas is a terrorist organization. It is not about Palestine, it is about pushing Islamic supremacy through force. Israel, if you think about it, has “no quarrel with Palestinians,” as Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss, himself emphasized in a talk with DAILY TRIBUNE on Monday. “We are in a war against Hamas, not Palestinians — we have to defend our citizens,” he said. It is a “war of survival,” he added. Israel has long been fighting against Islamic forces that want to see it obliterated from the planet. “We don’t have a choice. We will fight. We will win.” The ambassador added, “The charter of Hamas calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. And it says that there is no political agreement…no political agreement can be reached with Israel. Israel has to be eliminated, and Israelis and Jews have to be killed. That’s the agenda of their philosophy. It has to be an Islamic land. “So, when people ask me today, what is the political future here? I say this is a question that you have to ask Hamas or the Palestinians, because in Israel, we have a government that makes decisions, makes a lot more, and when we sign a document, we respect it, and we can negotiate. We’re a political entity. “Hamas is not in a negotiating position. It is in a war position to eliminate Israel. Very simple. And you see the history. I’m not going into the long history, but Israel had pulled out of Gaza since 2005. We are not controlling Gaza. We are on the international border. So, it’s not about a few patients. It is about an organization that, every few years, initiates again an attack against Israel. This time it was the biggest…” However, the ambassador admits, on a personal level, that a solution seems hazy “because it is continuing and we are living in a complicated neighborhood,” he told this columnist. The enemies are “fundamentalists that are promoting these Islamic states, promising these fundamentalistic terror agenda…” Ambassador Fluss may be keeping it all real as a diplomat, but what he may not ever say is that this war is about all of us, too — humans and families and connected lives. When a Filipino caregiver refuses to leave her ward, sacrificing her own life to the end, that is humanity. But to believe that life is only worth living if another race or culture is removed, where is the humanity in that?.....»»
Brownlee formula
The issue surrounding Justin Brownlee is a major blackeye to Philippine basketball. It is yet another heartbreaker for Filipinos, who were hoping and praying to see the national team reassert its dominance in the international arena. For the longest time, the Filipinos had struggled internationally. In the Asian Games, for instance, the Philippines emerged victorious in its first four editions — 1951 in New Delhi, 1954 in Manila, 1958 in Tokyo, and 1962 in Jakarta before suffering a string of frustrating finishes. The closest we got to the gold medal was in 1990 when the Basketball Association of the Philippines tasked the Philippine Basketball Association with assembling a team that would reclaim our Asian glory. It was a tall order at the time as the Philippines was coming off a bitter setback at the hands of Malaysia in the 1989 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur. The BAP knew that only an Asian crown would soothe the pain of a nation craving revenge. But it didn’t happen. Coached by Robert “Sonny” Jaworski, the team bannered by Allan Caidic, Benjie Paras, Ramon Fernandez, Samboy Lim, and Chito Loyzaga surrendered to powerhouse China featuring Shan Tao and Ma Jian in the gold medal match. Eight years later, Tim Cone was given the marching orders to assemble another star-studded squad to represent the country in the Bangkok Asian Games in 1998. But like Jaworski, his bitter coaching nemesis at the time, Cone was also unsuccessful as his Centennial Team had to settle for bronze behind China and South Korea. In the next edition in Busan in 2002, hopes were high. Despite a sudden coaching change after American mentor Ron Jacobs suffered a stroke in the final stretch of preparations, Jong Uichico was still able to form a solid team that had a mix of Filipino-foreign stars like Asi Taulava, Eric Menk, and Rudy Hatfield, as well as homegrown stars like Olsen Racela, Kenneth Duremdes, and Danny Ildefonso. But fate wrote a cruel script. The Philippines was ahead, 68-66, in the final 23.9 seconds of the semifinal clash against South Korea. A victory would have sent the Filipinos to the gold medal match against China, while a setback would relegate them to a battle for bronze against Kazakhstan. Racela was at the charity stripe for a chance to ice the game and seal the victory. But he missed both free shots. In a shocking — and heartbreaking — turn of events, Korean gunner Lee Sang Min buried a long three-pointer off a broken play at the buzzer that sent the host country to the finals. The players were crushed while a river of tears flowed through the streets of Manila as the entire country couldn’t believe how merciless the basketball gods could be. Since then, Philippine basketball has been reduced to a mere footnote in Asian basketball. We bombed out of the medal podium in Doha in 2006 and Guangzhou in 2010. We even suffered international embarrassment when head coach Chot Reyes instructed naturalized player Marcus Douthit to shoot at our own basket in Incheon in 2014. In 2018, a legitimate National Basketball Association campaigner, Jordan Clarkson, came along and was billed as the hero who would save Philippine basketball. But he was unsuccessful. The Filipinos’ string of misfortunes continued as Gilas Pilipinas settled for fifth place. Then here came Brownlee, tapped to see action as a naturalized player in the Hangzhou Asian Games. The 35-year-old American was tasked to power a team already familiar to him — guys he had been playing with for more than five years. The coach — Cone — had been his mentor since he arrived in Manila in 2016 and led Barangay Ginebra San Miguel to six PBA titles while winning three Best Import honors. There was no honeymoon period to speak of. He hit the ground running. The result was impressive as Brownlee dropped 36 points to lead Gilas Pilipinas to a razor-thin 84-83 win over Iran in the quarterfinals, before dropping back-to-back three-point bombs in their miraculous 77-76 victory over host China in the semifinals. The Filipinos won their first gold medal in 61 years following a 70-60 victory over Jordan in the final, but an asterisk was attached to the victory after Brownlee tested positive for Carboxy-THC, a banned substance linked to the use of cannabis. At this point, it is unknown whether Brownlee will contest the findings or how long his possible suspension will be. What is clear is that Brownlee made a tremendous impact on Philippine basketball as he proved that the best way to win an international title is to field a naturalized player who is very familiar with the Filipinos’ style of play. Brownlee may not be as exciting and flashy as Clarkson or as tall as Douthit and Blatche, but he knows Philippine basketball like the back of his hand. It’s time for the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to create more Justin Brownlees by recruiting young foreign players who are willing to stay in the country for a longer period — not just to earn and play as imports in the PBA — but to win the hearts and minds of these basketball-crazy Filipinos. Brownlee’s professional career is in great peril, and we may not see him don the Gilas or Ginebra jerseys again. But we should always remember his most significant contribution to Philippine basketball. Nope, it wasn’t the incredible play he delivered against China or how he stood his ground against Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and the powerful Jordanians that led to the country’s first Asian Games title in 61 years. His most important contribution was the idea that to gain international success, the federation must recruit a naturalized player not based on skills, height, or popularity but on his love, respect, and dedication to the country he wishes to represent. The post Brownlee formula appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Egypt prioritizing Pinoys’ Gaza escape
Egypt’s government has pledged to prioritize the entry of Filipinos into the country once the Rafah crossing for those fleeing bombed-out Gaza is opened, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Eduardo de Vega said on Saturday. De Vega cited a commitment made by Egyptian Ambassador to the Philippines Ahmed Shehabeldin, who said Filipinos would be at the top of the list once passage is allowed across the border. De Vega added that the ambassador had told his government that Filipinos should be given priority and not to give them any problems when crossing the border. Some 135 Filipinos are currently in Gaza, with about 80 awaiting the opening of the Rafah crossing near the Sinai Peninsula. “Potentially, we have 135 Filipino nationals (in Gaza). But we don’t expect those who will actually cross to reach 100 because those who were seen at the crossing at the beginning were only 78. Only up to 80 are interested,” De Vega said. He explained that while they could not convince all the Filipinos in Gaza to cross into Egypt, they had high hopes all would eventually do so to ensure their safety. Gaza aid Israel, which has been bombing Gaza in retaliation for the killing of 1,400 of its nationals by Hamas last 7 October, is expected to launch a ground assault on the enclave to flush out the extremist group. “We are hoping they would cross when ready because we cannot guarantee their safety and condition once the ground assault by Israel starts and Gaza (militants) attack,” De Vega said. Egypt has turned down calls to accommodate Gaza Palestinians within its borders. Earlier, United States President Joe Biden announced that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi had agreed to open the Rafah border crossing, allowing roughly 20 trucks with humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. The conflict between Israel and Gaza has sparked a global appeal for peace and the cessation of hostilities. Four Filipinos were killed during the attack by Hamas on Israel on 7 October. The Gaza Strip is predominantly administered by Hamas, an organization deemed a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union. The post Egypt prioritizing Pinoys’ Gaza escape appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Tunnel warfare
When Marawi residents were finally allowed to check on their houses about seven months after the dust of battle had settled, they saw holes in the walls and tunnels underneath. This was in the so-called “most affected areas” or ground zero, which experienced the heaviest and most devastating bombardment in the 2017 Marawi siege. Initially, the residents did not know the significance of the holes and tunnels. Later, they learned that it was to facilitate the movement of the rebels from one building to another without being exposed on the roads that were being monitored using satellites and drones, courtesy of foreign countries. They could evade the modern penetrating binoculars and sophisticated war weapons that honed in on body heat. Tunnel or subterranean warfare is a feature of modern urban wars that we saw in the Vietnam war, the Syrian civil war, and the campaigns against the terrorist ISIS and similar groups. We are seeing it now in the Israel-Hamas conflict. In the Marawi war, the Maute-Abu Sayyaf Group took advantage of the labyrinth of sewers and canals that crisscrossed buildings underground. This could have been the reason for the protracted fighting, which brought government forces aided by modern technology and intelligence provided by countries like the United States five months to quell even if the rebels were clearly outnumbered and outgunned. In the basement of the Bato Ali Mosque, which was used as a temporary shelter cum headquarters of the rebels, there was a covered canal going down towards the Dansalan area where the wet market or padian was situated and where the other rebel forces were holding out. It was in this area that sniper bullets killed rebel leaders Omar Maute and Istilon Hapilon before dawn on 16 October 2017. The current war in the Middle East will not be a walk in the park for the Israeli forces. How do we deal with the network of tunnels that were dug before the wars between Israel and the Arabs that are now being used by Hamas? There are more than a thousand subterranean tunnels in Gaza alone. They connect to the countries surrounding Gaza. They were initially used by smugglers of illegal drugs and by human traffickers. They are now referred to as “terror tunnels.” They were dug so deep that even the most destructive bombs of Israel cannot destroy them. The Palestinians built tunnels beneath hospitals, schools, churches and mosques, which are not likely to be bombed. They were used to pull off the surprise attack on Israel on 7 October. The Middle East is full of these ancient tunnels and underground cavities because they were easy to construct under the desert sand and served as shelters from the sun’s scorching heat. The hostages taken by Hamas are likely being held in these tunnels, making it doubly hard for Israeli forces to find them. The other thing going for Hamas is its familiarity with the terrain. They could plant bombs and mines in the strategic entrances and exits to Gaza, or they could hide in the remaining buildings and rain down Molotov bombs on the invading tanks (Are Molotov bombs still effective against modern tanks? We saw unexploded Molotov bombs in our house in Marawi when we visited it for the first time). The siege of Gaza will not be a blitzkrieg — it will be protracted and hard-fought because of these mines. Meanwhile, world pressure is on Israel and the US to respect the United Nations’ rules of engagement and avoid hitting non-combatants, women, and children. NATO, in fact, has called for “proportionality” when Israel attacks Gaza. amb_mac_lanto@yahoo.com. The post Tunnel warfare appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Gaza and West Bank death toll now 2,383 Palestinians – ministry
GAZA — The death toll in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank reached 2,383 Palestinians dead and 10,814 injured on Sunday morning, according to Palestinian health ministry sources. In Gaza, the death toll climbed to 2,329 Palestinians killed and 9,714 wounded, while in the West Bank, 54 were recorded dead and 1,100 wounded since the conflict between Hamas and Israel started on Oct. 7. READ: Gaza braces for Israeli ground assault Women in Gaza: ‘We are humans’ Meanwhile, Israel bombed an entire neighborhood belonging to Abu Dakkah family in Kha Younis on Saturday (October 14). ‘We are humans. Where are you Arabs?’ said Palestinian women screaming, after the Israeli airstrike on their neighborhood. READ: Palestinians in Gaza face hard choices : Stay home under airstrikes or flee under airstrikes? Israeli deadline to flee south of Gaza “We will not leave; we will stay here, our land, civilization, and sacred places are here. Jerusalem is ours, the land is ours and the olive trees are ours,” said Ibrahim Abu Dakkah, accusing Israel of attempting to displace Palestinians. More than 1 million Palestinians in northern Gaza faced an Israeli deadline on Saturday to flee south, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had only just begun to retaliate for last week’s Hamas rampage across southern Israel. READ: What we know about Israel’s war with Hamas Total siege in Gaza Israel has since put the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under a total siege and bombarded it with unprecedented air strikes. Gaza authorities say 1,900 people have died. The Gaza Health Ministry reports that Israeli airstrikes in the past 24 hours have so far resulted in the deaths of 324 Palestinians and the injuries of 1,000 more. Among the dead, there are at least 126 children and 88 women.” READ: Evacuation of Filipinos in Gaza mandatory as PH ups alert level to 4.....»»
Julie Anne San Jose, Rayver Cruz enjoy Israel days before conflict
Celebrity couple Julie Anne San Jose and Rayver Cruz were in Israel days before Hamas fighters bombed the country. .....»»
Hundreds dead in Israel-Gaza war as Hezbollah launches attacks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned of a "long and difficult" war, as fighting with Hamas left hundreds dead on both sides after a surprise attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group. The conflict's bloodiest escalation in decades saw Hamas carry out a massive rocket barrage and ground, air and sea offensive Saturday that Israel's army said had killed more than 200 Israelis and wounded 1,000, while soldiers and civilians were taken hostage. Gaza officials said intense Israeli air strikes on the coastal enclave had brought the Palestinian death toll to at least 256, with nearly 1,788 wounded. As fighting raged Sunday, Lebanon's powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said it had fired "large numbers of artillery shells and guided missiles" at Israeli positions in a contested border areas "in solidarity" with Hamas. Israel's army had earlier said it fired artillery on southern Lebanon in response to a shot from the area without identifying the attackers. "We are embarking on a long and difficult war that was forced on us by a murderous Hamas attack," Netanyahu said on X, formerly Twitter, early Sunday. "The first stage is ending at this time by the destruction of the vast majority of the enemy forces that infiltrated our territory," he added, pledging no "respite" until victory. Overnight Israel battered the Gaza Strip with air strikes as rockets from the blockaded Palestinians territory rained on Israel. Sunday morning gun still battles raged between Israeli forces and hundreds of Hamas fighters in multiple locations, including at the Sderot police station across the border from Gaza. Police and Israeli army special forces "neutralized 10 armed terrorists" who were holed up inside the station, a police statement said. The bloody air, sea and land attack launched Saturday by Hamas came half a century after the outbreak of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, taking Israel and the world by surprise. As the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting for Sunday, President Joe Biden voiced "rock solid and unwavering" support for the US ally and warned "against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation". - Hostages and 'so many bodies' - The Israeli army said overnight its forces were still engaged in gun battles in a string of Israel locations, in an operation labelled "Swords of Iron", as reservists were being called up. Hamas earlier released images of several Israelis taken captive, and another army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, confirmed that soldiers and civilians had been kidnapped. "I can't give figures about them at the moment," he said late Saturday, adding there was also a "severe hostage situation" in the Negev desert communities of Beeri and Ofakim east of Gaza. According to Ynet Israeli news website "dozens of Israeli captives, including numerous women, children and elders, are believed to have been taken into the Gaza Strip". The fighting prompted Israel to cut off Gaza's electricity, fuel and goods supplies, Netanyahu said. The Islamist group started the multi-pronged attack around 6:30 am (0330 GMT) on Saturday with thousands of rockets aimed as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some bypassing the Iron Dome defense system and hitting buildings. Hamas fighters -- traveling in ground vehicles, motorized paragliders and boats -- breached Gaza's security barrier and attacked nearby Israeli towns and military posts, opening fire on residents and passersby. "Send help, please!" one Israeli woman sheltering with her two-year-old child pleaded as militants outside opened fire and tried to break into their safe room, Israeli media reported. Bodies were strewn on the streets of the Israeli town of Sderot near Gaza and inside cars, the windscreens shattered by a hail of bullets. "I saw many bodies, of terrorists and civilians," one man told AFP, standing beside covered corpses on a road near Gevim Kibbutz in southern Israel. "So many bodies, so many bodies." AFP journalists witnessed Palestinian armed men gather around a burning Israeli tank, and others driving a seized Israeli military Humvee vehicle back into Gaza, where they were met by cheering crowds. - 'Gates of hell' - Israeli army Major General Ghasan Alyan warned Hamas had "opened the gates of hell". An AFP journalist in Gaza saw clouds of dust from the remains of bombed residential towers which Gaza's interior ministry said contained 100 apartments. Israel's military said it had warned residents to evacuate before targeting the multi-story buildings used by Hamas. The escalation follows months of rising violence, mostly in the occupied West Bank, and tensions around Gaza's border and at contested holy sites in Jerusalem. Before Saturday, at least 247 Palestinians, 32 Israelis and two foreigners had been killed this year, including combatants and civilians, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials. Hamas labeled its attack "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood" and called on "resistance fighters in the West Bank" as well as in "Arab and Islamic nations" to join the battle. Its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, claimed to have fired more than 5,000 rockets, while Hecht said Israel had counted more than 3,000 incoming rockets. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said the group was on the "verge of a great victory", vowing to press ahead with "the battle to liberate our land and our prisoners languishing in occupation prisons must be completed". - 'Dangerous precipice' - Air raid sirens wailed across southern and central Israel, as well as in Jerusalem on Saturday, and there were major disruptions at Tel Aviv airport where many carriers canceled flights. Israel said schools would remain closed on Sunday which marks the start of the week. Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, leading to Israel's crippling blockade of the impoverished enclave of 2.3 million people. Israel and Hamas have since fought several wars. The last major military exchange, in May, killed 34 Palestinians and one Israeli. Violence also erupted across the West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, with five Palestinians killed and 120 wounded in clashes with Israeli forces and settlers, Palestinian medical services said. Countries around the world condemned the wave of attacks by Hamas, which Israel, the United States and European Union consider a terrorist group. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the attack "terrorism in its most despicable form". But Hamas drew support from other foes of Israel, with Iran's supreme leader declaring he was "proud". UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland warned of "a dangerous precipice" and called on all sides to "pull back from the brink". (Rosie Scammell with Adel Zaanoun in Gaza) az-rsc-jd/hkb © Agence France-Presse The post Hundreds dead in Israel-Gaza war as Hezbollah launches attacks appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»