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Small islands take ocean protection case to UN court
Leaders of small island states turned to the UN maritime court on Monday to seek protection of the world's oceans from catastrophic climate change which threaten the very existence of entire countries. The nine island states are asking the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to determine if carbon dioxide emissions absorbed by the oceans can be considered pollution, and if so, what obligations countries have to prevent it. "This is the opening chapter in the struggle to change the conduct of the international community by clarifying the obligation of states to protect the marine environment," said the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne. "The time has come to speak in terms of legally binding obligations rather than empty promises that go unfulfilled," he said, addressing the court in Hamburg, Germany. Ocean ecosystems create half the oxygen humans breathe and limit global warming by absorbing much of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities. But increasing emissions can warm and acidify seawaters, harming marine life. At the heart of the case is the international treaty UNCLOS that binds countries to preventing pollution of the oceans. The UN treaty defines pollution as the introduction by humans of "substances or energy into the marine environment" that leads to harm to marine life. But it does not spell out carbon emissions as a specific pollutant, and the plaintiffs argue that these emissions qualify. Marine heatwave The push for climate justice won a big boost when the UN General Assembly in March adopted a resolution calling on the International Court of Justice to lay out nations' obligations on protecting Earth's climate and the legal consequences they face if they fail to do so. The ICJ's advice is still pending but the action has opened up a new front to bind countries to pledges on reducing emissions. The move at the UN had been led by Vanuatu, which also counts among the islands that had brought Monday's case before the ITLOS. Small islands like Vanuatu are particularly exposed to the impact of global warming, with seawater rises threatening to submerge entire countries. "Just a few years -- this is all we have before the ocean consumes everything my people built across centuries," Tuvalu's Prime Minister Kausea Natano told the court. "If international law has nothing to say about an entire country going underwater... then what purpose does it serve?" he asked, pleading for a clear direction from the court. Across the two-thirds of the planet covered by seas, nearly 60 percent of ocean surface waters experienced at least one marine heatwave in 2022, according to the annual State of the Climate report led by scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This is 50 percent more than pre-industrial levels and "the highest in the modern atmospheric record and in paleoclimate records dating back as far as 800,000 years", the report published this month noted. The world's oceans also set a new temperature record in August. Average sea surface temperatures reached an unprecedented 21 degrees Celsius (69.8 degrees Fahrenheit) for over a week, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, after months of unusually high temperatures. Other island states joining the ITLOS case include The Bahamas, Niue, Palau, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia as well as St Vincent and the Grenadines. Thirty-four other state parties will also participate in the court hearing, with sessions scheduled through to 25 September. The post Small islands take ocean protection case to UN court appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Road rage trending
With horrendous traffic comes pent-up anger, manifesting in violent outbursts also known as “road rage,” something we are seeing more often now. The FIBA basketball tournament caused several road closures, expanded bus lanes on EDSA, and instituted stop-and-go schemes to give way to team buses and coasters. Inconvenienced motorists must adjust to this global tournament, which has led to irate and impatient heads. We are only aware of what is captured by CCTVs and mobile phone cameras, but we can be certain that this is just a thin slice of a larger pie. Luckily, no lives have been lost, and neither has anybody been injured, with all the road rage occurring daily. We have several factors to blame, such as the poor transport infrastructure, the high number of vehicles on the road, incompetent driving skills, and selective traffic enforcement. In the end, it is the motorist who must bear the stress of driving. I spent the last (long) weekend in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the traffic there can be likened to Manila. The stark distinction lies in the discipline of the riders. In that city, you will see more motorcycles than four-wheel vehicles. That is why the buildings there are very narrow and functional, without garages for four-wheelers. There are wide sidewalks where people can walk safely. A horde of motorcycle riders does not feel like a threat in Vietnam — they move around like a school of fish, in rhythm and sync with each other. Of course, there will always be a few rowdy ones, but most of them are disciplined in their speed and maneuvering. In the Philippines, we have motorcycle riders going in all directions at the fastest speeds possible. Our motorcycle riders deliberately try to sneak into every nook and cranny between cars and trucks. There is no sense of spatial distancing for our motorists when it comes to driving on the road, especially during rush hour. This leads to accidents and road rage. Nowadays, you cannot afford to lose your cool in public, thanks to mobile phones and social media. If humiliating footage of you is taken, in minutes it will be uploaded on Facebook, and within hours you will be in the news and vloggers will be giving their two centavos on the issue. With the recent footage of the retired cop in Quezon City, we saw how the public can crucify these individuals even before the benefit of a fair trial, although we can argue that there was nothing the retired cop could do or say in his own defense. The handling of the issue was pathetic on the part of the PNP. Why would you grant the retired cop an audience via a press conference, when other similarly situated suspects are placed in a jail cell? The cop, it turned out, had even been dismissed earlier for dubious reasons, but despite this, he was armed with a handgun and was even employed in the Supreme Court. Kudos to the public officers who spoke up on the issue, especially Senator JV Ejercito and Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte. I am also most thankful for public interest lawyer, Atty. Raymond Fortun, immediately came forward to lead the prosecution of the retired cop, despite the victim cyclist’s refusal to file a case against the retired cop. This is the sad reality of our societal system — victims choose not to come out due to fear for their own and their families’ safety. We hope and pray to see progress in this case so that it can be prevented from happening again. For comments, email him at darren.dejesus@gmail.com The post Road rage trending appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Territorial issues
Imagine a world where the 16 cities and the single remaining municipality of Metro Manila are under one unified control, under a single governor, and government administrative services are shared. Imagine having zero territorial disputes between and among cities, and there would be little or no need for expansion via reclamation. Imagine public schools and hospitals being shared by all inhabitants of Metro Manila, regardless of which area or jurisdiction you reside in. This was the situation decades ago, but it seems certain that we will never go back to this, unless a nuclear bomb is dropped on Manila and resets everything back to zero. Right now, we have two public issues affecting land in Metro Manila — one pertains to the creation of new land, and the other is a dispute over a large tract of land involving two big business districts. With the way things are going, it is becoming apparent that the national government must step in and intervene in these issues. Last weekend, my family stayed in the renowned Sofitel in Pasay City, and what was once a pristine and relaxing view of Manila Bay had turned into a dusty wasteland of a reclamation site. Good thing the President ordered the stoppage of reclamation activities just days before, otherwise we would have been inhaling dust particles while my kids were enjoying the swimming pool. Prior to this visit, I attended a wedding in the same area back in October and you could still appreciate the vast sea. Now, we saw trucks and vans in the reclaimed area, which is almost ready for the laying of a road network and, later, buildings. Reclamations done in the sea — a natural resource — face legal issues that may be threshed out in court. But with the speed the reclamations are being done, not just in Metro Manila but in the entire country, using Chinese construction companies adept at doing this, i.e., the artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea in a few months, new parcels of land will soon be ready for sale at premium prices. The increase in land area guarantees revenue for the city it shall be adjacent to. Case in point: the reclaimed area where the SM Mall of Asia and Pagcor City are situated are guaranteed income earners for the cities of Pasay and Parañaque, respectively. Due to the lack of space in Metro Manila, cities resort to reclamation to build new revenue streams. In the case of Makati and Taguig, we have a territorial dispute brought about by a Supreme Court decision. The “Embo” (Enlisted Men’s Barrio) portion of Makati was declared a part of Taguig because of what I understand was an appeal gone awry. Since the appeal of Makati to the Supreme Court caused the latter to open the facts for review, the disputed portion was suddenly found to be part of Taguig. Now that schools are about to open, the question is whether these “Embo” schools and their teachers should be part of Taguig. The ‘“embo” barangays comprise over 200,000 inhabitants, many of whom will become instant voters of Taguig. Although these are residential areas, they stand to benefit from the vibrant business community of BGC, and no longer would they be divided by Kalayaan Avenue. One may argue that they may actually be an expense for Taguig since these are not commercial areas, but the vote-rich barangays make it a political prize for whichever city or district they will land. Alas, we are left to imagine what if Metro Manila was a single mega-city. It may never happen again, unless we turn government around and revise the Constitution. Then again, who knows what the next president may bring to our colorful government? For comments, email him at darren.dejesus@gmail.com The post Territorial issues appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Trump unbowed, woos supporters after latest charges
Donald Trump sought to spin his latest indictments into a 2024 campaign pitch Wednesday, with the former president arguing government "corruption" and the legal attacks against him have plunged America into decline. The twice-impeached Republican has remained defiant despite an accumulation of legal woes that could see him tried in court and sent to prison before the presidential vote late next year. The latest, a bombshell 45-page indictment unsealed Tuesday, is the most serious set of charges he faces in accusing Trump of trying to overturn the 2020 election results. It was the third time officials have handed down criminal charges against Trump, who continues to argue that the election was rigged. In a post on his Truth Social platform, the 77-year-old Trump suggested the indictment was all the more reason for his supporters to circle the wagons and elect him next year. "I have never had so much support on anything before," Trump said in a five-sentence post written in all caps. "This unprecedented indictment of a former (highly successful!) president, & the leading candidate, by far, in both the Republican Party and the 2024 general election, has awoken the world to the corruption, scandal & failure that has taken place in the United States for the past three years," he added. "America is a nation in decline, but we will make it great again, greater than ever before." The comments are the latest by the pugnacious ex-president insisting the charges against him are "fake," and that President Joe Biden is actively seeking to derail the campaign of his political rival. Trump already faces criminal prosecution over his handling of classified documents at his Florida estate after he left the White House, and over hush-money payments made to a pornographic actress in the run-up to the 2016 election. Georgia prosecutors are also looking into whether Trump illegally attempted to overturn the 2020 election outcome in the southern state. Despite his legal peril, Trump retains the loyalty of a large segment of his party. He holds a substantial lead in polls for the Republican nomination and is seen as widening the gap with his nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Biden has declined to comment on the case, and his officials stress that the Justice Department is independent from the White House. The post Trump unbowed, woos supporters after latest charges appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Stains on Luna’s ‘Hymén’
Striking is the so-contemporary debate ongoing in artistic and intellectual circles regarding Juan Luna’s rediscovered work sporting two titles, “Hymén, O Hyménée” and “Boda Romana”. Strikingly contemporary since the debate revolves around an urgent general question of our present times: What is to be done about art made by bad men? Anyone cognizant of feminist consciousness and conversant with Luna’s true biography easily raises that question when gazing at Luna’s painting, tackily commoditized as the “holy grail” of Philippine painting. But once the general question is advanced, it also raises a specific related question: Do we separate the art from the artist? One side of the current debate answers we must divorce the painting from its maker’s life, judging it strictly on its aesthetics. A biography should not color our aesthetic experiences of the painting. But the other side asks: How can we possibly exercise such a divorce after being injured by the knowledge of Juan Novicio Luna’s awful monstrousness? Now an “awful thing disrupts the great work; we can’t watch or listen to or read (or see) the great work without remembering the awful thing,” reminds critic Claire Dederer, whose recent excellent book “Monsters” coincidently fell on my lap just as the present debate on Luna’s painting heated up. In Luna’s case, the awful thing is that on the morning of 22 September 1892 inside a Paris apartment bathroom a lividly jealous Luna shot in the head his wife and the mother of his two children, Maria “Paz” Pardo de Tavera. Maria “Paz” Pardo de Tavera is the diaphanous bride of Luna’s painting, a vibrantly-colored, visibly eroticized, raucous scene of a procession accompanying the bride’s walk to the bridegroom’s chambers. Inescapably, the painting — possibly started in 1886 during Luna’s honeymoon and completed in 1889 — can’t now be seen but as a chilling contrapuntal to the marital violence in Paris. Additionally to the murder, as historian Raquel A.G. Reyes pointedly says, “Juan Luna terrified his domestic household with his violent rages. He beat his wife and, in the months leading up to her murder, the beatings had increased in frequency and viciousness. Paz was desperately unhappy and her mother feared for her daughter’s life.” Luna subsequently faced trial for his crimes by a French court — he also shot in the head his mother-in-law and wounded his wife’s two brothers — but was acquitted on the verdict his violence could be attributed to “the semi-barbaric peoples of the Tropics”. It’s an ironic verdict for a thick-lipped Europeanized reformist colonial subject who, despite his award-winning paintings, failed to convince his colonial masters of his fitness to be a fellow Spaniard. He was not, as Jose Rizal once perceptively noted, radical enough. Maria “Paz” Pardo de Tavera, meanwhile, suffered a doubly tragic fate. She was later vilified and effectively erased from history by a generation of Filipino intellectuals bent on promoting proto-nationalist agendas. Consequently, Ms. Reyes argues, “Juan Luna’s career as painter… in Philippine nationalist history flows smooth and untarnished.” Luna “the first nationalistic painter” got a free pass, even forgiven and largely lionized as a “genius,” which currently connotes “the name we give our love (for an artist) when we don’t want to argue about it; when we want our opinion to be fact.” Such are the emotional “disruptions” staining Luna’s “Hymén.” Removing the stains is impossible, however. “When someone says we ought to separate the art from the artist, they’re saying: Remove the stain. Let the work be unstained. But that’s not how stains work,” says Dederer. Stains, you see, travel forward and backward in time, “affecting the perpetrator and defining the perpetrator not just at the time of the abuse, and not just after the abuse, but before he committed the crime. Our knowledge of the crime affects the person he was all along. The knowledge is a time traveler — because our idea of that person is affected by our new knowledge.” Email: nevqjr@yahoo.com.ph The post Stains on Luna’s ‘Hymén’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
EU moves closer to launching digital euro
The European Union (EU) on Wednesday took its first significant step towards launching a digital version of the euro, a controversial project that has been questioned by politicians and banks. From China to the United States, Jamaica to Japan, more than 100 central banks worldwide are exploring or preparing to put in place digital currencies as electronic payments grow, changing the way people spend their money. The move to create a digital version of the single currency began in 2020 when European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde suggested the idea and her Frankfurt-based body launched a public consultation. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, published a proposal on Wednesday that will be the legal foundation on which the ECB could launch a digital euro. The currency would be available to individuals living in the euro area and for visitors. It would offer an additional payment option for citizens to use online and offline with their digital wallets, thus ensuring as much anonymity as coins and banknotes. The final law must be backed by the EU's 27 member states and the European Parliament. Digital euro enthusiasts say it will complement cash and ensure the ECB does not leave a gap later filled by private -- usually non-EU -- players and other central banks. "Given that the euro is already the world's second most-traded currency, it is not an area where can afford to stay behind the curve. We need to move ahead with a digital currency," commission vice president Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters. Critics question the need for a digital euro and banks warn of major risks, while the ECB's own study found the public was concerned over payment privacy. The ECB and the commission "have yet to make a compelling case of why we need the digital euro and what added value it will deliver," German MEP Markus Ferber said. Benefits 'outweigh' costs The commission's proposal argued that the digital euro's "long-term benefits... outweigh its costs" and warned, "the costs of no action can potentially be very large". Lagarde said in March that the digital currency was important for resilience and to "safeguard European payment autonomy". Many means of payment are "not necessarily European", she noted, adding it was "very unhealthy to rely on one single source of payment". US giants Visa and Mastercard currently dominate the global card payment market. Others argue, however, that the bloc's plans spell trouble unless the EU takes necessary other steps. Banks have warned of the risk of bank runs as customers could hold their funds in digital euro accounts and wallets, moving them away from the banks' balance sheets. "To shield banks from the risk of deposit flight and to limit the negative impact on banks' ability to finance the economy, it is important to set appropriate and firm limits in holdings and transactions," the European Banking Federation said on Wednesday. The proposal indicates there will be a limit to how much money people can keep in digital euros. ECB officials have suggested a cap of 3,000 euros ($3,300). The digital currency will be granted "legal tender" status, meaning it must be accepted as payment. But there would be exceptions, including for small businesses that do not accept any form of digital payment. The ECB is set to give the formal green light to a digital euro in October and the expectation is it would be available from 2027 onwards. The ECB welcomed the commission's proposal, which it said offered "private intermediaries appropriate economic incentives to distribute the digital euro as they do other digital means of payment while preventing excessive fees for merchants". Privacy concerns The ECB has a difficult battle to win over Europeans. A public consultation showed that the number one priority when it comes to the digital euro is privacy. To calm people's fears, the ECB has stressed it would not attempt to control how people can spend digital currency or use it for surveillance, as critics claim is the case in China. "This is not a Big Brother project for online payments," the EU's financial services commissioner, Mairead McGuinness, said during a press conference in Brussels. "With the digital euro, the data privacy will be the same as for existing private digital means of payment. For offline payments, the data privacy will be even higher." The commission's proposal said the digital euro "will be designed so as to minimize the processing of personal data by payment services providers" and the ECB. The post EU moves closer to launching digital euro appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Sri Lanka scraps monkey business plan
Bankrupt Sri Lanka’s government is scrapping plans to export around 100,000 endangered monkeys to China following an outcry and a court case by animal lovers. “A state attorney informed court on behalf of the DWC (Department of Wildlife Conservation) that no monkeys will be exported to China or elsewhere,” a court official told Agence France-Presse. The decision follows DWC’s notice to the Court of Appeal that it had decided not to go ahead with the export and that the action filed by 30 wildlife and environmental activists could be terminated. Wildlife enthusiasts welcomed the government’s decision not to go ahead with the exports. “This is an excellent outcome for wildlife conservation in Sri Lanka,” they said in a brief statement. Agriculture minister Mahinda Amaraweera said in June that China wanted the monkeys for 1,000 zoos across the country. Amaraweera described the sale of the primates to China as a solution to the animals destroying crops. It was also timely as the country was facing its worst-ever economic crisis. No financial details of the plan were made available. Toque macaques are officially estimated to number between two million and three million in Sri Lanka, but activists say the number may be highly exaggerated. Media reports had speculated that China may have wanted such large numbers of monkeys from Sri Lanka for medical research. Monkeys are considered pests in Sri Lanka because they destroy crops and raid villages in search of food, and sometimes attack people. Activists, however, argue that a key reason for increased human-monkey conflict, including with elephants, is agricultural expansion shrinking wild animal habitats. The post Sri Lanka scraps monkey business plan appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Here Comes the AI: Fans rejoice in ‘new’ Beatles music
When the Beatles broke up more than 50 years ago, devastated fans were left yearning for more. Now, artificial intelligence is offering just that. From "re-uniting" the Fab Four on songs from their solo careers, to re-imagining surviving superstar Paul McCartney's later works with his voice restored to its youthful peak, the new creations show off how far this technology has come -- and raise a host of ethical and legal questions. "I'm sobbing! This is so beautiful!!!" wrote a listener in a typical YouTube comment for a fan-created AI cover of McCartney's 2013 single, "New," which features de-aged vocals and a bridge part "sung" by his great songwriting partner and friend, the late John Lennon. Equally impressive is a version of "Grow Old With Me," one of the last songs penned by Lennon, which was posthumously released after his 1980 murder and recently remade by an AI creator who goes by "Dae Lims." With enhanced audio quality, an orchestral arrangement and harmonized backing vocals that evoke the Liverpudlian rockers' heyday, the song's most stirring moment comes when McCartney croons over a soaring melody with poignant lyrics about aging. "When I hear this, I lose it. I start crying," said music YouTuber Steve Onotera, who goes by "SamuraiGuitarist" and has a million followers, in a recent video discussing the new works' unforeseen sentimental resonance. After the most influential band in history parted ways acrimoniously, fans were deprived of a final "happy ending," he said. "So when we do get that reunion artificially yet convincingly created by AI, well, it's surprisingly emotional." AI here, there and everywhere Like an earlier track called "Heart on a Sleeve" which featured AI-generated vocals of Drake and The Weeknd and racked up millions of hits on TikTok and other platforms, these covers use scraping technology that analyzes and captures the nuances of a particular voice. The creators would have probably then sung the parts themselves and then applied the cloned voice, in a manner similar to placing a filter on a photograph. While the results can be astonishing, getting there isn't simple and requires skilled human operators combining new AI tools with extensive knowledge of traditional music processing software, Zohaib Ahmed, the CEO of Resemble AI, a Toronto-based voice cloning company, told AFP. "I think we're still seeing a very small percentage of the population that can even access these tools," he said. They need to "jump through hoops, read documentation, have the right computer, and then put it all together." Ahmed's company is one of several offering a platform that can make the technology more accessible to clients in the entertainment sector -- and counts a recent Netflix documentary series "narrated" by late art icon Andy Warhol using its technology as an early success. For Patricia Alessandrini, a composer and assistant professor at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, the recent spate of AI tracks represent a coming-of-age for a technology that has been advancing exponentially -- yet largely out of public view over the past decade. "This is a great example of what AI does very well, which is anything that's resemblance: to train it on something existing," she told AFP. But, she added, it flounders when it comes to new ideas. "There's really no expectation that it's going to replace the rich history of humans originating art and culture." Litigation coming For the music industry, the ramifications are enormous. As the technology progresses, software that will easily allow people to transform their vocals into one of their favorite singers is likely not far away. "If they're getting paid for their vocal license, hey, everyone's happy," said Onotera. "But what if they're long since passed away? Is it up to their estate?" AI is already proving a helter-skelter impact on the copyright world. In the case of "Heart on a Sleeve," Universal Music Group was quick to assert copyright claims and have the track pulled down from streaming services, but that hasn't stopped it popping back up on small accounts. Marc Ostrow, a New York-based music copyright lawyer, told AFP AI-generated music is a "gray area." Copyright can be asserted both by songwriters whose material is used, as well as the holders of the master recordings. On the other hand AI creators can argue it falls under "fair use" citing a 2015 court ruling that said Google was permitted to archive the world's books, because it wasn't competing with sellers and was displaying only snippets. Last month, however, the US Supreme Court tipped the balance back the other way in ruling a Warhol print of the late pop star Prince violated the copyright of the photographer who took the original image. Add to the mix that celebrities can protect their likeness under the "right to publicity," established when Bette Midler successfully sued Ford Motor Company in the late 1980s for using a singer that sounded like her in an ad. Ultimately, "I think there may be voluntary industry standards... or it's going to be done by litigation," said Ostrow. Rights holders will also need to think about the negative PR that could come with suing over works that are clearly fan-created tributes and not intended to be monetized. The post Here Comes the AI: Fans rejoice in ‘new’ Beatles music appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
ED attaches asset worth Rs 70 lakh in bank fraud implicating Hyderabad-based Jasleen Enterprises
New Delhi [India], March 28 (ANI): The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has attached an immovable property valued at Rs 70 lakh in a bank fraud case involving Jasleen Enterprises headquartered in Hyderabad. The Hyderabad division of the ED attached the fixed asset in accordance with the stipulations outlined in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of 2002. ED initiated investigation on the basis of First Informati.....»»
Survey shows Cha-cha still unpopular with Filipinos — Senate leaders
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said that the findings of the survey by private pollster Pulse Asia, which was released on Wednesday, show that Charter change is an "unpopular move.".....»»
Emergency protocols in case of bridge collapse sought
Emergency protocols in case of bridge collapse sought.....»»
House leaves Quiboloy’s fate to Senate
The House of Representatives will no longer pursue and implement the warrant of arrest it issued against pastor Apollo Quiboloy after it approved on final reading the bill revoking the franchise of the evangelist’s alleged TV network......»»
Go inspects Bacolod Super Health Center
Sen. Bong Go, chairperson of the Senate committee on health and demography, inspected a Super Health Center in Bacolod City on Sunday......»»
DOJ charges 2 alleged NPA financiers with terrorism financing
According to the DOJ, the case stemmed after reports that Dumlao and Tolentino possessed firearms and ammunition without a clear source of income or apparent purpose......»»
Philippine scientists harassed by China helicopter
Another case of harassment at sea by the Chinese has been reported – this time near Pag-Asa Island last Saturday – involving a helicopter, which hovered dangerously close to a group of Filipino scientists doing research work on a sand bar called Sandy Cay, causing minor injuries......»»
‘Senate rules on Cha-cha on the right track’
The Senate rules on amending the 1987 Constitution are “on the right track” and ready even before the sub-committee wraps up its discourse on the Resolution of Both Houses 6 pushing Charter change, a senator said......»»
Philippine scientists harassed by China helicoper
Another case of harassment at sea by the Chinese has been reported – this time near Pag-Asa Island last Saturday – involving a helicopter, which hovered dangerously close to a group of Filipino scientists doing research work on a sand bar called Sandy Cay, causing minor injuries......»»
Davao police clueless on Quiboloy’s whereabouts
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 24 March) — Police authorities in the Davao region claim they are still clueless on the whereabouts of Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy. The Senate had earlier ordered the arrest of Quiboloy for his continued refusal to attend its investigation of alleged human trafficking and child abuse. Police major Catheine Dela Rey, Police […].....»»
NEWS BRIEFS | 25 March 2024
Senate eyes probe of resorts within the slopes of Mt. Apo Following the controversy involving the establishment of a resort reportedly within the famed Chocolate Hills in Bohol province, Senator Raffy Tulfo, chair of the Senate Committees on Energy and Migrant Workers, is setting his sights on the resorts located on the slopes of Mt. […].....»»
Second graft case filed vs Magalong
Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong is facing another graft case before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the allegedly anomalous improvement and rehabilitation of a P50-million multipurpose building in Barangay Irisan......»»