France checks video claim for Paris knife attack
French investigators were Sunday studying a video claiming responsibility for the meat cleaver attack in Paris that targeted satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo as the government condemned an act of "Islamist terrorism"......»»
France checks video claim for Paris knife attack
French investigators were Sunday studying a video claiming responsibility for the meat cleaver attack in Paris that targeted satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo as the government condemned an act of "Islamist terrorism"......»»
Russian Spy Chief Makes Bizarre Claim of US, UK, and Ukraine Involvement in Moscow Attack
In a recent development, the director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has made startling accusations against Ukraine, the US, and the UK, claiming they.....»»
Protect WPS frontliners
Dear Editor, Recent events in the West Philippine Sea, in which Chinese vessels have used lasers and water cannons, and then intentionally bumped Philippine ships resupplying the BRP Sierra Madre, are showing ever-worsening acts of harassment by Indo-Pacific bully China. Kudos to the brave men and women of the Armed Forces and the Coast Guard who have not blinked in the face of the blatant transgressions by Chinese forces that have made Philippine territorial waters their playground of mischief. And the world has taken notice with many countries like the United States and Australia voicing their concern that China is getting more and more brazen in claiming the whole of the South China Sea as part of its sovereign domain. Of course, China’s nine-dash-line claim had been thrown into the wastebasket by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016, while affirming the Philippines’ right to its 200-nautical exclusive economic zone within the WPS. Even as he was hosting no less than the Australian Prime Minister, US President Joe Biden just could not resist warning China that any attack by it against any Philippine vessel in the WPS would put in play America’s Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines. Whether China would dial down its antics in the WPS remains to be seen, however. Over the years, China has asserted its ownership of Ayungin Shoal and other areas in the WPS, disregarding the arbitral ruling. Even if China argues that Philippine vessels are transporting construction materials to repair the BRP Sierra Madre, it does not justify its actions. It is well within the rights of the Philippines to repair its commissioned Navy ship serving as a permanent troop outpost in what is, after all, our territory. Ayungin is just over 100 nautical miles from Palawan, while it is over a thousand miles away from China. So how can China ever claim it to be part of its territory? In addition to lodging protests and sending diplomatic notes to Beijing, the government should prioritize the well-being of those stationed in the West Philippine Sea, as they consistently face dangers while fulfilling their duty to safeguard the country’s territories. I sincerely hope that the government will take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and protection of these individuals from China’s evident acts of intimidation. Brent Cruz sensui_mavi@yahoo.com The post Protect WPS frontliners appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Message of PM Anwar Ibrahim
Crisis brings out the best and the worst in man. It reveals his true persona behind the façade of photo-shopped and public relations-created images. Amidst the Israel-Hamas war, former president Rodrigo Duterte outrageously advised Israel President Benjamin Netanyahu to make “Gaza the world’s biggest cemetery.” And just recently, our ambassador to the United Kingdom twitted on social media (taken down later) that “Palestinian children should be killed . . .” These comments went viral among Moro netizens who unleashed a barrage of angry libelous words against the source. Now, juxtapose this with the public statements by regional leaders about the crisis. And from the gallery of regional statesmen, I pick Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’Seri Anwar Ibrahim whose poignant messages earned the praise of not a few, including non-Muslims. The reaction of these leaders betrays the dichotomy of opinions along religious lines. The Muslim countries, true to their affiliation with the Muslim Palestinians, as members of the World Brotherhood of Muslims or “Ummah Islamiyyah” stood should-to-shoulder with the Palestinians. On the flip side are the non-Muslims led by the United States which condemned the 7 October surprise attack by Hamas on Israel. The world is now on edge because of the strong words of revenge of rightist President Benjamin Netanyahu using the world media stage for his threats of annihilation and cutting off of basic supplies of food, medicines, water, electricity, and fuel to the Palestinians of the Muslim City of Gaza. According to jurists, these are crimes against International Humanitarian Law and other UN covenants and Geneva Conventions. And they claim that while Israel has the right to defend itself, that is not a license to commit genocide. Prime Minister Ibrahim stood tall among Muslim leaders in expressing the sentiment of his government. He had been vocal at every turn of the crisis. He must have had a premonition of the impending catastrophe. His eloquent speech before the United Nations General Assembly on 22 September, which in my book is in the same league as the “What it means to be a Muslim” speech of King Abdullah of Jordan, has earned praise from many observers. He said, “In the Middle East, the politics of dispossession continues with a vengeance with more illegal settlements being built, stripping Palestinians of land that rightfully belongs to them. This constitutes a gross violation of international law. It also poses an insurmountable obstacle to a two-state solution, not to mention the continued killings. There is also flagrant hypocrisy in dealing with the issue of Palestine. The international community must speak up against the atrocities committed towards the Palestinians even as they so vehemently speak out against human rights violations, injustice, and abusive regimes.” When the war broke out on 7 October, one of the countries that reacted immediately was Malaysia. PM Ibrahim issued a statement expressing his country’s solidarity with the struggles of the Palestinians and reiterated his indictment of the international community for its “one-sided actions regarding . . . cruelty and oppression against the Palestinians. The confiscation of land and property belonging to the Palestinian people . . . done relentlessly by the Zionists.” After the bombing of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, which killed more than 500 innocent civilians, PM Ibrahim described it as being “on an insane and inhumane level. What is most regrettable is that Western countries, which speak about human rights, seem to differentiate between peoples, with some considered first-class and others as subordinates.” PM Ibrahim knows how geopolitics works. There will be consequences for standing up against the position of the world powers, the US and Europe, which had expressed total support for Israel. There might be a price to pay. Economic, trade, and political relationships might be put in jeopardy. But the Islam in him outweighed other interests. And for that, Muslims salute him. We are proud to belong to the Malay race. amb_mac_lanto@yahoo.com The post Message of PM Anwar Ibrahim 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......»»
Japan, U.S.: ‘We got your back’
Key allies of the country expressed their unwavering support after a Chinese Coast Guard ship intentionally collided with a Philippine Navy boat to stop a resupply mission to the grounded BRP Sierra Madre on Ayungin Shoal. Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. described the maneuver as an escalation of China’s aggression within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. Japan issued a statement expressing support after the incident. “Japan expresses serious concern for actions which increase regional tensions, including a dangerous action that caused a collision between Chinese and Filipino ships on 22 October,” the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. It added that Japan believes the issue of the South China Sea is directly related to the peace and stability in the region and is a legitimate concern of the international community, including Japan. “Thus, Japan opposes any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force as well as any actions that increase tensions in the South China Sea,” it said. Citing the Japan-Philippines Joint Statement last February, the Foreign Ministry said the “government of Japan concurs with the Philippines’ long-standing objections to unlawful maritime claims, militarization, coercive activities, and threat or use of force in the South China Sea.” “Furthermore, Japan highly appreciates the government of the Philippines for having consistently complied with the arbitral tribunal’s award as to the disputes between the Republic of the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China regarding the South China Sea, and has shown its commitment to the peaceful settlement of disputes in the (West Philippine Sea), as stated in the statement by the Foreign Minister of Japan issued on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the issuance of the award,” it said. Japan said it would continue to cooperate with the international community, such as the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the United States, to “protect free, open and peaceful seas.” ‘Ironclad’ vow The United States, meanwhile, reiterated its “ironclad” commitment to the Philippines. According to a White House statement, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan assured National Security Adviser Eduardo Año of US support in safeguarding its sovereign rights in the WPS under the Mutual Defense Treaty between both nations. “Sullivan reiterated US support for our Philippine allies following the PRC Coast Guard and maritime militia’s dangerous and unlawful actions on 22 October, obstructing a routine Philippine resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal,” the statement read. “Sullivan emphasized the ironclad US commitments to the Philippines under theUS-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty, which extends to armed attacks on Philippine public vessels, aircraft and armed forces — to include those of its Coast Guard — in the Pacific, including in the West Philippine Sea,” it added. Signed in 1951, the Philippines and the United States agreed that an armed attack in the Pacific area on either of the parties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declared that it would act to meet the common dangers by its constitutional processes. The White House said Sullivan and Año “reaffirmed the enduring alliance and friendship between our nations and discussed upcoming US-Philippine engagements and ways to further strengthen our close partnership.” Manila vs Beijing Both Manila and Beijing condemned the incident, which they said violated their sovereign rights over Ayungin Shoal, a low-tide elevation in the WPS. The two countries traded blame for the incident, which also sparked concern from Australia, Canada and South Korea. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected Beijing’s historical nine-dash line claim to the WPS. Militia boats utilized Teodoro labeled the Chinese actions near the shoal as deliberate. “Chinese Coast Guard and maritime militia vessels, in blatant violation of international law, harassed and intentionally hit the Unaiza May 2 and Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Cabra,” Teodoro said. “We are here to decry in the strongest terms this egregious violation and illegal act within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone and the obfuscation of the truth by China’s distorting of the story to fit its own ends.” His comments came hours after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met with security officials and ordered the Coast Guard to investigate the incident, which was “being taken seriously at the highest levels of government,” Malacañang said. The military monitored “a large number of Chinese maritime militia vessels” swarming in the West Philippine Sea, National Security Council spokesperson, Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, said. In a television interview, Malaya said these vessels were spotted “not only in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal and Bajo de Masinloc but also in other features, including (Scarborough Shoal) and Sabina (Escoda) Shoal.” “We are alarmed by the environmental degradation our Coast Guard ships were able to monitor in these areas,” he told the ANC. Malaya noted that environmental degradation or coral destruction would directly impact the livelihood of the fishermen in the WPS. “Sometimes we forget the reasons why we are pushing our rights in the WPS. Some critics say this is just posturing on the part of the Philippines or a tug-of-war between China and the Philippines. No, this is not,” he stressed. “This is a battle for the resources of our country, particularly for our fishermen, so that when we monitor coral destruction in parts of the WPS, it alarms the government because it directly impacts the livelihood of our fishermen,” he said. Malaya also slammed China’s “maligned information operation” and sharing of “false narratives” in its sweeping claims on the WPS. “Definitely, there’s a maligned information operation going on nowadays that is shared to the public and we are just happy it is not just the Philippine government that is sharing our side here — we have allies, if we may call them witnesses, from the media,” he said. The post Japan, U.S.: ‘We got your back’ 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?.....»»
Attack on Phl would elicit U.S. response — State Dep’t
The United States warned on Monday that any armed attack on Philippine armed forces and Philippine Coast Guard civilian vessels could trigger its 72-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines. “The United States reaffirms that Article IV of the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, and aircraft — including those of its Coast Guard — anywhere in the South China Sea,” the US Department of State said in a statement. The statement came a day after a China Coast Guard ship collided with a Philippine resupply vessel that was conducting a routine resupply mission at Ayungin Shoal. During the same resupply mission, a Chinese maritime militia vessel also bumped the BRP Cabra, one of the PCG ships that were escorting the boat contracted by the AFP. Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said the collisions, which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered investigated by the PCG, were “intentional.” For its part, the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs said further study is needed to invoke the MDT due to the incident. “The matter of filing another case is something that is still being studied by the government. But, of course, all incidents like these will actually bolster the case that it is not the Philippines that is the aggressor but the other party, which is China,” DFA spokesperson Teresita Daza said. “It’s a provocation on the side of China but at this point, whether it will constitute an armed attack that would allow the invoking of the MDT is something that needs to be studied,” she added. The Philippines and the US agreed under the MDT, signed in 1951, that an armed attack on either of the parties would be considered an attack on the other, necessitating common or joint actions. Ambassador summoned The Philippines on Monday summoned China’s Ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, to explain the “blocking maneuvers” conducted by its vessels. China has insisted on its territorial rights over the Ayungin Shoal, also known as Second Thomas Shoal, which is in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. Swarms of CCG ships and Chinese maritime militia vessels had been monitored in the WPS, which Philippine officials said was a blatant disrespect of the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea. In July 2016, the Philippines won the arbitral case it lodged against China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The US said it stands with the Philippines in the face of China’s “dangerous and unlawful actions obstructing” a 22 October resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. “By conducting dangerous maneuvers that caused collisions with Philippine resupply and Coast Guard ships, the PRC Coast Guard and maritime militia violated international law by intentionally interfering with the Philippine vessels’ exercise of high seas freedom of navigation,” the US State Department said. “The PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) conduct jeopardized the Filipino crew members’ safety and impeded critically needed supplies from reaching service members stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre. Obstructing supply lines to this longstanding outpost and interfering with lawful Philippine maritime operations undermines regional stability,” it added. Citing the 2016 arbitral ruling on the South China Sea, the US noted that China’s territorial claims to Ayungin Shoal, a low-tide elevation outside the territorial sea of another high tide feature, were unfounded. Unsafe moves “The unsafe maneuvers on 22 October and the PRC water cannoning of a Philippine vessel on 5 August are the latest examples of provocative PRC measures in the South China Sea to enforce its expansive and unlawful maritime claims, reflecting disregard for other states lawfully operating in the region,” the State Department stressed. Aside from the US, Japan, France, Canada, Australia and Germany also condemned China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea. In a separate statement, Canada condemned what it described as “unlawful and dangerous conduct” of the People’s Republic of China in the WPS, which “provoked two collisions with Philippine vessels engaged in routine operations inside the Philippine exclusive economic zone, in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal.” “The PRC’s actions are unjustified. China has no lawful claim to the West Philippine Sea. Its actions are incompatible with the obligations of a signatory to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” the Canadian Embassy in Manila said. “Continuing acts of intimidation and coercion undermine safety, stability, and security across the region, and increase the risk of miscalculation,” it added. France, Japan, Germany, too France expressed its “deep concern” over the dangerous maneuvers of the CCG against Philippine vessels “engaged in the Philippine exclusive economic zone.” “France calls for respect of the freedom of navigation guaranteed by international law and recalls its attachment to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the decision rendered by the Arbitral Court on 12 July 2016,” the Embassy of France to the Philippines said. Japan, likewise, stressed that it was “seriously concerned” and “alarmed” about the collision of Chinese vessels with Philippine vessels. “Seriously concerned about and alarmed by the collision between Chinese and Philippines vessels,” Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko said in a tweet. Koshikawa said Japan “strongly opposes any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion.” “Germany is very concerned about recent confrontations in the SCS involving Chinese coast guard ships and maritime militia vessels in the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines,” German Ambassador to the Philippines Andreas Pfaffernoschke said in a separate tweet. The post Attack on Phl would elicit U.S. response — State Dep’t appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Dutertes’ anger at secret fund scrutiny, queries opens crack in ‘UniTeam’
MANILA, Philippines—With the decision of the House of Representatives to strip Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte of P650 million in confidential funds, her father, Rodrigo Duterte, seemed to have no choice but to come to her defense. The former president said Sara was planning to use some of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) confidential funds for the revival of the controversial Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). ALSO READ: ‘Know who your true friends are’ – VP Sara Duterte He told SMNI, a radio station owned by Duterte pal Apollo Quiboloy, that Sara will insist in making ROTC compulsory. But based on government documents, confidential funds are only for confidential expenses related to surveillance activities in civilian government offices that are intended to support their mandate or operations. The elder Duterte later said he prodded his daughter to instead say that her confidential funds—P500 million for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P150 million for DepEd—would be used against “communists in Congress.” He even went on threatening one of the fiercest critics of confidential and intelligence funds in the government, ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro of the progressive Makabayan bloc in the House. The elder Duterte’s thirst for secret funds, which was removed from his daughter’s OVP and DepEd budgets by a “small committee”, also led him to attack the institution that had backed him throughout his six-year presidency. The House is the “most corrupt institution,” he alleged. But House Secretary General Reginald Velasco immediately countered the former president, saying that the institution is constantly subjected to checks and balances, even by the COA, which was once criticized by the elder Duterte, too. The row became evident, even online, with his propagandists echoing his words. Some even said the House, even the Senate, has billions of pesos worth of funds for extraordinary expenses and that Sara is being singled out. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s secret funds should be removed, too, some said. The constant Duterte Velasco pointed out that Rodrigo’s expletives were offensive and that a lot of the members of the House considered the remarks of the former leader as a serious attack, saying that the institution has been unwavering in its dedication to serve Filipinos. The elder Duterte’s latest outburst is consistent with his usual way of expressing anger. Remember how he outrightly stated, even without presenting evidence, that once a person is addicted to.....»»
U.S. asserts safe WPS passage for all
It has nothing to do with that particular country, or so they claimed rather cautiously and diplomatically. Navies of the Philippines and the United States opened their bilateral naval exercises yesterday, along with six other countries, at Naval Station Jose Andrada on Roxas Boulevard, Manila. The drills involve at-shore events at the Philippine Navy’s headquarters before going out to sea for exercises intended to improve the allied naval forces’ interoperability. Dubbed Exercise Sama-Sama, or Together, the exercise, according to Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Toribio Adaci, has nothing to do with a particular country that has figured in increasing tensions in the West Philippine Sea. But Adaci was obviously referring to China whose coast guard had used water cannons on Philippine Coast Guard-led resupply missions to Filipino troops stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal in the WPS. Adaci opened the exercise with US Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Karl Thomas. “The exercise is designed to be conducted here in Manila and the southern Luzon area,” Adaci said. Thomas, for his part, stressed the need to recognize the rules-based international order. Strong word “I think it is important that all nations have a right to sail and operate in the West Philippine Sea — free from worrying about being attacked,” Thomas said. “And attack is probably a strong word.” “I would say, free from being coerced, free from being intimidated. You know we want the commons to be common and open and free. And so long as our nations operate in accordance with the rule of law, in accordance with the rules and regulations, with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he said. Like Adaci, Thomas did not mention China, but it is common knowledge that the United States military has been conducting “freedom of navigation” patrols to keep the South China Sea open to international commerce. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last week ordered the PCG to cut the 300-meter floating barrier installed by Chinese militia vessels at Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal. PN assets in action A 2016 arbitral ruling deemed China’s territorial claim on nearly the entire South China Sea, including areas that overlap the WPS, invalid. The ruling stemmed from a 2013 case filed by the Philippines against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, or PCA, after Beijing seized control of Scarborough Shoal in 2012. As the PCA junked China’s nine-dash line South China Sea claim, it affirmed the Philippines’ entitlement to its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone. Around 700 sailors and marines from different PN units are participating in the exercise, which will see in action, among other assets, the BRP Antonio Luna, and an AW109 naval helicopter. For the second straight year, the exercise will include the navies of Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and Australia. They will be participating mainly in humanitarian assistance and disaster response drills. Observers Meanwhile, the Royal New Zealand Navy and the Indonesian Navy are also joining as observers the naval exercise that dates back to 1994 when it was known as Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training. In 2017, its name was changed to Exercise Sama-Sama. Subsequently, the exercise was conducted annually across various regions: In 2017 at Naval Forces Central; in 2018 at Naval Forces Northern Luzon; in 2019 at Naval Forces West; and in 2021 at the Northern Luzon Command. Last year, it was held alongside Exercise Lumbas — the bilateral navy-to-navy exercise between the Philippines and Australia — with the limited participation of France, Japan and the United Kingdom. According to the PN, the primary objective of the exercise is to enhance the capabilities of both nations in responding to regional crises. Additionally, it aims to strengthen its capacities to address non-traditional challenges, including territorial defense, natural and man-made disasters, counterterrorism, maritime security and transnational crimes. The post U.S. asserts safe WPS passage for all appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
How Jake Cuenca created ‘Iron Heart’s’ rock-star villain Eros
“It has to be two words: rock star.” That was Jake Cuenca’s reply when we asked him to describe his Eros character in The Iron Heart during the show’s finale mediacon recently. Playing Eros, who in the series becomes a perfect foil to Richard Gutierrez’s Apollo character, is something that Cuenca relished, as he was given a free hand to “personalize” his attack on it. Cuenca, consummate artist that he is, really invested in his character, something that he learned from the late actor Eddie Garcia. He bought his own prop guns and accessories and gave his character his own distinct sartorial taste. “With Eros, as fun as it was to portray him, it’s very, very challenging. There are times na when you’re exhausted on the set, kapag pagod na pagod ka na, sometimes it’s hard to try to keep the voice, sometimes it’s hard to keep the accent kasi pagod ka na, eh, so you try to get it right, you try to do it right,” he said. For the first time, revealed Cuenca, he didn’t go out of character even in his free time. “I was never out of character with this one to the point na even in my free time I was trying to find him all the time kasi I really enjoyed myself. One thing I’ll never forget about this role, this is the first time they really allowed me to really put layers, to put an accent, to put on a voice, to change things. They allowed me to personalize it.” The series’ finale is one for the books as it will be shot abroad and will involve katana fighting. “I’ve been training for this for two weeks now. It’s gonna be intense,” he said. While it’s Cuenca’s first time to be wielding a katana sword, sword-fighting isn’t new to him as “I’ve done it in the past like kami ni Coco (Martin) sa Panday. His promise for the series’ finale: “I think our ending is beautiful. Itong ending na ito, it’s very, very emotional, it’s very, very intense pero lalaking-lalaki ‘yung eksena,” he said. Photoshoot for P1 million loot This talent manager’s greed for money has reached colossal proportions. We’re saying this because we were informed that this manager duped her wards one time into believing all they were doing was just a pictorial. The manager gathered five of her wards and told them it had been a time that they had recent photos. So a pictorial was set pronto. But that wasn’t all there was to it. Without the wards knowing, the photoshoot was in fact for billboards and other collaterals to promote the cold-cuts products of a politician -businessman from the North with whom the talent manager has had long ties. When the manager was issued checks worth P1 million, she told the politician-businessman to keep mum about it and not tell her wards that it was for their services rendered. Why was the talent manager confident that her secret would not be discovered by her wards? Because they didn’t frequent the North. The post How Jake Cuenca created ‘Iron Heart’s’ rock-star villain Eros appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Study’s ‘queue’ issue unclear, BI, OTS say
The Bureau of Immigration and the Office for Transportation Security yesterday said a recent study by a foreign vacation rental company tagging the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as No. 8 in the worst airport list for queueing time in Asia, is unclear. BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said the article did not specify which queue at the airport was the source of the problem. Passengers, she said, frequently encounter lines upon entering the airport such as at the check-in desks, at immigration, at the security checks, and when making a baggage claim. Sandoval added that the online article does not mention immigration, but BI operations at the NAIA have already significantly improved, given that their area has already been expanded by the Manila International Airport Authority. The BI has committed to further expanding our area to accommodate more passengers. BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco, she said, assured the public that immigration lines would be manageable, particularly in the coming “Ber” months. Tansingco, during the meetings with the MIAA, had recommended at least 2,000 square meters for the entire immigration area to accommodate 70 million projected arrivals and departures. Meanwhile, Office for Transportation Security spokesperson Kim Marquez said the maximum processing time per passenger at the departure area is one minute and a half or faster unless the passenger does not carry any prohibited items. Marquez added that their security screening procedures are aligned with the International Civil Aviation Organisation standards, and they can say that they are the same procedures implemented by other member states around the world. The post Study’s ‘queue’ issue unclear, BI, OTS say appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
U.S. threatens MDT use
The Philippines and the United States condemned the China Coast Guard or CCG on Sunday for firing water cannons and interfering with the legal operations of Philippine vessels in the West Philippine Sea. Armed Forces spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar confirmed that at least one chartered supply boat being escorted by the Philippine Coast Guard was “blocked and water-cannoned” by a CCG vessel on Saturday, 5 August. The Philippine vessels were en route to Ayungin or Second Thomas Shoal for a routine troop rotation and resupply mission when they were attacked by the CCG, Aguilar said in a statement to journalists. Aguilar characterized the attack as a “wanton disregard of the safety of the people on board and in violation of international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, and the 2016 Arbitral Award.” “The Ayungin Shoal is a low tide elevation that is part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, pursuant to the 1982 UNCLOS and as affirmed by the 2016 Arbitral Award,” the Department of Foreign Affairs stressed in a statement. The US State Department immediately issued a warning that China’s provocative actions in the WPS, which overlaps with the South China Sea, or SCS, could make it invoke its Mutual Defense Treaty, or MDT, with the Philippines. Signed in 1951, the MDT states that if either country is attacked by an external party, the other country will come to its defense. The United States also called on China to abide by the 2016 arbitral ruling that found China’s claims in the South China Sea to be illegal. “Such actions by the PRC are inconsistent with international law and are the latest in repeated threats to the status quo in the South China Sea, directly threatening regional peace and stability,” a US State Department statement said. “By impeding necessary provisions from reaching the Filipino service members stationed at Second Thomas Shoal, the PRC has also undertaken unwarranted interference in lawful Philippine maritime operations,” the US pointed out. Heightened tension The incident further heightened tension between the Philippines and China in the West Philippine Sea, notwithstanding the visit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to Beijing in January. Filipino lawmakers immediately condemned China’s actions (See related story). In a separate statement, the PCG reported that the use of water cannons by the CCG forced the Philippine vessels to change course, preventing them from reaching Ayungin Shoal. In recent months, the CCG has been increasingly aggressive in its patrols of the area, leading to a number of incidents between the two countries. The 2016 arbitral ruling recognized the WPS as part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone while invalidating China’s nine-dash line claim of ownership of nearly the whole of the South China Sea. China has rejected the arbitral ruling. “The United States calls upon the PRC to abide by the arbitral ruling as well as to respect the freedom of navigation, a right to which all states are entitled,” the US State Department said. It added that an armed attack on Philippine vessels, aircraft, and armed forces, including those of its coast guard in the WPS, “would invoke US mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty.” In February, the CCG vessels pointed a military-grade laser light at the BRP Malapascua, which caused temporary blindness in some of its Filipino crew. In separate statements, Japan, Australia, Canada and the European Union called on China to stop its harassment of Philippine vessels. Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko decried the incident. “Totally unacceptable, any harassment and actions which infringe on lawful activities of the sea and endanger the navigational safety,” Koshikawa said in a tweet. “Australia is concerned by the latest actions directed against the Philippines, which are dangerous and destabilizing,” Australian Ambassador to the Philippines HK Yu said in another tweet. Yu also called on China to “respect the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea for peace and stability in the South China Sea, which is a vital international waterway.” The Canadian Embassy in the Philippines echoed the same sentiments and said the country “unreservedly condemns the dangerous and provocative actions taken by the Chinese Coast Guard against Philippine vessels.” Likewise, European Union Ambassador to the Philippines Luc Veron expressed concern about the incident. “Very concerned about dangerous action in South China Sea. The EU stands with the Philippines in upholding the rules-based international order,” Veron said. The post U.S. threatens MDT use appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Musk offers monetary legal aid for users in trouble at work over X posts
Elon Musk on Saturday said his social media company X would provide monetary legal aid to users who face blowback from their bosses over posts on the platform. Users, including many celebrities and others in the public eye, have occasionally found themselves in hot water with their employers over controversial things they have posted, liked, or retweeted on the platform, which was formerly known as Twitter. "If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill," he wrote on the site. "No limit. Please let us know." Musk gave no details on how users could claim their money. Since the tycoon bought the social media platform for $44 billion last October, its advertising business has collapsed, in part because of its looser approach to blocking hate speech, and the return of previously banned far-right accounts. Musk has repeatedly cited a desire for free speech as motivating his changes and lashed out at what he sees as the threat posed to free expression by changing cultural sensitivities. According to nonprofit organization the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), hate speech has flourished on the platform. X has disputed the findings and is suing the CCDH. In December, Musk reinstated former US president Donald Trump's Twitter account, although Trump has yet to return to the platform. The ex-president was banned from Twitter in early 2021 for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by a group of his supporters seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. X recently reinstated rapper and designer Kanye West around eight months after his account was suspended, according to media reports. Last fall, West, who now goes professionally by Ye, posted an image that appeared to show a swastika interlaced with a Star of David, and Musk suspended the artist from the platform. The post Musk offers monetary legal aid for users in trouble at work over X posts appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Conflict evolves
A new form of the Cold War that started in the 1950s is playing out in the West Philippine Sea or the South China Sea that the mainland has claimed as historically part of its territory. A 2016 award of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, or PCA, invalidated the historic claim. China, however, said it does not recognize the ruling and it will only accede to bilateral discussions on the maritime conflict. United States security officials have laid out a scenario of heightened posturing in the WPS that is being referred to as the gray zone conflict in which China’s aggressiveness is expected to heighten short of an actual armed conflict. Geopolitical experts said the evolving military relations of the United States and the Philippines are geared toward the WPS developments. In May 2023, new bilateral defense guidelines were issued to clarify the conditions under which American forces would come to the aid of their Philippine counterparts under the terms of the Mutual Defense Treaty. The guidelines marked a change in American policy in the South China Sea from “scrupulous noninvolvement” to one that seems focused on deterring provocative Chinese actions in “gray zone” scenarios, according to Felix Chang, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and the chief operating officer of DecisionQ, an artificial intelligence engineering company. He said the Philippines had long sought a clarification of America’s obligations but Washington was reluctant to give it. The US government’s previous concern was that Manila might use the mutual defense treaty as leverage to advance its maritime and territorial claims against its neighbors in the South China Sea, potentially drawing the United States into confrontations with them, most notably China. The recent American policy shift in the South China Sea, however, follows others that have occurred over the last decade. The major factors that paved the way for the new bilateral defense guidelines have been Manila’s continued commitment to rebuilding its external defense capabilities and Washington’s growing perception of China as a strategic adversary. In the event of an attack, given that the Philippines and the United States share a long-standing mutual defense treaty, American forces would be obliged to come to the country’s aid if the attack occurred in recognized Philippine territorial waters. “But until Manila and Washington issued new bilateral defense guidelines in May 2023, it was unclear what America’s obligations would be if the attack occurred in disputed waters or against non-military Philippine government vessels, like those of its coast guard. Such circumstances were considered ‘gray-zone’ scenarios,” Chang indicated. The newly issued bilateral defense guidelines that were hammered out during the recent state visit of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. cleared up the ambiguity. They also marked a change in American policy in the WPS from “scrupulous noninvolvement” to one that seems focused on deterrence. Chang indicated that for the Philippines, the change could not have come soon enough with China’s increasingly aggressive efforts to assert its sovereignty over the waters within its “nine-dash line.” Barack Obama’s administration was the first to take a slightly firmer stance on the WPS. Then, Chang said, American policy took on a more defiant tone under President Donald Trump, who formally rejected China’s “nine-dash line” claim. And with relations between China and the United States deteriorating further during the early years of the Biden White House, not to mention continued Chinese assertiveness in Southeast Asia, Washington had become open to clarifying the terms of its MDT with Manila. President Marcos visited Washington in May 2023, he was able to secure what his predecessors had not: a clarification of America’s obligations in “gray-zone” scenarios. Chang added the main reason for Washington’s opaque posture had been Manila’s longtime neglect of its external defense capabilities. The Philippines, which at one time fielded one of Asia’s largest and most modern armed forces, had allowed its navy to dwindle to four offshore patrol boats and its air force to mothball its last jet aircraft in 2005, he said. President Marcos’ recent talks with President Joe Biden was all about restoring equilibrium in the disputed seas. The post Conflict evolves appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Possible Chinese malware in US systems a ‘ticking time bomb’: report
The Biden administration believes China has implanted malware in key US power and communications networks in a "ticking time bomb" that could disrupt the military in event of a conflict, The New York Times reported Saturday. The Times, quoting US military, intelligence and security officials, said the malware potentially gave China's People's Liberation Army the ability to disrupt US military operations if Beijing were to move against Taiwan at some point. The systems affected, the Times said, could allow China not only to cut off water, power and communications to US military bases, but also to homes and businesses across the United States. The report comes two months after Microsoft warned that state-sponsored Chinese hackers had infiltrated critical US infrastructure networks. Microsoft singled out Guam, a US Pacific territory with a vital military outpost, as one target but said malicious activity had also been detected elsewhere in the United States. It said the stealthy attack, carried out since mid-2021, was likely aimed at hampering the United States in the event of a regional conflict. Authorities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Britain warned at the same time that Chinese hacking was likely taking place globally, affecting an extensive range of infrastructure. Discovery of the malware, the Times said, sparked a series of meetings in the White House Situation Room involving top military, intelligence and national security officials in an effort to track down and eradicate the code. The newspaper quoted one congressional official as saying the malware operation amounted to "a ticking time bomb." The White House issued a statement Friday that made no mention of China or military bases. "The Biden administration is working relentlessly to defend the United States from any disruptions to our critical infrastructure, including by coordinating interagency efforts to protect water systems, pipelines, rail and aviation systems, among others," said Adam Hodge, acting spokesman for the National Security Council. He added that President Joe Biden "has also mandated rigorous cybersecurity practices for the first time." Reports of the malware operation come at a particularly strained point in US-China relations, with China aggressively asserting its claim that Taiwan is Chinese territory and the US seeking to ban sales of sophisticated semiconductors to Beijing. bbk/dw © Agence France-Presse The post Possible Chinese malware in US systems a ‘ticking time bomb’: report appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Fear, grief after 41 dead in ‘brutal’ Uganda school attack
Grieving families buried their dead in western Uganda on Sunday while others searched desperately for missing loved ones after militants killed dozens of students in a "brutal" school attack. Officials say at least 41 people, mostly students, were massacred Friday in the worst attack of its kind in Uganda since 2010. President Yoweri Museveni, in his first statement since the attack, vowed to hunt the militants "into extinction". Victims were hacked, shot and burned in the late-night raid on Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, which lies less than two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Pope Francis offered a prayer on Sunday for "the young student victims of the brutal attack" that has shocked Uganda and drawn condemnation from around the globe. Ugandan authorities have blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia based in DR Congo, and are pursuing the attackers who fled back toward the border with six abductees. "Their action -- the desperate, cowardly, terrorist action -- will not save them," said Museveni. Fifteen others from the community, including five girls, were still missing, said Eriphaz Muhindi, chairman of Kasese district, which shares a long and forested border with DR Congo. - 'Great pain' - Families desperate for news waited all night in the cold outside a mortuary in nearby Bwera. Those able to identify loved ones embraced and wept as they took away the bodies in coffins. "We flocked (to) the hospital and found many bodies -- of boys and girls, some cut with pangas (machetes), others hit with hammers on the head," Roti Masereka, a farmer, told AFP. He left with the body of his brother -- 35-year-old Mbusa Kirurihandi, a security guard at the school -- and his 17-year-old son. But a third son, aged 15, is missing, and the family is distraught. "Today we have buried two bodies, the father and his son. But we are still looking for the missing child," he said. The government said Sunday it would assist with funeral arrangements and support the injured. Seventeen victims were burned beyond recognition when the attackers set a dormitory ablaze, frustrating efforts to identify the dead and account for the missing. Muhindi said they had been taken away for DNA testing, a process that could take some time. "This is a great pain to their families," he told AFP. - 'They wore military camouflage' - Officials said 37 students were killed -- 17 in the torched men's dormitory, and 20 female students who ran but were hacked to death. Elias Kule, an 18-year-old survivor, said the boys locked their dormitory door when they heard gunshots and saw armed men entering the school. "They wore military camouflage. Each had a hammer, a hoe, knives, pangas (machetes) and guns with magazines," he told AFP. He said the attackers started firing through the windows and doors, hitting at least one student, before lobbing a "bomb" into the dormitory that started a fire. "I ran out of oxygen, I covered my mouth and nose with a cloth... I got blood and smeared myself on the head and ears to claim I was dead," he said, waiting until the coast was clear to escape. Four non-students, including the security guard Kirurihandi, were also killed. - 'Appalling act' - The African Union, France and the United States, a close ally of Uganda, offered their condolences and condemned the bloodshed. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: "Those responsible for this appalling act must be brought to justice." Questions have been raised about how the attackers managed to evade detection in a border region with a heavy military presence. Major General Dick Olum told AFP that intelligence suggested the presence of the ADF in the area at least two days before the attack, and an investigation would be needed to establish what went wrong. Uganda and DR Congo launched a joint offensive in 2021 to drive the ADF out of their Congolese strongholds, but the measures have failed to blunt the group's violence. Originally insurgents in Uganda, the ADF gained a foothold in eastern DRC in the 1990s and have since been accused of killing thousands of civilians. The Islamic State group claims the ADF as its Central African affiliate. Attacks in Uganda are rare but in June 1998, 80 students were burnt to death in their dormitories in an ADF raid on Kichwamba Technical Institute near the DR Congo border. More than 100 students were abducted. The attack was the deadliest in Uganda since 2010, when 76 people were killed in twin bombings in Kampala by the Somalia-based group Al-Shabaab. gm-np/bp © Agence France-Presse The post Fear, grief after 41 dead in ‘brutal’ Uganda school attack appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Remulla sees conspiracy in recantation by Degamo suspects
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said a conspiracy could be behind the consecutive recantations of testimony by the accused in the killing of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo. "It just shows, it just proves our case further that the conspiracy sticks and is there,” Remulla said. Osmundo Rivero was the first to recant his statement on Monday last week. The suspect denied knowledge of the murder ploy and its alleged masterminds, suspended Negros Oriental Representative Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr. and Teves' former bodyguard Marvin Miranda. The recantation of Rivero was followed by co-accused Dahniel Lora, Romel Pattaguan and Rogelio Antipolo Jr., and two days later by Joven Javier. Accused Winrich Isturis, Eulogia Gonyon Jr., John Louie Gonyon, Joric Labrador and Benjie Rodriguez recanted their testimonies on Tuesday this week. Remulla said the suspects talked about different things in their affidavits but which matched at many points. The Department of Justice will submit as evidence the affidavits first executed by the accused even though they have recanted, he stressed. Remulla also accused Miranda’s legal counsel, Atty. Reynante Orceo, and the legal counsel of Lora, Pattaguan, Antipolo and Javier, Atty. Danny Villanueva, as behind the recantations of the accused. Miranda was previously accused by Remulla of supposedly "directing" other suspects to recant their testimonies. He warned that "we will ask the IBP [ Integrated Bar of the Philippines] to look into the matter." Remulla, though, said he would order an investigation into the suspects claim that they were tortured to implicate Teves in the crime. The DOJ Secretary also said a recent video of Teves reflected his state of mind and showed his lack of respect for the country and its institutions. Teves in the video said that Remulla had turned “crazy" and that the Justice Secretary should have applied for the movie industry and not the government. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives imposed another 60-day suspension without pay on Teves for his continued absence from the chamber. The solon has refused to fly back to the country, expressing fear for his safety. Degamo and nine others were killed on 4 March while several others were injured after an attack on the late governor’s home in Negros Oriental. The death toll later climbed to 10 when one of the seriously injured died at the hospital. Teves has repeatedly denied involvement in the killing. The post Remulla sees conspiracy in recantation by Degamo suspects appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
FBI routinely accessed Americans’ private communications
The FBI frequently abused a restricted database of Americans' personal communications, looking up the names of crime victims and participants in Black Lives Matter protests and the 2021 Capitol assault, documents released Friday showed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation accessed the database 278,000 times in recent years with often no justification, according to declassified opinions from the secretive Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Court. The database includes private emails, text messages, and other communications that the National Security Agency says it sweeps up when it is spying on foreigners. Although the FBI is supposed to tap the NSA database only when investigating a foreign intelligence issue, the court opinions showed they used it casually for domestic cases. Agents ran random searches in domestic drug and gang investigations, the 2020 protest over the police murder of African American George Floyd, and the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Donald Trump supporters. In one case an agent ran a query into the database on 19,000 donors to a congressional election campaign. In each of the cases, there was no foreign intelligence or domestic crime justification for the FBI accessing the database, the intelligence court said. The documents were released as Congress debates the renewal of Section 702, a law that allows the NSA to access US-hosted internet accounts to surveil foreign intelligence targets. A number of lawmakers say it needs revision to better protect the personal information of Americans. Intelligence agencies worry that could crimp their activities, but legal rights experts and Democrats said the revelations showed reforms are needed. "The government has dramatically expanded its spying under Section 702 in ways never contemplated by Congress, but it's refusing to tell Americans what it's doing," said Patrick Toomey of the Americans Civil Liberties Union. Senator Ron Wyden, a longtime critic of Section 702, said the intelligence court documents showed "shocking abuses" of the law. "If Section 702 is to be reauthorized, there must be statutory reforms to ensure that the checks and balances are in place to put an end to these abuses," Wyden said. The issue arose nearly two decades ago when the US intelligence community realized it needed to tap into the email and phone accounts of foreign intelligence targets that were hosted on US-based computers. Both the NSA and the CIA are forbidden from spying on Americans or on foreigners inside the United States, so in 2008 Congress passed Section 702 to permit the NSA to access those US-hosted accounts. In doing so the NSA also collects emails and phone messages of US citizens and resident foreigners who communicate with the agency's targets, or even mention an NSA target. The post FBI routinely accessed Americans’ private communications appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Rape allegation against Trump heads to civil trial
A civil trial over an allegation that ex-president Donald Trump raped a prominent former American columnist three decades ago got underway Tuesday with jury selection. The writer E. Jean Carroll says Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York department store and then defamed her after she went public with the allegation years later. Trump, who is facing a barrage of legal woes that threaten to derail his 2024 run for a second presidential term, has repeatedly denied the allegations. The start of the trial, which stems from a lawsuit Carroll filed against Trump, comes just weeks after Trump's historic arraignment on criminal charges related to a hush-money payment made to a porn star. Carroll, a former columnist for Elle magazine, says she was raped by Trump in the changing room at the luxury Bergdorf Goodman department store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan in 1995 or 1996. The now-79-year-old said the attack came after Trump asked her for advice on buying a women's lingerie gift. Carroll, who was in court for the start of proceedings Tuesday, first made the allegation in an excerpt from her book published by New York Magazine in 2019. Trump responded then by saying he has never met her, that she was "not my type" and that she was "totally lying." Carroll initially sued Trump for defamation in 2019 but was unable to include the rape claim because the statute of limitations for the alleged offense had expired. But a new law took effect in November last year in New York that gave victims of sexual assault a one-year window to sue their alleged abusers decades after attacks may have occurred. Lawyers for Carroll filed a new suit that accused Trump of battery, "when he forcibly raped and groped" her. It also included defamation for a post that Trump made on his Truth Social platform in October where he denied the alleged rape and referred to Carroll as a "complete con job." Psychological harm The suit seeks unspecified damages for "significant pain and suffering, lasting psychological and pecuniary harms, loss of dignity and self-esteem, and invasion of her privacy." It also asks that Trump retracts his comments. Around a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. He has denied all the allegations and has never been prosecuted over any of them. No criminal prosecution can stem from the Carroll case but if Trump loses it will be the first time he has ever been held legally liable for an allegation of sexual assault. Trump has provided sworn testimony in the case and is not expected to take the witness stand during the trial as Carroll's lawyers have said they do not intend to call him. The trial in Manhattan is likely to last between one to two weeks. Trump became the first sitting or former president to have ever been charged with a crime when he was arrested in the hush-money case earlier this month. He pleaded not guilty to 34 counts related to the payment made just before the 2016 election that propelled him to the White House. Trump is also being investigated over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the southern state of Georgia, his alleged mishandling of classified documents taken from the White House, and his involvement in the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. The post Rape allegation against Trump heads to civil trial appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»