PH athletes: Calm before the storm
By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA Filipino athletes in Tokyo are already feeling the Olympic vibe at the Games Village with only four days left before the grandest stage in sports officially opens. Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who arrived from her training camp in Malaysia over the weekend, posted a photo of the PH team room balcony emblazoned with […].....»»
Funny old world: The week’s offbeat news
From a lion on the loose around Berlin to Indonesia's most controversial newlyweds... Your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world. Bye, bye Bella It has been a dog of a week for man's best friend. Take Bella, the Mexican mongrel who survived two months adrift in the Pacific with her owner Australian sailor Timothy Shaddock. He said the pair survived "many, many, many bad days" on their storm-struck boat with only rainwater to drink and raw fish he caught to eat. But Bella, who shared his unrelenting sushi diet, kept his spirits up. "That dog is something else," he told reporters. "She is a lot braver than I am. She's amazing." So amazing in fact that Shaddock left the stray behind to return to Oz. Cue a growling kennel of consternation at the captain "abandoning" his shipmate. Walkies will never be the same The days of carefree pooping on the pavement could be over for French poodles after a hardline mayor introduced mandatory DNA testing to track dirty dogs. Robert Menard said he was forced to act after street cleaners counted 1,000 turds in the center of the southern town of Beziers. Police can now analyze doggy dejections to tail owners who fail to pick up after their pets. They will be made to pay 120 euros ($135) to clean up the mess. Just barking Two Indonesian dog owners who married their mutts in a lavish "wedding" in a Jakarta mall faced howls of disapproval. The pair shelled out 200 million rupiah ($13,350) -- more than 40 times the minimum monthly wage -- on the bash, in which they dressed their Alaskan Malamutes in traditional Javanese costumes. It didn't help that one of the women worked for President Joko Widodo, who has been lecturing the rich about not flaunting their cash as the country's wealth gap widens. "It's wasting money and defying God," one angry Twitter user wrote as the backlash grew. "Common sense has gone, trampled by the desire to show off." Bedroom Olympics With Paris being the "City of Love", you can see why some might worry how the cardboard beds the athletes will sleep on at next year's Olympics will stand up to the rigors of the planet's most high-performance physiques. But the beds' Japanese maker Motokuni Takaoka tried to prove that they can take "several people" at the same time by jumping up and down on one to calm claims that the singles were "anti-sex". "They can support several people on top", which is what can happen "when someone wins a medal", Airweave founder Takaoka said. Motivation Kyrgyz style It's summer holiday time in Kyrgyzstan, but heaven help any government minister who tries to kick back. "There shouldn't be a single minister lying on the beach in shorts and sunbathing. Don't let me see this," warned Kamchybek Tashiyev, the head of the Central Asian nation's feared GKNB security service. The spymaster, the iron fist of President Sadyr Japarov, has also outlawed lie-ins. He said he wanted to see ministers at their desks by 6:00 am. "We must work hard. We must not rest... If you become ministers, then work," he growled. How this has gone down around the cabinet table is not known. But the former Soviet republic has seen three revolutions and numerous political crises in less than two decades. Ich bin Lion Berliner To Berlin, where police feared a lioness was on the loose after a man filmed what appeared to be a big cat chasing a wild boar down a suburban street. Worried locals were urged to stay indoors, with one dog owner telling German media: "I have two little dachshunds. They are probably ideal lion food." Wild pigs are a menace around the German capital, with one famously filmed stealing a computer from a man sitting in a city park, with the chase going viral. Wags inevitably wondered if the boar had taken the lion's laptop. But police called off the hunt for the lion after 24 hours, saying the mystery beast was probably a boar. Berlin's dachshunds can finally breathe easy. The post Funny old world: The week’s offbeat news appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Free divers find love and death in Netflix’s ‘Deepest Breath’
Early in "The Deepest Breath," an underwater drone follows free diver Alessia Zecchini as she plunges 100 meters down into the ocean's dark depths, and back up, all on a single breath. The heart-pounding, claustrophobic three-and-a-half-minute sequence is as difficult to watch as it is mesmerizing. As she ascends to the shallows, Zecchini's body begins to twitch. Rescue divers seize her and drag her up to the surface, her unconscious eyes rolling grotesquely backward as she is resuscitated. It may seem shocking, but "blacking out" from lack of oxygen is a common occurrence in free diving, an extreme sport in which athletes compete to go as deep as they can without any breathing apparatus. "You can watch all the videos in the world. It doesn't really prepare you for seeing a human being just pass out like that," said director Laura McGann, director of the Netflix documentary, out Wednesday. "It's scary to see." Through archive footage, interviews and a handful of re-enactments, McGann's film explores what drives these men and women to repeatedly risk their lives and push the limits of human endurance in pursuit of new competitive records. "Seeing a human being behave more like a seal or a dolphin in the water, with no tanks, was kind of like learning that there was a group of people in part of the world that knew how to fly," she told AFP. 'In the moment' Specifically, the film focuses on the relationship between record-breaking diver Zecchini and Stephen Keenan, a nomadic young Irishman who becomes one of the sport's top safety experts. Free divers, if not actively courting death, do not appear to fear it. Indeed, Zecchini airily claims in the movie's opening scene that she does not even think about death. Yet it quickly becomes apparent that some sort of tragedy has occurred. Neither Zecchini nor Keenan appear among the film's present-day interviews, leaving the question of their fates hanging for much of the movie -- at least, for those able to resist a quick Google search. That structure was criticized as being somewhat manipulative in early reviews at January's Sundance Film Festival, where the movie premiered, having already been acquired by Netflix days earlier. But McGann decided "really early" that her film would remain "in the moment" with its characters throughout their journeys. Death "was always going to be towards the end of the film," she said. Love and death "The Deepest Breath" is the latest documentary to explore dangerous obsessions through the lens of a love story. Last year's Oscar-nominated "Fire of Love" followed a husband-and-wife scientist couple as they risked their lives to explore the craters of erupting volcanoes. In 2019, "Free Solo" profiled death-defying climber Alex Honnold, as he juggled his obsession with climbing a notorious rockface without ropes, and his relationship with his understandably terrified girlfriend. For McGann, the relationship between Zecchini and Keenan was "a yin and a yang," like "they were each other's missing piece," even before they connected as celebrities in the small free diving community. It emphasizes that free diving is as much a mental sport as it is a physical one, requiring very specific personality types that not only stay calm, but actively enjoy being 100 meters under water, beyond rescue. "What the free diver is feeling is definitely close to the complete opposite to what we the audience are feeling," explained McGann. While viewers might struggle for breath just watching, divers speak of a "serene, quiet, peaceful silence," as they quieten their minds and reduce their heart rates to "that of a Tibetan monk." "You're almost in a meditative state," said McGann. "But you need to keep a little bit of your subconscious aware of what you're doing -- so that you remember that you have to come back up." The post Free divers find love and death in Netflix’s ‘Deepest Breath’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
PH athletes: Calm before the storm
By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA Filipino athletes in Tokyo are already feeling the Olympic vibe at the Games Village with only four days left before the grandest stage in sports officially opens. Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who arrived from her training camp in Malaysia over the weekend, posted a photo of the PH team room balcony emblazoned with […].....»»
KATRIBU on the impact of Maharlika Investment Fund on the Moro and Indigenous Peoples
A speech delivered by Beverly Longid, KATRIBU National Convenor, during the Maharlika Investment Fund forum organized by the First Quarter Storm (FQS) Movement......»»
NEWS BRIEFS | 26 March 2024
P101-M sea wall to rise in Surigao Sur town A P101.3 million sea wall will be constructed in Marihatag, Surigao del Sur to protect lives and properties from storm surges there. Rep. Romeo Momo (1st District, Surigao del Sur) led the ground breaking of the Marihatag Seawall Project last Sunday, March 24. “The project is a […].....»»
Betterment of women s sports tackled in forum
In celebration of Women's Month, Evident Integrated Marketing and PR hosted a forum called Equal Play: Accelerating Progress for Filipina Athletes, to discuss the progress of Filipina athletes in terms of representation and opportunities......»»
Role of women athletes acknowledged
Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Richard Bachmann championed the women athletes and their unparalleled role in elevating the local sports development in the inaugural Women in Sports Awards Wednesday night at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum......»»
Duterte: No penalty for teacher in viral scolding video
Duterte simply advised the teacher to take a moment to calm down when feeling frustrated. .....»»
FACES OF CEBU: Eary Francis Miaga, 26, firefighter
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Nothing but thick black smoke surrounded Eary Francis Miaga as he and his fellow firefighters tried to find a way out of a burning high-rise in Brgy. Kasambagan, Cebu City last year. Despite the life-and-death situation they faced, the firefighters remained calm and kept their eyes open for any opportunity to.....»»
Where have all the nurses gone?
I could write about the country’s female tycoons who have grown their fathers’ businesses to dizzying heights, including Tessie Sy-Coson, Helen Yuchengco-Dee, Robina Gokongwei and Josephine Gotianun-Yap; or I could write about the Dumaliang sisters who staunchly defend that piece of paradise known as Masungi Georeserve; or I could write about our Filipina athletes waving the flag around the globe......»»
Australia, ASEAN Warn Against Confrontations in South China
Members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations are urging calm among those who operate in the increasingly volatile South China Sea.The plea was made Wednesday in a joint statement between ASEAN and Australia at the end of a three-day summit in Melbourne. The summit marked the 50th anniversary of Australia establishing formal ties with ASEAN.The declaration said Australia and ASEAN "recog.....»»
Australia, ASEAN Warn Against Confrontations in South China Sea
Members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations are urging calm among those who operate in the increasingly volatile South China Sea.The plea was made Wednesday in a joint statement between ASEAN and Australia at the end of a three-day summit in Melbourne. The summit marked the 50th anniversary of Australia establishing formal ties with ASEAN.The declaration said Australia and ASEAN "recog.....»»
Tabal: From Olympian To athletes’ mentor
Tabal: From Olympian To athletes’ mentor.....»»
PNP appeals for calm amid bomb threats
The Philippine National Police yesterday appealed to the public to remain calm when dealing with bomb threats......»»
12K athletes, coaches to join Palaro ‘24
12K athletes, coaches to join Palaro ‘24.....»»
Swift-mania hits Australia: ‘You need to calm down’
Die-hard Taylor Swift fans flocked to a Melbourne stadium early Friday, snapping up merchandise hours before the first Australian date of her money-raking, two-year-long “Eras” tour. The 34-year-old megastar kicks off seven Australia shows in Melbourne on Friday, the first of three stadium gigs in the city, before heading to Sydney for four more sell-out.....»»
RLC Residences backing young triathletes
The IRONKIDS, the junior counterpart of the IRONMAN series, gets a significant boost with the backing of RLC Residences with the partnership aiming to promote an active lifestyle among young athletes......»»
RLC Residences backs IRONKIDS race
The IRONKIDS, the junior counterpart of the IRONMAN series, gets a significant boost with the backing of RLC Residences with the partnership aiming to promote an active and purposeful lifestyle among young athletes......»»
Non-profit peace-advocacy swimming training facility up
There is a big peace-advocacy group that had set up in a hinterland town a swimming pool for honing potential young swimmers from the Muslim, Christian and indigenous communities into athletes as a showcase of religious and cultural solidarity in sports......»»
Unity League esports grassroots tourney announced
The state-run People’s Television Network (PTV) has launched the Unity League, a grassroots tournament for esports that aims to produce potential national esports athletes under Team Sibol......»»