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Friday, August 2, 2013

Philippine journalist gunned down

Comment:

Being a journalist is really not good for your health, especially if you are living in the Philippines. While we are so proud of how we are the most democratic country in Asia, our journalists are getting killed one by one.

This is another sad news for journalists around the world...

News Story

Philippine journalist gunned down

Three journalists have been gunned down in the Philippines in its worst spate of media killings in nearly four years.

Police and rights watchdogs say the latest victim, freelance news photographer Mario Sy, was killed in front of his wife and child by two suspects who broke into his home in the southern city of General Santos.

The attack followed the shooting deaths in Manila on Tuesday of two columnists of a tabloid that had recently ceased publication, said Rupert Mangilit, secretary-general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

"We're quite alarmed that despite claims that the environment for journalists is safer now, we have three killings happening in a week," he told AFP.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Celebrity News

Andi poses topless for Esquire cover

Kapamilya actress Andi Eigenmann joins a growing list of female celebrities who have agreed to appear topless for the cover of men’s magazine Esquire Philippines.

Eigenmann, who currently can be seen on the big screen in “A Secret Affair” and on TV in “Kapag Puso’y Masugatan,” is the cover girl for the magazine’s November issue, where she can be seen wearing a string bikini bottom, with only white curtains covering her breasts.

“It’s finally out! So proud of your Esquire cover. HOT!” actress Bubbles Paraiso told Eigenmann on Twitter.

International News

Sandy Leaves 110 Dead

New York struggled to get back on its feet Tuesday after superstorm Sandy carved a path of destruction from the Caribbean to Canada that left at least 110 people dead and millions without power.

The cyclone drove hurricane-force winds and deadly ocean surges against a large swathe of the US East Coast, adding an uncertain twist to an already tight US presidential race.

President Barack Obama declared Sandy a “major disaster” in the states of New York and New Jersey, where he was due to tour flooded areas on Wednesday with Governor Chris Christie, a backer of his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

Romney cancelled a second day of campaign events Tuesday to focus on rescue and recovery work, just one week before American voters go to the polls.

The death toll from accidents related to the storm rose to 43 confirmed in North America since Sandy made landfall on Monday and 67 killed beforehand as the then hurricane tore through the Caribbean.

Politics News

Mikey Arroyo’s lone bill for guards wallowing in ‘sheer laziness’

Ang Galing Pinoy (AGP) Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo authored only one bill on the welfare of security guards and the measure has been moving lethargically in Congress, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

In a 6-page resolution discussing crucial points that led the Comelec to cancel the accreditation of Arroyo’s party, the poll body said the lone bill, which has just gone past the first reading was a sign of either “sheer laziness” or a “glaring lack of empathy” for the plight of the truly marginalized.

The Comelec noted that the bill intended for security guards is not likely to be passed before the current Congress expires. The bill has just been referred to the House Committee on Public Order and Safety after passing the first reading.

Manila Earthquake

Earthquake shakes buildings in Manila

An earthquake shook Metro Manila Wednesday, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS).

The earthquake which occured around 10:07 a.m., had its epicenter in Dona Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan.

It was said to have been tectonic in origin and had a magnitude of 3.8, Phivolcs said in its report.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

International News

No Pinoy casualties from superstorm Sandy

The Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. and the Consulate General in New York have yet to receive reports of possible Filipino casualties following the onslaught of superstorm Sandy in the east coast.

Ambassador Jose Cuisia said Sandy has claimed 10 lives, cut power and forced many to flee their homes.

There are more than 460,000 Filipinos in 13 states across the eastern seaboard that bore the brunt of Sandy.

Cuisia said a team is on 24-hour-standby at the embassy to respond to any request for assistance from Filipinos affected by the typhoon; monitor the progress of the storm; and receive updates from the Filipino Community.

Reports from the Filipino community indicate that a number of Filipinos in New Jersey and New York fled their homes due to floodwaters that the superstorm spawned shortly before it made landfall near Cape May in the southern coast of New Jersey.

International News

Fil-Ams face darkness, cold after superstorm

A Filipino living in Washington, D.C. said some residents of Virginia and Maryland are struggling with the cold weather brought by superstorm “Sandy”.

“This temperature, coupled with rain and strong winds, make it really cold this time. Hindi pa winter dito but that’s how we feel at this time and we would like to believe it is much colder in some areas like Virginia, where there has been blizzards,” Stephen Manangan told ANC’s “Prime Time” on Tuesday.

Manangan said residents living in areas where electricity has been cut are struggling with the cold weather due to the lack of heaters.

“We have heaters, wala namang shut out sa kuryente so we’re glad na mayroon kaming heater dito. Pero in some areas, like Virginia and Maryland, unfortunately, wala silang kuryente kaya wala din silang heater,” he said.

Politics News

Comelec lowers boom on Mikey Arroyo

It’s all over for the group of Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, son of former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, which claims to represent security guards and tricycle drivers, and an aspiring party-list group of journalists.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday disqualified Ang Galing Pinoy (AGP) and Alab ng Mamamahayag (Alam), bringing to 33 the number of party-list groups it had so far dropped from the list of organizations qualified to take part in the elections in May 2013.

Among the groups the Comelec earlier disqualified were Ako Bicol, 1st Consumer Alliance for Rural Energy and Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives, which have incumbent representatives in Congress.

Inquirer Headline

‘Sandy’ batters East Coast

Flooded Ground Zero, New York

As Superstorm “Sandy” churned slowly inland, millions along the US East Coast awoke Tuesday without power or mass transit, and huge swaths of New York City were eerily quiet. At least 23 people were killed in seven states.

The storm that made landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening with hurricane force cut power to at least 7.4 million across the East and put the presidential campaign on hold just one week before Election Day.

New York was among the hardest hit, with its financial heart closed for a second day and seawater cascading into the still-gaping construction pit at the World Trade Center. The storm caused the worst damage in the 108-year history of New York’s subway system, and there was no indication of when the largest US transit system would be rolling again.

But the full extent of the damage in New Jersey was being revealed as morning arrived. Emergency crews fanned out to rescue hundreds.

A hoarse-voiced New Jersey Governor Chris Christie gave bleak news at a morning news conference: Seaside rail lines washed away. No safe place on the state’s barrier islands for him to land. Parts of the coast still under water.

Technology News

Nokia Asha 309 now available in Philippines

Nokia Asha Asha 309s, the newest addition to the Asha Touch range and Nokia’s most affordable capacitive touchscreen devices to-date, are now available in the Philippines, Nokia has announced.

The single SIM Nokia Asha 309 gives consumers a smarter Internet experience thanks to Nokia Xpress Browser, which enables up to 90 percent more efficient mobile browsing and faster access to rich web applications compared to conventional browsers.

The new devices offer a fluid ‘swipe’ user interface and an open environment for third-party application development, characteristics that have earned the complete Asha Touch range full smartphone classification from global market research firm, GfK.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Inquirer Technology News

Bilib I.T. or not: Prison call center eyed

You’ve got to “BILIB I.T.”

Call centers may soon be run in prisons with inmates as operators, thanks to a program initiated by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano that aims to help convicts get a better chance to resettle and reintegrate back into society.

The program, dubbed “BILIB I.T.,” will grant information technology (IT) scholarships to qualified inmates so they can learn productive skills that will help them get back on their feet.

“We’ll see if we can try building call centers inside jail facilities to help these detainees utilize their training and gain employment,” Cayetano said in a statement released during the program launch at Taguig City Jail.

“I eventually want to get there because it’s a step further toward better rehabilitation,” he added.

Among the courses to be offered are Basic IT, Adobe Photoshop, computer hardware servicing and a finishing course for call center agents, which would include English proficiency and web design.

ABS-CBN Sports News

Donaire 'never faced anyone with guts' - Arce

Mexican brawler Jorge Arce is not impressed with the winning streak of world super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, citing the lack of quality opponents faced by “The Filipino Flash.”

In an interview with Boxing Scene, Arce claimed that Donaire has not faced an opponent who was willing to aggressively attack the Filipino champion.

“He has never faced a fighter of my qualities. He has never faced anybody with guts, heart,” Arce said.

Donaire has not lost a boxing match since March 2001, when he lost on points against Filipino boxer Rosendo Sanchez in his second professional fight.

Since then, he has put on a 29-fight winning streak, winning world titles in four different weight divisions along the way. Most recently, he defeated three super bantamweight contenders, including top Japanese boxer Toshiaki Nishioka.

But Arce insists that Donaire has never fought anyone like him, an all-action fighter who is willing to take a punch.

ABS-CBN Celebrity News

John Lloyd, Angelica enjoy beautiful affair

Actor John Lloyd Cruz said he's enjoying "a beautiful affair" with his current girlfriend Angelica Panganiban.

"We are just enjoying. Kung nagkakaroon kami ng pagkakataon to be together, to spend time with her family, side niya, side ko, napaka-relax lang. Napakasaya lang. Enjoy lang, enjoy niyo lang 'yung moment, walang pressure. Napakagaan, napaka-fluid," Cruz reporters during the press conference of his newest series "A Beautiful Affair" with Bea Alonzo.

For the first time, Cruz on Sunday publicly admitted on "The Buzz" that he and Panganiban are in a relationship.

Cruz, however, stressed that they never denied anything about their relationship, but explained that he and Panganiban opted to keep what they have private.

Inquirer Headline

No Filipino casualty in Sandy’s sweep of Caribbean–envoy

There were no reported Filipino casualties during the deadly sweep of Hurricane Sandy across the Caribbean that claimed as many as 65 lives last week, the Philippine embassy in Washington said Tuesday.

An emailed statement from the embassy noted that Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia said that Filipino leaders in Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jaimaca, Haiti, Turks, and Caicos, the Bahamas, Trinidad, and Tobago informed the embassy that all their members were accounted for.

As Americans braced for Hurricane Sandy, the Carribean suffered from death and destruction with officials saying storm-related death toll has risen to 69 as of Tuesday.

It had been reported that Haiti accounted for 51 of the deaths, while other deaths had also been reported in Cuba, Jaimaica, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.

Meanwhile, the embassy again urged Filipinos in the eastern seaboard of the US to heed warnings from authorities and stay out of the way of what is feared to be one of the most devastating storms to hit the country.

Manila Times Headline

Three Marines killed in PH clash

Three Philippine marines were killed and 10 wounded on Sunday in a clash with al Qaeda-linked militants who hold several foreign hostages, the military said.

The troops from the Marine Battalion Landing Team 6 were deployed to a remote village on the southern island of Jolo province to check intelligence reports about the presence there of Abu Sayyaf gunmen and their captives.

"The troops conducted a combat patrol to verify the reported presence of the kidnap victims in the area when they caught up with the Abu Sayyaf group, resulting in the encounter," said regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang.

He said that three were killed and military helicopters evacuated the 10 injured.

The Marines reported having killed two Abu Sayyaf militants, though none of the hostages were sighted or recovered.

ABS-CBN News Headline

Use Miriam's sin tax bill, experts urge senators

Experts in medicine and the economy on Monday called on senators to reject the sin tax committee report of Sen. Ralph Recto, which critics have dismissed as a watered-down version of the proposed law.

Instead, they said senators should use the version of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago in plenary debates on the measure.

"It hews much more to the actual realities and the actual principles that we want. If everybody is in favor of a sin tax bill, let's start with that sin tax bill," economics professor Solita Monsod said of Santiago's version, where the projected tax revenue from tobacco and alcohol products is around P60 billion.

"You'll get more revenues. More lives will be saved," she added.

Recto, who resigned as chair of the Senate ways and means committee amid criticisms against his version of the sin tax bill, himself doesn't want his colleagues to use his committee report, saying it's his intellectual property.

GSIS valuable, historical paintings transferred to the National Museum

The Government Service Insurance System and the National Museum has kicked off implementation of a partnership formalized in February and meant to make the GSIS’ historical as well as high-value paintings more accessible to the public.

On Monday, the GSIS and the museum highlighted their team-up with the transfer to the latter of Juan Luna’s “Parisian Life.”

Also under the partnership, the museum has named an area within its National Gallery as the Government Service Insurance Wing, which covered three large galleries on the third floor and which was opened on Monday.

GSIS president and general manager Robert G. Vergara said in a statement that through an agreement with the museum, the state pension fund would transfer the management of its art collection to the latter.