Four arrested in record-breaking HK$840m ketamine trafficking case
Police busted the largest ketamine trafficking case in Hong Kong history where a total of 1.26 tonnes of the drug was seized in Yau Tong on Friday, with an estimated value of over HK$840 million. During the joint operation by the special duties unit -- “Flying Tigers”, and the marine police, four men were arrested. Police recently received intelligence that a drug syndicate has been renting vehicles before Christmas for trafficking a significant amount of ketamine. Officers then mounted an operation at Sam Ka Tsuen Ferry Pier in Yau Tong on Friday, where they spotted speedboats approaching the pier. Two local men have been charged with trafficking in dangerous drug and will appear in court tomorrow.
Source:The Standard
December 25, 2021 10:34 UTC
Philippine typhoon survivors wish for roofs and food at Christmas
Residents build makeshift shelters following the destruction of their houses due to by typhoon Rai, in Surigao City, Surigao del Norte, Philippines, December 21, 2021. (Reuters)Father Ricardo Virtudazo stands in a pool of water in his typhoon-hit church in the southern Philippines delivering Christmas Day mass to dozens of devotees whose wishes this year were for new roofs, food and fine weather. Devotees wore masks as they gathered inside the church festooned with Christmas decorations and prayed for a better year. But the widespread destruction caused by Rai in the southern and central regions of the country has dampened celebrations as many survivors plead for drinking water and food. "Our only request is that there's fine weather on Christmas Day to give us some cheer," she told AFP.
Source:The Standard
December 25, 2021 10:15 UTC
Boosters may prolong Covid WHO warns, France jabs kids as Omicron surges
LONDON–The WHO warned Wednesday that rich countries cannot use boosters to escape the coronavirus and France became one of the first nations to vaccinate children over five, as nations scrambled to contain Omicron surges. “No country can boost its way out of the pandemic,” said the World Health Organization’s Secretary General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENTBritain approved Pfizer’s Covid jab for children aged five to 11, announced it would buy millions of Covid pills, and cut the isolation period for infected people from 10 to seven days with negative tests. Belgium has announced cinemas, concert halls and other entertainment venues will have to close from the weekend as three in 10 Covid cases are now Omicron. But in Nigeria, around a million AstraZeneca Covid doses donated by developed countries were destroyed Wednesday after they expired.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 25, 2021 09:57 UTC
At least 16 migrants dead in Greek shipwreck
ATHENS — At least 16 people died when their boat overturned off the Greek island of Paros in the central Aegean Sea on Friday, in the third maritime disaster involving migrants this week, the country’s coastguard said. The country’s semi-official Athens News Agency said the bodies of 12 men, three women, and an infant were recovered from the area. Earlier Friday, Greek authorities said they had recovered 11 bodies from the scene of another shipwreck when a sailboat carrying migrants sank off an uninhabited islet in southern Greece on Thursday. The coastguard said initial information suggested those migrants had also been heading for Italy. Overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, a boat thought to have been carrying up to 50 migrants sank off the island of Folegandros, with dozens feared missing.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 25, 2021 09:09 UTC
Duterte giving P5,000 to each family affected by Odette
Duterte giving P5,000 to each family affected by Odette“I will work even on Christmas. I will really go out,” Duterte said during his visit to typhoon victims in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan two days before Christmas. MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte promised a cash grant of P5,000 for each family displaced by Typhoon Odette and said he would work through Christmas to ensure its distribution. I will really go out,” Duterte said during his visit to typhoon victims in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan two days before Christmas. He said he hopes the cash assistance – amounting to P5,000 per family – would reach the affected residents by Christmas.
Source:Philippine Star
December 25, 2021 09:07 UTC
Coal lock-in hinders ADB’s program to retire coal plants
Coal lock-in hinders ADB’s program to retire coal plantsIn the “Coal Lock-In in Southeast Asia” report, the IEEFA defined coal-lock in as a state of an energy system where high capacities of coal-fired power plants are present in the energy system, backed by long-term financial agreements that cannot prematurely end. MANILA, Philippines — Coal lock-in in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines is hindering the successful implementation of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) program to retire coal-fired power plants, according to a recent report by consultancy firm Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). It aims to retire almost half of the coal-fired power plants in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. “IEEFA has long been focused on the issue of coal lock-in, particularly how the reliance on long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) to support coal power investments restricts the ability of regional governments to shed high-emissions coal assets without severe financial damage,” Isaad said. Given the scale of coal pipelines in these countries, coal lock-in will only get worse if business continues as usual, the author said.
Source:Philippine Star
December 25, 2021 03:16 UTC
Ex-journalist Legarda redefines 'fake news'
Antique Rep. Loren Legarda. Because news is news," this was how Antique Rep. Loren Legarda answered a question in a virtual media roundtable when asked for her thoughts on fake news. "If you were a journalist of the old or the traditional school and then we [don't] call it fake news. According to Legarda, to disinform is to consciously deceive people with wrong content while to misinform is to unknowingly share wrong information. To combat the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation in the digital age, Legarda sees the foundations of old-school journalism as a possible solution.
Source:Manila Times
December 25, 2021 00:44 UTC
100 towns without electricity on Christmas
Roel CATOTO / AFPMORE than 100 towns in areas devastated by Typhoon "Odette" will have no electricity this Christmas. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported on Friday that electricity has been restored in only 149 of the 273 towns and cities where power lines were downed by Odette's fierce winds. Timbal added that the death toll from the typhoon has risen to 326, with most of the fatalities coming from the Visayas. To date, the agency has distributed over 200,600 liters of water in Cebu, Negros Occidental, Tagbilaran, Surigao, Butuan and Iligan. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., meanwhile, thanked the government of South Korea for providing emergency aid for Typhoon Odette victims.
Source:Manila Times
December 24, 2021 22:19 UTC
DFA brings home 354 distressed, stranded Filipinos from Saudi Arabia
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — The lights had been strung, the guest list was set and the Santa hats were ready to go. For the first Christmas party they would openly throw in Saudi Arabia, Umniah Alzahery and...
Source:Philippine Star
December 24, 2021 21:57 UTC
HK detects seven Omicron cases, adds five imported cases
The health authority reported that they have detected seven more cases involving the Omicron variant on Friday and five imported cases, including the airport toilet cleaner who triggered the Tuen Mun lockdown. The seven Omicron cases involved three men and four women aged 18 to 61, who were reported as imported cases on Monday and Wednesday. So far, there are 41 Omicron cases reported in the city. The cleaner had received two doses of the Sinovac vaccine in Hong Kong on July 10 and August 10. A total of 72 cases have been reported in the past 14 days, and all of them are imported cases.
Source:The Standard
December 24, 2021 20:30 UTC
HK to expand Covid-19 vaccination program in 2022
The SAR government will expand the vaccination program starting 2022, including extending opening hours of vaccination centers and administering the second dose of BioNTech vaccine to teenagers. Starting January 1, 2022, nine out of ten community vaccination centers will extend opening hours and provide service from 8am to 8pm for eligible citizens to receive the booster jab. The first three vaccination centers will offer the Sinovac vaccine, while the remaining seven centers offer the BioNTech vaccine. Citizens can also receive a booster jab six months after receiving the second dose of the BioNTech vaccine. Recovered Covid patients can receive the second dose of the vaccine six months after receiving their first dose of the vaccine.
Source:The Standard
December 24, 2021 17:53 UTC
Ginebra-Magnolia rivalry banners Christmas Day games
6) and Phoenix import Paul Harris battle for the ball during the PBA Season 46 Governors’ Cup on Dec. 17, 2021 at the Araneta Coliseum. The Gin Kings carry a 3-0 record while the Hotshots won their first two games. Pingris and Simon, two key players of the franchise when it won the grand slam in 2014, will have their jersey numbers retired. Unlike the Hotshots, who won their first two games in convincing fashion, two of the three games Barangay Ginebra went through were tightly fought matches. Meanwhile, the Blackwater Bossing and the Terrafirma Dyip had agreed on a trade right before the Christmas Day break.
Source:Manila Times
December 24, 2021 17:46 UTC
PH receives 1.4 million more ADB loan-procured COVID vaccine doses
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines received its procurement of some 1.4 million additional Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses early Friday. The government purchased the 1,405,170 doses through a loan from the Asian Development Bank, the National Task Force Against COVID-19 said. On Thursday, 2,730,780 Pfizer vaccine doses, also bought by the government, were delivered in the country. Of the around 192 million various COVID-19 vaccines that have arrived in the country since February, 104 million have already been injected. Around 46.3 million individuals in the country are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of December 22.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 24, 2021 16:38 UTC
Can achieving net-zero emissions address climate-induced disasters?
There is no scientific debate among experts about whether climate change is human-caused (Mark Lynas et al., 2021). Seventy-five percent of Filipinos are alarmed and concerned about climate change, according to a Yale Program on Climate Change Communication study. Alarmed are those who are convinced that climate change is happening, human-caused, an urgent threat and strongly support climate policies while concerned think human-caused climate change is happening, is a serious threat and support climate policies. Can achieving net-zero emissions address climate-induced disasters? Net-zero emissions refer to the amount of emissions one puts into the atmosphere is the same as the amount of emissions one removes from the atmosphere.
Source:Manila Times
December 24, 2021 16:03 UTC
Two more Hong Kong universities remove Tiananmen artwork
Hong Kong, China — Two Hong Kong universities on Friday removed sculptures marking Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square democracy protesters, as authorities steadily erase all remaining traces of the deadly event from the southern Chinese territory. But early Friday, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) removed the “Goddess of Democracy” from its campus. CUHK’s student union, known for its active role in Hong Kong’s democracy movement spanning 50 years, disbanded in October. Today, Hong Kongers can finally breathe easy and return to normal life,” wrote Horace Cheung, vice chair of Hong Kong’s largest pro-China party DAB. Beijing is remolding Hong Kong in its own image after democracy protests two years ago and commemorating Tiananmen has effectively been criminalized.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 24, 2021 09:06 UTC