Digital operations a new normal for DA
The Department of Agriculture (DA) will digitize its operations to adapt to the new normal for agriculture brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, a move that has been long overdue but impeded by lack of manpower and funds. ADVERTISEMENTThe digital shift would also facilitate real time recording of agriculture-fishery information and reports about DA projects through mobile geotagging technology. The FFRS and FIMS include the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture, or RSBSA, which contains information on individual farmers and fishermen. The DA spent for palay procurement, loans, cash transfers, insurance and extension services – the distribution of which were all anchored on the RSBSA. The secretary said he expects to begin the digital shift by the third quarter of 2020 with funding from its ambitious “Plant, Plant, Plant” program.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 02, 2020 09:33 UTC
China Evergrande books 60.2b yuan May sales
China Evergrande (3333) contracted sales in May grew by 12.5 percent year-on-year to 60.22 billion yuan (HK$65.73 billion). Contracted gross floor area was up by 28 percent to 6.367 million square meters. For the first five months, the accumulated sales value was 272.79 billion yuan, up by 17.8 percent, compared with an year earlier. The total sales area was 30.08 million square meters, up by 39.6 percent year-on-year.
Source:The Standard
June 02, 2020 09:31 UTC
Octopus stretches payments to iPhones, Apple watches
Octopus Cards has announced that iPhones and Apple Watches can now be used to make transactions instead of its cards, thanks to a software update that was revealed today, RTHK reports. The update means that those who own an iPhone can register their adult or elder concession Octopus account to Apple's mobile payment system Apple Pay. This means iPhone users will now be able to use their phone to pay for public transport and groceries. Value can be added using a Hong Kong-issued bank credit or debit card, or with cash at either a convenience store or MTR customer service centre. Once an Octopus card has been transferred to an Apple device, the Octopus account becomes entirely digital, which means the physical card will stop working.
Source:The Standard
June 02, 2020 09:21 UTC
Public gathering restrictions extended to June 18
The government has extended an eight-person limit on public gatherings until June 18, RTHK reports. The move comes after a fresh cluster of Covid-19 cases erupted in the past few days, with several patients all linked to a 34-year-old woman who works in Kwai Chung and lives in Sha Tin. The woman had not been abroad recently and Hong Kong University microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung has warned that she may be a "super-spreader" of the virus. The eight-person limit on public gatherings was due to expire on Thursday night.
Source:The Standard
June 02, 2020 09:21 UTC
Thousands march in Sydney in solidarity with US protests
SYDNEY — Thousands of protesters marched through downtown Sydney on Tuesday, voicing their solidarity with Americans demonstrating against the death of George Floyd. An indigenous Australian lawmaker called on governments to use Floyd’s death as an opportunity to reduce the deaths of indigenous people in custody. “I think we should be using it as an opportunity,” Burney told Australian Broadcasting Corp., referring to Floyd’s death. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam questioned the foreign criticism over an imminent national security law being imposed in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. “They take their own country’s national security very seriously, but for the security of our country, especially the situation in Hong Kong, they are looking at it through tinted glasses,” Lam said Tuesday.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 02, 2020 09:11 UTC
US protest death count rising - mostly African Americans
One man was the beloved owner of a Louisville barbecue restaurant who made sure to provide free meals to officers. Yet another was a federal officer working security during a protest. Many of the people killed were African Americans, compounding the tragedy for black families to lose more members of their community amid the unrest. ___OAKLANDA federal law enforcement officer was providing security at the federal courthouse in Oakland during a protest when someone fired shots from a vehicle. ___DETROITA 21-year-old man was killed in downtown Detroit after someone fired shots into a vehicle during a protest.
Source:The Standard
June 02, 2020 09:00 UTC
Turkey seeks to arrest 118 military personnel over coup
ANKARA, Turkey — Prosecutors in Istanbul issued warrants on Tuesday for the detention of 118 military personnel over their suspected links to a U.S.-based Muslim cleric as authorities pressed ahead with a crackdown on a network Turkey blames for a failed coup attempt in 2016. The state-run Anadolu Agency said 72 of the suspects were detained in simultaneous raids in 35 provinces across Turkey for alleged ties to cleric Fethullah Gulen’s network. Police were searching for 46 other suspects, the agency reported. ADVERTISEMENTThe agency said 98 of the suspects targeted by the warrants are currently serving in the military and two of them are civilians. Since the coup, about 77,000 people have been arrested and around 130,000 others, including military personnel, have been dismissed from state jobs in the on-going crackdown on Gulen’s network.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 02, 2020 08:48 UTC
Aviation industry off to a ‘dicey’ future — Transportation chief
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ aviation industry will face an unpredictable and potentially dangerous future due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said Tuesday. “The future of the aviation industry (in) one word: dicey. ADVERTISEMENT(The future of the aviation industry, one word, is dicey. So it’s really really dicey.) The local aviation industry took a bigger hit when the government suspended all domestic and international travel in and out of the Philippines.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 02, 2020 08:36 UTC
Cops hit by gunfire in Missouri
Fireworks go off in front of police, who with protesters in front of police headquarters in St. Louis on Monday, June 1. Johnnie Williams chants with the crowd as they march off the Gateway Arch grounds during an event organized by ExpectUS, in Downtown St. Louis on Monday, June 1. The chaos in St. Louis followed continued protests Monday in Missouri over the death of George Floyd and police treatment of African Americans, with gatherings also held in Kansas City and Jefferson City. On Monday afternoon, several hundred people rallied peacefully outside the justice center in downtown St. Louis, including Mayor Lyda Krewson and St. Louis Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards. Some protesters smashed windows at a downtown 7-11 store and stole items from inside before the building was set on fire.-AP
Source:The Standard
June 02, 2020 08:32 UTC
Australians step out in solidarity with US protesters
Australians step out in solidarity with US protestersMore than 1,000 protesters marched through downtown Sydney in Australia in solidarity with Americans demonstrating against the death of George Floyd half a world away. The protest proceeded despite some organizers canceling it Monday for fear of conflict with counter protesters. But no counter protest emerged. Around 2,000 demonstrators gathered in Australia’s west coast city of Perth on Monday night to peacefully protest Floyd’s death, and rallies are planned for other Australian cities this week. Referring to the violence in U.S. streets, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “there’s no need to import things ... happening in other countries here to Australia.”-AP.
Source:The Standard
June 02, 2020 08:15 UTC
LOOK: Design student crafts mobile app, PWD card system for thesis project
MANILA, Philippines — One Filipino design student designed a new person with disability (PWD) identification card, along with a mobile application for her undergraduate thesis. Aia Arkoncel, a PWD herself, said she felt that it was her duty to give back to the disability community through design. There are a lot of PWDs who are not able to physically go to their city halls and apply for a card. READ: Groups say House reps' slamming of PWD card abuse exposes holes in disability legislation. Here’s howLapses in the system of handing out PWD cards are among the most prominent issues the sector struggles with today.
Source:Philippine Star
June 02, 2020 08:15 UTC
Swimmers warned of likely shark off Tuen Mun beach
Swimmers have been told not to venture out at Golden Beach in Tuen Mun after a suspected shark sighting in the area. Nick Wu from the Hong Kong and Kowloon Life Guards' Union said a colleague saw what appeared to be a shark from the lifeguard tower at 9:30am on today, and told swimmers to get out of the water. Wu said several lifeguards all went up the tower, from where they saw a one-meter long creature, whose body was dark blue, with a tail fin like that of a shark. The firm in charge of the shark net at the beach sent workers to the scene, Wu said. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department said it had raised a red flag at the beach telling people not to swim there due to the sighting of a "one-meter-long large fish."
Source:The Standard
June 02, 2020 08:02 UTC
300 more to be evacuated from India tomorrow
Another group of about 300 Hong Kong residents, including pregnant women and children, stranded in India will be flown back from Mumbai in the early morning tomorrow. The flight will bring people who are in Mumbai and those in its surrounding areas, the government said. The returnees from India will be tested for the coronavirus at the temporary specimen collection centre at AsiaWorld-Expo. As at June 1, the Immigration Department had contacted about 4,800 Hong Kong residents stranded in India. The first batch of about 250 Hong Kong residents returned to Hong Kong on May 18 on a chartered flight arranged by the government departing from New Delhi.
Source:The Standard
June 02, 2020 07:40 UTC
Cebu airport readies ‘contactless’ interaction with travelers
CEBU CITY –– The Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) wants a “contactless” system of interacting with passengers as it prepares to resume operations when travel restrictions are eased up. At strategic areas in the airport, some 60 automated hand sanitizers have also been placed. Passengers only need to place their hand on the boxed dispenser and the sensors will spray sanitizers automatically. This way, the airport security will no longer manually spray the hand of the passengers. The PCR testing booths were set up at the airport’s Terminal 2.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 02, 2020 07:30 UTC
Trump threatens military force against protesters nationwide – The Manila Times
The president demanded an end to the heated protests in remarks from the White House Rose Garden and vowed to use more force to achieve that aim. “We’re going to keep it safe.”A military deployment by Trump to US states would mark a stunning federal intervention rarely seen in modern American history. Yet the message Trump appeared to be sending with the brazen pushback of protesters outside the White House was that he sees few limits to what he is willing to do. Some around the president likened the moment to 1968, when Richard Nixon ran as the law-and-order candidate in the aftermath of a summer of riots, capturing the White House. The scene in and around the White House on Monday night appeared to be carefully orchestrated.
Source:Manila Times
June 02, 2020 07:30 UTC