US secrets in Iran’s hands: Commando raid an option?

US secrets in Iran’s hands: Commando raid an option?

 
After the CIA lost control of a surveillance drone over Iran, US officials decided against sending a team to retrieve or destroy its remains. However that was before Tehran announced its military was behind the downing of the spy device.

­News of American discussions about a possible covert mission to trace the doomed drone emerged in the Washington Post.

The RQ-170 UAV, dubbed The Beast of Kandahar by some media outlets, was flying over eastern Iran when it apparently malfunctioned and went missing..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/us-drone-iran-raid-337/

Mom shoots children and kills self after being denied food stamps

Mom shoots children and kills self after being denied food stamps

In a final and violent act of desperation, a 38-year-old mother in Texas bombarded herself in a welfare office on Tuesday after being denied food stamps. She took her own life and shot her two children before the stand-off ceased.

Rachelle Grimmer had recently moved her family to the Lonestar State and attempted to receive federal assistance this summer by applying for food stamps back in July, only to be denied. A spokesperson for the Health and Human Services Commission confirmed to the Daily Mail that Grimmer’s filing was incomplete and left her ineligible for aid.

Grimmer has been apparently continuing to appeal the decision up until Tuesday, when she had enough and brought her two children into the social service office in Laredo, Texas. At 5 p.m. she insisted on speaking with a supervisor before resorting to unleashing a handgun..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/food-stamp-texas-children-grimmer-291/

Cops crack down on Occupy San Francisco; 70 arrested

Cops crack down on Occupy San Francisco; 70 arrested

Police clad in riot gear cracked down hard on another Occupy encampment early Wednesday morning, this time dismantling the tent city in San Francisco, California and arresting 70 protesters.

Cops in San Francisco arrived in the city’s Justin Herman Plaza shortly after 2 a.m. on Wednesday, a site that, hosting around 100 tents, was perhaps the largest remaining compound of its size that served as a chapter of the Occupy Wall Street movement on the West Coast.

Authorities gave demonstrators but five minutes to dismantle their shelters, gather their belongings and vacate the park, which was not long enough for most to follow orders and safely collect their possessions. Minutes later, around 100 law enforcement agents moved into the plaza and began collapsing the compound..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/occupy-san-francisco-raid-257/

Occupy DC strikes at heart of lobbyists’ hub (w/ Video)

 

Occupy DC strikes at heart of lobbyists’ hub

Up to 70 arrests have been made in Washington DC after the police dispersed a mass demonstration only walking distance away from the White House. “Occupiers” blocked downtown streets to protest against high unemployment and corporate bailouts.

­Hundreds of protesters from Occupy DC and other groups with similar aims targeted K Street NW, home to the headquarters of some of the city’s largest lobbying firms.

The demonstrators say the lobbyists represent corporations which, along with the country's richest people, the so-called “1 per cent”, have too much of the nation's power and wealth..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/occupy-washington-arrested-lobbyists-305/

Once more with feeling: Matuwid na daan VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 12/08/2011

Once more with feeling: Matuwid na daan

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

12/08/2011
Recently, it was said that the reigning President again proclaimed that bringing to justice the practitioners of graft and corruption has been, still is and will remain his principal priority and pet project.

In effect, this is supposed to be the open and only reason of the now ongoing hullabaloo about the GMA case. Thus it was reported that the same Chief-in-Command even made the official and public vow that he would exert no less than a triple effort to steadfastly tread his matuwid na daan electoral mantra.

No. It is not altogether right to say that the loud shout and repeated claim of self-righteousness are all but nice sound bites. No. It is neither really correct to say that it is instead the legislative department that has been since then doing the investigations of the graft and corrupt practices of former public officials — particularly those connected with the previous administration. Yes. It is more appropriate to say that the sitting President is selective in the application of the principle and norm of the matuwid na daan..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111208com7.html

Comelec files electoral sabotage case vs Abalos 12/08/2011

Comelec files electoral sabotage case vs Abalos

12/08/2011
Former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos was charged with electoral sabotage before a Pasay City court yesterday in connection with the alleged irregularities in the 2007 mid-term elections.


The case against Abalos was based on the findings of a joint Comelec-Department of Justice (DoJ) panel that investigated the alleged rigging of election results in 2007 to favor senatorial candidates allied with the then Arroyo administration.

Aside from Abalos, also charged were former North Cotabato Provincial Supervisor Yogie Martirizar and Capt. Peter Reyes of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp)..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111208hed2.html

Enrile: No need to summon MVP to Senate’s Ongpin loan probe 12/08/2011

Enrile: No need to summon MVP to Senate’s Ongpin loan probe

12/08/2011
Senate investigators did not pressure business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan into executing an affidavit supposedly against businessman Roberto V. Ongpin regarding the latter’s alleged commission of insider trading in the sale of the Philex Mining Corp. (Philex) shares in 2009.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said this yesterday as he dismissed the possibility of Pangilinan being called to testify before the two upper chamber committees inquiring into Ongpin’s loan transactions with two government banks.

“What do they want to elicit from him? We are not a criminal investigation body. We already have the affidavit, we can already prepare a report based on the statement of Mr. Pangilinan about his participation,” he told reporters..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111208hed6.html

Amended AMLA use vs Noy critics ‘possible’ — Estrada By Angie M. Rosales 12/08/2011

Amended AMLA use vs Noy critics ‘possible’ — Estrada

By Angie M. Rosales 12/08/2011

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada conceded yesterday the possibility of the law against money laundering in its amended form can be used against critics of the Aquino administration.

Allies of Aquino in the Senate have filed a bill seeking to insert a provision in the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) that will waive the need to notify an account owner of funds to be subjected to scrutiny of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

Estrada said the possibility exists that the administration can use the law as a tool against perceived critics of the administration as a way of getting back at them, as earlier pointed out by a colleague, Sen. Joker Arroyo..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111208hed3.html

Oban acts on court inquiry recommendation in Basilan debacle 12/08/2011

Oban acts on court inquiry recommendation in Basilan debacle

12/08/2011
Outgoing Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. will act on the recommendations of the court of inquiry (CoI) which dug deeper into the Basilan debacle last October that led to the killing of 19 Army troops by combined Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Abu Sayyaf fighters.

AFP spokesman Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., at a press briefing, said that Oban already received the findings of the CoI, headed by AFP-deputy inspector general Commodore Crispin Mercado.

“He (Oban) will act on it…whatever will be the recommendation of the court of inquiry, whatever that is,” said Burgos, noting that Oban is relinquishing the AFP top post on Monday to still unknown successor..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111208nat4.html

Villar: Protect Filipino artists 12/08/2011

Villar: Protect Filipino artists

12/08/2011
Sen. Manny Villar yesterday said tightening the regulation to protect intellectual property rights will greatly work for the benefit of Filipinos who excel in various fields that rely on copyrighted protection.

“We must act now to respond to the onslaught of criminal activity happening under our noses, at the expense of our brilliant and creative human resources. We owe it to our artists, composers, writers, designers, programmers, scientists, animators and Filipino professionals to protect their body of work against copyright infringement,” Villar said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111208nat6.html

Firms warned against defying DoLE’s security of tenure order By Mina Diaz 12/08/2011

Firms warned against defying DoLE’s security of tenure order

By Mina Diaz 12/08/2011

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz warned contracting and subcontracting firms to comply with the new Department Order (DO) No. 18-A Series of 2011, which guaranteed rights of employees of contractors to security of tenure.

She said that the newly issued DO took effect on Dec. 5, where at least 250,000 contractual workers may be protected against unjust dismissal, except for a just and authorized cause.

“Aside from security of tenure, the workers are now entitled to Social Security System, Pag-IBIG and Philhealth benefits. Their right to self-organize or negotiate a collective bargaining agreement is also specified in the new order,” Baldoz said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111208nat1.html

Confirmation of DSWD chief held in abeyance By Angie M. Rosales 12/08/2011

Confirmation of DSWD chief held in abeyance

By Angie M. Rosales 12/08/2011

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman’s first confirmation hearing yesterday was put in hanging after one of the senators moved for a resetting of the proceedings.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago sought the deferment of hearing Soliman’s ad interim appointment before the Commission on Appointments (CA) committee on labor, employment and social welfare.

“I regret that I am not able to appear personally and interpellate DSWD Secretary Soliman at today’s hearing because I am in New York campaigning for the post of judge of the International Criminal Court. I will be back in Manila by the end of the week,” she said in her letter to Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte dated yesterday..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111208met1.html

Caloocan government intensifies campaign vs ‘killer’ pneumonia 12/08/2011

Caloocan government intensifies campaign vs ‘killer’ pneumonia

12/08/2011
Caloocan City Mayor Enrico “Recom” Echiverri yesterday said the local government had intensified its campaign against pneumonia which claims the lives of youngsters, particularly those aged five years and below.

Such was the purpose of the program dubbed “Move for L.O.V.E. (Learn, Outreach, Vaccinate, Engage) Step-Up Against Pneumonia,” which was held in Glorietta, Tala, in the city.

In attendance along with Echiverri were 2,000 local residents.

The local government, through the program, aims to lower the number of pneumonia cases and fatalities, particularly among children..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111208met4.html