Police clear ex-cage star’s son in murder case By Charlie V. Manalo 12/28/2011

Police clear ex-cage star’s son in murder case

By Charlie V. Manalo 12/28/2011
Zambales police have cleared most of the suspects in a murder case involving a surfing instructor and the son of basketball legend Ramon Fernandez, prompting the family of the victim to appeal to government authorities for assistance in solving the case.

Glecy Talabis said her youngest son, Dante “Deejay” Talabis Jr., 31, was beaten up to death by still unidentified persons on a beach in Sitio Limliman, San Felipe last Dec. 23.

The victim’s mother said local police have picked up for questioning four persons who were with the victim during a bonfire campout that turned bloody when her son was mauled..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111228nat1.html

Miriam calls for institutionalization of alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse program 12/28/2011

Miriam calls for institutionalization of alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse program

12/28/2011
A bill that calls for the institutionalization of a national alcohol tobacco and drug abuse program in all high schools and colleges in the country has been filed in the Senate.

In a statement, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, author of Senate Bill 3085, said the bill would provide the necessary actions to be taken after a student is found to be using drugs, cigarettes or alcohol.

The bill intends to ensure that all schools would have the competence to “save the child” through interventions provided by professionals, Santiago added..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111228met3.html

Jilted lover vents anger on woman’s daughter, 11 By Arlie O. Calalo 12/28/2011

Jilted lover vents anger on woman’s daughter, 11

By Arlie O. Calalo 12/28/2011

Caloocan City policemen arrested yesterday a man who allegedly vented his ire on an 11-year-old girl by raping and killing her after her mother he was courting jilted him.

Placed behind bars was the jilted lover identified as Gerry Villano, 25, factory worker and resident of Barangay 178, Camarin, Caloocan City, police chief Senior Supt. Jude Wilson Santos said.

The relatives of Louise Ann Maceda, a Grade 6 student and resident of the area where the suspect also lived, cried as they condemned the dastardly act Villano did to the innocent victim..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111228met1.html

Let the circus begin EDITORIAL 12/27/2011

Let the circus begin

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

12/27/2011
The impeachment trial of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona at the Senate court is being anticipated by Filipinos similar to the great expectations they have for the next telenovela series.

The similar proceedings conducted on former President Joseph Estrada, that became an almost daily fare, provides a good guidepost on the trial process.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, however, said that while there would be a lot of similarity between the impeachment process of Estrada and Corona, the Senate has learned a lot, and many of the jurors in the Senate court against Estrada will be seated in the Corona trial, and would be wiser this time around, particularly in making sure that the process is seen to its logical conclusion..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111227com1.html

'2012: What’s in Store...’

'2012: What’s in Store...’

The Private Global Power Elite embedded in major governments is dead set on imposing World Government on us sooner rather than later. Let’s look at 12 mega-processes – veritable “Triggers” – that we infer they are using to achieve their goals.

­All roads lead to World Government.  This should come as no surprise.  London’s Financial Times openly articulated this view in an article by their chief foreign affairs commentator, Gideon Rachman, published on 8 December 2009, whose title said it all: “And Now for a World Government.” These goals are echoed by the Trilateral Commission, CFR and Bilderberg insiders – even by the Vatican..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/world-government-conspiracy-therory-657/

Angry geeks fire back at SOPA supporters

Angry geeks fire back at SOPA supporters 

Photo credit: RT.com

 Hell hath no fury like a computer nerd scorned. Activists against a legislation that will severely censor the Web are waging a war with supporters of the Stop Online Piracy Act and their strength is quickly swelling in numbers.

Both Congress and the Internet have been abuzz lately with the Stop Only Piracy Act, or SOPA, a bill which will allow the US government to erect a firewall across the Web and largely limit what websites are accessible to American people. While the debates on Capitol Hill might be bit boring and are largely sponsored by the millions of lobbying dollars sent in by SOPA supporters, the Internet is offering a no-holds-barred battleground to make sure that the bill doesn’t make it to legislation..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/sopa-internet-online-web-547/

Pharmageddon: America’s bitter pill (w/ Video)

The United States has a passion for pills, being the world's biggest users of psychotropic drugs, consuming 60 per cent of them. And pharmaceutical firms are keen to keep cashing in on the multibillion-dollar market, even if it costs people's health.

America is regarded as a country with a prodigious appetite for consumption. Today, a widespread fondness for pharmaceuticals has turned the US into a nation of pill-poppers.

With over $14 billion in annual sales, antipsychotics remain the top-selling therapeutic class of prescription drugs in the US..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/us-prescription-drugs-abuse-715/

‘Confessional war the only way to divide Syrians’ (w/ Video)

.‘Confessional war the only way to divide Syrians’

Claims that armed extremists are fighting in Syria are backed by some foreign journalists working on the ground. Independent journalist Thierry Meyssan tells RT how efforts by some forces to turn the conflict into a full-scale civil war are failing.

­“It began with some armed groups entering the country, making troubles, trying to create Islamic emirates on the border with Jordan. These people recruit others to form bigger fighting groups and now they are entering in co-ordination with political opposition. And you know, in this country, there is a long history of opposition between the Baas Party and the Muslim Brotherhood. So, now there is an alliance between the Muslim Brothers and these armed groups coming from abroad,” he explained. “These groups can go everywhere, because now they have some support inside the population.”... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/war-syria-religion-people-727/

Americanisms and anachronisms AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 12/27/2011

Americanisms and anachronisms

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW

Ken Fuller

12/27/2011
As it’s still the festive season, let’s return to the man credited with having created the 19th century English Christmas — but this week’s Dickens is a fictional one.

In Dan Simmons’s 2009 novel Drood, Charles Dickens, having just survived a real-life rail tragedy, meets the weird, skeletal character of the title, who turns out to be a half-Egyptian master of the occult ruling a vast empire of London’s dispossessed in Undertown, the maze of sewers, caves and crypts lying beneath the British capital.

The narrator of this tale is Wilkie Collins, real-life author and Dickens’s friend and sometime collaborator (he co-authored several of the Christmas stories with Dickens and is claimed by many to have invented the detective mystery with his novel The Moonstone). Shortly after Dickens tells Collins of his meeting with Drood, the mystery-writer’s life is changed forever as Drood and his followers, having first attempted to enlist Dickens, press Collins into writing a history of their occult practices, introducing a scarab into his skull to control him..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111227com5.html

CJ wants case dismissed, says Noy wants a rubber stamp SC By Benjamin B. Pulta and Angie M. Rosales 12/27/2011

NOYNOY ASKS LEGAL ADVISERS TO GIVE HIM SHORTLIST FOR CORONA’S REPLACEMENT

CJ wants case dismissed, says Noy wants a rubber stamp SC

By Benjamin B. Pulta and Angie M. Rosales 12/27/2011

Impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona’s case before the Senate impeachment trial has not even begun, but already President Aquino wants a shortlist for the replacement of the CJ, as though Corona has already been convicted by the Senate court.

But complying with the writ of summons issued by the Senate to respond to the charges against him, Justice Corona yesterday sought the outright dismissal of the impeachment complaint filed against him.

In his 79-page reply formally received by the Senate at 3:25 p.m., the last day of the 10-day period given him by the Senate convening as an impeachment court, Corona, through his counsels, sought the dismissal of the verified impeachment complaint “for failing to meet the requirements of the Constitution, or that the Impeachment Court enter a judgment of acquittal for all the Articles of Impeachment.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111227hed1.html

Prosecutors want Justice Velasco summoned By Gerry Baldo 12/27/2011

Prosecutors want Justice Velasco summoned

By Gerry Baldo 12/27/2011

The next target of impeachment by the House of Representatives appears to be senior Associate Justice Presbiterio Velasco, as the House prosecutors want him summoned to testify against Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, also a prosecutor, said Justice Velasco and Clerk of Court Enriqueta Vidal will be included in the list of witnesses who will be summoned to testify in the Senate impeachment trial.

“I will ask the Senate to subpoena Justice Velasco to shed light on the irregularities detailed in Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s dissent regarding the promulgation of a resolution Velasco issued on Nov. 28 explaining the Court decision on the TRO (temporary restraining order) allowing President Gloria Arroyo to travel abroad,” said Colmenares in a statement..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111227hed3.html

Reward mulled for Palparan’s arrest; ‘Butcher’ sends feelers By Benjamin B. Pulta 12/27/2011

Reward mulled for Palparan’s arrest; ‘Butcher’ sends feelers

By Benjamin B. Pulta 12/27/2011

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday said she would meet with officials of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) today to discuss the possibility of putting up a reward for the capture of retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan who is wanted for the abduction of two student-activists in 2006.

“The man-hunt is ongoing because sur-render has not materialized yet. There are sur-render feelers but there was no indication of the exact date as to when he is going to surrender other than that we cannot give you the details,” she added.

De Lima said whoever is providing shelter for Palparan will face liability under the law..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111227hed5.html

Army tags CPP-NPA as ‘bandit’ group 12/27/2011

Army tags CPP-NPA as ‘bandit’ group

12/27/2011
The military yesterday branded the threat posed by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army against private mining firms as “banditry,” forcing the business sector to give-in to their extortion activities, and a clear indication of the CPP-NPA’s insincerity to the peace talks with the government.

At a press briefing, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr. said that the communists have lost ideology and now act as mere bandits in fighting the government.

“Their declaration and pronouncement show they are insincere of talking peace with the government…for all intents and purposes, they would use force and intimidation to command obedience and extort money even from the poor,” Burgos said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111227nat4.html

Tent cities loom for flood victims 12/27/2011

Tent cities loom for flood victims

12/27/2011
CAGAYAN DE ORO — Tens of thousands of flash flood survivors in the Philippines face life in tent cities for months while safe areas to resettle them are sought, top relief officials said yesterday.

More than 60,000 people displaced by tropical storm “Sendong” are sheltering in government buildings in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities, most of them in schools that reopen after the holidays, civil defence chief Benito Ramos sahttp://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111227nat3.htmlid.

“We can’t construct permanent shelters for them immediately. It will take some time. They have to move into tents when schools reopen on Jan. 3,” Ramos told AFP..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111227nat3.html

Malacaang says no harm done with Noys Angry Bird toy gifts By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 12/27/2011

Malacaang says no harm done with Noys Angry Bird toy gifts

By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 12/27/2011
Malacanang justified yesterday of President Aquinos direct insult and open demonstration of contempt toward the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) when he distributed Angry Bird toys to children who attended the Pasko ng Batang Pinoy Grand Christmas celebration at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City, a day after the bishops made a public appeal for people not to give angry toys as Christmas gifts.

According to deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte, the Presidents action was unintentional although the CBCPs appeal had been reported widely by the media.

Since assuming the presidency, Aquino has been at odds with the CBCP that it is even being blamed as the one that engineered the investigation by the Senate of bishops receiving expensive sports utility vehicles from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) which turned out to be exaggerated..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111227nat1.html

Church group holds alternative anti-mining Christmas protest at the DENR

Church group holds alternative anti-mining Christmas protest at the DENR 

Members and allies of the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) and the Stewards of Creation held a different kind of early-morning, anti-mining program in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) offices in Quezon City.

Instead of the usual placards, they carried the traditional, star-shaped christmas lanterns on which they painted slogans calling for the scrapping of the Mining Act of 1995 and an end to ecological and environmental destruction caused by irresponsible mining. They also sang versions of popular Christmas songs with lyrics that denounced the current economic and political set-up of the country and the corruption prevalent in society..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/12/16/church-group-holds-alternative-anti-mining-christmas-protest-at-the-denr/

Russia helps Syria keep the West away

 On December 19, Syria allowed Arab League observers to enter its territory. The observers will try to see that the Syrian government has been trying to end bloody clashes in the country peacefully. Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi stated that the observers could fly to Syria in the next 72 hours.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem stated that the country signed the protocol following the recommendations from the Russian partners. If Syria had declined the plan of the Arab League, the organization would have introduced sanctions against the country..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/conflicts/21-12-2011/120040-russia_syria-0/

Ron Paul wins despite mainstream smear

Ron Paul wins despite mainstream smear

Herman Cain got secret service protection. Michele Bachmann has a big, fancy bus. Congressman Ron Paul isn’t like other Republicans, however. At least not like those who have chased the GOP’s bid for the 2012 election.

The road to the White House is a bumpy one but Rep. Ron Paul is okay with that. So are his supporters in Iowa, apparently, who have come to appreciate the could-be-president’s lack of fleer while dismissing the mainstream media’s smear campaign against the congressman..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/ron-paul-mainstream-congressman-549/

20 years on: Is the post-Soviet world a safer place? (w/ Video)

20 years on: Is the post-Soviet world a safer place?

Two decades ago to the day, the world's largest country ceased to exist. The fall of the Soviet Union meant the end of the Cold War. But has the world become more secure without a powerful counterweight on the geopolitical stage?

Today, people still struggle to explain the fall of a global Goliath, with some putting it down to the role of just a handful of key people..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/ussr-collapse-world-secure-645/

Hacked and discredited: Anonymous takes down Stratfor

Hacked and discredited: Anonymous takes down Stratfor

The servers of global intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting have been hacked into, allegedly by the Anonymous group. Some Anonymous members claim responsibility, while the group’s press release denies it.

More than 200 GB of Strafor’s internal data were allegedly lifted from its servers before its network was shut down. Strafor’s web server was offline for some 40 minutes, during which the company sent notifications of the security breach to its clients..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/anonymous-stratfor-hacked-discredited-641/