Martial law extended in Mindanao: Philippines Duterte

The Philippine Congress on Saturday voted to extend President Rodrigo Duterte's declaration of martial law in the south until the end of the year to defeat Islamist gunmen.

In a special joint session of the House and the Senate, legislators overwhelmingly backed Duterte's bid to have martial law remain in force in the Mindanao region until December 31.

The vote came as troops continued their two-month long fight to wrest back the southern city of Marawi from Islamic State-inspired militants.

Duterte first declared martial law in Mindanao on May 23 shortly after the gunmen, waving the black flags of the IS group, occupied parts of Marawi, triggering weeks of bloody fighting.

The vote was largely a foregone conclusion as Duterte enjoy majorities in both houses of Congress.

But opposition lawmakers dragged out the debate, questioning why martial law was needed for the whole of Mindanao when the fighting was limited to only one city.

"I fear that the plan to extend the martial law in Mindanao will pave the way for a Philippines-wide martial law," said Senator Risa Hontiveros ahead of the vote.

A slide presentation accompanying Duterte's request, seen by AFP, compared the Marawi crisis to the Islamic State takeover of the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Marawi itself could now become a magnet for foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria, it said.

Most of the militants' leaders remain at large, the presentation added, while about 90 of the gunmen have slipped past security cordons and can link up with other armed groups in the region to mount similar widescale attacks.

At the hearing, defence and security officials justified the extended martial law, saying that aside from Marawi, Islamist militants were planning attacks in other parts of Mindanao.

They said almost a thousand pro-IS militants, holding 23 hostages, were still active elsewhere in the south.

In Marawi, the military said only about 60 gunmen were left in a 49-hectare (121-acre) area of Marawi, but Duterte said he needed martial law powers to rebuild the city and ensure the war did not spread elsewhere.

"I cannot afford to be complacent," Duterte told reporters Friday, adding the military would be conducting further "mopping up operations" even after they recapture Marawi.

"If there is a spillage it will not be as bad if you have this stopgap," he added.

Duterte imposed 60-day martial rule -- the maximum period allowed by the constitution -- over the Mindanao region on May 23 within hours of the gunmen beginning their rampage.

On Monday he asked Congress to extend it until the end of the year, along with the continued suspension of a constitutional safeguard against warrantless arrests.

- 'Never again' -

Martial law allows the military to establish control with measures such as curfews, checkpoints and gun controls in a country where civilians are authorised to keep licensed firearms in their homes.

However, any martial law extension must be approved by Congress.

The subject remains sensitive in the Philippines, decades after the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos put the country under military rule for part of his 20-year term.

Thousands of critics, political opponents as well as communist guerrillas were killed, detained or arrested during the period, according to historians.

About a dozen protesters in the gallery interrupted Saturday's hearing, chanting "never again, never again to martial law" before being escorted out.

Duterte had already beaten back a Supreme Court petition to declare martial law in Mindanao illegal.

"Once he feels that there is not enough opposition to a nationwide martial law declaration, he will go for it," Senator Antonio Trillanes told AFP on Tuesday.

This is part of a bid to stay in office beyond his mandated six years, he warned.

Duterte, 72, insists he has no plan to stay in office beyond his term.

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PH, US launch joint exercises near China-claimed waters

Thousands of Philippine and US marines on Monday began military exercises close to flashpoints in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea), where Beijing is engaged in a bitter territorial with its neighbors.

The 12-day amphibious landing exercises -- involving about 3,500 US marines and sailors and 1,200 Filipino counterparts -- were officially launched from the western island of Palawan, directly facing the South China Sea.

China claims the sea almost in its entirety, and its increasingly assertive efforts to stake its claims have heightened tensions with neighbors including the Philippines, which has conflicting claims to parts of these waters.

But Philippine marine spokesman Lieutenant Jerber Anthony Belonio stressed that the location of the opening ceremonies was not linked to the territorial dispute.

"This has no relation whatsoever. This is just to show the capabilities of our new marine landing brigade which coincidentally is based in Palawan," he told AFP.

The Philippines has recently been beefing up its military assets in Palawan, the country's main outpost to the South China Sea which is a vital sealane, a valuable fishing ground and which is believed to hold vast mineral resources.

The poorly-equipped military has also recently been boosting its ties with defense allies -- particularly the United States, its former colonial power -- in the face of Chinese saber-rattling.

The US Marine Corps said the exercises would "enhance the interoperability between US Navy and Marine Corps forces and their Philippine counterparts with a focus on improving our bilateral response to regional issues and maritime security crises".

This year's exercises will include small arms and artillery live-fire training, a mechanized assault and paratroop operations.

The USS Peleliu, a US amphibious assault ship, along with two support ships, arrived at the former US Subic naval base on the weekend to take part in the exercises.

In April, the two allies signed a new defence accord giving US forces greater access to Filipino bases as part of a US rebalancing of military power towards rising Asia, which is seen by many analysts as a check to the emerging power of China.

Although the United States has taken no side in the territorial disputes, it has warned China against taking "destabilizing actions" in the South China Sea.

The sea is claimed in parts by Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, and Malaysia as well as China and the Philippines.

China has been involved in a string of tense maritime incidents with rival claimants in the South China Sea. Earlier this year it placed an oil rig in waters also claimed by Vietnam, sparking deadly riots in the Southeast Asian nation.

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Philippines UN peacekeepers to guard pope’s Francis visit

The Philippines has assigned a thousand-strong force of its United Nations peacekeepers to help guard Pope Francis when he visits Asia’s main Catholic outpost next January, the military said Sunday.

The papal security force will include more than 300 soldiers who were withdrawn from the UN-administered Golan Heights buffer zone after the unit fought off an attack by Syrian rebels last month.
“We believe that their exposure and experience in peacekeeping operations in Syria will be beneficial toward the successful security of Pope Francis’s papal visit to the Philippines,” said a statement quoting military chief General Gregorio Catapang.

Two battalions of Filipino UN peacekeepers, including those withdrawn from the Golan Heights as well as those who had been training to replace them, will join a police-led security detail for the pope, he added.

A Filipino battalion comprises about 500 soldiers.
The Philippines earlier announced it would not replace its Golan Heights troops due to the worsening security there.

The local Catholic church leadership said Pope Francis will be in the Philippines from January 15-19 and will visit the survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left about 7,300 people dead across the central Philippines in November last year.

Philippine politicians have said Filipino Islamic militants, some of who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State jihadists fighting in Iraq and Syria, could pose a threat during the papal visit.
The Philippine government has said there are no known links between the two groups, and that the Filipino militants are merely associating themselves with the jihadists to elevate their profile and for financial gain.

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CAAP inspector axed for allowing flight of Jesse Robredo's plane

 The Office of the Ombudsman dismissed on Friday the airworthiness inspector of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) who approved the flight of the ill-fated plane carrying the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo in 2012.

Radio reports said that Fernando Abalos was found guilty of falsifying public documents and clearing test flight results of the aircraft that crashed off Masbate in August 2012, killing Robredo and two pilots.

The Ombudsman resolution stemmed from a criminal and administrative complaint filed by CAAP Director General William Hotchkiss, accusing Abalos of violating Republic Act 9497, the act creating the CAAP.

Abalos was suspended for 90 days in 2012 following the plane crash.

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US craft to study Martian air

NASA’s latest Mars spacecraft, Maven, arrived Sunday evening to study the mystery of what happened to the planet’s air.

After a 33-minute engine firing, mission controllers received acknowledgment at about 10:25 p.m. Eastern time that Maven was in orbit around Mars.

After a six-week period to turn on and check systems on the spacecraft and to move it to its final orbit, Maven – the name is short for Martian Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution – is to take detailed measurements of the dynamics of Mars’ upper atmosphere.

But first, it will have a sideshow, taking observations of a comet that, by rare happenstance, will make a close flyby of Mars on Oct. 19, passing within 82,000 miles. Mission managers have arranged to activate Maven’s eight scientific sensors by then.

Bruce M. Jakosky, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado who is the mission’s principal investigator, said the spacecraft would spend five days observing how the comet’s dust, traveling at 125,000 mph, might heat up and expand Mars’ atmosphere, and how water ice from the comet might bump up the levels of hydrogen.

As a precaution, Maven will be on the other side of Mars when the shower of comet dust is heaviest. “Just in case there’s any dust that might hit us, we’ll be shielded by the planet,” Jakosky said.

On Monday, he will turn his attention to the coming science measurements. Planetary scientists believe that about 4 billion years ago, Mars was blanketed with a thick layer of air – heat-trapping carbon dioxide, in particular – that kept it warmer and wetter than it is today.

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Reporter drops F-bomb on live TV

A local TV news reporter in Anchorage, Alaska quit her job Sunday night in dramatic fashion - delivering the news live on the air and dropping an F-bomb for good measure.

Charlo Greene, a reporter for CBS affiliate KTVA, was doing a report on efforts to legalize marijuana in the state when she abruptly revealed that she was the owner of the Alaskan Cannabis Club, a group that connects medical marijuana patients with suppliers.

"Now everything you heard is why I, the actual owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club, will be dedicating all of my energy toward fighting for freedom and fairness which begins with legalizing marijuana here in Alaska," she said.

"And as for this job, well, not that I have a choice but, f**k it, I quit."

Greene then walked off the set, leaving a startled news anchor struggling to find words at the news desk. "Alright we apologize for that," the anchor said. "We'll... we'll be right back."

The Alaska Cannabis Club had posted a message to Facebook earlier in the evening, tipping its followers - "EVERYONE" - to tune into KTVA for the newscast.

Greene has since raised over $1,000 at the online crowdfunding site Indiegogowhere she says she is "campaigning for marijuana reform in Alaska and the nation."

On the site, she states: "I just quit my news reporting job on live TV to announce that I am redirecting all of my energy toward helping to end a failed drug policy that has ruined the lives of far too many Americans."

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Zoo Visitor Mauled to Death By Tiger

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What is Face book’s new privacy policy?

Today social media has become a major source for people to connect with their near and dear ones. And Face book is among the most successful social media in the world. But what about the safety and security option of this media.

It has always been a big question of worry for the people when it comes to safety and security of the personal information on the social media and that’s why Face book has come up with its new policy which is called as “privacy check-up” which is aiming to help the users to share and manage the information and posting more safely on the internet.

This new policy is somewhat unique that shows a blue dinosaur which guides the users to maintain a safety while sharing and posting the information over the social media. There were a lot of cases of the security threat and unauthorized access to the personal details of the users in the past and this is the reason why Face book took this step. Face book has announced this plan in the month of June to settle the concerns about the privacy which the site take into consideration after facing criticism over sharing of personal information for the marketing use.

The dinosaur will pop-up when the user log in to face book and show them all the privacy settings through personal apps to the apps that can access the Face book data. There will be an option which will be available on each and every page of the site that gives an opportunity to the user to update his privacy settings. This is the outcome of the criticism by the experts and also some of the lawsuits that try to claims that Face book lacks the safety when it comes to sharing of personal information with the marketers. So this is a good step forward by the management to ensure the safety of the personal details of the face book users. Also the group has agreed for external inspection with the US government agency for the reliability of the data security system.

 So all in all it’s a good step taken by the Face book which will ultimately help the users to be safer with the illegal practices and data theft. This will help the Face book to win over the market more extensively in the long run.Today social media has become a major source for people to connect with their near and dear ones. And Face book is among the most successful social media in the world. But what about the safety and security option of this media.

It has always been a big question of worry for the people when it comes to safety and security of the personal information on the social media and that’s why Face book has come up with its new policy which is called as “privacy check-up” which is aiming to help the users to share and manage the information and posting more safely on the internet.

This new policy is somewhat unique that shows a blue dinosaur which guides the users to maintain a safety while sharing and posting the information over the social media. There were a lot of cases of the security threat and unauthorized access to the personal details of the users in the past and this is the reason why Face book took this step. Face book has announced this plan in the month of June to settle the concerns about the privacy which the site take into consideration after facing criticism over sharing of personal information for the marketing use.

The dinosaur will pop-up when the user log in to face book and show them all the privacy settings through personal apps to the apps that can access the Face book data. There will be an option which will be available on each and every page of the site that gives an opportunity to the user to update his privacy settings. This is the outcome of the criticism by the experts and also some of the lawsuits that try to claims that Face book lacks the safety when it comes to sharing of personal information with the marketers. So this is a good step forward by the management to ensure the safety of the personal details of the face book users. Also the group has agreed for external inspection with the US government agency for the reliability of the data security system.

 So all in all it’s a good step taken by the Face book which will ultimately help the users to be safer with the illegal practices and data theft. This will help the Face book to win over the market more extensively in the long run.

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Minecraft studio Mojang bought by Microsoft for $2.5bn

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Indian Microsoft CEO is Excited For Acquiring Minecraft Game

Satya Nadella the Indian origin CEO of Microsoft went on record and expressed his happiness about the rise in the shares of Gaming Industry in the field of entertainment. He expressed his excitement about the same. The CEO was equally excited about the Minecraft games. He said that Minecraft is a unique enterprise with some fanatics working for the development of some exciting games.

CEO was very excited about the recent acquisition. They are known to overtake the company very soon. They are also planning to take over some more gaming enterprises. Microsoft is all set to make a spectacular debut in the field of gaming with this acquisition.

CEO expressed his thoughts about how fast the gaming industry growing and how people are ready to spend a huge amount of their earnings on the same. He also expressed his views on how mobile gaming is also on a rise and he expressed his thoughts of making Microsoft a gaming giant and he can be seen making requisite efforts in the same direction.

The original site of the developer also went on record and confirmed the news of acquisition by Microsoft. The developers were equally happy about the acquisition given it serves them with the opportunity to work under the biggest firm in the industry.

The CEO of the company and other developers are looking forward to the life they are going to live from here onwards. They are more than excited for their life and they are busy making their plans for the same. They are waiting for the final decisions Microsoft is going to take in upcoming times. They are waiting for the new plans from the side of Microsoft. They are looking forward to the new work culture and to the new style of working and they are very happy to give their best performance.

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