Manila Airport Worst IN THE WORLD !!!
October 24, 2011
NAIA Terminal 1, deemed the “Worst Airport in the World”
On Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 0 Comments | By Nathan Buenaventura
MANILA, Philippines – Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 is declared as the “worst airport in the world” today.
According to a travel website, a poll was purportedly performed on security, facility and service offered by all airports around the world. On that poll, NAIA terminal 1 of the Philippines appeared to be the worst among other airports worldwide.
Reportedly, a tourist had once said he lost his cellphone during a security check at the airport but when he reported the incident to the authorities, he was just neglected.
Among other poor factors emphasized by the aforesaid website poll about the NAIA terminal 1 are the restrooms without water, without any tissue or toilet papers and worst, the bad smell.
NAIA though admitted that until now the terminal’s water supply is still deficient as their pipes are already deteriorating but then again, the management has guaranteed that Maynilad is already fixing that matter.
According to the NAIA Terminal 1 manager Danta Bosanta, these are only isolated incidents.
Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Saturday, October 8, 2011 — 7:35 PM EDT
—–
Secret U.S. Memo Made Legal Case to Kill a Citizen
The Obama administration’s secret legal memorandum that opened the door to the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born radical Muslim cleric hiding in Yemen, found that it would be lawful only if it were not feasible to take him alive, according to people who have read the document.
The memo, written last year, followed months of extensive deliberations and offers a glimpse into the legal debate that led to one of the most significant decisions made by President Obama — to move ahead with the killing of an American citizen without a trial.
The memo provided the justification for acting despite an executive order banning assassinations, a federal law against murder, protections in the Bill of Rights and various strictures of the international laws of war, according to people familiar with the analysis. The memo, however, was narrowly drawn to the specifics of Mr. Awlaki’s case and did not establish a broad new legal doctrine.
Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/world/middleeast/secret-us-memo-made-legal-case-to-kill-a-citizen.html?emc=na
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The New York Times
Saturday, October 8, 2011 — 7:35 PM EDT
—–
Secret U.S. Memo Made Legal Case to Kill a Citizen
The Obama administration’s secret legal memorandum that opened the door to the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born radical Muslim cleric hiding in Yemen, found that it would be lawful only if it were not feasible to take him alive, according to people who have read the document.
The memo, written last year, followed months of extensive deliberations and offers a glimpse into the legal debate that led to one of the most significant decisions made by President Obama — to move ahead with the killing of an American citizen without a trial.
The memo provided the justification for acting despite an executive order banning assassinations, a federal law against murder, protections in the Bill of Rights and various strictures of the international laws of war, according to people familiar with the analysis. The memo, however, was narrowly drawn to the specifics of Mr. Awlaki’s case and did not establish a broad new legal doctrine.
Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/world/middleeast/secret-us-memo-made-legal-case-to-kill-a-citizen.html?emc=na
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Steve Jobs
October 8, 2011
My websites were built on Macs. Thanks for making that an easier task than I thought it would be.
Manila Standard Today: DBP bares more exceptional cases of anomaly
September 28, 2011
*Copyright Manila Standard Today 2005-2009 |
The UK screws the Gurkha’s yet again.
“Air Commodore Andrew Lambert, of the UK National Defence Association, said: “This is extremely debilitating for those in the service and it’s sure to have an impact on already fragile morale.”
Who has fought sans question for the UK? Who has fought to the death for the UK? Who protected the Prince when he was stationed in Afghanistan? The Nepalese-born Gurkhas. Yet know, yet again, they are being dumped by the UL Government. Time was when from the time a Gurkha could run, he did so across the Nepaese mountains to poreapre himslef for hois future in the Britsh Armed Services. This was so that he would be in tip-top shape to be in top condition as he was going to join the British Army, as the British would often ask their help to fight their enemies. This went on for decades and decades. God knows how many of these brave souls have died for another countries flag, that of the Brit’s. and now, they are again, for the second time in a couple of years being tossed out into the street, simply put, by the mostly disloyal and obviously ungrateful Brits. These guys were so tough and recognized that they were the only soldiers in British units who were allowed to wear their Gurkha Knives align with their uniforms. It is no secret that the Brits have been dumping these guys for years. Hongkong’s turn-over meant that Gurkas’a would be fired. And so they were. Then, in a surprise move, the Brits chose to give Pakistanis and Indians priority over these men, who died for them, for residency. Some form of a return for their royalty, but this is nothing new from the British. Over and over, they have been trampling on the Guirkha’s, despite what these soldiers have done for them. Incredible. Now comes another story from the front page of the Brit paper the Telegraph, which will give you yet more insights on how the Brits will allow one old lady to live in a hug palace with hundred of rooms, yet not even allow the Gurkha’s a besdspace because the Paki’s and the Indians, as well as the Middle Eastern countries are allowed a stay or residency in Britain, (great Britain? sorry, but not for me, just Britain, the home of the uncaring and the disloyal to those who really counted). From the land of the Tony Blair’s comes now this latest story regarding the Gurkha’s plight.-ed.
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Anger over ‘shameful’ sacking of
Gurkhas
Almost 150 Gurkhas are to be sacked due to defence cuts after only a handful volunteered for redundancy, figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph show.
Hundreds of RAF and Royal Navy personnel will also be made compulsorily redundant on Sept 1 as only half have agreed to take the voluntary package.
A total of 17,000 personnel will be dismissed from the Armed Forces over the next three years.
Only six Gurkhas have chosen voluntary redundancy out of the 150 demanded by the Ministry of Defence in the first tranche of sackings in September.
A total of 1,000 across the Army are to be sacked, but this newspaper reported on Saturday that outside the Gurkhas there were double the number of voluntary applications, including from some of the “best and brightest” officers.
It is understood that many of the Nepalese soldiers fear being unable to get work in Britain or having to take poorly paid jobs back home.
Major David Owens, of the British Gurkha Council, said it would be difficult for Gurkhas to find employment in the poor economic climate.
“This is just very sad that 150 Gurkhas who have loyally served this country and have pretty much spent their entire life on operations are being treated so shamefully. Man-to-man Gurkhas spend more time on operations than anyone else in the Forces. They have also been the most loyal to serve Britain.”
The RAF and Navy are already at record low levels for manning and are under more pressure from operations in Libya and Afghanistan. More than 1,000 sailors and airmen will be made compulsorily redundant in September as only about half of the 1,020 in the RAF and 1,600 in the Navy have volunteered.
Air Commodore Andrew Lambert, of the UK National Defence Association, said: “This is extremely debilitating for those in the service and it’s sure to have an impact on already fragile morale.
“Many of them have put their lives at great risk on operations for the last 20 years and this is their reward.”
Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, said it was very worrying that so many personnel from the Navy and RAF were being made forcibly redundant at a time when both services are engaged in fighting in Afghanistan and Libya.
“Their families will be deeply concerned and Britain’s ability to defend herself potentially harmed,” he said.
“Ministers will need to give a full and convincing explanation of their actions. This proves again the ministers’ assumptions made in their rushed defence review were fundamentally flawed.”
Gerald Howarth, the minister for international security strategy, said: “We would prefer not to have to make these reductions, but the massive budget deficit, together with the black hole in the defence budget, left by Labour has meant we have had to take some very difficult decisions if the UK was to avoid the same fate as Greece.
“We have to get the defence budget back on to a stable footing to ensure we have a modern, fully equipped Armed Forces able to deal with future threats.
“On the dates redundancy notices are issued, no personnel preparing for, deployed on, or returning from combat operations and on post-tour leave will be made compulsorily redundant.”
‘Marcos an anti-hero, doesn’t deserve Libingan burial’
Source: abs-cbnNEWS.com
MANILA, Philippines – The leader of a group of World War II veterans on Thursday said the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos is an anti-hero who does not deserve a place at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani.
Atty. Rafael Evangelista, the national commander of the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, made the remarks during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Filipino Heroes Memorial in Corregidor as part of the tribute for war veterans in time for the April 9 Araw ng Kagitingan.
Evangelista is the son of the late Rafael Evangelista, who served in the medical corps of the United States Armed Forces Far East in Bataan and Corregidor and was captured and tortured by Japanese forces during the World War II.
The younger Evangelista said he had been asked by many people about his position on the proposed hero’s burial for Marcos.
“When confronted with the issue of Marcos burial at the Libingan, I’ve been forced to ask myself — what legacy would we be leaving to the youth and to the generations after if we allow Marcos’s burial at the Libingan? It is a legacy that it is alright to regard as a hero a man who unleashed the powers of violence against his own people. It is a legacy of what I would call glorification of anti-heroes,” he said.
Evangelista said the late dictator “mangled” the Constitution, closed down Congress and controlled the media during martial law. He said Marcos also imprisoned real heroes such as Lorenzo Tañada, Jose Diokno, and Chino Roces.
Evangelista also cast doubt on the authenticity of Marcos’s war medals, doubts which were first noted in a book written by American author Charles McDougald.
“I believe that saying yes to the proposed burial of Marcos in the Libingan tells our children that Marcos was a hero, that his lifetime cause was freedom, and that the legacy he leaves behind is that of a hero for the cause of freedom. I believe that this is not true,” he said.
He said his position on the issue is not yet the stand of the entire organization, saying he still has to consult with the group’s board.
.
“I cannot speak for them yet. I have talked to some of them and they answered yes. In fact, Nini Quezon Avanceña, the daughter of President Quezon, suggested that we take a position such as the one we took today,” said Evangelista.
Marcos was elected president in 1965 and was re-elected for a second term in 1969. Before the end of his second term, he imposed martial law in 1972 and stayed as president until 1986 when he was deposed by a bloodless People Power revolt.
He died in exile in 1989 but has yet to be buried. His remains are preserved in the family’s mausoleum in Batac City.
President Aquino has refused to comment on the issue of giving Marcos a hero’s burial. Aquino has maintained that Marcos ordered the murder of his father, the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., in 1983.
The President has assigned Vice-President Jejomar Binay to form a committee that will study the issue of a hero’s burial for Marcos.
A Social Weather Stations survey, meanwhile, showed that the public is split on the issue of a hero’s burial for Marcos.
Based on a survey done from March 4 to March 7, the polling institute said it found a “virtual exact split” in the opinions of the respondents, with 50% agreeable and 49% answering that Marcos is not fit to be buried there.
The respondents were asked: “In your opinion, is the body of ex-Pres. Marcos worthy to be buried in the Heroes Cemetery or not? [Sa inyong palagay, karapat-dapat bang ilibing ang bangkay ni dating Pres. Marcos sa Libingan ng mga Bayani o hindi?].”
Of the 50% who answered in the affirmative, 30% said he should be “buried with official honors” and 20% said he should be given “private burial only.”
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/04/07/11/marcos-anti-hero-doesnt-deserve-libingan-burial
Pakistan furor over Raymond Davis’ release
March 18, 2011
Omer Farooq Khan, TNN | Mar 17, 2011, 08.37pm IST ISLAMABAD: With people across Pakistan protesting the court decision of releasing the US Central Intelligence Agency contractor Raymond Davis in a twin-murder case, the country’s top government functionaries preferred to remain tight-lipped on the unpopular issue in a bid to avoid wrath of the masses. The release of Raymond Davis has ended a diplomatic standoff between the US and Pakistan but also brought the weak PPP-led coalition government on the verge of popular backlash. So far, no comment was heard on the issue from Presidency, PM’s office, foreign affairs and home ministries. Well aware about the sensitivity of the issue, leader of the country’s main opposition party Nawaz Sharif and his chief minister brother of Punjab province Shahbaz Sharif left the country for London ahead of the court decision. Thursday saw countrywide demonstrations by the rightist parties, president Musharraf created PML-Q, and Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI). They condemned the government, saying that families of the two men killed by Raymond Davis were forced to accept blood money in return for pardoning him. Critics of the deal pointed out that as recently as four days ago, the families of the victims said that they wanted justice not compensation. A petition was also filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday, challenging the release of Davis. The petitioner Barrister Iqbal Jafri requested the court to invalidate the decision and direct the authorities to initiate proceedings against those who brought about CIA operative’s release. Davis was released by a prison court on Wednesday after the heirs of the slain men accepted $2.34 million in compensation. In most of the cases, blood feuds are settled in Pakistan’s rural parts through the Islamic law of “Diyaat”. According to the law, a convicted killer could be pardoned if the victim’s heirs agree to accept blood money. For weeks, Pakistan’s federal and Punjab governments were working in collaboration with the country’s military establishment to convince families of the dead men to pardon Davis in return of blood money and US green cards. The efforts for his release was essentially started when Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani met his American counterpart at the beach resort in Oman last month.
Exactly How Stupid Is our Commission on Elections?
March 10, 2011
After getting a bad rap from the infamous Smartmatic, whose local expat is seemingly more intersted in dating aged local actresses than running this racket of “Automated” Elections, now Smartmatic is again insisting that the next elections coming in the Philippines use their used, old gear once more. If the Philippine Commission on Elections, whose top Commissioners are sadly lacking in basic IT knowledge, they are leaning again towards utilizing the old Smartmatic machines, which had already showed how much outdated it’s system is. Using almost a year old equipment which will cost Mega-millions of Philippines taxpayer money yet again, the marketing smooth-talking Smartmatic white guys might yet again score another financial bonanza. And all this in exchange for yet another failure of elections in the Philippines. In case they do not know, the last time I checked (years ago), changes, updates in Computer equipment are updated in Silicon Valley at a rate of hours, not days or weeks. In other words, your spanking new laptop is obsolete hours after you bought it.
There is only one IT guy in the COMELEC, as the local Election bosses are called, and he is all out for Smartmatic, suspiciously too energetic for his own good. How the Election “Commissioners” are managing to completely ignore the pleading, begging, and YELLING of all other IT Professionals about how bad this fellow’s judgment has been , and still is, is incredible. This type of enthusiasm, and his total terrific impression of how great Smartmatic is can only be motivated by certain factors, and we are not excluding the possibility of his being his way for possible other motivations for not finding a single fault in what other older, more savvy IT folk is definitely an indication of the same way of thinking of his masters at the COMELEC. The failure of elections of the IT-ignorant COMELEC “Commissioners”, who till now insist on turning a blind ear to the majority of IT Professionals in this poor country. They should all be tried for treason if they insist on working for foreigners and not the Filipino people. for treason, at the least, in MY OPINION. It should be PHILIPPINES FIRST, SMARTMATIC LAST. NOT a campaign to compliment and market Smartmatic used goods to a starving people. We the people are DONE with Smartmatic, you imbeciles. Please get that through your hard skulls, and foget the money (if any), because the country needs you, not THEM. But YOU seem to be working for THEM, not US. So whose side are you on, really?
Obviously not ours, so what is it really? REALLY? Are you working on taxpayers money to market some used outdated computers that do NOT function as they should, OR are you looking out for the welfare of the FILIPINO people? Please, say it is not what everyone is thinking and saying about you people. Strange how you simply discard all the hoopla and technical arguments AGAINST the foreigners you so staunchly defend.
Saan ba talaga kayo nakakampi? Sa taong bayan ba? O baka naman sa sarili NIYO? HUDAS NG BAYAN rin ba kayo? Tama na, po. Sobra na. Bistado na po sila. At kayo po, sabit rin, kung niyo pa halata yan, nabubulag po kayo ng ibang bagay. Kayo na po ang mag-isip.
CIA HEAD, Pakistan’s Spy Chief Discuss US KILLER
March 10, 2011
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CIA, Pakistan’s spy chief discuss US killer
IRNA – Islamic Republic News Agency Islamabad, Feb 27,IRNA — Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),Leon E.Panetta, has talked to Pakistan’s spy chief Major General Shuja Pasha over phone and discussed the controversy over U.S.undercover agent,who faces double murder charges,local media reported Saturday. Penetta’s call to his Pakistani counterpart is an attempt to play down reports that CIA has suspended contacts with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Besides top level contacts between the U.S. Administration with Pakistan leaders, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, also met last week in Oman, and discussed Davis case. The U.S. insists that Mr. Davis enjoys diplomatic immunity and should be freed. The Pakistani government says court will determine the diplomatic immunity. The Foreign Office will make a statement of the question of diplomatic immunity at the next hearing before the Lahore High Court on March 14. Pakistani TV channels reported that the Pakistani ISI chief asked for data of all the CIA men working in Pakistan with the U.S. diplomatic missions or with institutions of other countries. Pakistani police has arrested another U.S. national, Aaron Mark DeHaven. in the northwestern city of Peshawar of illegal stay at a time when the issue of Davis is still unresolved and has caused a deepen row between the two allies. A court in Peshawar Saturday sent DeHaven to jail on a two-week judicial remand as his arrest also created suspicion about the activities of U.S. nationals. He told the police that he is running business in Pakistan. The police in Peshawar Saturday raided several locations to catch his local contacts at the University Town area of the city. The American embassy in Islamabad said that it is arranging consular access through the Government of Pakistan. “Until a U.S. government representative meets with him, we cannot confirm additional details,” a brief embassy statement said. **1771 Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30268572
Pakistan Demands Data on C.I.A. Contractors
February 26, 2011
K.M.Chaudary/Associated Press Pakistanis chanted anti-American slogans on Friday during a rally in Lahore against Raymond A. Davis, an American held in the killing of two Pakistanis. By JANE PERLEZ ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s chief spy agency has demanded an accounting by the Central Intelligence Agency of all its contractors working in Pakistan, a fallout from the arrest last month of an American involved in surveillance of militant groups, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said Friday. Enlarge This Image Arif Ali/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Activists from Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamic party, were involved in the rally against Mr. Davis, a contractor for the C.I.A. Angered that the American, Raymond A. Davis, worked as a contractor in Pakistan on covert C.I.A. operations without the knowledge of the Pakistanis, the spy agency estimated that there were “scores” more such contractors “working behind our backs,” said the official, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about a delicate matter between the two countries. In a slight softening of the Pakistani stance since Mr. Davis’s arrest, the official said that the American and Pakistani intelligence agencies needed to continue cooperation, and that Pakistan was prepared to put the episode in the past if the C.I.A. stopped treating its Pakistani counterparts as inferior. “Treat us as allies, not as satellites,” said the official of the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI. “Respect, equality and trust are needed.” George Little, a C.I.A. spokesman, said the American spy agency’s ties to the ISI “have been strong over the years, and when there are issues to sort out, we work through them.” “That’s the sign of a healthy partnership,” Mr. Little said. The arrest and detention of Mr. Davis, 36, after he shot and killed two motorcyclists in Lahore soured already testy relations between two governments that are supposed to have a common front in the fight against terrorism. The top American and Pakistani military leaders, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and the leader of the Pakistani Army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, met this week in Oman, where the Davis case was discussed. According to a report by a former head of the Pakistani Army, Gen. Jehangir Karamat, who runs a research and analysis center based in Lahore, both sides agreed to try to “arrest the downhill descent.” Even so, the Pakistani intelligence community was divided over how quickly to settle the Davis case and how much to extract from the C.I.A., said a Pakistani official with intimate knowledge of the situation, who declined to be named because of the delicacy of the issue. At a minimum, the ISI wants an accounting of all the contractors who work for the C.I.A. in roles that have not been defined to Pakistan and a general rewriting of the rules of engagement by the C.I.A. in Pakistan, the official said. In another sign that the two spy services were trying to patch up their differences, Leon E. Panetta, the director of the C.I.A., spoke on Wednesday with Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the ISI director, about resolving Mr. Davis’s case, American and Pakistani officials said on Friday. Mr. Davis, who appeared in handcuffs on Friday for a hearing in a closed courtroom at the jail where he is being held in Lahore, faces possible murder charges. The Obama administration insists that Mr. Davis has diplomatic immunity and should be released. The Pakistani government has left the determination on diplomatic immunity to the Foreign Office and a hearing before the Lahore High Court on March 14. Some senior Pakistani intelligence officers were unwilling to have Mr. Davis released under almost any circumstances, said the official with knowledge of the split in the intelligence community. He said others wanted to use the Davis case as a bargaining chip to get the withdrawal of a civil lawsuit filed in Brooklyn last year that implicates the ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. The demand for the C.I.A. to acknowledge the number of contractors in Pakistan was driven by the suspicion that the American spy service had slipped many such secret operatives into Pakistan in the past six months, the senior ISI official said. The increase occurred after a directive last July by the Pakistani civilian government, which is often at odds with the ISI, to its Washington embassy to expedite visas without supervision from the ISI or the Ministry of Interior, the senior ISI official said. The behavior of people like Mr. Davis is deeply embarrassing to the ISI because it makes the agency “look like fools” in the eyes of the anti-American Pakistani public, the ISI official said. The Davis case made it hard to explain to Pakistanis why the ISI was cooperating with Washington, he said. The clampdown on American contractors by the Pakistani authorities appeared to be under way Friday with the arrest of an American citizen, Aaron Mark DeHaven, in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The Peshawar police said Mr. DeHaven was detained because he had overstayed his business visa after his request for an extension last October was turned down. There was no immediate accusation that Mr. DeHaven worked for the American government, a security official in Peshawar said. But the arrest of Mr. DeHaven, who is married to a Pakistani woman, appears to be a signal that the Pakistani authorities have decided to expel Americans they have doubts about. The security official said Mr. DeHaven owned a firm, Catalyst Services in Peshawar, that rented houses for Americans in the city. The American Embassy in Islamabad said in a statement that it did not have details about Mr. DeHaven but that it was arranging consular access for him through the Pakistani government. During his first months in Pakistan in early 2010, Mr. Davis, the contractor for the C.I.A., was attached to the American Consulate in Peshawar and lived in a house with other Americans in an upscale neighborhood, according to Pakistani officials. At the 20-minute court hearing on Friday, Mr. Davis told the judge he would not take part in the proceedings because he had diplomatic immunity, Pakistani officials told reporters later. He refused to sign the charge sheet presented to him, the officials said. The Obama administration insists that Mr. Davis acted in self-defense when the two motorcyclists tried to rob him. In the charge sheet, the Pakistani police said Mr. Davis shot the motorcyclists multiple times from inside his car, and then stepped from the car and continued shooting with his Glock pistol. Mr. Davis then drove from the scene and was arrested several miles away, the police said. At Friday Prayers in Lahore and in Islamabad, the capital, anti-American sermons, in some cases laced with references to Mr. Davis, were common. Hafiz Saeed, the founder of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which Mr. Davis is believed to have been conducting surveillance on, said the American was “a spy, committing terrorism, helping in drone attacks.” Banners reading “Hang Davis” and “No immunity to Davis” were strung across the road adjacent to Mr. Saeed’s headquarters. CREDITS: Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan, and Waqar Gillani from Lahore, Pakistan. (A version of this article appeared in print on February 26, 2011, on page A4 of the New York edition.)
