News

Washingotn/Dubai – The U.S. military attacked Iran on Friday in response to an Iranian drone strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, with each country accusing the other of violating terms of a ceasefire agreed on last week. U.S. Central Command said aircraft struck missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites, later publishing a grainy black-and-white video of an explosion labeled “unclassified.” A U.S. official reported the operation had concluded. Iran said a projectile struck the area around a pier in Sirik in southern Iran, and that Iranian naval forces responded by striking U.S. military targets in the region. Tehran did not provide details about what may have been hit. Elsewhere, however, there were signs of progress in ending the four-month-old conflict, as Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement to end the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. Both sides framed the deal as an initial step that calls…

La Guaira/Caracas – Desperate Venezuelans and rescue teams raced to find survivors on Friday as the death toll from twin earthquakes rose above 900 with foreign crews and aid only beginning to reach devastated areas nearly two days after the quakes. The government said 172 people remained trapped, 920 were dead and 3,360 injured after the quakes devastated parts of Caracas and surrounding areas on Wednesday evening. More than 50,000 people were reported missing. The ground shook once again Friday afternoon, a weaker 4.9 temblor that was felt in the capital Caracas and nearby Maracay. Frustration mounted over the uneven pace of relief in some of the hardest-hit areas including La Guaira state, where residents and volunteers were still digging through rubble by hand amid shortages of heavy equipment and limited official presence. Jennifer Palacios, 25, said her 6-year-old son and five other relatives remained buried in La Guaira city’s eight-tower Hugo Chavez housing complex. “It’s the community…

Metro Manila, Philippines – A court sheriff once punched by Vice President Sara Duterte, journalists, and a psychiatrist will take the witness stand for the looming impeachment trial, to address allegations of grave threats committed by the second highest official. In a press briefing on Friday, June 26, Jay Tolosa, legal spokesperson for the prosecution panel, said the inclusion of Abe Andres, the court sheriff punched by Duterte in 2011, would gauge the behavior of the vice president.  Duterte, who was Davao City mayor at the time, punched the court sheriff after he proceeded with a court-ordered demolition of an informal settlement despite her request for a delay. Andres is among the eight witnesses listed by the prosecution for Article 4, which is focused on the supposed assassination plot of Duterte against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., grave threats, and allegations of inciting to sedition to the government. “Under the rules,…

Metro Manila, Philippines – Authorities in Tacloban City are ramping up security at San Jose National High School and other public schools ahead of the resumption of face-to-face classes following last week’s shooting that killed three students and injured more than a dozen others. Mayor Alfred Romualdez announced the move after he met Thursday, June 25,  with school officials, teachers, police and representatives of the Department of Education to discuss the response to the June 22 campus attack by two students. The new measures include installation of more security cameras, sturdier perimeter fencing, panic buttons linked directly to the nearest police station, and the deployment of city-funded security guards. The Philippine National Police will also assign a male and female officer to assist with security inspections at school entrances, while more local government-funded guards will be deployed to other public schools across the city school division. Local officials said classrooms…

Metro Manila, Philippines – The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), in coordination with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), has recommended the filing of hazing charges against former Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin and 10 others in connection with the deaths of student athletes Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili.  Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said in a press conference on Friday, June 26, that violations were committed to the Anti-Hazing Act in a team building activity in Dipaculao, Aurora on June 8.  Others in the recommended charge list are conditioning coaches Grant Dearns and Caesar Vincent Elumba, assistant coaches Dean Castaño, Sandro Soriano, and Jon Jacinto, student managers Paolo Adevoso and Drew Salud, physical therapist John Eric Rueca, and utility/ball boys Aris Pronce and Boy Rapa. Remulla cited a portion of the law which penalizes: “those who actually planned or participated in the…