Liberal Party Won't Back Impeach Bids vs Duterte, Robredo

MANILA - The Liberal Party will not be backing impeachment cases filed against President Rodrigo Duterte or Vice-President Leni Robredo, according to House Deputy Speaker and LP stalwart Miro Quimbo. 

Robredo met with other members of the Liberal Party amid a looming impeachment case against her, but her party-mates in the supermajority still won't bolt the administration fold.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez had raised the specter of impeaching Robredo following her statement to theUnited Nations criticizing the alleged extra judicial killings in the Philippines. President Duterte is himself facing animpeachment case.

Quimbo confirmed the meeting took place on Wednesday and they agreed not to support any impeachment complaints.

"We eventually discussed the issue of impeachment. We came to a common consensus on the following matters: we strongly believe that the taking up by the [House of Representatives] of any impeachment complaint today will only be divisive as well as polarizing," he said in a statement.

"It will only serve to distract us from the many important matters that Congress should be giving priority to. For these very imperative reasons, the LP House majority caucus members present categorically took a position that we will not support any of the impeachment complaints filed against the leaders of the land."

Likewise, Quimbo revealed that they are standing by Robredo, the highest-ranking elected member of their party. 

"We likewise reiterated our strongest commitment of support to the Vice President, our party leader. We will have subsequent meetings before congress opens in May to update LP members who were out of town and thus could not attend the meeting," he said.

The Deputy Speaker made it clear that they are sticking with the supermajority.

Quimbo added: "The statement is made in response to queries regarding the LP meeting yesterday, 20 April 2017, with Vice President Leni Robredo. I confirm that around 15 LP members belonging to the HOR majority caucus met with the Vice President today."

The lawmaker said the meeting with Robredo was originally scheduled to take place during the second week of March before Congress went on break on March 15. He said the meeting was moved due to schedule conflicts.

He said the LP discussed administrative party matters including payment of party dues and proposed schedules for the second half of the year.

The former administration party has seen most of its members leave for the President's PDP-Laban after the loss of their standard bearer in the last elections.\

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MUST READ: LEAKED NEWS

Edward Snowden
Edward Joseph Snowden or simply Edward snowden, is an American computer professional, former CIA(central Inteligence Agency), a former NSA(National Security Agency) contractor, former US army reserved and the man behind the massive leakage of sensitive NSA files which contains massive surveillance of the American people. No, not just the USA but the surveillance is globally done.
By the way…what is the NSA?
NSA(national security agency) is an intelligence organization of the US government responsible for global monitoring,collection and processing of informations and datas for foreign intelligence and and counter intelligence purposes, a discipline known as signal intelligence.
So what about the NSA leaks? What are they? What do they contains?
NSA leaks is all about massive surveillance of the whole population through phones, computers and more gadgets we use nowadays. some programs that have been leaked by snowden are the X Key stone and PRISM.
X Key stone
X Key stone is a program that sees everything, it is a tool the NSA uses to search nearly everything a user does on the internet. X key stone is also described as the widest reaching system to reach through internet data.
PRISM
Another program that was leaked by snowden is the prism, it is a surveillance program that can directly access tech giants like google, facebook, Microsoft and apple.
NSA collects text messages and intercepts phone calls on some places like Bahamas, Afghanistan,metadata mexico, Kenya and Philippines.
Edward snowden is a man who left a high paying job, a rich life, his fiancé, his own country, his family and a lot more that he sacrificed to create a massive leaks about global surveillance that limits our freedom. Yet some call him a traitor to his country, but whom did he betrayed? Hes a man who left everything  then went to Hawaii,fled to hong-kong then to Russia just to tell the people about a terrifying corruption that stole our freedom for “thinking”.
Snowden is now charged on a lot of violations against the law,but despite all the charges against him , Edward snowden also won numerous rewards like the IQ award,Ridenhour truth-telling prize, german whistle blower prize and more. Edward snowden is a great man who woke up a lot of subconscious minds about the reality were living.


Chelsea manning
Bradley Edward manning or Chelsea manning(a name he used after he became a trans woman) is a US army soldier who was convicted by court-martial back in july 2013 of violations of the espionage act and other offences after disclosing nearly three quarters of a million classified or unclassified but sensitive military and diplomatic documents to wikileaks.
Some leakage that have been made by manning were the war logs and collateral murder.
War logs
War logs states that there were much larger numbers of civilian casualties on wars led by the United states like in Iraq and Afghanistan than what the US previously reported.
Colateral murder
Colateral murder is an unsettling video that shows a US army apache helicopter in Iraq firing on a group of people who turned out to include journalists for reuters.
There are a lot more revelations manning did through those thousand documents. Sadly, manning is now currently serving 35 years in a male prison which is the worst thing when you are a trans-woman.

Julian Assange
Julian Paul Assange is an Australian computer programmer,publisher, a journalist, the founder and editor-in-chief of the wiki leaks.
 Wikileaks is an international non-profit organization that publishes secret informations, new leaks and classified media from different anonymous sources.wiki leaks have already leaked millions of sensitive secret documents from different intelligence agencies like the CIA, NSA and other agencies from EU.One recent leaks are the Hillary emails.
Hillary emails
Wiki leaks leaked thousands of Hillary emails to the public which contains informations that showed the true intententions and identity of Hillary Clinton.the Hillary leaks holds informations like rigging an election in Palestine back in 2006, Clinton donors funding ISIS where in an email between Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager john Podesta, the former first lady and secretary of the region “to accuse quatar and saudi arabia of providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIS or ISIL and other radical sunni groups in the region”.                               The next one is my favorite because it is a clear and brilliant piece of evidence that almost all wars are only for corporate interests. It was first claimed by conspiracy theorist then exposed from the Hillary emails leaks which gave it a higher percentage to be legit.

“France’s client and qaddafi’s gold”
Out of all the thousand Hillary emails, this is what actually took my interests. The email identifies French president Nicholas Sarkozy as leading the attack on Libya with 5 specific purposes in mind : to obtain Libyan oil, ensure French influence in the region, increase sarkozy’s reputation domestically, assert French military power nad to prevent ghaddafi’s  influence in what is considered the “Francophone Africa”. The email stated that ghaddafi had 143 tons of gold, which could be used for a currency that will liberate Africa from being an economically enslaved land through money and capitalism.                              
“John Doe”
John Doe is the pseudonym used by the anonymous whistleblower in the Panama Papers leak this 2016, who turned over 11.5 million documents from the law firm Mossack Fonseca to German journalist Bastian Obermayer of the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper . On May 5, 2016, John Doe published a statement The Revolution Will Be Digitised; Doe explained he made the files from Mossack Fonseca public to underline growing income inequality and financial corruption globally. The whistleblower has offered to help prosecutors build their cases, on condition of legal protection.
Panama Papers leaks
The leaked documents illustrate how wealthy individuals and public officials are able to keep personal financial information private. While offshore business entities are legal, reporters found that some of the Mossack Fonseca shell corporations were used for illegal purposes, including fraud, kleptocracy, tax evasion, and evading international sanctions.
The Panama papers leaks were the biggest leaks in history. In the documents which ranged from 1970’s to 2015, Mossack Fonseca came to function, as the german paper notes, “as a hub of a global industry led by major banks, legal firms and asset management companies”, secretly stewarding the estates of the world’s rich and famous, from politicians, FIFA officials, fraudsters and drug smugglers, to celebrities and professional athletes.” In short, to hide, transfer and in some cases, to clean dirty money. By april 3rd 2016, the news had reached numerous populations in countries around the planet. Heads of state and industry were implicated, as well as kings. Many of these individuals worked through their relatives, hiding away cash and in some cases circumventing sanctions. Notable persons who were exposed on this leaks were Vladimir Putin,Bashar Assad, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson(prime minister of Iceland), heads of Chinese government, middle eastern royalty,celebrities in india and even jackie chan. These people worked with mossack fonseca to create shell companies in other countries informally known as tax havens, an act which, in itself is not inherently illegal. However, journalists have noted the majority of these operations were made or designed to hide the identity of the actual owners or in other words, the people who are hiding the money. Some of the clients are big time criminals like mafiosos and bank robbers. The leaks are  a major proof of illegal financial activity by some of the world’s wealthiest groups and individuals.

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SOUTH KOREA PREPARES FOR WAR

PREPARING FOR WAR: South Korea conducts defence drills in face of Kim's provocation

THE United States is flexing its military muscle in South Korea amid growing tensions with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after the dictator promised an “annihilating strike” if it was attacked by the United States.

The threat to “defeat enemies with nuclear justice” was issued during the country’s 105th Day of the Sun parade, in which the socialist state celebrated the anniversary of its founder Kim Il-Sung’s birth.

North Korea has repeatedly accused President Trump of provoking armed conflict and has issued multiple threats of retaliation.

The latest outburst comes after Mr Trump send an aircraft carrier-led strike group to the Korean Peninsula, as US officials feared Kim would mark the national holiday by launching its sixth nuclear weapons test.US Army troops and Air Force conducted military defence exercises on Saturday in Paju, near the border between the Koreas.

Soldiers with M1A2 tanks participated in the emergency drills, conducted to simulate responses to a possible North Korean attack.

According to reports from Fox News, the military exercises in South Korea come just days after the US launched a similar surprise military drill at the Kadena Air Base in Japan, using HH-60 Pave Hawks, F-15 Eagles, E-3 Sentries and KC-135 Stratotankers.

North Korea has shown off its strength by testing two nuclear bombs and multiple missile tests in the last year.

EPA

US Army and Air Force conduct defence exercises

Addressing crowds at the Day of the Sun parade, Kim Jong-un said: “If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare.”

During the parade, North Korea displayed what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-based missiles.

Missiles seem to have been the main theme of the giant parade, with Kim Jong-un taking time to greet the commander of the Strategic Forces - the branch of North Korea's military that oversees the military arsenal.

GETTY

Soldiers with M1A2 tanks participated in the emergency drills

Weapons analysts say some of the missiles on display were new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

The Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) were also on parade.

It was the first time North Korea had shown the missiles, which have a range of more than 1,000 km (600 miles), at a military parade.

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Jamaican Woman now OLDEST PERSON ALIVE

                                                       117-year-old Violet Mosse Brown is the world's oldest person. 

ROME, Italy (AFP) — According to the US-based Gerontology Research Group (GRG), the world's oldest human is Jamaican Violet Brown, who was born on March 10, 1900.

Brown became the eldest person alive after the passing of Italian Emma Morano. 

Morano, believed to have been the oldest person alive and the last survivor of the 19th century, died Saturday at the age of 117, Italian media reported.

Morano, born on November 29, 1899, died at her home in Verbania, in northern Italy, the report said. 

"She had an extraordinary life, and we will always remember her strength to move forward in life," the mayor of Verbania was quoted as saying.

Morano's death means there is no one living known to have been born before 1900. 

According to the report, her first love died in World War I, but she married later and left her violent husband just before the Second World War and shortly after the death in infancy of her only son.

She had clung to her independence, only taking on a full-time career a couple of years ago, though she had not left her small two-room apartment for 20 years.

She had been bed-bound during her later years. 

In an interview with AFP last year, she put her longevity down to her diet. 

"I eat two eggs a day, and that's it. And cookies. But I do not eat much because I have no teeth," she said in her home at the time, where the Guinness World Records certificate declaring her to be the oldest person alive held pride of place on a marble-topped chest-of-drawers.

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North Korean Missile Launch Fails

North Korea has defied Donald Trump’s demands for it to abandon its nuclear and missile programs, launching a missile from an eastern port city on Sunday morning.

However, the test appeared to fail. “The missile blew up almost immediately,” the United States Pacific Command said in a statement. “The type of missile is still being assessed.”

North Korea parades military might and warns US amid nuclear test fears

 

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The attempt came hours before US vice-president Mike Pence was due to arrive in Seoul at the start of a 10-day trip to Asia in what his aides said was a sign of the US commitment to its ally in the face of rising tension over North Korea. Both Pence and President Donald Trump have been notified. The president had no further comment, said defence secretary Jim Mattis.

The missile was launched from the eastern coastal city of Sinpo, which is the site of a submarine base and where the North has tested the submarine-launched ballistic missile it is developing. Weapons on submarines are much harder to track and destroy, and would make it far more challenging for the US and its allies to mount a pre-emptive strike.

A spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said: “We are concerned by reports of a missile test by North Korea and are monitoring the situation closely.”

The move comes a day after a giant military parade in North Korea’s capital and exactly one year after a similar failure, when Pyongyang attempted to mark the anniversary of its founder’s birth, Kim Il-sung, on 15 April, by launching a Musudan missile.

On Saturday at a vast military parade, North Korea displayed new long-range missiles that could one day threaten continental America, showcasing the isolated nation’s defiance as a US aircraft carrier group headed to the region.

Kim Jong-un has overseen three nuclear tests and a string of missile and rocket launches since taking over after the death of his father, dictator Kim Jong-il, in late 2011.

Another missile test from Sinpo ended in failured earlier this month, when the rocket spun out of control and plunged into the ocean. That launch came shortly before Trump’s first meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. China is North Korea’s only major ally.

Despite Sunday’s failure, the North’s previous claim to have used “standardised” warheads has led to worries that it was making headway in its push to develop small and sophisticated warheads to be topped on long-range missiles.

China offered no immediate reaction to the missile launch. But in a commentaryreleased after Saturday’s military demonstration, Beijing’s official news agency, Xinhua, said the region had reached “a critical moment in history” and warned that a pre-emptive US strike could trigger full-scale war.

It was now time for Despite Sunday’s failure, the North’s previous claim to have used “standardised” warheads has led to worries that it was making headway in its push to develop small and sophisticated warheads to be topped on long-range missiles.

China offered no immediate reaction to the missile launch. But in a commentaryreleased after Saturday’s military demonstration, Beijing’s official news agency, Xinhua, said the region had reached “a critical moment in history” and warned that a pre-emptive US strike could trigger full-scale war.

It was now time for North Korea and the US to strike a “grand bargain,” Xinhua said.North 

Despite Sunday’s failure, the North’s previous claim to have used “standardised” warheads has led to worries that it was making headway in its push to develop small and sophisticated warheads to be topped on long-range missiles.

China offered no immediate reaction to the missile launch. But in a commentaryreleased after Saturday’s military demonstration, Beijing’s official news agency, Xinhua, said the region had reached “a critical moment in history” and warned that a pre-emptive US strike could trigger full-scale war.

It was now time for North Korea and the US to strike a “grand bargain,” Xinhua said.

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NORTH KOREA CONDEMNS US FOR BRINGING NUKES

North Korea denounced the United States on Friday for bringing "huge nuclear strategic assets" to the Korean peninsula as a U.S. aircraft carrier group headed for the region amid concerns the North may conduct a sixth nuclear weapon test.

Tension has risen since the U.S. Navy fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield last week in response to a deadly gas attack, raising concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for North Korea, which has conducted missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. and unilateral sanctions.

The United States has warned that its policy of "strategic patience" is over. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia.

A spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Institute for Disarmament and Peace issued a statement condemning the United States for the attack on Syria, while also calling for "peace by strength".

"The U.S. introduces into the Korean peninsula, the world's biggest hotspot, huge nuclear strategic assets, seriously threatening peace and security of the peninsula and pushing the situation there to the brink of a war," the North's KCNA news agency said on Friday, citing the statement.

"This has created a dangerous situation in which a thermo-nuclear war may break out any moment on the peninsula and posed serious threat to the world peace and security, to say nothing of those in Northeast Asia," it said.

North Korea, still technically at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, has on occasion conducted missile or nuclear tests to coincide with big political events and often threatens the United States, South Korea and Japan.

On Saturday, it marks the "Day of the Sun", the 105th anniversary of the birth of state founder Kim Il Sung.

The dollar fell on Friday against a basket of currencies, on track for a losing week as tension over North Korea underpinned the perceived safe-haven Japanese yen.

                       "OPPORTUNITY TO TALK"

China, North Korea's sole major ally and neighbour, which nevertheless opposes Pyongyang's weapons programme, has called for talks leading to a peaceful resolution and the denuclearization of the peninsula.

"Military force cannot resolve the issue," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing on Thursday. "Amid tensions we will also find a kind of opportunity to return to talks."

While Trump has put North Korea on notice that he will not tolerate any more provocation, U.S. officials have said his administration is focusing its strategy on tougher economic sanctions.

Trump said on Thursday Pyongyang was a problem that "will be taken care of" and that he believed Chinese President Xi Jinping would "work very hard" to help resolve the challenge.

Trump has also said the United States is prepared to tackle the crisis without China, if necessary.

He diverted the nuclear-powered USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its strike group towards the Korean peninsula last weekend in a show of force.

Another U.S. official also dismissed the report, calling it "speculative at best"

Pence's trip to South Korea was a sign of the U.S. commitment to its ally in the face of rising tension, aides said.

"We're going to consult with the Republic of Korea on North Korea's efforts to advance its ballistic missile and its nuclear programme," a White House foreign policy adviser, previewing Pence's trip, told reporters.

Media in Japan said the government confirmed it would take all precautions regarding possible fresh North Korean provocations.

The Nikkei business daily said government discussions included how to rescue the estimated 57,000 Japanese citizens in South Korea as well as how to cope with a possible flood of North Korean refugees coming to Japan, among whom might be North Korean spies and agents.

Kyodo news agency said separately Japan had begun working on plans to respond to a potential crisis on the Korean peninsula in February, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Trump for a summit in the United States.

"The government has great interest in North Korea's nuclear and missile moves and is collecting and analysing information," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the government's top spokesman, told a news conference.

"I will refrain from commenting on individual specific content or situations. At present, we are in close contact with the United States and South Korea and in addition to urging (the North) to refrain from provocative actions and observe relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions," he said.

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BREAKING NEWS: MAN FLEW TO IRELAND FROM CANADA TO HAVE SEX WITH GIRL

Tuesday, April 11, 2017 - 09:00 am

A father is due to be sentenced in Canada today for grooming and having sex with an underage Irish girl during two trips here in 2013.The Canadian national, Jashua Robert Tremblay, 33, has pleaded guilty to three charges under Canadian child sex tourism legislation.

The prosecution is the result of a highly unusual joint Canadian-Irish police investigation. Under Canadian law, its citizens can be prosecuted for certain sexual offences committed against children abroad.

Tremblay’s victim was aged 13 when the online grooming began in late 2012 and 14 when the sexual activity occurred the following year. Tremblay pretended he was 16 when the contact started and later said he was 19. Before he travelled to Ireland, he told the girl his real age.

Tremblay visited the south-west of the country twice, in 2013.

Concerns were raised by locals in November 2013 after Tremblay and the girl were noticed at a rental accommodation.

By the time gardaí were informed, Tremblay had returned to Canada. A major investigation began.

Gardaí interviewed the girl and examined her electronic devices. Gardaí discovered Tremblay used his real name in the social media platforms. Explicit sexual images were shared, something Tremblay initiated. Gardaí conducted a forensic examination at the rental property.

They contacted Interpol who informed the Canadian authorities.

The Garda file was transmitted to Canada.

Tremblay pleaded guilty last December on three counts:

Online luring to facilitate the making of child pornography;
Online luring to facilitate sexual contact with a person under the age of 16;
Sexual contact with someone under the age of 16.

When contacted by the Irish Examiner, Supt Flor Murphy of Killarney Garda Station said: “The case highlights the very obvious dangers of the internet.

“In this incident, a 30-year-old father living thousands of miles away in a different continent, groomed a 13-year-old vulnerable schoolgirl online and then sexually exploited her during the course of two visits to Ireland in 2013.

“The case also highlights the extensive engagement and co-operation by An Garda Síochána with police forces throughout the world.

“International borders did not deter or hinder An Garda Síochána in bringing to justice an international sex predator who committed very serious offences in this jurisdiction on a young person.”

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NORTH KOREA VOWS TO RESPOND TO 'RECKLESS' US MOVES

'DPRK ready to react to any mode of war' after US sends navy strike group to Korean Peninsula following missile tests.North Korea has sharply criticised the US after the US Pacific Command moved a set of warships to the Korean Peninsula over the weekend.

The North's foreign ministry, in a statement carried by its KCNA news agency on Tuesday, said the US navy strike group's deployment showed America's "reckless moves for invading had reached a serious phase".

"We never beg for peace but we will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms and keep to the road chosen by ourselves," a spokesman for the country's foreign affairs ministry said.

"The DPRK [North Korea] is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US."

Later in the day, North Korea's military chief said his country was ready to "mount a pre-emptive nuclear attack" on South Korea and the US.Hwang Pyong-so, the North's effective number two behind leader Kim Jong-un, made the threat during a live broadcast on state television.

He insisted North Korea will "wipe them out without a trace if they attempt to launch a war of aggression".

On Saturday, the US warships - including the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, two guided-missile destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser - cancelled a trip to Australia and headed from Singapore to the waters off Korea, as part of the US response to North Korea's recent missile launches.

On Wednesday North Korea launched a missile into the Sea of Japan from near Sinpo in South Hamgyong province, according to South Korea's joint chiefs of staff.

Tensions rising

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Seoul, BJ Kim, adjunct professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said the level of tension has many South Koreans worried.

"The overall situation here, the way the South Koreans perceive it, is very unusual. They have not seen this level of heightened tensions for about a quarter of a century," Kim said.

"In 1994 we had a similar situation in which the United States possibly wanted to strike. But since then this has been the highest point of tensions here, so people feel quite uneasy about it."

North Korea has ratcheted up its nuclear programme under its relatively new leader Kim Jong-un, carrying out two nuclear tests and launching around 20 ballistic missiles last year alone.

USS Carl Vinson is part of the navy strike group headed for the Korean Peninsula

The international community also is concerned that North Korea could be working on an intercontinental ballistic missile, which could reach the western US.

US-based experts say that North Korea is currently planning a further nuclear test.

Hwang Kyo-ahn, South Korean acting president, ordered the military to intensify monitoring of the North's activities and to ensure close communication with the ally the US.

"It is possible the North may wage greater provocations such as a nuclear test timed with various anniversaries including the Supreme People's Assembly," said Hwang, acting leader since Park Geun-hye was removed as president over a corruption scandal.

Important date

The North convened a Supreme People's Assembly session on Tuesday, one of its twice-yearly sessions in which major appointments are announced and national policy goals are formally approved.

Saturday is the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country's founding father and grandfather of current ruler, Kim Jong-un.

A military parade is expected in the North's capital, Pyongyang, to mark the day.

North Korea often also marks important anniversaries with tests of its nuclear or missile capabilities.

Hankuk University's Kim said South Korea feels it is up to North Korea to open the possibility of dialogue.

"North Korea has been escalating the tensions and the US has been responding to it," he said.

"Seoul is waiting for words of reconciliation or at least expressions of interest in dialogue from Pyongyang.

"From a Chinese perspective, they have always stressed the need for dialogue but we have not seen any progress for years now. China is therefore also responsible for coming up with new ideas to lower tensions."

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SUICIDE BOMBER SHOT DEAD IN UNIMAD

A Boko Haram suicide bomber, who tried to gain entry into the University of Maiduguri through the works department was on Sunday shot dead by troops stationed in the school.

 The public relations officer of the school , Mr Tanko Ahmed confirmed the incidence to newsmen.


According to Mr. Ahmed, the suicide bomber had already entered the University through the back gate around 11pm Sunday night before being gunned down by a vigilant soldier. 

He said the works department where the incident occurred have been cordoned off by security agents to render the area safe.

 ” The area have been cordoned off by security agents.” Recall that the university has been lately attacked by the terrorist group, one of such attacks being at a mosque in the schooL.

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BRAVE NEWS ANCHOR READS OUT BREAKING NEWS ABOUT HUSBAND'S DEATH

An Indian TV presenter has been praised as “extremely brave” after she reportedly read out the breaking news of her husband’s death in a car accident on a 24-hour popular news channel. 

Supreet Kaur read out the news bulletin after a reporter phoned in details of a fatal accident, which had killed three of the five people travelling in a Renault Duster.  

The 28-year-old to realised her husband was likely to be one of those killed as he was meant to travel in a Renault Duster along the same route and at the same time with four companions.

A news anchor for Chhattisgarh’s IBC-24 channel for nine years, Ms Kaur kept her composure throughout the news bulletin. 

It was only after the news hour, when she walked out of the TV studio, that she reportedly broke down. 

One of her colleagues told the Indian newspaper: “She is an extremely brave lady. We are proud of her as an anchor, but what happened today has left us in shock.” A senior editor said her colleagues realised that her husband was dead while she was reading the news but he said they “did not have the courage to tell her”. 

Ms Kaur reportedly married Harsad Kawade a year ago and the couple were living in Raipur, the capital of the Chhattisgarh state. 

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PHILVOLCS: EARTHQUAKES MAY LAST FOR DAYS OR WEEKS

MANILA- The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said the public may expect more temblors in the coming days after the series of tremors in Batangas during the weekend.

PHIVOLCS Director Renato Solidum on Monday said the multiple quakes felt in Batangas and nearby parts of Luzon are part of a “swarm” which can last for days.

“The series of earthquakes in Batangas are all related as one fault system or one fault moving incrementally to generate succeeding or successive small earthquake events,” he said on ANC’s “Dateline Philippines.”

“Well an earthquake swarm can last for days or even weeks so there can still be earthquakes in the next few days,” he added.

Solidum however allayed fears that the 'Big One' was at hand.

Earthquakes jolted Mabini town in Batangas Saturday afternoon a minute apart: first a magnitude 5.7 at 3:08 p.m., followed by a magnitude 5.9.

A third quake hit Taysan town in Batangas 20 minutes later at magnitude 5.0.

Solidum clarified that there was no basis in saying that the recent shocks are signs of the “Big One.”

“The faults in Batangas and other areas are not connected to the West Valley fault so there will be no basis for saying that these earthquakes are precursors to the big earthquake in Metro Manila,” Solidum said.

But he advised the public to be prepared in the event that a strong shock happens.

“Essentially, people are advised to just be prepared in case of a strong shock to do the precautionary measures so they are protected in case another earthquake happens,” he said.

Meanwhile, Katrin Buted, spokesperson of Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas, said the provincial government was still determining whether to place the entire province under a state of calamity.

Over 3,000 people are still staying at evacuation centers all over Batangas province while damage to the provincial capital's infrastructure has been estimated to be worth P70 million, Buted said.

Buted also tourists' fears, saying Batangas remains safe to visit, noting the absence of aftershocks since Sunday and the heightened implementation of safety measures in the province.

“Definitely it is still safe to go to Batangas since there are no aftershocks recorded since yesterday (Sunday). Safety measures are being implemented everywhere,” she said.

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Syria strikes: CHEMICAL ATTACK SITE HIT AGAIN

New airstrikes targeted a town in Syria that was hit by a chemical attack earlier this week, activists said, less than a day after the US bombarded a Syrian air base to "send a message" to the Assad regime.

It wasn't immediately clear who conducted the strikes on Khan Sheikhoun, which was hit on Friday and Saturday, though only Russian and Syrian regime aircraft have been bombing that area of rebel-held Idlib province.

The latest attacks come after a missile strike early Friday by the United States on a base in western Syria that the United States says was used to launch Tuesday's chemical attack, which left more than 85 people dead and hundreds more injured.

The new strikes came as Russia, the Syrian regime's main ally, sent a frigate armed with cruise missiles to a port in western Syria in an apparent show of force in response to the US action.

Key developments

• The Syrian air force resumed flight operations at the base the US struck Friday.
• Pentagon investigating possible Russian involvement in chemical attack that prompted US strike.
• US officials say about 20 planes were destroyed in Friday's attack on the Shayrat base.
• US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley tells United Nations the United States is "prepared to do more."
• Russia says United States has no proof chemical weapons were used Tuesday.

At least one woman was killed and three other people were injured in Saturday's strikes in Khan Sheikhoun, two activists in the town said. The strike that killed the woman happened in a residential neighborhood, activist Alaa Al-Youssef said.

It wasn't clear from where the strikes were launched, but the Syrian air force resumed flight operations at the base the United States struck Friday, two pro-regime media outlets and an opposition group said Saturday.

A video on Instagram, posted Saturday by a reporter from the state-run Russia-24 outlet, purported to show a jet rolling down a tarmac at the air base. The caption reads: "Return to work at Shayrat."

A US defense official said Friday's strikes were not intended to damage runways or fully disable the base. Instead, the strikes hit aircraft, fuel storage, weapons dumps and other equipment, aiming to send a message to the Syrian regime that any use of chemical weapons would not be tolerated, the official said.

In the aftermath of the US strike, Russia pledged to help strengthen Syria's air defenses. Russian state media reported that a frigate, the Admiral Grigorovich, would call at a logistics base at Tartus, Syria. It had earlier picked up supplies at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

The Russian frigate, the Admiral Grigorovich. The ship, which is armed with cruise missiles, was reportedly entering the Mediterranean en route to a logistics site in Syria, Russian state media said.

NATO called it one of the largest deployments from Russia in decades.

Retired US Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, a CNN military analyst, said the frigate appeared to be a show of force by Russia, which since late 2015 has been conducting airstrikes in Syria against forces opposing the Syrian regime.

"I think the Russians were caught off guard (by the US strikes)," Hertling said. "So they want to make sure they're tracking those (US) ships."

An airstrike killed 15 civilians, including four children, in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. The monitoring group said the strike on the village of Urum al-Joz was suspected to have been carried out by Russian planes, which operate in support of the Syrian government. Syria's Civil Defence volunteer group, also known as The White Helmets, said the death toll was 16, with 20 people injured.

A US-led coalition also has long been conducting airstrikes in Syria, against ISIS targets in the country. On Saturday, a suspected coalition strike killed at least 15 civilians in north-central Syria near Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIS, a local activist group and the state-run SANA news outlet said.

US quiet on next steps

US President Donald Trump said he ordered the Tomahawk missile strike on the Shayrat base because the United States believed aircraft that carried out Tuesday's chemical attack were launched from there.

Trump praised his military for Friday's missile strike. "Congratulations to our great military men and women for representing the United States, and the world, so well in the Syria attack," Trump posted Saturday to Twitter.

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Donald J. Trump 

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Congratulations to our great military men and women for representing the United States, and the world, so well in the Syria attack.

7:54 AM - 8 Apr 2017

 
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The White House late Friday refused to say whether its strike on Shayrat air base was a one-off action or part of a new strategy designed to hobble the military capabilities of President Bashar al-Assad. Nor would it say whether the United States believed Assad should step down after the chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun that killed at least 80 people and injured dozens more on Tuesday.

A satellite photo of the Shayrat air base after the US missile strikes.

The White House refused to discuss next steps. Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Trump would not "telegraph his next move." Speaking to reporters at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Spicer said the US missile attack was "very decisive, justified and proportional."

He declined to say whether Trump now believed Assad should relinquish power. "First and foremost the President believes that the Syrian government [and the] Assad regime should abide by the agreement they made not to use chemical weapons," Spicer said.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Russia had failed to honor an agreement to guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons. "Clearly, Russia has failed in its responsibility to deliver on that commitment from 2013," he said. "So either Russia has been complicit or Russia has been simply incompetent in its ability to deliver on its end of that agreement."

Who's with the US on Syria strike and who isn't

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, meanwhile, canceled his planned Monday visit to Moscow, citing developments in Syria.

In a statement Saturday, Johnson said his priority was to continue contact with the United States and others in the run-up to a meeting of G-7 foreign ministers in Italy on Monday and Tuesday, with the aim of building "coordinated international support for a ceasefire on the ground and an intensified political process."

North Korea responded to the US strike with a comment provided to the media.

"In some quarters, they say these military attacks are a warning shot against the DPRK (North Korea), but we are not at all frightened by those actions," 

"The Syrian crisis is a bloody lesson which has been deeply engraved into the bones of the Korean people, the lesson being that we should never harbor any illusions about imperialists," the comment said.

Russia complicit?

US officials have said the Pentagon is looking for any evidence the Russian government knew about or was complicit in Tuesday's chemical attack.

A US military official told CNN the Pentagon was examining specifically whether a Russian warplane had bombed a hospital in Khan Sheikhoun five hours after the initial chemical attack, with the aim of destroying evidence.  Russia flatly denies the allegations.

.Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the US strike as an "act of aggression" and said it violated international law. Tillerson said he was disappointed in the Russian response.

Russian Sen. Alexey Pushkov said the disappointment was mutual and suggested Tillerson's comments were made to gain leverage in upcoming US-Russia talks. Tillerson is due to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow next week.

Russia: No evidence of chemical weapons at air base

Russia has claimed Tuesday's deaths in Khan Sheikhoun were caused by a Syrian regime airstrike on a rebel-controlled chemical weapons facility.

Russia's Defense Ministry said Saturday that Washington has not provided any evidence that chemical weapons came from the Shayrat base. "No one present at the airport are wearing gas masks and everyone feels perfectly normal," ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said after the US strike.

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