PPUR officially confirmed as one of the New7Wonders of Nature

By Eamonn Fitzgerald on January 28, 2012 in Puerto Princesa Underground River

Manila/Philippines, Zurich/Switzerland: Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) is now confirmed as one of the New7Wonders of Nature. Making the announcement in Manila, Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders, congratulated the people of the Philippines for supporting their national finalist in the global campaign.

“When your very own President Aquino came out in support of the PPUR campaign, I knew that this country was taking the New7Wonders of Nature seriously,” said Weber. “Fans of PPUR all over the world responded to his call for action by voting in record numbers and today’s confirmation is the well-earned reward for this extraordinary display of enthusiasm,” he added.

Mr Weber was speaking during a meeting with Edward Hagedorn, Mayor of Puerto Princesa, Nardz Villafranca, PPUR campaign coordinator and Jean-Paul de la Fuente, New7Wonders Director. Subjects discussed included the arrangement of the Official Inauguration events and the implementation of the strategic plan for promoting PPUR using its title as one of the New7Wonders of Nature.
“This confirmation is wonderful news for Puerto Princesa, and a great example of how now its more fun to be in the Philippines,” said Mayor Hagedorn. “World-wide exposure of our natural beauty on this level is critical both for tourism and for our image nationally and internationally.”
Puerto Princesa Underground River is located some 50km north of the city of Puerto Princesa, on Palawan island in the Philippines. It consists of a limestone karst mountain landscape, several large chambers containing significant formations of stalactites and stalagmites, and an 8.2 km. navigable underground river that winds through a cave before flowing directly into the West Philippine Sea. At the exit, a flawless lagoon is framed by ancient trees growing right to the water’s edge.
In alphabetical order, the provisional New7Wonders of Nature announced on 11 November 2011 are: Amazon, Halong Bay, Iguazu Falls, Jeju Island, Komodo, Puerto Princesa Underground River and Table Mountain. Following Jeju Island, PPUR is the second to be confirmed on a preliminary basis, as New7Wonders has now completed the telephone voting validation in the Philippines. The remaining five provisional New7Wonders of Nature are currently undergoing the three steps of the verification process, namely the national voting validation, the global voting calculation confirmation by an independent audit firm, and the preparation and implementation of the Official Inauguration ceremonies.

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Comelec says Gloria Arroyo’s hospital arrest has limits

  GMA News Online

REUTERS - Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo poses in her hospital suite at St.Luke's Medical Center in Taguig city, east of Manila, December 9, 2011, while awaiting transfer to a government hospital. Philippine security forces transferred Arroyo from the private hospital to a military medical facility in Manila this afternoon, according to local media. Arroyo, president from 2001-2010 and a now a member of Congress, has been under heavy guard at the private Manila hospital since her arrest last month on charges of rigging results in elections in 2007. REUTERS/Bullit Marquez/Pool (PHILIPPINES - Tags: POLITICS)

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s hospital arrest is a temporary arrangement, with the Pasay City Regional Trial court last year taking into consideration that she was sick.   Sixto Brillantes, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair, explained that from the very beginning government wanted her confined in a detention cell but agreed to have her placed under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.   “Noong una pa, gusto namin sa regular detention na, e. Pumayag lang kami na ilagay lang sa hospital dahil may sakit. Kung wala nang sakit, e ‘di pumunta na siya sa regular cell,” he said.   Comelec, which filed an electoral sabotage complaint against the former President that prompted the lower court to have her arrested on Nov. 18, 2011, is leaving it up to the court to decide where Arroyo should spend her days while waiting for her case to proceed.   Arroyo was then confined at the St. Luke Medical Center in Taguig City’s Bonifacio Global City.   “Maski ano pa i-counter nila, okay lang sa amin pero ang judge ang magde-desisyon diyan in the end… We will definitely oppose already their  motions,” said Brillantes.   On Tuesday, the commission asked the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) to compel Arroyo’s attending physician to issue a medical report recommend if she is now fit for discharge from the hospital.   GMA News Online called Arroyo spokesperson Elena Bautista-Horn for a statement, but she wasn’t picking up her phone.  — VS, GMA News

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ABS-CBN to cancel 'Happy Yipee Yehey'

By Gerry Plaza | Yahoo! Southeast Asia Newsroom

 Noontime show "Happy Yipee Yehey" will have its final episode next Saturday, February 4, nearly a year after its first episode, ABS-CBN announced.

The show, whose main hosts are John Estrada, Randy Santiago, Toni Gonzaga, Rico J. Puno and Pokwang, aired its pilot on February 12 last year. An original host, Mariel Rodriguez, had moved to TV5 and is now host of the early evening game show "Wil Time Bigtime."

Other "Happy Yipee Yehey" hosts include John Prats, Matteo Guidicelli, and Bianca Manalo.

"Happy Yipee Yehey" is the second noontime show to be cancelled after Willie Revillame's "Wowowee" had been put off the air over the network's ongoing case against the now TV5 host. The show was preceded by "Pilipinas Win na Win" that was hosted first by Kris Aquino and Robin Padilla then eventually emceed by the Hitmakers Rey Valera, Marco Sison, Nonoy Zuniga and Rico J. Puno.

ABS-CBN issued the following statement, which was sent to Yahoo! Philippines OMG! on Thursday, January 26:

"'Happy Yipee Yehey' (HYY) will have its last episode with the grand finals of its "My Girl" search at the AFP Theater on Saturday, February 4, 2012.

ABS-CBN is very grateful to the HYY hosts and production staff for their hard work and contribution in giving our noontime viewers a "happy, yipee, yehey" experience for the past year.

We also extend our deepest gratitude to our viewers, here in the Philippines and in The Filipino Channel (TFC) markets worldwide, for their support to the program.

The HYY hosts will be given new projects that kapamilyas will surely enjoy."

"HYY" was named as “Best Noontime Show” at the 2011 Ateneode Manila University Dangal ng Bayan Awards and was a 2011 Anak TV Seal awardee. With Karen Valeza

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It's final: Phl gov't wins NAIA-3 case in Singapore

By Rudy Santos | Philstar 

After nine years, the arbitration case between the Philippine government and the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco) is finally over.

Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Jose Angel Honrado yesterday announced that the Singapore-based International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) ruling in favor of the Philippine government has become final and executory.

In a manifestation filed on Dec. 27, 2011, Piatco formally withdrew its second application to set aside the earlier ICC ruling that dismissed its claims against the Philippine government.

Piatco in February 2003 filed a request for arbitration before the ICC seeking to enforce its concession agreement with the Philippine government for the construction of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3).

The agreement authorized Piatco to build the $650-million NAIA-3 and granted a franchise to operate and maintain the terminal during the concession period of 25 years.

But the Supreme Court (SC) declared the agreement null and void for having been “amended and re-stated” without the approval of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Honrado said.

The SC said that Paircargo Consortium, the predecessor of Piatco, did not possess the requisite financial capacity when it was awarded the NAIA-3 contract and that the agreement was contrary to public policy.

Piatco sued the government before the ICC in Singapore where it sought to recover at least $565 million in damages.

Its foreign investor, Fraport, separately sued the Philippine government at the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington.

In August 2007, the ICSID affirmed the SC’s nullification of the concessions and rejected Fraport’s claim because of its violation of the Anti-Dummy Law.

The ICC also rejected Piatco’s claim because of illegality arising from Piatco’s violation of the Anti-Dummy Law, which requires that the operation, management and control of public utilities such as the airport should remain with Filipinos.

With Piatco’s withdrawal, Honrado said the ICC award granting the Philippine government more than $6 million in arbitration cost has become final.

“This final ICC ruling, coupled with payment of just compensation in the expropriation case decided in our favor by the Regional Trial Court of Pasay City, will pave the way for the full commercial operations of the NAIA Terminal 3,” Honrado announced.  (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)

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CORRECTED - Iran won't move toward nuclear weapon in 2012 - ISIS report

  By Tabassum Zakaria and Mark Hosenball | Reuters

(Corrects date of NIE report to 2007 from 2003, in paragraph 16)

Photo By � Ho New / Reuters/Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran is unlikely to move toward building a nuclear weapon this year because it does not yet have the capability to produce enough weapon-grade uranium, a draft report by the Institute for Science and International Security said on Wednesday.

The report by the institute founded by nuclear expert David Albright offered a more temperate view of Iran's nuclear program than some of the heated rhetoric that has surfaced since the United States and its allies stepped up sanctions on Tehran.

"Iran is unlikely to decide to dash toward making nuclear weapons as long as its uranium enrichment capability remains as limited as it is today," the report said.

The United States and Iran are engaged in a war of words over sanctions, with Iran threatening to retaliate by blocking oil shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The United States said it would not allow that to happen.

The escalating rhetoric and tensions have led to concerns about the potential for missteps between the adversaries that might spiral into a military confrontation that neither wants.

But the report, financed by a grant from the United States Institute of Peace, said Iran had not made a decision to build a nuclear bomb. The USIP is an independent, non-partisan center created by the U.S. Congress in 1984 that receives federal government funding.

"Iran is unlikely to break out in 2012, in great part because it is deterred from doing so," said the ISIS report, which has not yet been publicly released.

The report turns down the temperature, saying that sanctions and the fear of a military strike by Israel on Iran's nuclear facilities have worked as a deterrent.

The institute has advised U.S. and foreign governments about Iran's nuclear capabilities and Albright is considered a respected expert on the issue. The report tracks closely with what is known of official U.S. government assessments.

U.S. officials say Iran has not made the decision to build a nuclear weapon and that Iranian leaders haven't made the decision because they have to weigh the cost and benefits of building a nuclear weapon.

Much of what the Iranians are doing with their nuclear program has civilian uses, but they are keeping their options open, which significantly adds to the air of ambiguity, U.S. officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Some conservative and Israeli analysts in the past have challenged these types of assessments, asserting that Iranian nuclear efforts are sufficiently advanced that they could build a bomb in a year or less.

But according to the institute's report: "Although Iran is engaged in nuclear hedging, no evidence has emerged that the regime has decided to build nuclear weapons."

"Such a decision may be unlikely to occur until Iran is first able to augment its enrichment capability to a point where it would have the ability to make weapon-grade uranium quickly and secretly," the report obtained by Reuters said.

It added that despite a report last November by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency alleging that Iran had made significant progress on nuclear weaponization, "Iran's essential challenge remains developing a secure capability to make enough weapon-grade uranium, likely for at least several nuclear weapons."

Some European intelligence officials have disputed a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate published in 2007 which said that Iran had stopped working on a program it had launched earlier to design and build a bomb.

The Europeans maintain that Iran never stopped research and scientific development efforts which could be bomb-related.

Tensions spiked after Iran announced earlier this month that it had begun to enrich uranium deep inside an underground facility near the holy city of Qom. The secretly built facility was publicly revealed by the United States in 2009.

AIRSTRIKES 'OVERSOLD'

Among possible policy options for halting Iran's nuclear program, one of the least likely to be successful is a military attack on its nuclear program, according to the institute's report.

Limited military options, such as airstrikes against nuclear facilities, are "oversold as to their ability to end or even significantly delay Iran's nuclear program," the report said. Limited bombing campaigns would be "unlikely to destroy Iran's main capability" to produce weapon-grade uranium, it said.

Iran has taken precautions by dispersing the centrifuges it uses for enrichment to multiple locations, has mastered the construction of centrifuges, and has probably stockpiled extra centrifuges, the institute said.

A bombing campaign that did not totally eliminate these capabilities would leave Iran "able to quickly rebuild" its nuclear program and even motivate it to set up a Manhattan Project-style crash program to build a bomb, which would only make the region more dangerous and unstable, according to the institute.

The report said that clandestine intelligence operations aimed at detecting secret Iranian nuclear activities, including the construction of new underground sites, are "vitally important." Known methods used by spy agencies include the recruitment of secret agents, cyber spying operations, overhead surveillance by satellites and drones, and bugging of equipment which Iran buys from foreign suppliers.

The report says another "well known tactic" used by Western spy agencies against Iran has been to infiltrate Iranian networks that smuggle nuclear-related equipment and supply them with plans or items which are faulty or sabotaged. The report says this tactic has helped the West to uncover at least one of Iran's secret nuclear sites and, according to official statements by the Iranians, has caused enrichment centrifuges to break.

Other more violent covert operations strategies, particularly the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists and engineers, have "serious downsides and implications," such as high risks of Iranian retaliation through militant attacks which could be directed against civilian targets. The United States has emphatically denied any involvement in the assassinations.

The report said that since thousands of specialists are involved in the Iranian nuclear program, assassinations were unlikely to be effective in slowing it down. It also warned that Iran could construe assassinations as acts of war and use them to justify retaliation.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Philippines-US in military talks in response to China rise - report

  Reuters 

REUTERS - The Philippines is in talks with the U.S. government on expanding its military presence in the southeast Asian country in response to the growing assertiveness of China, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

In recent months, the United States has announced plans to set up a Marine base in northern Australia and station warships in Singapore, moves seen in China as a part of a broader U.S. attempt to encircle it as it grows into a major power in the region.

The newspaper said that negotiations were in the early stages but quoted officials from both governments as saying they were favourably inclined towards a deal.

It said more talks were scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Washington before higher-level meetings in March.

"We can point to other countries: Australia, Japan, Singapore," said a senior Philippine official involved in the talks.

"We're not the only one doing this, and for good reason. We all want to see a peaceful and stable region. Nobody wants to have to face China or confront China."

The Philippines used to host major U.S. military bases until about 20 years ago.

More recently, its relations with China have been strained by conflicting claims to islands in the South China Sea -- an issue which has also tested China's ties with other countries in the region.

Among the options under consideration are operating Navy ships from the Philippines, deploying troops on a rotational basis and staging more frequent joint exercises, the Post said.

Officials in the Philippines were quoted as saying their priority is to strengthen maritime defenses, especially near the South China Sea. They indicated a willingness to host U.S. ships and surveillance aircraft.

(Writing by Jonathan Thatcher; Editing by Michael Urquhart)

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Santiago irked, forced to leave Day 7 trial

  By Shielo Mendoza | Yahoo! Southeast Asia Newsroom

Miriam Defensor-Santiago (NPPA Images)

 After yet another heated argument with the prosecution team on Thursday, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago’s blood pressure shot up and was advised to leave early and rest at home.

Tom Tobias, media relations officer of Santiago, said the senator’sblood pressure read 180/90. He said Santiago will return on Monday for the trial.

When the proceedings began, the senator-judge was irked by the prosecution’s failure to answer her directly.

“Just answer yes or no! I am tired of hearing your voice!” Santiago said to private prosecutor Atty.Arthur Lim. She asked Lim if the prosecution is charging Chief Justice Renato Corona under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

A further scolding

Santiago further scolded the private prosecutor for arguing with her and even threatened to bar Lim from appearing in court.

“How dare you raise questions to my authority? Don't overstep yourself! You cannot engage in a discussion with me! I am the judge here!” she yelled.

Santiago was absent during the first week of the impeachment trial because of her hypertension.

When she returned on Tuesday, the senator-judge stressed the need to hasten the proceedings and repeatedly hit the prosecution panel for “wasting the time” of the court.

Farinas ‘walks out’

Meanwhile, Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, member of prosecution panel, reportedly walked out of the trial and told his colleagues, “Bahala na kayo diyan!”

Camille Mathay, daughter of Fariñas, went to Twitter to explain her father’s action. “Dad was disappointed because he wanted to argue but was stopped. He has been wanting to take the stand,” she tweeted.

“If you won't let him talk, why keep him there? Haynaku!!!!!!!” she added.

Nevertheless, Fariñas returned to the session hall after several minutes.

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Wife of Italian Cruise Captain Calls Treatment of Husband 'Shameful'

By KEVIN DOLAK, LAMA HASAN and ANGELA ELLIS | Good Morning America

 The wife of the captain accused of abandoning the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner off the Tuscan island of Giglio says that her husband is not the "monster" that has been portrayed in the media and that he is being made a scapegoat.

Fabiola Russo, the wife of Captain Francesco Schettino, spoke out in a cover story in Oggi, an Italian weekly magazine, which hit newsstands today. In the interview Russo says that her husband is a "maestro," and that there was a reason he was entrusted with the helm of the Concordia.

"My husband is at the center of an unprecedented global media storm," Russo said in the interview. "I cannot think of any other naval or air tragedy in which the responsible party was treated with such violence. This is a man hunt, people are looking for a scapegoat, a monster. It's shameful.

In the interview Russo, 48, also addresses claims that 52-year-old Schettino, whom the Italian press has dubbed "Captain Coward," recklessly steered the Concordia to disaster.

"He knows how to do his job, but sometimes even those who know how to do their job can make mistakes -- if he did make a mistake," she said. "He is decisive, stable and lucid. He analyzes situations, understands them and knows how to manage them."

Russo did however admit in the interview that at one point Schettino was fined for steering a boat too close to the shore.

"Our shared passion is canoeing -- to paddle together you have to be in symphony, which is what Francesco and I are," she said. "But we got fined once, because we took a little motorboat too close to the coast."

The Costa Concordia capsized on January 13 when it hit rocks near Italy's Tuscan coast. The cruise liner had 4,200 passengers onboard.

Officials said Tuesday that another body was found in the ship's wreckage, which brings the total death toll from the Costa Concordia tragedy to 16, leaving 17 victims still missing, including a Minnesota couple.

Salvage operators are now getting in position to pump fuel off of the stricken ship, bringing a crane and other equipment to the scene.

PHOTOS: Inside the Costa Concordia Cruise Ship Tragedy

Schettino, who claimed he tripped into the lifeboat and never meant to abandon the sinking ship, could face criminal charges, including manslaughter and abandoning ship. He told investigators earlier that his actions after the crash were competent and saved lives.

The CEO of the cruise line said that because Schettino did not tell them exactly what was going on in those fateful minutes after the crash, they did not send the proper response.

New transcripts leaked in the Italian press reveal a secretly recorded phone call that Schettino made from an investigators' office after his arrest. On the call, the embattled captain says that while his skill helped prevent an even worse tragedy, he feels that he is being scapegoated.

"I tried to avoid larger consequences ... but in the end I didn't manage to do it. I don't want to ever go back on a ship... I want to change my life because I don't see it ending very well," Schettino says.

The ship's chaplain said Schettino cried in his arms for 15 minutes after reaching the safety of shore.

"At around 2:30 a.m. I spoke to the captain," chaplain Raffaele Malena told the French magazine Famille Chretienne. He embraced me and cried like a child for about a quarter of an hour."

Russo told Oggi magazine that she and her husband pray for all of the victims and those still missing from the ship, and added that the ordeal has been difficult for the couple's 17-year-old daughter, who has seen the firestorm of negative press about her father.

In the interview Russo doesn't mention the mystery Moldovan woman her husband was reportedly dining with that night. That woman, who is still unnamed, claimed the captain was entertaining her at the time of the accident, and showing her photos of his daughter.

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WWII destroyer returns to SC home after repairs

  By BRUCE SMITH | Associated Press 

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (AP) — With the blare of air horns, cheers and a champagne toast, "The Ship That Would Not Die" returned Wednesday to its home at a maritime museum on Charleston Harbor on the South Carolina coast.

Just after sunrise, the World War II destroyer USS Laffey was towed slowly down the Cooper River to the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum. It was moved more than two years ago to a dry dock so its hull could be repaired at a cost of about $9 million.

A group of about 50 people, including more than a dozen former crew members, gathered on the flight deck of another World War II vessel, the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, to welcome the Laffey home.

"This means a lot of years of fighting to get her saved again," said Sonny Walker of Abingdon, Md., who served on the Laffey in the early 1960s. "This is the third time. The Germans tried to sink her. The Japanese tried to sink her and then she tried to sink herself sitting here. She's whipped them all and she's back again."

The Laffey, built at Maine's Bath Iron Works in 1943, got its nickname as "The Ship That Would Not Die" when it was on picket duty off Okinawa in March 1945. About 50 Japanese planes attacked and about half got through to the Laffey. The ship suffered 103 casualties when it was hit by four bombs and five kamikaze planes.

The Laffey is also the only surviving American World War II destroyer that saw action in the Atlantic, where it was part of the D-Day invasion. Now designated a national historic landmark, it was decommissioned in 1975 and brought to Patriots Point in 1981.

"It's where I spent my youth. I grew up on that ship," said 85-year-old Lee Hunt of Charleston, S.C., a member of the original crew when it was commissioned. "I went on it when I was 17 and spent my 18th birthday killing people in Germany in the invasion of France and right on into Okinawa and the Philippines and what have you. This means a lot. I spent a lot of time on that ship."

He said it was no surprise that, by 1945, the Laffey would encounter suicide attacks by Japanese aviators.

"We knew we were going to get hit. Every destroyer out there on picket duty knew they were going to be attacked," said Hunt, who said he had no time to get nervous because he was on the ship and doing what the crew was asked to do.

The renovation was paid for with a state loan, which the museum plans to repay with operating revenues.

Bringing the Laffey back is not so much about ticket sales for a museum as it is about helping preserve the nation's heritage, said Mac Burdette, the executive director of Patriots Point.

"More than ever we need reminders of what dedication and sacrifice are required if we are going to remain a free and independent nation," he said. "Can we do without the Washington Monument that is going to take millions of dollars to repair from the earthquake? No. There are some things that are just worth paying for and this is part of it."

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