MikeLigalig.com

Quote from: islander on December 17, 2013, 09:16:38 PM
who isn't?  makusian gyod mog pino jamo.

Di man lagi hadlok si Bugsay...

Quote from: islander on December 17, 2013, 09:36:24 PM
imo na nang expertise.

I know. Ang imoha silent whisper...

Hmm, what an impacted opinion some foreign ministers have...

Namukong...

Mismatched dancers then...

Quote from: islander on December 18, 2013, 12:08:06 AM
ay, abi nakog beret nang akong gisul-ob.

bitaw, asa man nilay pareha nimog nawong, bai hubs?  kaberks baya ta...

Kanang parehas og nawong ni Bugsay, mao na ako...

Pwede pud kini na lang, klarong double-purpose...

Quote from: islander on December 17, 2013, 11:56:52 PM


remember django the milyonir?  unsay sulod anang iyang gigujod?  that's a delivery, dear hubag nga hinan-aw ug sine.

He he, pero Django Unchained man tong milyonir...

Quote from: islander on December 17, 2013, 11:48:37 PM
kay naa ba diay bayolin tong imong milyonir best friend?

Hoy, bagit-bagiton, ay. Lit baygans bi baygans...

Quote from: insurectus on December 18, 2013, 12:06:48 AM
kanus-a pod kaha diri sa atoa

Gahuwat pud bitaw ko...

No laughing matter

Citing a narration by Shoup's daughter Terri Van Keuren, Snopes.com said calling Shoup's line was no light matter since it was one of the top secret lines in CONAD and would only ring in a crisis.

"Dad's pretty annoyed," she said as she recalled her father "barking" into the phone and asking who was on the line.

When the child on the other line began to cry and asked if Shoup was "one of Santa's elves," Shoup eventually softened and had an airman answer the calls.

"Just pretend you're Santa," Van Keuren recalled her father instructing the airman.

Shoup then decided to offer the kids information about Santa's progress from the North Pole, and as NORAD's Santa site would say, "a tradition was born."

When NORAD was formed in 1958, Shoup's organization offered annual Santa tracking, and a phone number was publicized.

"Manning those phones over the years have been countless numbers of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps personnel and their families, and for many people, turning to NORAD to find out where Santa is became something to look forward to each year," Snopes.com said. â€" TJD, GMA News

GMA News Online â€" 14 hours ago

   
Talk about high-tech chases.

Who would have thought a wrong phone number listing would trigger one of the most high-tech of annual Christmas traditions: the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Santa Tracker?

Yes, Virginia. NORAD started tracking Santa's yearly trip in 1955, after the Sears Roebuck & Co department store published a number where children can call and talk to Jolly St. Nick, according to urban legend-busting site Snopes.com.

"(T)he phone number included in the ad was printed incorrectly, and children who called that number on Christmas Eve found themselves not on the phone with St. Nick but on a top secret line to one Colonel Harry Shoup, the officer on duty that day at CONAD (Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD's predecessor)," Snopes.com said.

But instead of telling off the children, Shoup decided to play along and had his staff accommodate the young callers by updating them on Santa's progress.

Today, Snopes.com said NORAD engages "well over a thousand people" to track Santa from the North Pole.

Sick trick: Roland T prompts Adolf to give the Hitler salute


Judges were previously lenient because of a brain injury he suffered in 1995. But they jailed him for five months over the dog salute.

Adolf has now been taken to an animal shelter, where staff have renamed him Adi.

Spokesman Evamarie Konig said: "We are retraining him to stop him raising his leg too high.

"He doesn't have anything that would make him interesting to Right-wing extremists.

"However, we think he will quickly find a new owner because he is so famous." (Last updated at 20:36 21 December 2007)

Howl Hitler: German who taught dog to give Nazi salute with its paw is jailed
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/



In the doghouse: The German Shepherd crossbreed's name 'Adolf' is chalked above its kennel door


Most dog owners delight in teaching their pet to "shake a paw".

But the trick a German man taught his canine companion was much more sinister... it learned to do a Nazi salute.

The German Shepherd crossbreed, called Adolf, lifted its paw up high on command in imitation of the infamous raised-arm greeting used by Hitler and his cohorts.

The nine-year-old dog's owner, known as Roland T, boasted brazenly in front of police about the animal's trick - even though the Nazi salute is banned in Germany.

And the 58-year-old former car salesman chalked the name "Adolf" above the door of his pet's kennel in Berlin.

He claimed the dog was born on Hitler's birthday and he planned to have him put down on the anniversary of the dictator's suicide.

This, he said, was because he could not afford dog food after being fined for other Nazi-related behaviour.

Roland had been handed suspended sentences by courts since 2003 and was said to be notorious for openly giving Nazi salutes and wearing pro-Hitler T-shirts.

The device is composed of two computers running on special software that appears on both computer screens which contains written instructions as well as sign language video instructions and audio.

The software is hack-proof, according to Zantua, since the device doesn’t allow a third party to connect and other network connectivity are all disabled, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Zantua, who also previously served as executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ Episcopal Commission on Seminaries, said the computer setup was designed to instantly run a chat program where a priest and the penitent can exchange written messages on their screens.

Both penitent and priest will only have to write their messages by typing and pressing the appropriate buttons to a sequence following normal church practice, he said.

Deaf people usually have very limited option and accessibility to confession due to their disability and the limited number of priests who are skilled in sign language, Zantua added.

Penitents with hearing problems either will look for a priest who knows sign language or else write their confession on a piece of paper and hand them to a priest.

The use of the tool for the sacrament of confession is still awaiting approval from the Holy See.

http://www.tempo.com.ph/
Posted by Online on Dec 18th, 2013
By LESLIE ANN AQUINO





Manila, Philippines â€" A retired Filipino priest based in Phoenix, Arizona, has invented a computer based confession tool for deaf people.

Fr. Romuald P. Zantua, DS, formerly of Daet diocese and founder of a religious community called Disciples of Hope, created the St. Damien Confession Box which consists of two laptop computers running on special software and connected exclusively for penitent and priest to type on and send their messages to each other.

Both laptops can only function for the particular intent it was created and not for other purposes, according to an article posted on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines website.

Zantua said priests who are not skilled in sign language will be able to communicate with deaf people using the chat function through a secured setup of two connected computers with American Sign Language (ASL) instructions and videos.

He said this particular invention will boost the practice of confession and may usher people with special needs to the Catholic Church’s gradual adoption of new technology in the modern world.

Quote from: islander on December 18, 2013, 12:04:15 AM
that's pee, man, not beer!

Divine pee?

Angela Merkel Is Sworn In For Third Term As Chancellor


Sieg Heil!

Quote from: bugsay on December 18, 2013, 07:54:00 AM
basin "my way" ang gikanta.....or my way ang kinantahan?..

He he, way but-anay sa kinantahan, wa puy but-anay sa reaksyon sa naminaw...

Quote from: islander on December 17, 2013, 09:04:26 PM
hahay.  dia na say pasiklab nga news.  nanunggab kay hubog man tawon ni uy.  yabag o di ang nikanta, bahala pa tingalig si justin bieber o frank sinatra o luciano pavarotti, hubog gihapon ang supetsado.

next time, hubog ka unya naay nikanta, ipatulon na lang ang microphone.  ayaw panunggab.  kalami tuod daklon ug microphone ang ulo sa newswriter ani uy. 

Medyo sakto ka, Madame. Pero ang immediate cause mao ang kayabag. Opkors, pwede pud manunggab kay nasuya sa kanindot sa kinantahan. In adir words, dili safe si Bugsay bisan pa man sa kamananoy sa iyang pagduhawit...

Quote from: Mike Ortega Ligalig on December 17, 2013, 08:19:38 PM
ang suspetsado adto na pud magkanta-kanta sa pagmahay sa bilanggoan. pagka walay pulos nga pagpatay. angayan ra pud madugta sa prisohan.

Wa jud tuoy hinungdan. Kon patyon ang tanang yabag, pila na lang kahay mahibilin nga mag-inom-inom...

Kanus-a pa kaha mag-snow sa akong hacienda sa bukirang bahin sa gikamingawan kong Dimyaw...

Midaligdig

ang mga luha sa kalipay
sa hamis nga aping ni Inday...

Quote from: Lorenzo on December 12, 2013, 10:50:08 AM
mag sinambagay ko ni kim boy. i bet i can take him on.

He he, hadlok diay ka ni Justin?

Criminal raps filed vs Don Mariano bus driver
By Mike Frialde (philstar.com) | Updated December 17, 2013 - 4:54pm


MANILA, Philippines - The Highway Patrol Group (HPG) on Tuesday filed charges of multiple homicide, and reckless imprudence resulting in physical injury and damage to property against the driver of a passenger bus that fell off the Skyway in Parañaque City early Monday and crashed on a closed van killing 18 persons and injuring 16 others.

HPG investigator Senior Police Officer 2 Isidra Dumlao said the charges were filed before the Parañaque City Prosecutor's Office against bus driver Carmelo Calatcat and the owner of the ill-fated bus, Don Mariano Transit Corp.

Bodies of passengers are covered in newspapers as they are laid down on the road after a passenger bus plunged from an elevated highway known as the Skyway Monday, Dec. 16, 2013, in suburban Parañaque in Manila. AP/Bullit Marquez

Chinese-Filipino owns largest pearl in the world
Manila Bulletin â€" 16 hours ago


Boracay Island, Aklan â€" A Chinese-Filipino resort owner in this island is also the owner of what will be considered as the largest pearl in the world.

In an interview Monday, Richard King, chairman of the Crown Regency Hotel, said that a group of gemologists from the Guinness Book of World Records is expected to arrive here Dec.19-20 to formally inspect the pearl he calls as the “Pearl of the Kings.”

Guinness currently recognizes the six-kilo “Pearl of Allah” now in the United States as the largest pearl in the world.

“Based on our initial measurement, the ‘Pearl of the Kings’ weighs around nine kilos and we are confident that we could be certified by the Guinness Book of World Records,” King said.

He added that he inherited the pearl from his grandfather. It reportedly came from the waters of Palawan like the “Pearl of Allah.”

Reports said that the “Pearl of Allah” also known as the “Pearl of Lao Tzu” was given by a Muslim chieftain in the 70s and was found by a diver at Brookes Point, Palawan.

“We have now decided to display the “Pearl of the Kings” at the oceanarium park in the Crown Regency Hotel as one of its attractions.

“Aside from the pearl, our oceanarium also boasts of having the longest oceanarium tunnel in the Philippines, having 30 meters length,” King said.

The “Pearl of Kings” although big is not considered as a non-nacreous pearl having no iridescence or sheen; thus it is not considered a gem stone.

It is said to have come from a giant clam which produces the so-called tridacna pearl.

Delikado diay ning yabag ta, di na lang jud patugatuga...

Nasayran sa kapulisan nga ang biktima, suspek ug uban sa mga higala sa dapit nag-inom sa panimalay sa suspek human nakadaog sa tari ang naulahi niadtong Biyernes.

Si Camanse maoy nangdapit nga adto sa panimalay niini magli­ngaw-lingaw sa pagtagay ug magkanta-kanta sa bidyoke.

Apan sa pagka alas 9:00 sa gabii niadtong Biyernes, ang grupo nangahubog na ug nagsiyaok na sa ilang pagkanta bisan yabag.

Walay igong rason, kalit lang nikuha og mahait nga hinagiban ang suspek ug giduslak makadaghang higayon ang lawas sa biktima hangtod namatay.

“Nakugang daw iyang mga barkada nganong kalit nga nanunggab ang suspetsado nga wala man sila mag-away pero posibling gisabaan sa pagpunay og kanta sa biktima, wala siguro sa tuno maong nasuko,” dugang ni PO3 Labine.

Sa imbestigasyon, ang suspek nipadayag nga wala siyay kalibutan nga nahimo niya ang krimen ug nidason nga bunga lang sa iyang kahubog ang panghitabo.

Wala na marekuber sa kapulisan ang gigamit sa suspek sa pagpatay sa biktima.

Gipadayag niini nga dako ang iyang pagmahay nga napatay niya ang higala tungod sa kahubog.

Samtang wala pa ma-establisar nila kon unsa gyod ang ulohan sa gikatanta sa biktima nga nakapasako pagmaayo sa suspek.

Karong adlawa, ilang ipasaka ang tukmang kaso batok niini.

SuperBalita Cebu
Ni Guam P. Logroño
Sunday, December 15, 2013


USA ka mag-uuma gi­dunggab-patay sa iyang kainom nga laing mag-uuma, kinsa giingong naglagot human wala na makasabot sa gikanta sa biktima nga nisiyaok nga wala sa tuno.

Ang kalingawan sa pagbidyoke nga nahimong duguon nahitabo sa Tugonan, bukirang ba­rangay sa dakbayan sa Danao sa miaging gabii.

Ang biktima mao si Lucilo Lawas, 27, ulitawo, mag-uuma ug nagpuyo sa nahisgutang da­pit.

Namatay si Lawas human naputos sa dinunggaban ang nagkadaiyang parte sa lawas.

Ang suspek nga nitahan sa kapulisan human sa hitabo mao si Dionesio Camanse, 26, ulitawo, mag-uuma ug higala sa biktima.

Gikataho nga grabe ang pagmahay ni Camanse.

Si Police Officer 3 (PO3) Alnold Labine, desk officer sa Danao Police Station nga nahi­nabi sa dySS Super Radyo ug Sun.Star Superbalita, nagkanayon nga Sabado sa alas 6:00 sa buntag, nakadawat sila sa alarma gikan sa bukirang dapit sa dakbayan.

Ang ilang nakuhang impormasyon nga gikatahong nagkaaway ang driver ug ang iyang asawa sa wa pa ang aksidente samtang nagdagan ang bus paingon sa dakbayan sa Sugbu.

Si Orbiso nipasabot nga iya lang nadunggan ang impormasyon.

Samtang ang nangaangol naglangkob nila ni Ida Aida Javiorto, 47, taga Alegria; Cefriana Cuevas, 46; Renan Letejio, 27; Jimmy Norte, 42; Aleber Asma, 27; Lourdes Bendulo, 63; bana nga si Marcio Bendulo, 71; Edwin Batomalaque; Roseller Zamora, 27; Eutequia Dantes, 80; Mariano Indab, 41; Melita Abella, 37; Jorgin Devila, 19; Maricris Gomes, 17; Marilou Malaylan; Millicent Nielrose Gomes; Gland Clifford Durango; Precila Sanchez, 21; Isidro Manaba; Alden Ebale, 43; Gedion Noveza, 28; Virginia Pilingon, 43; Sheila Yong, 29; Renante Ybañez, 30; Winston Adam Palamini, `19; Bernadita Enario 20; Sheila Patriarca, 23; Gregorio Pogoy, 47; Ereneo Salawgon, 54; Cherybell Cuevas, 21; ug Rory Jay Betasolo, 20.

Samtang gidid-an una nga makabiyahe ang laing siyam ka mga bus unit sa Vallacar Transit, Inc. sud sa 30 ka adlaw nga susama og prangkisa sa naaksidente nga bus sa lungsod sa Badian kagahapon sa buntag.

Giingong kusog ang pagpadagan sa driver base sa mga saksi samtang nagdulhog sa kurbadang karsada ug wa makakontrolar niini ang sakyanan, nibangga sa kilometer post.

“Hinay ra man daw iyang dagan kay 60 kilometros matag oras lang pero dulhugon man maayong pagkabulintang sa sakyanan. Nibagnos sa karsada pipila ka metros,” dugang ni Orboso.

Apan pipila ka mga saksi nga nahinabi sa GMA Balitang Bisdak, niinsister nga kusog ang dagan sa bus sa wa pa kini mabangga ug malimbuwad.

Ang asawa diha sa may front seat tupad ang iyang anak hinungdan nga ang nawong niini wa mahitsura dihang nagusbat ang dulong sa sakyanan.

Ang bata posibling na-igo sa bildo o kabilya sa sakyanan dihang napagnos sa karsada.

Ang ubang mga pasahero gidali sa pagdala sa Malabuyoc Hospital, Badian, Alegria, samtang ang ubang nga grabi gidala sa tambalanan sa dakbayan sa Sugbo.

Ang amahan gitanggong sa Badian Police Station samtang gihikay nila ang tukmang kasong ipasaka batok niini.

2 patay, 31 ang angol human bus nalimbuwad
SuperBalita Cebu
Ni Guam P. Logroño ug Sheila C. Gravinez
Monday, December 16, 2013


ULO sa bata nabuwag sa lawas samtang ang iyang inahan namatay dihang nadisgrasya ang bus nga gimaneho sa iyang amahan kagahapon sa alas 7:18 sa buntag sa Sitio Bangkobangko, Barangay Balhaan, Badian, Sugbo.

Mokabat usab 31 ka mga pasahero ang nangaa­ngol atol sa hitabo.

Ang bata nga si Geralyn Gerson, 5, wa nay ulo dihang nakuha sa mga rescuer ilawom sa Ceres Bus (CEH-722) samtang wa na mahitsura ang iyang inahan nga si Marlyn, 41, taga Wireless, dakbayan sa Mandaue.

Si Erwin Gerson, 41, amahan ug maoy driver sa Ceres bus, niangkon nga nakainom siya niadtong Domingo sa gabii samtang positibo sab siya sa liquor test dihang gipaeksamin human sa disgrasya.

Si Insp. Henry Orbiso, hepe sa Badian Police nga nahinabi sa dySS Super Radyo ug Sun.Star Superbalita, nagkanayon nga ang Ceres bus gikan sa Samboan nga puno sa mga pasahero paingon sa dakbayan sa Sugbo.

Al Jazeera â€" 22 hours ago


 


Snow has fallen in Northern Vietnam for the first time in many years.

The snow caused a five-hour traffic jam as people drove into the mountainous provinces of Lao Cai and Ha Giang to see the wintry flurries.

The weather system responsible for the snow has also brought some unusual weather to other parts of the region.

This is normally the dry season, but torrential rain has been lashing Laos, Vietnam and southeast China.

Oudomxay in Laos reported 142mm of rain in a 24 hour period and Zhanjiang in China’s Guangdong province, reported 102mm. For Zhanjiang, this is three times the amount of rain that is expected in the entire month of December.

The torrential downpours have caused flooding in parts of the region, which has inundated people’s homes and made roads impassable.

Conditions across the region are expected to improve over the next few days. The rain will slowly edge eastwards and subside.

Barako: Sige, ha, my sweet Michelle, peace na ta...

Michelle: Di ko gustog eskandalo, mao nga cool lang ko ron. Pero dila ray way labod nimo inigbalik nato sa Merika...

Quote from: hubag bohol on December 16, 2013, 02:36:59 PM
The OIC’s new Charter says only a country with a Muslim majority may be accepted as member, but a country with a sizable Muslim population maybe accepted as observer, but only on the “consensus” of the 57 foreign ministers “and on the basis of the agreed criteria by the Council of Foreign Ministers.”

What is "sizable" should not be based on sheer number alone, but also on the minority population's impact on the country's body politic, the whole gamut from its national policies to its collective imagination.

Bwahaha! Bad memories come flooding back...

AFP News â€" 9 hours ago


UN leader Ban Ki-moon will go to the typhoon-stricken Philippines city of Tacloban this week to highlight the growing number of weather disasters.

"2013 was another year of extreme weather -- as we saw most recently with Typhoon Haiyan. On Thursday, I will depart for Manila and Tacloban for a firsthand assessment of the aftermath," Ban said Monday as he announced the visit.

The UN secretary general is to arrive in Manila on Friday for talks with government leaders and will go to Tacloban on Saturday, UN spokeswoman Eri Kaneko said.

"He will visit affected communities in Tacloban," Kaneko said. The UN leader will leave the Philippines on Sunday.

The Philippines government says that more than 6,000 people died in the November 8 typhoon -- one of the strongest storms ever recorded -- which badly hit Tacloban and surrounding regions. Almost 1,800 people are still missing.

Ban said that he is organizing a major summit on climate change for September 23 next year, just ahead of the UN General Assembly.

Kasab-itan og basket ang simod ni Michelle... 

Published December 17, 2013
Associated Press


MANILA, Philippines â€"  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in the Philippines to show American backing for its longtime ally and inspect typhoon recovery efforts.

Kerry arrived Tuesday in Manila from Hanoi, where a day earlier he pledged $32.5 million in assistance to help southeast Asian nations, including Vietnam and the Philippines, protect their territorial waters amid rising tensions with China in the South China Sea. Vietnam has been involved in major trade negotiations with the United States as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The US has encouraged the Philippines to join in.

Washington has also backed a decade-long Philippine campaign against al-Qaida-linked local militants.

On Wednesday, Kerry will visit Tacloban, which was hardest hit by last month's deadly Typhoon Haiyan. The U.S. was a major contributor of relief after the disaster.

Saling-pusa...

Foreign ministers of the OIC member states issued Resolution No. 1/40-ORG on Requests for Observer Status and decided “To grant the Republic of Montenegro Observer Status at the OIC.”

Wikipedia said Montenegro is a country in Southeastern Europe, which has a population of 621,081 people, some 19 percent of them, or 118,477, are Muslims.

The OIC’s new Charter says only a country with a Muslim majority may be accepted as member, but a country with a sizable Muslim population maybe accepted as observer, but only on the “consensus” of the 57 foreign ministers “and on the basis of the agreed criteria by the Council of Foreign Ministers.”

So, if only one country opposes an application for observer, say like the Philippines’ bid, then the OIC will not accept or grant it.

Manila Bulletin â€" 14 hours ago


For the past 10 years, the application of the Philippines for observer status with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has yet to be considered.

On the other hand, two countries that applied for an observer status with the pan-Islamic body, either at the same time with the Philippines, or later, have received the much-sought recognition.

The Russian Federation, and the Republic of Montenegro, which the OIC accepted during the recent 40th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Conakry, Guinea, Western Africa.

A taxi carrying two armed men pulled over in front of the diplomat's car while he was driving alone on his way to the embassy and attacked him with a knife, a spokesman of the Japanese embassy in Sanaa told Reuters by telephone.

The diplomat, who is the second secretary at the embassy, suffered several stab wounds, he said.

"I saw him after the attack... He is at the hospital now for treatment and checkup," said the spokesman, adding he did not know if the attack was an attempt to kidnap the diplomat.

Several Westerners, including embassy staff, have been killed or kidnapped this year by armed groups in Yemen.

Disgruntled tribesmen often take hostages to press the government to free jailed relatives or improve public services. Al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants have been behind some of the kidnappings.

Besides being the base for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen is also grappling with attacks on security forces, a northern rebellion and secessionists in the south.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa; additional reporting and writing by Rania El Gamal in Dubai, Editing by William Maclean)

Japanese diplomat stabbed in Yemen kidnap bid: source
SANAA Sun Dec 15, 2013 6:31am EST



Police troopers secure the gate of a hospital where a Japanese diplomat is being treated in Sanaa December 15, 2013. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah


(Reuters) - Armed men stabbed a Japanese diplomat in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday when he resisted a kidnapping attempt near his house, a security source said.

It was the latest in a spate of attacks on foreigners in the impoverished Arab state, where the government is struggling to restore law and order since former president Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped aside in late 2011 following mass protests.

The source said the diplomat was in a stable condition in hospital after being stabbed in the head and hand with a dagger.

Quote from: hubag bohol on December 16, 2013, 02:00:58 PM
Meanwhile, the driver of the bus will be ordered to undergo drug and alcohol testing, he said.

Nakalingkawas diay...

Honey will virtually never go bad. Ever.

It can last for “millennia,” according to the Smithsonian Institute. This is because of honey’s acidic nature, and because it is “hygroscopic,” which is fancy way of saying it contains little moisture.

Honey is so hardy that scientists opening up ancient Egyptian tombs have found completely edible pots of honey among the 5,000-year-old mummies. -- http://listverse.com/

A metropolitan towing vehicle pulls a wrecked bus at a street in Taguig city, south of Manila, the Philippines, 16 December 2013. At least 22 people were killed and 20 were injured after a bus fell off from an elevated high-way, according to spokesperson Superintendent Elizabeth Velasquez of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Highway Patrol Group. Traffic investigators have yet to determine how the bus fell of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx). EPA/DENNIS M. SABANGAN

Dead bodies are lined up next to a wrecked bus at a street in Taguig city, south of Manila, the Philippines, 16 December 2013. EPA/FRANCIS R. MALASIG

“Within today, dahil tinawagan ko kaagad ang may-ari at nagvoluntaryo naman siya na irecall even without receiving our written order na suspension ng kanilang buong fleet [at] lahat ng kanilang mga nakalabas na units at ito ay papapuntahin sa kanilang garahe habang i-seserve natin ang suspension order ngayong araw,” Ginez said.

(Without even receiving our written order, the  owner and operator of the bus company has volunteered to recall all its vehicles. The preventive suspension order will be served today.)

To take effect for 30 days, the preventive suspension covers three of Don Mariano's 78 bus units.

The bus company will be required to undergo road worthiness inspection, motor vehicle inspection, seminar while all its drivers will undergo drug testing, Ginez said.

Meanwhile, the driver of the bus will be ordered to undergo drug and alcohol testing, he said.

The bus fell on top of a closed-van, from the Skyway to the service road.

According to Mel Mauricio, a traffic enforcer in Brgy. Marcelo Green, Parañaque City, the bus fell on the closed-van from Skyway to the service road.

As of posting time, rescuers continue to pull the victims from the wrecked bus.

Authorities are still trying to investigate the cause of the accident, which has paralyzed traffic in the area.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has suspended the franchise of the Don Mariano Transit, said LTFRB Chairman Winston Ginez in a phone interview with ANC.

ANC â€" 5 hours ago



ANC Photo By Dennis Datu


(UPDATED 10:38 AM) Twenty-two were confirmed dead while around 20 others were injured when a passenger bus fell off the Skyway near Bicutan, Monday morning.

In a report by ABS-CBN news correspondent Jerome Lantin, at least 21 of the fatalities were from the Don Mariano Transit passenger bus.

The bus was on the way to Pacita Complex, Laguna.

Quote from: islander on December 15, 2013, 08:58:30 PM
firearms ang sulod ana, okay? 

Hmm, abi kay mao ni sulod sa imong violin case?

Ah, Islander's kaberks!

...dayon pakapinan og sipa nga utot...

He he, tungod kay frozen ang nawong, sa iyang pag-atsi natangtang ang iyang ilong...

The bad news is that this was a vanishingly small percentage of the total group. Around 90 percent of the companies we reached out to for verification never responded. They didn’t call us back, or their email or manufacturing addresses changed overnight. Of the remainder, many manufacturers refused to provide us with either a statement of G.M.P. or a C.O.A.; in other words, they refused to guarantee that their products were what they said they were. Others lied; they said they met G.M.P. standards, but a call to the F.D.A. revealed they had been fined for violations multiple times. Perhaps most surprising, some manufacturers willingly furnished information that their product didn’t meet standards â€" like one company that provided a C.O.A. showing that its product contained 47,000 International Units of beta-carotene, when the label stated 25,000.

Now, when parents in our hospital still want to use products whose quality can’t be assured, we ask them to sign a waiver stating that the supplement may be dangerous, and that most have not been studied for their effectiveness. “Use of an agent for which there are no reliable data on toxicity and drug interactions,” the waiver reads, “makes it impossible to adequately monitor the patient’s acute condition or safely administer medications.”

What can other individuals who are concerned about supplement safety do? They can look for “U.S.P. Verified” on the label â€" this proves the supplement has been inspected and approved under the United States Pharmacopeial Convention. Unfortunately, fewer than 1 percent of the 55,000 or so supplements on the market bear this label. The real answer is that, until the day comes when medical studies prove that these supplements have legitimate benefits, and until the F.D.A. has the political backing and resources to regulate them like drugs, individuals should simply steer clear.

For too long, too many people have believed that dietary supplements can only help and never hurt. Increasingly, it’s clear that this belief is a false one.

The F.D.A. estimates that approximately 50,000 adverse reactions to dietary supplements occur every year. And yet few consumers know this.

Parents of children admitted to our hospital often request that we continue treating their child with dietary supplements because they believe in them, even if that belief isn’t supported by evidence. More disturbing were the times when children were taking these supplements without our knowledge. Doctors always ask parents if their children are taking any medicines. Unfortunately, because most parents don’t consider dietary supplements to be drugs, we often never knew about their use, let alone whether they might react dangerously with the child’s other treatments.

The F.D.A. has the mandate, but not the manpower, to oversee the labeling and manufacture of these supplements. In the meantime, doctors â€" and consumers â€" are on their own.

Our hospital has acted to protect the safety of our patients. No longer will we administer dietary supplements unless the manufacturer provides a third-party written guarantee that the product is made under the F.D.A.’s “good manufacturing practice” (G.M.P.) conditions, as well as a Certificate of Analysis (C.O.A.) assuring that what is written on the label is what’s in the bottle.

The good news is that we’ve been able to find some vitamins, amino acids, minerals and a handful of other supplements that meet this standard. For example, melatonin has been shown to affect sleep cycles and has a record of safety, and we identified a product that met manufacturing and labeling standards.

But the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t regulate dietary supplements as drugs â€" they aren’t tested for safety and efficacy before they’re sold. Many aren’t made according to minimal standards of manufacturing (the F.D.A. has even found some of the facilities where supplements are made to be contaminated with rodent feces and urine). And many are mislabeled, accidentally or intentionally. They often aren’t what they say they are. For example:

In 2003, researchers tested “ayurvedic” remedies from health food stores throughout Boston. They found that 20 percent contained potentially harmful levels of lead, mercury or arsenic.

In 2008, two products were pulled off the market because they were found to contain around 200 times more selenium (an element that some believe can help prevent cancer) than their labels said. People who ingested these products developed hair loss, muscle cramps, diarrhea, joint pain, fatigue and blisters.

Last summer, vitamins and minerals made by Purity First Health Products in Farmingdale, N.Y., were found to contain two powerful anabolic steroids. Some of the women who took them developed masculinizing symptoms like lower voices and fewer menstrual periods.

Last month, researchers in Ontario found that popular herbal products like those labeled St. John’s wort and ginkgo biloba often contained completely different herbs or contaminants, some of which could be quite dangerous.

http://www.nytimes.com/
By PAUL A. OFFIT and SARAH ERUSH
Published: December 14, 2013



Melody Newcomb


PHILADELPHIA â€" PARENTS whose children are admitted to our hospital occasionally bring along something extra to help with their care: dietary supplements, like St. John’s wort to ameliorate mild depression or probiotics for better health.

Here’s the problem: The Joint Commission, which is responsible for hospital accreditation in the United States, requires that dietary supplements be treated like drugs. It makes sense: Vitamins, amino acids, herbs, minerals and other botanicals have pharmacological effects. So they are drugs.

Quote from: hubag bohol on December 14, 2013, 02:38:51 PM
“Kim Jong Un is saying he is in power,” said Bruce Klingner, former head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s Korea desk. “He has taken power politics to an even higher and more brutal level than what his father and his grandfather did.”

Expect more brutality to follow. If he lives to be 70, that's 40 years of it.

This is the “most dangerous time” in North Korea since Kim took power as there is virtually no information about who will replace Jang and whether those who are appointed will last, Richard Armitage, a former U.S. deputy secretary of state, said in a phone interview. “He’s having difficulty settling on who ‘his people’ are. He appears to get rapidly disenchanted.”

“There is not much we can do because we don’t know where to find purchase, where to put our hands,” said Armitage, adding that the U.S. will have to go into close consultations with China, which has “lost key leverage” on the North.

“China is going to try to figure out if they have any impact,” he said. “They had previously considered Jang Song Thaek to be as close as anyone to China.”

Jang represented a “China wing” of the leadership that was very close to the Chinese government, Charles K. Armstrong, a professor of Korean studies at Columbia University in New York, said by e-mail.

While Jang is the most high-profile official to be purged, the disappearance of a senior official isn’t unprecedented since Kim Jong Un’s ascension to power. In 2012, KCNA said that Ri Yong Ho, the general staff chief, had been removed from all posts, while traces of him were eliminated from official footage and photos. KCNA didn’t explain the decision. In October, Kim also replaced his chief of general staff for a third time since taking over the 1.2 million-strong army.

Defense-related stocks gained yesterday in Seoul trading. Speco Co., a maker of products such as fin stabilizers and water jets, advanced as much as 13.3 percent, the biggest gain in more than two months, and Victek Co., a manufacturer of electronic warfare equipment, added 4.6 percent as of 11:17 a.m. The benchmark Kospi index fell 0.6 percent to 1,957.08.

Jang was handpicked by North Korean founder Kim Il Sung to marry his daughter -- and Kim Jong Il’s sister -- Kim Kyong Hui in 1972. He walked right behind Kim Jong Un in December 2011 during a funeral procession for Kim Jong Il, illustrating the power line-up in the secretive regime.

Before his arrest Jang sought foreign investment for a country that lacks hard currency, overseeing special economic zones near the border with China. North Korea’s economy has contracted in four of the past seven years, the Bank of Korea estimates, as Kim’s regime kept military spending its priority.

The execution drew concern from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan and sowed doubts about stability in the highly secretive nation, which has conducted three nuclear tests since 2006, including one in February, and is seeking the ability to deliver nuclear warheads on a long-range missile.

South Korean Defense minister Kim Kwan Jin told lawmakers in Seoul that his military is being extra-vigilant for fear of the North staging a military provocation against the South to rally the nation away from a domestic political crisis.

“The North Korean military may make a wrong decision for various reasons,” he said. “There may be a competition within the military to show loyalty to Kim.”

The U.S. will increase consultations with allies in Asia, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said yesterday.

North’s KCNA also reported today that Kim visited a military institute for design, his first public appearance since Jang’s execution earlier this week.

The dismissal has “elements of ‘pushing out all the people who were put in by Daddy to guide me,’” said Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council in New York.

Koh Yu Hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, described the execution as “blitzkrieg-style,” and said it displayed a determination to “wipe out any potential source of dissidence.” He predicted more purges to follow.

Jang, 67, was killed immediately after a special military tribunal convicted him of factionalism, graft and plotting to stage a coup against Kim, the official Korean Central News Agency said yesterday. He was arrested at a Politburo meeting on Dec. 8, where he was stripped of his titles as a four-star general and vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, the highest seat of power in Pyongyang, the capital.

North Korea’s state media, which announced previous demotions and purges in short, belated dispatches or by erasing officials from archives, broadcast Jang’s ouster with photos of the arrest and a detailed treatise of his alleged crimes.

Kim, believed to be about 30 and in his second year as leader after succeeding his father, Kim Jong Il, chose to publicly eliminate a relative with 40 years of experience in policy making to signal that he alone controls the regime without oversight by any “regents,” said Klinger, now a senior research fellow at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation.

Bloomberg News
By Sangwon Yoon and Sam Kim
December 13, 2013



Kim Jong Un

     
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s execution of his uncle Jang Song Thaek signaled that he has full control of the totalitarian regime as he seeks to quell doubts he is too young and inexperienced.

“Kim Jong Un is saying he is in power,” said Bruce Klingner, former head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s Korea desk. “He has taken power politics to an even higher and more brutal level than what his father and his grandfather did.”

...and, last but not least, and lest I forget, ang paborito ni Islander (kay teenager siya aning panahona)...

Unya kay ingon ani man ilang mahinumdoman...