Uzbekistan announced a monthlong state of emergency on Saturday, July 2, 2022, in an autonomous republic where rare protests forced President Shavkat Mirziyoyev into a climbdown on constitutional reforms. AFP PHOTOTASHKENT, Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan announced a monthlong state of emergency on Saturday in an autonomous republic where rare protests forced President Shavkat Mirziyoyev into a climbdown on constitutional reforms. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's press secretary Sherzod Asadov wrote on Telegram that the state of emergency in the Republic of Karakalpakstan would run from just after midnight on Sunday to August 2. Uzbekistan's president had arrived in Karakalpakstan on Saturday and promised that proposed constitutional amendments that would have weakened the territory's status would be scrapped. Nevertheless, the demonstration marked arguably the biggest challenge yet to the rule of authoritarian President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The chance of finding 27 crew members alive from a vessel that snapped in two as tropical storm Chaba passed through Hong Kong and southern China is "very slim", government rescue authorities said on Sunday, as the search for those missing continued. On Saturday, authorities rescued three of 30 crew members as strong winds and rain battered the coast and waters about 300 km southwest of the city, Hong Kong Government Flying Service said. The search area had been widened but the chance of finding survivors was "very slim", West Wu, controller of the Government Flying Service of Hong Kong, said on Sunday. Hong Kong sent nine aircraft to jointly conduct search and rescue operations with forces from the mainland. Typhoon Chaba skirted Hong Kong, bringing heavy rain and winds on Friday and Saturday, restricting public transport and forcing many businesses to close.

EJ Obiena immediately returned to action by winning the gold medal in the Jump & Fly meet in Hechingen, Germany Saturday (Sunday in Manila). File Photo from EJ Obiena’s Facebook pageObiena cleared the bar with 5.80 meters to rule the field that included China’s Huang Bokai and hometown bet Vincent Hobbie, who finished in second and third place, respectively. Huang posted 5.50m while Hobbie finished with 5.10m. This was Obiena’s sixth tournament medal after winning the Taby Stavhoppsgala in Sweden last week where he cleared 5.92m – just 0.01m short of his current Asian record. It was also a slight improvement of his Bauhaus-Galan Wanda Diamond League performance in Stockholm, Sweden where he finished sixth with 5.73m.

OCTA Research Group senior fellow Dr. Guido David said on Saturday that the July surge in Covid-19 cases might be the last that country will experience though the emergence of more vicious variants is still a threat. On Friday, the Department of Health (DoH) reported a 53-percent increase in the number of Covid-19 cases, with 88 percent of provinces and independent cities reporting an increased growth rate. Although President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has yet to appoint a new Health secretary, David is confident that the DoH is capable of sustaining the country's pandemic response. But experts say that nowhere near enough is being done to ventilate public and private spaces across the world. He called for massively increased funding to ventilate many public spaces, starting with schools, hospitals, public transport, offices, bars and restaurants.

Top seed Djokovic, seeking to move level with Pete Sampras as a seven-time champion at the All England Club, faces Dutch wild card Tim van Rijthoven, the world number 104. Van Rijthoven was ranked outside the top 200 just a month ago. Plagued by physical problems since he was 18, Van Rijthoven has endured groin and wrist injuries as well as back spasms. "Before the tournament started, it was a dream for me to play Djokovic," said Van Rijthoven, only the seventh man since 2000 to reach the round of 16 on his Grand Slam debut. Victory for Djokovic will set-up a mouthwatering quarter-final against Carlos Alcaraz if the Spanish teenager sees off Italy's Jannik Sinner.

Transportation gradually resumes as the observatory issued the No.3 Strong Wind Signal on Saturday afternoon to replace the No.8 Gale or Storm Signal. BusKMB and LWB will gradually operate in limited service starting from 5.30pm, whereas the following routes will have special arrangements. FerrySun Ferry’s Central-Cheung Chau & Central-Mui Wo ferry services are going to resume from 6pm onwards, while the inter-islands and inner harbor ferry services continue suspension and resume tomorrow. As for Star Ferry, its Tsim Sha Tsui-Central and Tsim Sha Tsui-Wan Chai routes will resume starting from 6.30pm. Hong Kong & Kowloon Ferry also resumes sailings of its Central to Yung Shue Wan, Central to Sok Kwu Wan, and Central to Peng Chau (fast ferry) routes at 6pm.

VMWARE Inc. unveiled VMware vSphere+ and VMware vSAN+ to help organizations bring the benefits of the cloud to their existing on-premises infrastructure with no disruption to their workloads or hosts. VMware vSphere+ and VMware vSAN+ are an integral part of the VMware Cloud strategy to deliver consistent infrastructure with value-added capabilities across distributed environments. In many instances, customers' vSphere environments are distributed across siloed locations, edge sites and clouds leading to operational complexity and inefficient maintenance experience. vSphere+ and vSAN+ provide a unified infrastructure management experience for these distributed environments via the VMware Cloud Console. Admins would be able to perform certain operational tasks directly from the VMware Cloud Console such as managing configurations and policies across their deployments.

Hong Kong reported 2,227 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, according to a statement released in the afternoon as the daily briefing was canceled because of Typhoon Chaba. The official caseload of the fifth wave now stands at 1,237,711, the Centre for Health Protection reported. Meanwhile, three more deaths were added by the Hospital Authority, pushing the death tally of the fifth wave to 9,192. The overall Covid death tally of Hong Kong now stands at 9,405. Health authorities also banned the landing of passenger flights in Hong Kong from Istanbul operated by Turkish Airlines for five days from Sunday to Thursday.

GAUHATI, India: Rescuers found more bodies on Friday as they resumed searching for dozens of missing people after a mudslide triggered by weeks of heavy rains killed at least 19 people at a railroad construction site in northeastern India, officials said. Intermittent rain continued in the region where 19 bodies have been recovered so far after a hillock caved in and buried the railroad project area, Guite told the Associated Press (AP). Because of a decades-old insurgency seeking a separate homeland for ethnic and tribal groups in the area, army personnel had been providing security for the railway officials. Some survivors recalled being swept down by the gush of the hill debris, The Times of India newspaper cited Daichuipao, a resident, as saying. Monsoon rains in South Asia typically begin in June, but torrential rain lashed northeastern India and Bangladesh as early as March this year.

The Observatory issued the No.3 Strong Wind Signal to replace the No. 8 Gale or Storm Signal at 4.20pm Saturday as more and more citizens are heading outdoors amid less heavier rains. The signal means that winds with mean speeds of 41 to 62 km/h are expected, and it will remain in force before midnight tonight. However, strong winds are still prevailing over the territory, occasionally reaching gale force offshore and on high ground. Some expressed disappointment as they had to cancel their outdoor activities over the stormy weather this weekend, while others worried that shops would stay closed even after the typhoon signal is further downgraded.

Maya's unique all-in-one money app, which seamlessly combines digital banking services, crypto, and an e-wallet for the customer, clearly addresses the pent-up demand for world-class financial services," said Pepe Torres, Chief Marketing Officer of Maya. It also complements Maya Savings, now available for all upgraded Maya customers. Maya Savings is a digital savings account with a 6% interest rate* that's as easy to use as an e-wallet. On top of digital banking services powered by Maya Bank, Maya also offers cryptocurrency at the back of PayMaya Philippines' Virtual Asset Services Provider license. It is powered by the country's only end-to-end digital payments company, PayMaya Philippines, and Maya Bank for digital banking services.

On the day of President Marcos’ inauguration, a legislator pushed to amend the Constitution by proposing a five-year term for the president, who may seek reelection once. In his measure, Gonzales cited the “overwhelming electoral mandate” that Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte received in the May 2022 elections. FEATURED STORIESThe lawmaker noted that the President got 31,629,783 votes, or 58.77 percent of the total votes cast, while the Vice President got 32,208,417 votes, or 61.53 percent of the total votes cast. “The clear majority mandate of our new President and Vice President would be the green light from our citizenry to proceed to the discussion on Charter change,” Gonzales said in a statement. RELATED STORY:House reso seeks cha-cha to allow 5-year term, reelection for president, VPRead NextMOST READ

8 Gale or Storm Signal will remain in force before 4pm Saturday as the observatory advised the public to stay away from the shoreline and not to engage in water sports. The signal means that winds with mean speeds of 63 kilometers per hour or more are expected from the southeast quarter. Chaba’s rainbands are bringing violent winds and heavy showers to the Pearl River Estuary. Gale force winds are affecting many places in the territory, while winds occasionally reach storm force offshore and on high ground. Gales associated with Chaba will continue to affect the vicinity of the Pearl River Estuary in the early afternoon.

Civicus' 2022 State of Civil Society Report analyzes global events and outlines the current state of play. Even in the challenging context of Jamaica, advances have been made by civil society through the regional human rights system. Steps forward have come after years of campaigning by civil society, which is increasingly modelling and proving the value of diversity. Meaningful civil society engagement and access to key arenas can help overcome these bureaucratic shortcomings. BY MANDEEP TIWANA / IPSMandeep Tiwana is chief programs officer and representative to the UN headquarters in New York at Civicus, the global civil society alliance.

The Hong Kong Observatory issued the No. 8 signal will remain in force before 5am on Saturday. Gale force winds are affecting many places of Hong Kong while winds on high ground even reach storm force occasionally. Members of the public are advised to take note of the latest weather information before leaving home on Saturday morning. The rainbands associated with Chaba will bring occasional heavy showers and violent gusts to Hong Kong.