UN expert urged to probe continued assaults on free speech under MarcosLet’s Organize for Democracy and Integrity on the celebration of the World Press Freedom Day Thursday sent a six-page petition to David Kaye, UN special rapporteur on the promotion of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Khan will be visiting the country from January 23 to February 2 to take stock of the Philippines' state of free speech and press freedom. While Marcos does not openly encourage violence against media workers, unlike Duterte, concerns remain over whether the current administration has done enough to safeguard journalists from retribution and harassment. Nearly a quarter of the incidents documented by NUJP in 2023 were also related to the red-tagging of media workers. “Regarding the people's rights to freedom of expression, Indigenous Peoples in the country indomitably assert their rights to land and self-determination.

DAVOS, Switzerland: The world could have its first trillionaire within a decade, anti-poverty organization Oxfam International said Monday (Tuesday in Manila) in its annual assessment of global inequalities timed to the gathering of political and business elites at the Swiss ski resort of Davos. Oxfam's interim executive director said the report showed that the world is entering a "decade of division." To calculate the top five richest billionaires, Oxfam used figures from Forbes as of November 2023. Their total wealth then was $869 billion, up from $340 billion in March 2020, a nominal increase of 155 percent. For the bottom 60 percent of the global population, Oxfam used figures from the UBS Global Wealth Report 2023 and from the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2019.

6 UN experts sound alarm over Philippine government’s ‘unchecked’ anti-terror powersMANILA, Philippines — Six independent United Nations human rights experts have flagged the Philippine government’s “seemingly broad and unchecked” use of the anti-terrorism law to target red-tagged humanitarian workers and church leaders. This, according to the rights experts, goes against the Philippines’ international human rights obligations, which the government has repeatedly and publicly vowed to uphold. The UN rights experts also flagged the reported raids of the homes of human rights defenders and the offices of church workers and journalists, some of which were not preceded by the issuance of formal search warrants. The Supreme Court’s procedural rules for petitions seeking judicial relief from the Anti-Terrorism Council’s terrorist designation took effect on January 15. Prior to its passage in 2020, the Anti-Terrorism Act was widely opposed by human rights defenders, civil society and the government’s own human rights commission for its perceived impact on civil liberties and spaces of dissent.

China was "strongly dissatisfied with and resolutely opposes these remarks," its foreign ministry spokesperson said, referring to Marcos congratulating Lai on Monday for winning Taiwan's election and referring to him as its next president. "China has lodged a strong protest with the Philippines at the earliest opportunity," and summoned its ambassador "to give China a responsible explanation", Mao said. "We suggest that President Marcos read more books to properly understand the ins and outs of the Taiwan issue, so as to draw the right conclusions." Separately, Taiwan's foreign ministry expressed its thanks to Marcos, saying Taiwan and the Philippines "share values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law" and Taiwan would further deepen cooperation and exchanges." The Philippines has unofficial ties with Taipei, with its Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan serving as a de facto embassy.

DAVOS, Switzerland: The world could have its first trillionaire within a decade, anti-poverty organization Oxfam International said Monday in its annual assessment of global inequalities timed to the gathering of political and business elites at the Swiss ski resort of Davos. Oxfam's interim executive director said the report showed that the world is entering a "decade of division." Currently, Musk is the richest man on the planet, with a personal fortune of just under $250 billion, according to Oxfam, which used figures from Forbes. To calculate the top five richest billionaires, Oxfam used figures from Forbes as of November 2023. For the bottom 60 percent of the global population, Oxfam used figures from the UBS Global Wealth Report 2023 and from the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2019.

SEC updates and compliance for 2024To update organizations on these important changes, the Center for Global Best Practices will host an SEC-accredited webinar entitled, New Year SEC updates and compliance to be held from 1:30 to 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 31 via Zoom. To update organizations on these important changes, the Center for Global Best Practices will host an SEC-accredited webinar entitled, New Year SEC updates and compliance to be held from 1:30 to 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 31 via Zoom. This executive briefing is done annually to update all board directors, management, corporate secretaries, compliance officers, lawyers, accountants, business consultants and other stakeholders of corporations. Learn from lawyer Justina Callangan who is the former director of the Corporate Governance and Finance Department of the SEC. CGBP is an accredited training provider of the SEC; Governance Commission for GOCCs; Supreme Court for MCLE; BSP’s Anti-Money Laundering Council, DILG-Local Government Academy; Civil Service Commission; and other regulatory agencies.

A 31-year-old man died after he alighted a minibus and wanted to catch another bus on the other side of the road, but was hit by a truck when crossing the road in Yuen Long on Tuesday. The incident occurred around 7.12 am on Tuesday when a minibus pulled over outside Atrium House on Shap Pat Heung Road. The passenger surnamed Chan suspectedly saw a bus arriving at the stop on the opposite side of the street and crossed the road in front of the minibus without checking for traffic. The truck driver, who saw the minibus pulled over, tried to overtake the minibus and hit Chan who suddenly emerged from the front. It is understood that Chan remained conscious even after he had been hit by the truck and fell to the ground.

REUTERS/Ann Wang/file photoThe Philippines' foreign ministry on Tuesday reaffirmed the country's "One China policy" after its president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., congratulated Taiwan's new leader Lai Ching-te. Marcos on Monday congratulated Lai for winning Taiwan's election, referring to him as its next president. The message was Marcos' way of recognising the Philippines and Taiwan's "mutual interests", including the 200,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the democratically governed island, the foreign ministry said in a statement. "The message of President Marcos congratulating the new president was his way of thanking them for hosting our OFWs and holding a successful democratic process. Marcos' comments, posted on social media platform X, are likely to irk Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory.

MANILA, Philippines — INQUIRER.net has kept its ranking as the top Philippine news website in 2023, according to a report by analytics firm Similarweb. The same report showed Rappler posting the biggest decline in visits among the Philippine news websites covered in the study. Comparing data from 2022 and 2023, its traffic declined by 38.24 percent, from 147,715,648 in 2022 to 91,231,912 in 2023. Apart from overall visits, Similarweb’s data showed that Inquirer.net also dominated across all channels: direct, email, referrals, social, and organic. From February to April, it logged 34.62 million social media traffic, surpassing Philstar.com’s 14.59 million, Rappler’s 17.84 million, ABS-CBN’s 20.37 million and GMA News Online’s 29.87 million.

PAGASA: Strong El Niño may persist until FebruaryA farmer walks over cracked soil on a dried up Nueva Ecija field in this file photo. Temperatures are expected to soar across large parts of the world after the El Niño weather pattern emerged in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years. MANILA, Philippines — The state weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) on Monday said that a “strong” El Niño is currently ongoing and may last until February this year. 7, however, PAGASA said that the weather phenomenon will transition into a neutral state of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in June 2024. “Majority of global climate models suggest that El Niño will likely persist until the March-April-May 2024 season with a transition to ENSO-neutral in the April-May-June 2024 season,” the advisory reads.

SEOUL: North Korea said on Monday it had successfully test-fired a new ballistic missile tipped with a hypersonic maneuverable warhead, the latest breakthrough in its pursuit of advanced weaponry to threaten South Korean and United States targets. The launch, Pyongyang's first known weapons test this year and its first-ever test of a solid-fuel hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), was detected by Seoul's military on Sunday afternoon. "North Korea appears to be pursuing the development of hypersonic missiles and IRBMs using solid-fuel rocket boosters at the same time," said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. North Korea's last missile test was of a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on December 18. On Monday, a North Korean government delegation headed by Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui arrived in Moscow for an official visit, the KCNA reported.

MALÉ, Maldives: The Maldives' President Mohamed Muizzu told India on Sunday to withdraw its nearly 100 troops by March 15, a day after returning from China, where he signed a raft of deals. India has a deployment of about 89 personnel, including medical staff, to operate three aircraft to patrol the archipelago's vast maritime territory. Tourism accounts for nearly a third of the Maldives' economy, with Indians making up the largest share of foreign arrivals. Muizzu said the Maldives would also slash reliance on India for health care and medicine, adding more countries where citizens needing government-paid health treatment abroad can go. Most eligible citizens currently get treatment in India, as well as in small numbers in Sri Lanka and Thailand, officials said.

Dos and don'ts for 2024By the second week of February, a whopping 80% would have thrown in the towel trying to achieve the resolutions they so earnestly committed themselves to just weeks before. Why do we make New Year’s resolutions — only to break them? MANILA, Philippines — For a very special occasion like welcoming a new year, people have a lot to say about what one must or must not do so as to attract good vibes and repel bad ones. Through the years, they have become “dos and don’ts” and “musts and must-nots” to live by (or play along with). Here are some of them:

Critically ill kids treated to World of FrozenMANILA, Philippines — It all started with one child’s wish. For the first time in forever, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (HKDL) teamed up with Make-A-Wish to grant life-changing wishes at the all-new themed land World of Frozen. “This is my first visit to Hong Kong Disneyland and also my first trip abroad, which is so exciting. I can’t wait to visit World of Frozen and experience Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs,” Rhianne said. Experiencing the World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland“This is a remarkable day for Make-A-Wish.

The Philippine coastguard at the coast of Bataan, Philippines in the South China Sea, June 6, 2023. (Reuters)The Philippines will develop islands in the South China Sea that it considers part of its territory to make them more habitable for troops, Manila's military chief Romeo Brawner told reporters on Monday. Apart from the Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin, the Philippines occupies eight other features in the South China Sea, and considers them part of its exclusive economic zone. The features include Thitu island, the biggest and most strategically important in the South China Sea. Besides the Philippines, Brunei, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have competing claims of sovereignty in the South China Sea, a conduit for goods in excess of $3 trillion every year.