MANILA: The Philippine securities commission has revoked the registration of an online news outfit known for its critical reporting on President Rodrigo Duterte, a move media watchdogs said is an act to muzzle the free press.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a ruling made public Monday that Rappler violated the constitutional prohibition on foreign ownership and control of mass media companies when it received investment from an international investment firm.
Rappler said it would fight the ruling in the courts and continue to operate. It acknowledged it has two foreign investors, Omidyar Network and North Base Media, but said it “remains 100 percent Filipino-owned” and that the foreigners have no voting rights or a say in its management and news operations.
“What this means for you, and for us, is that the commission is ordering us to close shop, to cease telling you stories, to stop speaking truth to power,” Rappler said in a statment, which added that the ruling was a blow to press freedom.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines expressed outrage over the ruling and called on Filipino journalists “to unite and resist every and all attempts to silence us.”
Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque, denied the Duterte administration was curtailing freedom of the press.
“The issue at hand is the compliance of 100 percent Filipino ownership and management of mass media,” Roque said. “It is not about infringement on the freedom of the press.”
The brash-talking Duterte accused Rappler last year of being owned by Americans in violation of the Philippine constitution and also said that the news outfit was funded by the Central Intelligence Agency. Rappler denied the allegations.
Duterte has publicly attacked a leading newspaper, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and ABS-CBN TV network for biased reporting, including on his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs that has left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead since he rose to power in 2016.
Amnesty International decried the decision against Rappler as “a blatant attack on press freedom,” noting the news group had been “fearless in holding those in power to account.”
“This is a politically motivated decision, pure and simple, and just the latest attempt to go after anyone who dares to criticize the government,” James Gomez, the group’s director of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement. “The Philippines government should focus on ending and investigating violations, mostly against poor communities, in the ‘war on drugs,’ not trying to silence the messenger.”
Online news site critical of Duterte ordered shut in Philippines
Online news site critical of Duterte ordered shut in Philippines
Hundreds evacuated as torrential rains flood Indonesia capital
JAKARTA: Hundreds evacuated from dozens of flooded neighborhoods around Jakarta on Tuesday as torrential rains pounded the Indonesian capital and its surrounding satellite cities, causing several rivers to overflow.
There were no immediate reports of casualties after the latest deluge, but parts of the city, home to around 11 million people, ground to a halt as whole neighborhoods were swamped in muddy water.
Heavy rain began on Monday, causing some flooding in Jakarta and nearby the cities of Bogor, Bekasi and Tangerang.
Water was seen meters high in areas of east and south Jakarta on Tuesday after the rain caused the Ciliwung river to overflow, affecting 1,446 people from 224 houses in one village alone, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said.
In Bogor, more than 300 people were evacuated, dozens of houses were damaged and one bridge collapsed. In Tangerang, 350 houses were flooded after the Cimanceuri River overflowed.
Residents took to rooftops or used ropes to pull themselves to safety through the floodwater in one south Jakarta district, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.
Authorities said they were distributing ready-to-eat food, blankets and tarpaulins to those affected by the floods, and deploying rubber boats to evacuate residents.
“If there is a shortage, the public can ask for more. We are ready to help,” BNPB deputy for emergency response Lukmansyah said in a statement.
The low-lying city is prone to flooding during the wet season which runs from around November to March.
In 2020 torrential rain triggered flooding and landslides that killed nearly 70 people in and around Jakarta, while thousands more were forced to evacuate to shelters.
Starmer ‘laser-focused’ on peace after US Ukraine aid pause: deputy PM
- British Labour government ‘focused on support for Ukraine’ and ‘bringing the US around the table alongside our European partners and Ukraine’
Angela Rayner said the pause was “a matter for” the United States and it had not changed Starmer’s approach toward trying to find a suitable ceasefire to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“He’s laser focused on getting peace. He won’t be derailed by announcements,” Rayner told BBC Radio after being asked for her reaction to Trump’s announcement.
She added that the British Labour government was “focused on support for Ukraine” and “bringing the US around the table alongside our European partners and Ukraine.”
“We’ve put our money where our mouth is and stepped up our support for Ukraine through air defense, through military capabilities, and through the military aid we give year upon year,” Rayner said.
Starmer is seeking to tread a fine line between backing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and keeping Trump onside as Europe seeks security guarantees in the event of an end to the war.
“He won’t be bounced by particular announcements overnight,” Rayner told ITV television.
“He will continue to work with our strong allies to get the peace for Ukraine and for Europe,” she added, describing the UK as an “honest broker.”
The UK’s main opposition leader, Kemi Badenoch, said Britain and Europe must “rearm faster” following Trump’s announcement.
“The news overnight that America is halting military aid to Ukraine is profoundly worrying,” she wrote on X.
“It is clear that Britain and Europe must rearm much faster if we want to provide Ukraine with more than just warm words of support.
“We must work to keep America in, and Russia out.”
Indian defense panel recommends using private sector to boost fighter production
- The move comes amid India’s falling squadron strength and delayed fighter aircraft deliveries
- Indian air chief wants to add 35-40 fighters per year to fill existing gaps, phase out older aircraft
NEW DELHI: An Indian defense committee has recommended including the private sector in military aircraft manufacturing to shore up the capabilities of the Indian Air Force, whose falling squadron strength and delayed fighter deliveries have irked its chief.
The move, if accepted, would boost India’s private defense firms and reduce the burden on state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, which makes most of India’s military aircraft.
The committee, headed by defense ministry’s top bureaucrat, submitted its report to Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday, the government said in a statement late on Monday, adding that Singh had directed that recommendations “be followed up in a time bound manner.”
The Indian Air Force’s fleet of mainly Soviet-origin aircraft has been operating with only 31 fighter squadrons compared with a target of 42 amid tense relations with neighbors China and Pakistan.
India’s Air Chief Marshal AP Singh has said that the country should involve the private sector to speed up defense aerospace manufacturing. Speaking at an event in New Delhi last week, he said India must add 35-40 fighters per year to fill existing gaps and phase out older aircraft.
Indian officials have said that Hindustan Aeronautics could deliver up to 24 aircraft powered by a General Electric engine in the coming fiscal year, which begins in April.
The company was unable to deliver any of the 83 fighters on order in the current fiscal year, in part due to the slow arrival of engines from GE, which has been facing supply chain issues.
China hits back at US imports as Trump’s fresh tariffs take effect
- Beijing also places 25 US firms under export and investment restrictions on national security grounds
- China has accused the US of fentanyl blackmail and it has some of the toughest anti-drug policies in the world
BEIJING: China on Tuesday swiftly retaliated against fresh US tariffs, announcing 10 percent-15 percent hikes to import levies covering a range of American agricultural and food products, moving the world’s top two economies a step closer toward an all-out trade war.
Beijing also placed twenty five US firms under export and investment restrictions on national security grounds, but refrained from punishing any household names, as it did when it retaliated against the Trump administration’s February 4 tariffs.
Ten of these 25 US firms were targeted by China for selling arms to Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
China’s latest retaliatory tariffs came as the extra 10 percent duty US President Donald Trump threatened China with last week entered into force at 0501 GMT on March 4, resulting in a cumulative 20 percent tariff in response to what the White House considers Chinese inaction over drug flows.
China has accused the US of fentanyl blackmail and it has some of the toughest anti-drug policies in the world.
Analysts have said Beijing still hoped to negotiate a truce with the Trump administration, but the tit-for-tat retaliatory tariffs threaten to escalate into an all-out trade war between the two economic giants.
The new US tariffs represent an additional hike to preexisting levies on thousands of Chinese goods.
Some of these products bore the brunt of sharply higher US tariffs under former president Joe Biden last year, including a doubling of duties on Chinese semiconductors to 50 percent and a quadrupling of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to over 100 percent.
The 20 percent tariff will apply to several major US consumer electronics imports from China that were previously untouched, including smartphones, laptops, videogame consoles, smartwatches and speakers and Bluetooth devices.
China responded immediately after the deadline, announcing it will impose an additional 15 percent tariff on US chicken, wheat, corn and cotton and an extra 10 percent levy on US soybeans, sorghum, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits and vegetables and dairy imports from March. 10, the finance ministry announced in a statement.
“The US’s unilateral tariffs measures seriously violate World Trade Organization rules and undermine the basis for economic and trade cooperation between China and the US,” China’s commerce ministry said in a separate statement.
“China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” the statement added.
Philippine fighter jet goes missing while on a mission against insurgents in southern province
- The FA-50 jet lost communication during the tactical mission around midnight Monday
- The other aircraft were able to return safely to an air base in central Cebu province
MANILA: A Philippine air force fighter jet with two pilots on board has gone missing during a night combat assault in support of ground forces who were battling insurgents in a southern province, and an extensive search is underway, officials said Tuesday.
The FA-50 jet lost communication during the tactical mission with other air force aircraft around midnight Monday before reaching a target area. The other aircraft were able to return safely to an air base in central Cebu province, the air force said without providing other details for security reasons.
A Philippine military official told The Associated Press that the incident happened in a southern Philippine province, where an anti-insurgency mission against communist guerrillas was underway. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to discuss the sensitive situation publicly.
“We are hopeful of locating them and the aircraft soon and ask you to join us in prayer during this critical time,” air force spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo said.
It was not immediately clear if the rest of the FA-50s would be grounded following the incident.
The Philippines acquired 12 FA-50s multi-purpose fighter jets starting in 2015 from South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. for 18.9 billion pesos ($331 million) in what was then the biggest deal under a military modernization program that has been repeatedly stalled by a lack of funds.
Aside from anti-insurgency operations, the jets have been used in a range of activities, from major national ceremonies to patrolling the disputed South China Sea.
