MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has asked for provisions such as seven hours’ sleep a day, nutritious food and holidays to be added to the bilateral agreement that is to protect the rights of Filipino workers in Kuwait.
Duterte said that he was late giving his scheduled speech at the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) 39th commencement exercises in Silang, Cavite on Wednesday, because of work on the final draft of the agreement.
The president said after studying the document, he had inserted some provisions in the agreement.
“I demanded that it will be a contract — government to government — and that there will be some mandatory provisions like they (Filipino workers in Kuwait) should be allowed to sleep at least seven hours a day,” the president said.
He added that Filipino workers should also be fed “nutritious food.” “I will not, we will not allow leftovers to be eaten by our countrymen. They should be allowed to cook their own food,” he said.
The president also said that passports of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) should not be confiscated by employers and that OFWs should be allowed holidays.
Duterte reiterated that Filipinos are not slaves. “I have said that we are not slaves. Maybe our only fault would be ... because we are poor,” the president said.
Filipino Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III told Arab News last week that after a brief impasse in the two-day negotiations between Philippines and Kuwait officials held in Manila, officials from both countries agreed a draft migrant labor protection pact.
In a telephone interview, Bello explained the delay was due to two ticklish issues — OFW passports being withheld by employers and employment contracts. He said the Kuwaiti officials eventually agreed to their proposals on both issues.
The draft agreement stipulates a $400 net-per-month salary for OFWs. Employers must open a bank account in which to deposit the worker’s salary. OFWs must also have mobile phones and be able to use them as well as other means of communication.
It was also agreed that an OFW must give a written consent where an employee is required to transfer from one employer to another, and that written approval for the transfer is obtained from the Philippine labor attache.
Duterte says Filipino workers in Kuwait must have seven hours’ sleep, good food and holidays
Duterte says Filipino workers in Kuwait must have seven hours’ sleep, good food and holidays
Brazilian police official chosen as the next head of Interpol
Urquiza pledged to promote diversity within the organization, saying “a strong Interpol is one that includes everyone”
LONDON: Brazilian police official Valdecy Urquiza will be the next chief of Interpol, the global police organization announced Tuesday.
Urquiza was elected secretary-general by a vote of Interpol’s general assembly at its meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, and will take up the post when the gathering ends on Thursday.
Currently Interpol’s vice president for the Americas, Urquiza is the first chief of the Lyon, France-based organization not to come from Europe or the United States.
The Interpol secretary-general essentially runs the organization on a daily basis. Jürgen Stock of Germany, who has held the post since 2014, is not allowed under its rules to seek a third term.
Urquiza pledged to promote diversity within the organization, saying “a strong Interpol is one that includes everyone.”
“When we respect and elevate diverse perspectives, we get a clearer, more comprehensive approach to global security,” he said.
Interpol, which has 196 member countries and celebrated its centennial last year, works to help national police forces communicate with each other and track suspects and criminals in fields such as counterterrorism, financial crime, child pornography, cybercrime and organized crime.
The world’s biggest police organization has been grappling with challenges including a growing caseload of cybercrime and child sex abuse, and increasing divisions among its member countries.
Interpol had a total budget of about 176 million euros (about $188 million) last year, compared to more than 200 million euros at the European Union’s police agency, Europol, and some $11 billion at the FBI in the United States.
Indonesian rescuers dig through volcanic ash after eruption kills 9
Rescue workers on Tuesday sifted through smoldering debris and thick mud in search of survivors, a day after a volcano on Indonesia’s island of Flores erupted, killing at least nine people with its searing lava and ash.
Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki spewed thick brownish ash as high as 2,000 meters and searing lava, gravel and ash were thrown up to 7 kilometers from its crater, blanketing nearby villages and towns with tons of volcanic debris and forcing residents to flee.
The National Disaster Management Agency on Tuesday lowered the death toll from an earlier report of 10, saying a victim trapped under tonnes of debris in a collapsed house who was feared dead was rescued in critical condition. The agency said 63 other people were hospitalized, 31 of them with serious injuries.
More than 2,400 villagers streamed into makeshift emergency shelters after Monday’s eruption that burned down seven schools and 23 houses, including a convent of nuns, on the majority-Catholic island, said the agency’s spokesperson, Abdul Muhari.
Smoldering debris, thick mud and a power blackout hampered the evacuation and search efforts, said Kensius Didimus, a local disaster agency official.
“We’ll do everything we can to evacuate villagers by preparing trucks and motorbikes for them to flee at any time,” he said, adding that the debris and lava mixed with rainfall formed thick mud that destroyed the main roads on the island.
Authorities warned the thousands of people who fled the volcano not to return during Tuesday’s lull in activity. But some were desperate to check on livestock and possessions left behind. In several areas, everything — from the thinnest tree branch to couches and chairs inside homes — was caked with ash.
Trump says would concede defeat ‘if it’s a fair election’
- Donald Trump: ‘If I lose an election, if it’s a fair election, I would be the first one to acknowledge it’
- Trump: ‘Of course there’ll be no violence. My supporters are not violent people’
WEST PALM BEACH, United States: US Republican presidential contender Donald Trump said he would be prepared to concede defeat after Tuesday’s vote “if it’s a fair election,” while again raising concerns about the use of electronic voting machines.
“If I lose an election, if it’s a fair election, I would be the first one to acknowledge it... So far I think it’s been fair,” Trump, repeating a caveat that he has used many times on the campaign trail, told reporters after voting in Florida.
Wearing a red “Make America Great Again” cap, he reiterated his previous criticism of electronic voting machines, suggesting they were less secure than paper ballots and would delay the outcome being known.
“They spend all this money on machines... If they would use paper ballots, voter ID, proof of citizenship, and one-day voting, it would all be over by 10 o’clock in the evening. It’s crazy,” he told reporters in West Palm Beach.
He added: “Do you know that paper is more sophisticated now than computers? If it’s watermarked paper you cannot... It’s unbelievable what happens with it. There’s nothing you can do to cheat.”
Asked about fears of unrest after the election and whether he would call on supporters to avoid violence, he criticized the question.
“I don’t have to tell them that, that there’ll be no violence. Of course there’ll be no violence. My supporters are not violent people,” Trump said.
‘Lost faith’: Michigan Muslims shun Harris over Mideast turmoil
- Dearborn, a Detroit suburb famous as the birthplace of Henry Ford and the home of Ford Motor Company's headquarters, has a population of around 110,000, with 55 percent of residents claiming Middle Eastern or North African heritage
DEARBORN, United States: Haunted by the daily violence ravaging the Middle East, Soujoud Hamade, a registered Democrat, felt compelled to back Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the US presidential election.
"It is very emotional," the 32-year-old real estate lawyer told AFP after casting her ballot Tuesday at a school in Dearborn, the nation's largest Arab-majority city, where voters could prove decisive in the key battleground of Michigan.
"Every time I watch the news or get on social media, I see my people being decimated, I see my home country being destroyed," added the Lebanese-American, disillusioned by the Biden-Harris administration's unwavering support for Israel.
Hamade says she's clear-eyed about the two-way nature of the race between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump.
Still, she insists her vote is far more than just a protest.
She's banking on helping Stein crack five percent of the national popular vote, a threshold that would unlock future federal funding for the Green Party and "move the needle forward" toward breaking the two-party hold on US politics.
Dearborn, a Detroit suburb famous as the birthplace of Henry Ford and the home of Ford Motor Company's headquarters, has a population of around 110,000, with 55 percent of residents claiming Middle Eastern or North African heritage.
The city overwhelmingly backed President Joe Biden in 2020, helping him narrowly flip Michigan blue.
But recent polling shows a shift away from the Democratic Party among Muslim and Arab-Americans.
That trend was evident in conversations with voters around the city on Election Day.
Stein, a Jewish physician and the Green Party's perennial left-wing candidate is predicted to do well among Muslims, as well as progressives and youth voters nationwide -- potentially acting as a spoiler for Harris.
"She's the only one who's anti-genocide," said Muhammad Hijazi, a 28-year-old engineer who described himself as a "single-issue voter" who had previously voted Democrat but had now "lost faith."
The Democrats, he argued, don't have a plan to bring peace to the Middle East, and he doesn't trust Trump to do any better.
Yet signs suggest Trump, too, may fare better than in past cycles. Unlike Harris, he visited Dearborn, addressing a modest-sized audience last week.
His outreach to Michigan's Muslim community secured endorsements from the Muslim mayors of Hamtramck and Dearborn Heights, while his newfound connection to the community -- through Lebanese-American son-in-law Michael Boulos, husband of Tiffany Trump -- has further endeared him.
Harris' decision to campaign with former Republican Liz Cheney, a staunch supporter of the Iraq War, was the final straw for Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi, he told Trump supporters at the former president's final Michigan rally.
Charles Fawaz, a 29-year-old first-grade teacher of Lebanese descent who voted for Trump, told AFP he was impressed that the former president "showed up."
"When Trump was president, everything was fine with our foreign policy because other leaders respected our country," Fawaz said.
Even if Trump doesn't deliver on Middle Eastern peace, he hopes Republicans will manage the economy better.
Former Democrats here say they know some liberals will blame them if Harris loses, but they reject the accusation.
"To put the onus on Arab Americans to vote for someone who's directly contributing to the genocide of other people is outrageous," Hamade said.
Spain unveils $11 billion aid plan after catastrophic floods
- Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a series of measures including aid to small and midsize businesses, self-employed workers and households
- Tax relief and a three-month postponement to repaying mortgages and loans were also among the announcements
VALENCIA: Spain on Tuesday announced an aid package worth 10.6 billion euros ($11.5 billion) to rebuild regions devastated by its worst floods in a generation that have killed 219 people.
The exceptional Mediterranean storm that lashed eastern Spain a week ago triggered surging torrents of muddy water that have left a trail of destruction and an unknown number of missing.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a series of measures including aid to small and midsize businesses, self-employed workers and households that have suffered deaths, incapacity and damage to homes and belongings.
Tax relief and a three-month postponement to repaying mortgages and loans were also among the announcements, which Sanchez likened to the state’s intervention during the Covid-19 pandemic to protect the economy and livelihoods.
The government would take on all emergency spending by local councils linked to clearing mud, debris and ruined property and restoring drinking water, Sanchez told a news conference.
Spain has also requested aid from the EU solidarity fund, he added.
Security forces and emergency services personnel are working around the clock to repair damaged infrastructure, distribute aid and search for bodies in Spain’s largest peacetime deployment of its armed forces.
Sanchez said almost 15,000 troops, police officers and civil guards were in the eastern Valencia region that has suffered most of the deaths and destruction, up from 7,300 on Saturday.
Firefighters combed through piles of damaged vehicles and pumped water from inundated garages and car parks where more victims may be discovered, AFP journalists saw.
Maribel Albalat, mayor of the ground-zero town of Paiporta, told public broadcaster TVE they were doing “better, but not well” with many streets still inaccessible and residents struggling to get a phone signal.
Rescuers in the southeastern town of Letur have found one of the missing bodies they were looking for, announced the central government’s representative in the Castilla-La Mancha region, Pedro Antonio Ruiz.
Two Chinese citizens, two Romanians and an Ecuadorian are among the dead, authorities in those countries have said. The floods also claimed three British victims, UK media have reported.
Many survivors are furious with the authorities for failing to warn the population on time last Tuesday and provide urgent rescue and relief work.
That anger reached a breaking point in Paiporta on Sunday when crowds heckled and hurled mud at King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and Sanchez.
The outrage was also palpable in Valencia — Spain’s third-largest city that was unharmed despite being a stone’s throw from the hardest-hit zones — when AFP visited on Tuesday.
Local humorist Jose Antonio Lopez-Guitian, 61, had just returned from the town of Massanassa with his boots covered in mud and said residents were left to fend for themselves.
The situation was “a national disgrace” and “a dereliction of duty by all the institutions,” he said.
The floods affected more than 4,100 hectares (10,100 acres), the civil protection service said on X, using a map provided by the European Union’s Copernicus satellite.
Storms coming off the Mediterranean are common during this season. But scientists have warned that human-induced climate change is increasing the ferocity, length and frequency of extreme weather events.
“Climate change kills... we have to adapt to this reality,” Sanchez said at his news conference, lashing out at the “irresponsible discourse of deniers.”
