MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) has recorded 1,227 leptospirosis cases in Metro Manila from January to August 2018. 

This is a 358% increase from the 268 recorded cases during the same period in 2017, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Wednesday, August 22. 

Nationwide, DOH recorded a 105% increase in cases: 2,229 cases as of August 2018, as compared to the 1,085 cases during the same period in 2017. Duque said 50% of the burden of leptospirosis in the Philippines was from Metro Manila.

Earlier in July, DOH declared a leptospirosis outbreak in several cities in the National Capital Region. The department said it continues to monitor areas where there is a clustering of several cases. (FAST FACTS: What is leptospirosis?) 

Duque said the spike in cases was "very unfortunate" considering leptospirosis is a preventable disease. 

According to the World Health Organization, leptospirosis is a bacterial disease usually contracted by direct contact "with the urine of infected animals or with a urine-contaminated environment."

Why the increase? The most common way humans contract leptospirosis is through cuts and abrasions on the skin. It can also be acquired when infected animal urine gets in contact with the mucous membranes in the eyes, nose, and mouth.

Individuals usually contract leptospirosis by wading in contaminated flood water. During rainy season, the risk of contracting waterborne diseases is much greater. 

Duque said the main factors that contributed to the rise in leptospirosis cases were inefficient garbage collection and weak flood control interventions. He also said community awareness of the disease and its effects was low "despite the DOH's nonstop reminders."

"People still take the risk, children playing in floodwaters still smiling not knowing the water underneath is deadly," Duque said.

He added: "A lot of the success will come about when the community's residents themselves cooperate. Huwag pasaway. (Don't be stubborn)."

What needs to be done? Duque called on local government units (LGUs) to ramp up garbage collection and improve their flood programs.

He said LGUs should continue information and education drives to make sure residents are aware of the dangers of leptospirosis and how to treat it.

"Leptospirosis can be an indicator of how well the government is getting its act together to address a serious illness," Duque said.

The health chief also urged those with symptoms of the disease to go to the nearest health facility for proper treatment. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Two lawmakers want two House committees to investigate  the recent arrest of 3 lawyers who were monitoring a police search of a raided bar in Makati City.

Oriental Mindoro 1st District Representative Doy Leachon and 1-Ang Edukasyon Representative Salvador Belaro Jr filed House Resolution (HR) No. 2086 on Wednesday, August 22.

The resolution directs the House justice committee as well as good government and public accountability committee to look into the Makati City police's detention of lawyers Jan Vincent Soliven, Lenie Rocel Rocha, and Romulo Bernard Alarkon.

Leachon is the chairperson of the House justice committee.

The two lawmakers, who were previously lawyers, said the "irregular" arrest has "serious implication on the observance of basic constitutional rights, especially the right to counsel, rights under custodial investigation, and right to due process."

"Whereas, in the event said lawyers' presence in the said raid is found out to be only for the fulfillment of their duties as officers of the court, a reference of the said irregularity should never be countenanced because of its chilling effect on the rule of law," said Leachon and Belaro.

They said there "might be a need" to propose new legislation or amend existing laws to prevent a similar incident from happening again.

What happened? On August 16, Makati City police detained the 3 lawyers for alleged "obstruction of justice" during a search and inventory of the Time in Manila bar.

The cops first raided the bar on August 11 for allegedly selling party drugs to customers.

The 3 lawyers' law firm, Desierto & Desierto, said they were merely taking down notes and photos of the police inventory.

But Southern Police District head Chief Superintendent Tomas Apolinario claimed the lawyers "harassed" the cops.

The lawyers were released from police custody on August 17.

The bar owner, however, is now no longer the client of Desierto & Desierto. The law firm's senior partner Diane Desierto said it was just a "temporary engagement" with the bar owner, but did not elaborate.

Who has condemned the arrest?Vice President Leni Robredo denounced the detention of the 3 lawyers, calling it an "alarming erosion of constitutional protections and the rule of law."

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines and the Free Legal Assistance Group have also condemned the arrest.

The Commission on Human Rights, meanwhile, launched its own probe into the matter.

Read a full copy of HR 2086 below:

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– Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Leni Robredo prayed for peace and the rehabilitation of Marawi City from war as the nation observed Eid'l Adha. 

“We continue to pray for Marawi City and for its people. Peace has been restored here through various forms of sacrifice – of our troops, of various sectors and organizations, of thousands of families displaced by the clash," said Robredo on Wednesday, August 22.

"We need to work together, with the best interest of its people in mind, to help Marawi rise back on its feet in the soonest time possible," she added. 

On May 23, 2017, clashes began between government troops and homegrown terrorists from the Maute Group and the Abu Sayyaf Group in Marawi City, leading President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law over Mindanao. Duterte declared the city liberated from terrorists on October 17, 2017.

To this day, Marawi remains in ruins, with clearing efforts still ongoing in the city. Rehabilitation efforts are estimated to cost about P64 to P65 billion. (WATCH: Marawi after one year – a sea of destruction) 

Robredo's flagship anti-poverty program Angat Buhay opened the Angat Buhay Village in Barangay Sagonsongan, Marawi City in July this year, which would benefit residents displaced by the war. 

In her message, Robredo said she hopes Muslim Filipinos would be able to draw strength from Prophet Ibrahim's "constant and unwavering" faith. (LOOK: Colors of Eid'l Adha 2018 in Philippines)

"To our Muslim brothers and sisters, may Allah look with favor upon your personal sacrifices. And we hope that as we all navigate through difficult times, we can always keep in mind that this is what makes us stronger as a nation – that we show up for others, that we can cast aside differences and unite for a single greater purpose," she added. 

In his Eid'l Adha message, Duterte said he hopes for peace and unity to allow diversity of faiths in the country.

Eid'l Adha is one of Islam's two greatest feasts. Also known as the Feast of Sacrifice, it pays tribute to the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismail to prove his obedience to God. 

It also marks the end of Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites in Saudi Arabia. – Rappler.com

WASHINGTON DC, USA – The conviction of President Donald Trump's one-time campaign chairman and the guilty plea by his former personal lawyer Tuesday, August 21, have brought Russia prosecutor Robert Mueller sorely needed relief as political pressure mounts for him to wind up the 15-month-old investigation.

The cases of Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen won't end Trump's crusade to tar Mueller's probe as a "witch hunt," a furious effort aimed at undermining any effort to put the US leader on trial.

But experts say every win counts for the special prosecutor, with a growing record of success making it more likely he will secure cooperation from future witnesses.

With a crucial congressional election looming in November, Trump is desperate to convince voters the investigation is politically biased, in hopes of protecting his crucial Republican majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives.

His first reaction to the results in the two cases Tuesday was to again insist that there is no basis to Mueller's investigation.

"It doesn't involve me.... It had nothing to do with Russian collusion. We continue the witch hunt," Trump said.

Uphill battle

Mueller has an uphill battle to prove allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, and that Trump has sought to obstruct his investigation.

The Manafort case, the first one the Mueller team has sent to trial, saw a jury find the former Trump campaign chairman guilty on 8 counts of tax evasion, bank fraud and financial account reporting violations.

While the evidence was strong, the case was focused on Manafort's dealings separate to the 2016 campaign and not directly related to Russia.

The Cohen case, tried by New York federal prosecutors on a referral from Mueller, also lacked a Russian collusion angle.

Cohen pleaded guilty to bank fraud and tax fraud in his personal business, and campaign finance violations related to hush payments to two alleged former Trump girlfriends.

In the latter, however, he stunningly implicated the president in a felony, declaring Trump himself had ordered the payments to influence the election.

Even if not about collusion, both cases underscored that Mueller is not pursuing frivolous charges, as his critics claim.

"Manafort's conviction shows that Mueller's investigation is far from a witch hunt," said Democratic congressman Adam Schiff.

"It also shows his campaign and administration were rife with people with a history of unscrupulous business dealings and concerning ties to overseas interests."

Moving quickly

Both cases showed that Mueller, a taciturn 74-year-old former FBI director, is working quickly and efficiently. Since he was named in May 2017, he hasn't commented publicly on the progress of his operation or responded to the president's almost daily attacks.

But he has issued indictments against 33 individuals, 25 of them Russians, and 3 companies.

Five have negotiated guilty pleas on reduced charges, including Trump's former national security advisor Michael Flynn; former deputy campaign chair and Manafort aide Richard Gates; and former foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos.

By comparison, it took special prosecutor Ken Starr 4 years to produce an indictment against president Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

Michael German, formerly an FBI agent and now at the Brennan Center for Justice, said the Manafort verdict was an important step forward for Mueller.

"Every win is important building to the ultimate fruition of the investigation," he said.

"It's easier to gain cooperation from witnesses or secure guilty pleas if you are staring to build a record of success. It puts more pressure on people to cooperate with the investigation."

White House pressure

Even so, the White House says Mueller is dragging his feet.

"I think we've been very clear that not only do we, but all the American people, want this to wrap up," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said last week.

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti says there is a constant, implicit threat from Trump to summarily end the probe – even if that would spark a constitutional crisis.

"Mueller has to be concerned about whether he'll be permitted to finish his investigation," he said. –Rappler.com

UNITED NATIONS – The United States, France and Britain on Tuesday, August 21, threatened to respond if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad uses chemical weapons in its offensive to retake Idlib province.

In a joint statement, the 3 powers said they were "gravely concerned" over the military offensive in Idlib and the resulting humanitarian consequences.

"We also underline our concern at the potential for further – and illegal – use of chemical weapons," they said.

"We remain resolved to act if the Assad regime uses chemical weapons again."

The 3 UN Security Council powers released the joint statement to mark the 5th anniversary of the sarin attack in Ghouta that killed more than 300 people.

That attack, which the West blamed on Assad's forces, led to a US-Russian agreement to rid Syria of its chemical stockpile and its means to produce the deadly chemicals.

"Our position on the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons is unchanged," said the statement.

"As we have demonstrated, we will respond appropriately to any further use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, which has had such devastating humanitarian consequences for the Syrian population."

The United States, France and Britain in April launched airstrikes on Syrian targets in response to a chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma that left scores dead.

The one-night operation hit 3 sites in Syria amid warnings from Russia that a military intervention could lead to a broader war.

After 7 years of war, Assad has set his sights on retaking control of the Idlib, the biggest area in rebel-held hands, which borders Turkey.

The regime holds the southeastern tip of the province that is home to some 2.5 million people – more than half displaced by Syria's war or bused into Idlib under surrender deals.

The council is scheduled to discuss the humanitarian situation in Syria next week. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Is Naga City a shabu (methamphetamine) hotbed as President Rodrigo Duterte has accused it of?

The Philippine National Police (PNP) believes that their Commander-in-chief has the basis to announce so, top cop Director General Oscar Albayalde said on Wednesday, August 22.

Citing PNP numbers, Albayalde said Naga City stands 5th in the list of cities across the Philippines with the highest crime volume, which covers crimes against persons and properties.

"[A]mong the major cities of the country, Naga City has consistently ranked number 5 in terms of crime volume in the first semester of 2017 and 2018," Albayalde told reporters.

Albayalde said the top 4 are Santiago in Isabela, Angeles in Pampanga, Olongapo in Zambales, and Puerto Princesa in Palawan.

Why does crime volume matter? The Philippine National Police has long held that the volume of crime is directly proportional with drug proliferation.  

This is based on the anecdotal evidence of cops that crimes are perpetrated by people craving or high on shabu, and that crimes are masterminded by high-profile drug lords.

When asked whether the PNP has data directly pointing to Naga as a source of illegal drugs, the PNP said it would to release it to reporters. (READ: No 'real number' on drug rehab: Here's why)

Naga rose to prominence for being the hometown of Vice President Leni Robredo—the opposition figurehead repeatedly lambasted by President Duterte. Robredo's late husband, Jesse, was a longtime mayor of the city. – Rappler.com

WASHINGTON, DC, USA – President Donald Trump's administration announced a plan on Tuesday, August 21, to weaken regulations on US coal plants, giving a boost to an industry that former leader Barack Obama had hoped to phase out to cut harmful emissions that drive global warming.

The Environmental Protection Agency's new Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule would allow states the flexibility to set their own standards for performance at existing coal-fired power plants, rather than follow a single federal standard.

The EPA says the measure is designed to replace Obama's 2015 Clean Power Plan, which called for cuts to greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, and a shift toward solar, wind and less polluting natural gas.

The move marks the latest effort by Trump's administration to roll back the environmental legacy of his Democratic predecessor, having already pulled out of the 2015 Paris climate accord aimed at slashing global fossil fuel emissions.

Obama's energy plan aimed to usher in the strictest anti-pollution measures in history on power plants, but was put on hold in 2016 by the US Supreme Court.

Trump, whose ascent to the presidency effectively killed off the plan, had blasted it as "intrusive" and claimed it would "kill jobs."

The president trumpeted the plan at a rally late Tuesday in the coal-producing state of West Virginia.

"We are putting our great coal miners back to work," he said, adding: "We love clean, beautiful, West Virginia coal."

Earlier, EPA acting administrator Andrew Wheeler told reporters in a call: "The era of top-down, one-size-fits-all federal mandates is over." 

The new plan could take months or even years to take effect. Legal challenges are already lining up, as the proposal awaits a 60-day comment period before it can be finalized.

Critics warned the plan will boost emissions from power plants, which emit about 28% of US greenhouse gases, and worsen global warming.

"Under this proposal, the air will be dirtier and we'll be less healthy as a country because President Trump is siding with a few powerful special interests," said Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer. 

Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the plan called for "only modest efficiency improvements at individual power plants, which will barely make a dent in cutting heat-trapping emissions from the electricity sector, and could even, under some circumstances, lead to increased emissions depending on how much the plants are run."

Kimmell said the new rules "would also result in more pollution from nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury and other harmful pollutants."

Coal in decline

The White House said in a statement that, if finalized, the rule "will significantly decrease bureaucratic red tape and compliance costs, keeping American energy affordable and competitive on the world stage."

The White House claimed it would also save $6.4 billion in compliance costs for industry, compared to the Obama plan.

"We're the only country in the world doing this, looking at coal as the future instead of understanding the future is about clean air, the future is about clean energy," Gina McCarthy, who served as EPA administrator under Obama, told CNN.

Despite Trump's support for coal plants, there have been many closures. 

Some 40 percent of coal plants in operation in 2010 are now closed or slated to close, according to estimates from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

According to Bob Perciasepe, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, "EPA is now proposing a plan that will essentially be ignored by most of the industry." 

Bill Wehrum, administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, acknowledged that the industry "continues to transform in front of our eyes."

"What we see is an ongoing significant shift in the direction of natural gas and renewable energy generation," he told reporters.

Wehrum said that because of the shifting energy landscape, he expected emissions to fall at a rate "roughly comparable" to the goals outlined under the Obama-era plan, which called for a 26 percent cut in greenhouse gases from power plants by 2025, compared to 2005 levels.

According to former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, a leading philanthropist and climate activist, coal is a losing proposition.

"Americans are demanding cleaner air and cheaper, cleaner energy -- and cities, states and businesses are delivering," he said in a statement.

"Wind, solar and other clean energy sources are beating coal in the marketplace, which is benefiting both public health and the economy. That will continue to happen even if the EPA keeps spitting in the wind." – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Several motorists were hurt in a multiple car collision in Antipolo City Wednesday afternoon, August 22.

In a traffic advisory issued by the Antipolo City government, a dump truck, van, and 6 private vehicles collided around 1:30 pm on Wednesday along Sumulong Highway, near Cloud 9 and Padi's Point. 

Those injured were given first aid by barangay responders and were brought to the nearest hospital.

As of 4:15 pm, Sumulong Highway was already passable. But officials advised motorists to expect heavy traffic in the area.  (IN NUMBERS: Road crash incidents in the Philippines)

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Motorists going to Antipolo were advised to make a left turn via Blue Mountain. While those going to Masinag area, they can make a right turn at Olalia Road.

Meanwhile, heavy vehicles were advised to pass by Ortigas Avenue extension.

Police are currently investigating the cause of the crash. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Deputy Executive Secretary for General Administration Michael Ong has been given a promotion.

President Rodrigo Duterte named him acting senior deputy executive secretary under the Office of the President, replacing Menardo Guevarra who is now justice secretary.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Former Deputy Executive Secretary for General Admin Michael Ong named Acting Senior Deputy Executive Secretary. <a href="https://twitter.com/rapplerdotcom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rapplerdotcom</a> <a href="https://t.co/JgJ38ucock">pic.twitter.com/JgJ38ucock</a></p>&mdash; Pia Ranada (@piaranada) <a href="https://twitter.com/piaranada/status/1032188994790940672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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His new position means he is now Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea's right-hand man. Ong's new tasks will include taking the lead in drafting crucial Malacañang issuances and supervising search committees for presidential appointees.

Ong, whose appointment was signed on August 16, has served Malacañang since 2010.

He started as an assistant secretary under the Office of the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, a position he held until 2012. He has also served under the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs.

Ong is a lawyer by training, having obtained his law degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 2002. Before that, he took up AB Economics at Ateneo de Manila University.

He has worked as corporate legal counsel for the Philippine National Oil Company Exploration Corporation. Ong worked in private practice as legal associate for Fondevilla Jasarino Young Rondario & Librojo Law Offices.– Rappler.com 

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela was rocked by a 7.3-magnitude earthquake near its northeastern coast Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, causing buildings to sway and people to run into the street in panic but there were no reports of fatalities or injuries.

The tremor was an added headache for a country whose economy is unraveling amid hyperinflation and widespread grassroots anger with the leftist government.

Jose Nevada, 35, from the eastern Delta Amacuro state, said the tremor was very strong there.

"People ran out into the streets, many stayed there and in some places the lights went out," he told AFP by telephone.

The tremor was felt for several seconds some 400 kilometers (250 miles) away in the capital Caracas, notably in tall buildings. Many were evacuated for fears of aftershocks or lasting structural damage.

People gathered in streets, plazas and parks – any place to get away from buildings – and hugged each other. They tried desperately to make calls with cell phones but service was disrupted for a while.

Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said the prolonged quake was felt in several states but that "for now, there are no reports of victims."

Some buildings suffered structural damage, he told state TV.

'Windows started to move'

Dorothy Villalobos said she was in a bank when the quake struck. "The windows started to move, and the tables and chairs," she said.

She said bank employees told everyone to get out but some queueing at a cash dispenser -- desperate to withdraw the limited notes they're authorized to claim in the cash-strapped country -- "didn't want to leave."

"The pictures wobbled and the window panes creaked. I went down the stairs and the doors of every apartment on the 10 floors of my building were open," Jose Oviedo, who lives just to the east of Caracas, told AFP.

"We gathered downstairs. I saw a redheaded lady, white from fright, crying."

The USGS said the tremor occurred just after 5:30 pm (2130 GMT), with the epicenter close to the coast of the state of Sucre, at a depth of 123 kilometers.

Call for calm

Venezuela's Seismology Investigations Foundation measured the quake at magnitude 6.3 and said it hit the town of Yaguaraparo in Sucre at a depth of just 100 meters (330 feet). It later revised the magnitude to 6.9.

The quake was also felt in Trinidad and Tobago off the coast of Venezuela, causing some minor damage but no fatalities or injuries, officials there said.

Social media in Venezuela were inundated with messages of alarm, particularly in the greater Caracas area that has a population of around four million.

An emblematic and abandoned skyscraper in Caracas leaned precariously.

Photos shared by local news outlets and on social media showed cracked buildings in Caracas and Puerto Ordaz, in the south.

Oil-rich Venezuela is already struggling with an economic and political crisis following four years of recession that has seen more than two million people flee the country, according to the United Nations.

The country is facing food and medicine shortages, and failing public services such as running water, electricity and transport.

The International Monetary Fund has predicted inflation will hit one million percent this year.

President Nicolas Maduro's government launched a new currency on Monday to try to tackle hyperinflation, lopping five zeros off the old bolivar.

Venezuela also devalued the bolivar by 96 percent and anchored it to its widely discredited cryptocurrency, the petro.

It's all part of a radical new economic plan launched by Maduro that includes a 3,400 percent increase in the minimum wage, loosened foreign exchange rules and reduced fuel subsidies.

The last time the country was hit with a tremor this strong was in 1997, when 73 people were killed in a 7.0-magnitude quake in Sucre.

Thirty years earlier, 200 people died after a 6.7-magnitude tremor rocked Caracas. – Rappler.com

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Cambodia opposition leader Kem Sokha was denied bail Wednesday after almost a year in jail on treason charges that critics say were trumped up by premier Hun Sen to gift himself a free run in last month's election. 

Kem Sokha was detained as part of a crackdown last year on the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

The party was dissolved in November, leaving Hun Sen to extend his 33-year stay in office at July's polls where his party won every parliamentary seat in a vote without a credible opposition. 

On Wednesday the Supreme Court in capital Phnom Penh rejected an appeal by Kem Sokha's lawyers to give him bail on grounds of ill health.

Prosecutor Ouk Kimsith argued that if released, Kem Sokha could provoke "unrest in the society... his release would affect the political stability".

The opposition leader, held in a remote prison near the Vietnamese border, was not present at the hearing.

But lawyer Chan Chen said the 65-year-old leader needed to travel abroad for medical treatment.

He suffers from hypertension and diabetes, which his lawyers say has been exacerbated by his protracted jail time.

"My client did not commit the crimes," Chan Chen said.

His trial is yet to start. 

The CNRP, which posed the most legitimate threat to Hun Sen's ruling Cambodia People's Party (CPP), was dissolved two months after Kem Sokha's arrest. 

Without a viable opposition taking part in the election, the CPP swept all 125 parliamentary seats, rendering the country a one-party state.

Kem Sokha's supporters had hoped he would be freed once the result was beyond dispute. 

Human Rights Watch called for Kem Sokha's immediate release, labelling the charges "fabricated" and "preposterous".

"The government's treatment of Kem Sokha and other political prisoners will lend insight into Cambodia's future after July's sham election," HRW's Brad Adams said in a statement late Tuesday. – Rappler.com

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh – Nearly one million Rohingya Muslims marked Eid al-Adha on Wednesday, August 22, in the world's largest refugee camp, almost a year to the day since a brutal military crackdown drove the persecuted minority from Myanmar in huge numbers.

Prayers were offered in makeshift mosques across southern Bangladesh to celebrate the Islamic festival of sacrifice as cows were slaughtered in muddy fields across the sprawling camps.

In Kutupalong, a gigantic hill settlement crammed with hundreds of thousands of refugees, a muezzin called the faithful to pray as children played on a wooden carousel and ran about in dirt alleyways in new clothes for the special day.

For many refugees, this Eid al-Adha is the first since their violent expulsion from western Myanmar a year ago in a campaign of orchestrated violence likened by US and UN officials to ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar's military, backed by armed Buddhist militias, began sweeping through Rohingya villages in August 2017 just days before Eid celebrations got underway.

Sayed Hussain spent last year's Eid hiding in the hills of Rakhine State after fleeing an attack on his village.

"We couldn't sacrifice cows there. We didn't have anything to eat. In Bangladesh... we can slaughter cows. Praise and thanks be to Allah," the 19-year-old told the Agence France-Presse.

Mohammad Jasim, a 16-year-old refugee born and raised in Kutupalong camp, was grateful his relatives in Myanmar had escaped the violence last year to join his family in Bangladesh.

"This year's Eid is much better than previous years. All my relatives are here, so we're having a good time."

Sombre celebrations

Muslims traditionally sacrifice animals for the three-day Eid al-Adha feast, a tribute to the prophet Abraham slaughtering a lamb after God spared Ishmael, his son.

Those able to make the sacrifice known as qurbani will consume some of the meat and give the rest to the poor unable to buy food.

In Cox's Bazar near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, where squalid camps host generations of Rohingya refugees expelled from western Myanmar, there is much need, and little to go around.

Cows, goats and sheep flooded local markets catering to the displaced Muslims in the lead up to Eid. 

Some better-off families pooled whatever cash they could muster to make the Islamic sacrifice, buying shares in a cow or goat.

But for most refugees, such luxuries are wildly beyond their means.

Barred from legally working, and surviving hand to mouth on charity, this Eid has for many been overshadowed by the misery in Bangladesh.

The sight of animals being fattened for slaughter taunted Mohammad Amin, a teenager who remembered the home-cooked meat delicacies and special gifts reserved for the holiest Islamic festivity back home.

"But here, we don't have any money to slaughter cows or buy new clothes," the downcast 15-year-old told AFP at Jamtoli camp, a new settlement for recently arrived refugees.

The influx of refugees delivered a bumper year for Bangladeshi livestock trader Aktar Hussain and others like him, who counted wads of cash at a busy cattle market market adjacent to the camps.

"This has been my best year yet," he told AFP, as prospective Rohingya buyers examined a sturdy brown cow in a muddy clearing.

"Last year, I sold 15 cows at Eid. This year, I've already sold 50."

The festival differs from Eid al-Fitr, the other major festival in the Islamic calendar, which was celebrated in June in Muslim-majority Bangladesh after the fasting month of Ramadan. – Rappler.com

BERLIN, Germany – German police commandos on Wednesday, August 22, arrested a Russian suspected Islamist militant accused of having plotted an explosives attack in the country.

Identified only as 31-year-old Magomed-Ali C., he was allegedly an accomplice of Clement Baur, who was arrested in Marseilles shortly before the 2017 French elections accused of plotting an imminent attack.

The Russian man "is suspected of having plotted, together with Clement B., detained in France, a serious act of violence against the state," German federal prosecutors said in a statement.

Commandos of the elite police unit GSG 9 stormed the man's Berlin apartment in an operation which prosecutors said was linked to the Baur case.

Baur and another suspect, who had both pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group (ISIS), were arrested in April 2017 in a Marseilles apartment.

French police found an ISIS flag, a loaded Uzi sub-machine gun, two pistols, a homemade grenade and TATP, a volatile explosive dubbed "mother of Satan".

The German prosecutors said that Magomed-Ali C. and Baur had also planned an explosives attack "at an unknown location in Germany, meant to maim or kill the greatest possible number of people".

For this purpose, Magomed-Ali C. had kept in his Berlin flat "a substantial amount" of TATP since at least October 2016.

Those attack plans were foiled however by an unspecified German "preventive police operation", which led the accomplices to split up and Baur to travel to France, said the prosecutors. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) asked the Court of Appeals (CA) on Wednesday, August 22 to reverse its July 31 ruling, which effectively voided the regularization order to PLDT Incorporated.

On Wednesday, DOLE, through the Solicitor General Jose Calida, filed a 59-page motion for reconsideration which pointed out that PLDT "had a degree of control" over the contractors' workers.

"The Honorable Court should have considered the totality of the factors surrounding the relationship between PLDT and its individual contractors," Calida said.

"[These factors] would show that these contractors are labor-only contractors, due not only the nature of the services they perform for PLDT, but due to the degree of control that PLDT exercises over their workers, or to their lack of an independent business," Calida added.

In its July 31 decision, CA said that not all 7,300 workers from PLDT contractors are entitled to regularization, cutting down the number of workers to be placed in permanent positions.

CA also ordered DOLE to "conduct further proceedings" on regularizing individuals performing installation, repair, and maintenance services.

Calida argued that DOLE had "critically examined" the case, and that the labor inspection findings were not made "arbitrarily nor in a despotic manner."

"Public respondent [Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III] critically examined the case for each and every contractor involved, as well as PLDT itself, through both the appeals and the motions for reconsideration," Calida said.

In January, DOLE had ordered PLDT to regularize more than 7,300 workers from 38 contractors, and issued cease and desist orders to the contractors.

DOLE said PLDT engaged in labor-only contracting schemes, wherein its contractors performed duties that are part of the telco's core functions, or exercised a certain level of control over the said employees.

Based on the order, PLDT should also pay the workers P51.6 million in unpaid monetary benefits.

PLDT earlier argued that only installation and repair of their services are core to the telco's business operations, saying that customer services need not be regularized. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The opposition refused to accept Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos' statement that the nation should "move on" from the abuses during Martial Law.

On Wednesday, August 22, several members of the opposition reacted to Imee's message to the critics of her late father, ex-president Ferdinand Marcos, on Ninoy Aquino Day.

The late senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr, the elder Marcos' fiercest critic, was assassinated on August 21, 1983 at the Manila International Airport after his political exile in the United States.

"The millennials have moved on, and I think people at my age should also move on as well," said Imee in a press conference in Cebu.

But opposition members argued that Imee and the rest of her family remain remorseless about the abuses committed during Martial Law.

Marcos' 21-year rule was marred by killings, torture, disappearances, media oppression, and corruption. (READ: Martial Law, the dark chapter in Philippine history)

Read below the opposition members' response to the late strongman's daughter:

Senator Francis Pangilinan:

"How can those who were unjustly detained, tortured, and murdered move on when there is not remorse, not any act of atonement, not acceptance and recognition of wrongdoing on their part? How can the Filipino people move on when the Marcos family continue to deny the billions of dollars in unexplained wealth that ran our economy to the ground and earned the late dictator the title world's greatest thief?"

Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV:

"Mahirap maka-get over 'pag walang closure, lalo na 'pag pinamumukha sa publiko na walang kasalanan ang salarin. Klaro naman sa kasaysayan kung sino ang nagnakaw, nag-torture, at pumatay. Napakadaling sabihing mag-move on na lang, pero sa mga nasawi, napakahirap nito."

Akbayan Youth chairperson JC Tejano:

"Hindi kami magmu-move on hangga't hindi kayo nananagot. Hindi makakalimot ang taumbayan. Kaming millennials ay biktima rin ng martial law. Hanggang ngayon, pasan namin ang utang ng pamilya ninyo, na siyang ginamit ninyo para sa inyong mga kampanya at luho. Lalabanan namin ang lahat ng pagtatangka ng mga Marcos na makabalik sa Malacañang!"

Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan:

"We may not have been alive during that time, but policies passed during his time such as the Education Act of 1982 which hinders our right to education still affect us. The foreign debt incurred during his administration that our generation and the generations after us will have to pay also continue to affect how inaccessible basic social services are to ordinary Filipino people. There is no moving on until justice has been served. There is also no moving on in that we will never forget the damage martial law has done. She has no right no claim what our stand is on the issue. Not in our name, Imee Marcos."

– Rappler.com

MADRID, Spain – Over 100 African migrants forced their way into the Spanish territory of Ceuta on Wednesday, August 22, after storming a barbed-wire border fence with Morocco and attacking police with caustic quicklime, a local official said.

In the second assault on the Spanish border in a month, 7 police officers were lightly injured when migrants threw quicklime and battery acid as they tried to scale the fence, a spokesman for the Spanish government's representative in Ceuta told the Agence France-Presse, adding that some 115 migrants managed to enter the tiny territory.

An undetermined number of migrants were also injured in the assault on the border. 

Images published by local newspaper El Faro de Ceuta showed bare-chested African migrants celebrating their arrival in Ceuta, many with bloody cuts to their hands.

Some waved Spanish or European Union flags as they made their way to a temporary migrant accommodation center.

"All my support to those security forces who are facing the migratory challenge in an exemplary way, especially the agents who were injured today," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted.

Every year sub-Saharan African migrants living illegally in Morocco try to enter Europe either by climbing over their border fences or swimming along their coastlines.

Spanish territories Ceuta and Melilla have the European Union's only land borders with Africa, drawing migrants trying to reach the bloc.

The assault on the border comes as Ceuta was marking Islam's Eid al-Adha religious feast. Over 600 African migrants got past the double border fence on July 26, in the biggest run on the border since February 2017.

Fifteen police officers were injured in the violence, some sustaining burns to their face and arms. 

Some 3,100 migrants have entered Ceuta and Melilla by land since the start of the year, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Over 25,000 others have arrived in Spain by sea, making it the main entry point for migrants arriving in Europe, after Italy and Greece. – Rappler.com

WASHINGTON, DC, USA – US President Donald Trump lashed out at Michael Cohen on Wednesday, August 22, after his former lawyer implicated him in campaign finance violations, accusing him of making up "stories" in order to get a plea deal.

The president's longtime lawyer dealt him a bitter political blow on Tuesday as he admitted to felony charges in New York that included making illegal campaign contributions -- and implicated the president.

At almost the same time, Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort was found guilty of tax and bank fraud by a jury in Virginia. 

In his first reaction to the Cohen bombshell, Trump asserted in a series of tweets that his former lawyer's campaign finance violations were "not a crime."

"Michael Cohen plead (sic) guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime," he tweeted, adding that "President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!"

The 2008 Obama campaign paid a $375,000 fine in 2013 to settle violations of a rule that contributions made 20 days before an election had to be reported within 48 hours.

Cohen's illegal campaign contributions involved secret hush payments he made on Trump's behalf during the 2016 campaign to two women who claimed to have had affairs with the Republican candidate.

Trump contrasted Cohen's actions with those of Manafort, whom he described as "such a brave man."

"I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family," Trump wrote. "Unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to 'break' – make up stories in order to get a 'deal.'"

"A large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the Paul Manafort case. Witch Hunt!" Trump wrote, referring to the counts on which the jury could not reach a unanimous decision.

Co-conspirator

He did not have similarly kind words for his ex-attorney.

"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!" Trump wrote.

On Tuesday, Cohen detailed how he made pre-election hush payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both claim to have had affairs with Trump.

But in a sensational twist, Cohen also pointed to the president – or "individual 1" – as a co-conspirator, alleging that he acted "in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office" in making those payments.

"I participated in this conduct with the purpose of influencing the election," a visibly crestfallen Cohen told the judge – an admission that puts Trump himself in legal jeopardy.

Unlike Cohen, the 69-year-old Manafort did not take a plea deal, choosing to leave his fate to a jury and prompting speculation that he was hoping for a pardon by Trump – something the president has refused to rule out.

Manafort's case went to the jury on Thursday after 12 days of gripping testimony about hidden bank accounts, betrayal and lavish spending on luxury homes, cars, antique rugs and clothes.

After 4 days of deliberation, jurors found him guilty of 8 counts: five counts of making false income tax returns, two of bank fraud and one of failure to report foreign bank and financial accounts. – Rappler.com

BEIRUT, Lebanon – The leader of the Islamic State jihadist group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on Muslims to wage "jihad" in a purported new audio recording released on Wednesday, August 22.

He also called for attacks in the West in the Telegram message on Eid'l Adha, which comes as ISIS (IS, formerly known as ISIS or the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq) has lost most of its territory in Iraq and Syria.

It is the first purported recording of the ISIS leader to be released since September last year.

"Those who forget their religion, patience, jihad against their enemies, and their certainty in the creator's promise lose and are disgraced," the leader said.

"But when they hold on to it, they are mighty and victorious, even if after a certain time."

ISIS overran large swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" in areas they controlled.

But they have since lost most of that to various offensives in both countries.

The "caliphate will remain, God willing", Baghdadi however said in Wednesday's recording, addressing followers in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

It was not clear when the message was recorded, but Baghdadi appeared to criticize a $100-million pledge by Saudi Arabia last week to help rebuild Syria's northeast.

He threatened the United States and Russia, who have both backed offensives against ISIS, saying that the jihadists had prepared "horrors" for them.

Speaking of war-torn Syria, he criticized rebel fighters for agreeing to surrender deals with the Damascus regime, and called on opposition fighters to join his jihadist group.

The ISIS chief made his only known public appearance in Iraq's second city of Mosul in July 2014.

$25 million reward

Baghdadi has been pronounced dead on several occasions, but an Iraqi intelligence official said in May that he remains alive in Syrian territory by the Iraqi border.

Baghdadi was said to move around with only a small group of followers.

Originally from Iraq, Baghdadi has been dubbed the "most wanted man on the planet" and the United States is offering a $25 million reward for his capture.

The Iraqi official said the noose was closing around the jihadist leader after Iraqi forces captured 5 top ISIS commanders in an unprecedented raid in Syria on March 24.

In July, Iraqi intelligence services said Baghdad's son Hudhayfah al-Badri had been killed in Syria by 3 Russian missile targeting a cave where he was hiding.

In September 2017, in a voice message attributed to Baghdadi, the ISIS leader called on his fighters in Syria and Iraq to "resist" their enemies.

Today, after a vast military campaign by Iraqi forces backed by a US-led coalition, the jihadist group only has sleeping cells in Iraq.

In Syria, ISIS has faced two separate offensives by Russia-backed regime forces and another by a Kurdish-Arab alliance supported by the US-led coalition.

They hold a few pockets in the far east of the country near the Iraqi border, and retain a presence in the vast desert stretching from the capital to the frontier.

ISIS has claimed a string of deadly attacks in the West in recent years.

Baghdadi claimed responsibility for a July attack in Canada in which a gunman killed two people.

The jihadist group had already said they were behind the shooting, but Canadian police said there was nothing to substantiate it.

Baghdadi called on followers to carry out more attacks in the West.

In Syria, the group killed around 250 people in attacks in the southern province of Sweida last month and still holds dozens of hostages, mostly women and children. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Four lawmakers will file on Thursday, August 23, impeachment complaints against 7 Supreme Court (SC) justices who ousted chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno 3 months ago.

Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Noel Tijam, Andres Reyes Jr, and Alexander Gesmundo are accused of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust for agreeing to remove Sereno via quo warranto.

Four of them – De Castro, Peralta, Bersamin, and Reyes – are all vying to become the new SC chief justice.

The impeachment complaints against them will be filed by 4 out of 7 opposition lawmakers forming the so-called "Magnificent 7" bloc in the House of Representatives:

• Edcel Lagman, Albay 1st District
• Gary Alejano, Magdalo
• Teddy Baguilat Jr, Ifugao
• Tom Villarin, Akbayan 

"Yes, tuloy ang filing mamaya (the filing will push through later)," Lagman told Rappler in a phone call on Thursday morning when asked to confirm their plans to file the impeachment complaints. 

"That is correct, it's about the quo warranto. Pero 'di na kasama si [former associate justice Samuel] Martires kasi Ombudsman na siya (But former associate justice Samuel Martires will no longer be included because he is now the Ombudsman)," added Lagman.

President Rodrigo Duterte announced Martires' appointment as the new Ombudsman on July 26.

Lagman's office later issued an advisory to House reporters that the Magnificent 7 lawmakers will hold a press conference at 3 pm.

The agenda will be as follows: "Filing of impeachment complaints against 7 justices of the Supreme Court for culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in connection with the SC Decision dated May 11, 2018 ousting chief justice Sereno in a improvident and controversial quo warranto petition."

On May 11, the SC voted 8-6 in favor of the quo warranto petition filed against Sereno, which nullified her appointment as chief justice. Her motion for reconsideration was also junked by the High Court on June 19. 

Days later, opposition legislators argued the 1987 Constitution only allows the removal of impeachable officials like the chief jusice through impeachment by the House then conviction by the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court. 

“If magistrates who are sworn to uphold the Constitution subvert the very fundamental law by arrogating jurisdiction over an impeachable official, perforce they deserve to be impeached,” Lagman said on May 18, the first time he expressed his bloc’s intent to file the impeachment complaints. 

Sereno herself faced her own impeachment complaint at the House last year, with the committee on justice later approving 6 articles of impeachment against the former chief justice after holding months-long hearings. 

But the House leadership rendered the pending articles of impeachment as “moot and academic” after the SC ruled with finality on Sereno’s ouster.

The odds are against the 4 opposition lawmakers, as Duterte himself supported Sereno's impeachment. A majority of the 292 members of the House are allied with the President.– Rappler.com 

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates. 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Argentina's senate on Wednesday, August 22, authorized investigators to search 3 homes belonging to former president Cristina Kirchner as part of the so-called corruption notebooks case.

Claudio Bonadio, the judge leading the investigation in the multi-million dollar bribery case, had petitioned the Senate to partially lift Kirchner's immunity to allow the residences to be searched.

As a senator, Kirchner enjoys congressional immunity from imprisonment, though not prosecution.

But all 67 senators present – including Kirchner herself – approved the partial lifting of that immunity to allow the searches as Bonadio seeks evidence the leftist former president accepted millions of dollars in bribes from businessmen in exchange for public works contracts.

In a fiery and defiant speech to the chamber, the 65-year-old reiterated that the cases against her were politically motivated.

"If there was something missing to consecrate the political persecution going on in Argentina, it was this .... I am going to be the first elected senator to be searched."

Facing trial in several other corruption cases, she has previously accused Bonadio of carrying out "judicial persecutions" aimed at derailing a possible run for the presidency next year.

Senators reached their decision after several hours of debate.

Last week, the senate was unable to muster a quorum to debate the request.

This time however, senators appeared set to favor the magistrate's request from the start, with Kirchner herself giving an indication she would bow to the seemingly inevitable.

She told lawmakers in a letter that she was willing to allow searches of her homes in Buenos Aires, Santa Cruz and El Calafate on condition that they did not allow the searches to be filmed or photographed.

Time to 'repair damage'

Eduardo Costa, from President Mauricio Macri's center-right Cambiemos coalition, said he would vote in favor of Bonadio's request to allow him to move ahead with the case.

It was time "to repair the damage that corruption and officials do to the Argentine people," Costa said.

Ana Almiron of Kirchner's Front for Victory party questioned "the purpose and the need for the search".

"They are trying to cover up the truth of what's happening in Argentina," she said, alluding to an economic crisis that has forced Macri to agree a $50 billion IMF loan.

Thousands of people demonstrated outside the Congress building in Buenos Aires the previous night, demanding that Senators authorize the searches.

"Prison for Cristina!" protesters shouted, and also "Give back the money!"

As the Senate debated on Wednesday, a handful of her supporters awaited the decision outside, waving pro-Kirchner banners. Another small group demonstrated nearby, demanding lawmakers end her immunity.

Driver's notebooks

More than a dozen elite businessmen and former government officials were arrested after La Nacion newspaper reported on August 1 that millions in bribes were delivered by a ministerial chauffeur to Kirchner's residences, both during her presidency and that of her late husband Nestor.

The driver's meticulous records of the cash deliveries – allegedly payments from business leaders in exchange for public works contracts – form the basis of Bonadio's investigation.

According to driver Oscar Centeno's bombshell evidence, the Kirchners' residence in Buenos Aires was the venue for the handover of millions of dollars in cash, with others taking place at the Casa Rosada government headquarters and the Olivos official presidential residence.

Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli has said a total of $160 million in bribes was handed over during a 10-year period from 2005-15.

Kirchner is being investigated in 5 other cases, ranging from alleged foreign exchange manipulation to the signing of a memorandum with Tehran that Bonadio argues effectively protected Iranian suspects in the deadly 1994 bombing of Argentine Jewish centers.

Still one of Argentina's most popular politicians, Kirchner said last week she was victim of a right-wing effort across Latin America to discredit the work of previous leftist governments "that expanded rights and allowed millions of people out of poverty during the first decade and a half of the 21st Century." – Rappler.com