MANILA, Philippines – "If you think it's high time for you guys to withdraw your assistance, go ahead. We will not beg for it."

This was President Rodrigo Duterte's message to the European Union and the United States after hearing about how his recent pronouncements may affect the flow of international aid to the Philippines.

"How do you look at us? Mendicants?" asked an indignant Duterte during his speech on Thursday, October 6, at a police camp in Butuan City.

The President asserted that the Philippines, a 3rd world country, can "survive" even without foreign assistance. The worst-case scenario, he said, is he would be the first to suffer from the loss of aid.

"Maski magkahirap dito (Even if we face hardships), we will survive. I'll be the first one to go hungry, I'll be the first one to die of hunger, huwag kayo mag-alala (don't worry). But we will never, never compromise our dignity as Filipinos," he said.

Duterte then said the EU and US will "never understand the pain that we're suffering."

He told them: "Go away. Bring your money to somewhere else." (READ: Duterte to EU: It's true, I'm no statesman)

Threats of aid withdrawal?

The President had apparently heard of the possible withdrawal of assistance from statements made by Vice President Leni Robredo.

"I've been hurled insults – the President, EU and all. Ang masama pa, i-threaten 'nyo, meron tayong official, si Leni, na we lose the international assistance," he said.

(I've been hurled insults – the President, EU and all. What's worse is, you threaten, we have an official, Leni, that we lose the international assistance.)

Duterte then asked Filipinos to make a choice.

"Mamili kayo, the crumbs of the favor ng ibang nasyon, aasa tayo sa assistance nila or we make a stand that this country has to survive, that this country must see to it that the next generation is protected?" he said.

(Choose, the crumbs of the favors of other nations, we will depend on their assistance or we make a stand that this country has to survive, that this country must see to it that the next generation is protected?)

He again defended his controversial drug war.

"If we don't interdict this evil of drugs, ang mga anak natin, ang mga apo natin, reckon from where I stand now, kawawa sila (our children, our grandchildren, from where I stand now, they will be pitiful)," said Duterte.

The President's dismissal of international aid comes a day after Vice President Robredo said in a press conference that Duterte should be more careful in making public statements.

While Robredo emphasized how the government should nurture the trust of the international community, she also said there has been no threats of aid withdrawal from other countries.

"Kahit maraming nangyayari, 'di pa rin naman kami nakakaramdam ng pag-withhold ng support," Robredo had said.

(Even though there are a lot of things happening, we still don't feel any withholding of support.)

Last Monday, the US State Department cited the rapid deployment of US troops in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013.

In recent weeks, Duterte has unleashed invectives against the US, EU, and United Nations for criticizing his controversial drug war supposedly without basis. (READ: What did the UN do for PH? Disaster response, health programs, and more) – Rappler.com

WARSAW, Poland – Poland's parliament on Thursday, October 6, rejected an abortion ban after women staged massive nationwide protests, in a devoutly Catholic nation where the law is already among the most restrictive in Europe.

Right-wing and liberal parliamentarians in the 450-member lower house joined forces to vote 352 against 58 to reject the controversial bill, with 18 abstentions.

The vote came after tens of thousands of black-clad women protested across Poland on Monday, as solidarity demonstrations sprang up in European capitals including Berlin, London and Paris.

Home to 38 million people, Poland sees less than 2,000 legal abortions a year, but women's groups estimate that another 100,000 to 150,000 procedures are performed illegally or abroad.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party told parliament before the vote that his group "would always support protecting the right to life". 

However he added that the proponents of the ban were "not going about it (protecting the right to life) in the best way."

While the PiS once favoured introducing a near-total ban on abortion, the party is well aware that a strong majority of Poles support existing legislation which allows terminations in certain cases.

Late last month, PiS lawmakers had pushed ahead with the controversial bill that would allow abortions only if the mother's life was at risk and increase the maximum jail term for practitioners from two years to five.

The citizens' initiative tabled in parliament by the Stop Abortion coalition would have put women who had terminations at risk of jail terms, though judges could waive punishment.

Poland's influential Catholic Church initially gave the initiative its seal of approval earlier this year, though its bishops have since spoken out against jailing women.

Earlier Thursday, PiS lawmaker Tomasz Latos said his party "has never favoured punishing women" during a fiery debate in parliament.

'Scared by protests'

A poll published last month by the Newsweek Polska magazine showed that 74 percent of Poles want to keep the existing law.

Passed in 1993, current restrictive legislation bans all abortions unless there was rape or incest, the pregnancy poses a health risk to the mother or the foetus is severely deformed.

Liberal opposition MP and former prime minister Ewa Kopacz, who is also a physician, insisted that "the PiS backtracked on the ban because it was scared by all the women who hit the streets in protest." 

Liberal lawmaker and former sports minister Joanna Mucha said PiS lawmakers "panicked" after Monday's massive protests.

"Polish women won't allow you to drive them to the slaughterhouse like sheep," she warned PiS lawmakers during the parliamentary debate.

"The herd will trample you."

Meanwhile Mariusz Dzierzawski, whose group had proposed the near total ban, accused PiS lawmakers of "ridiculing their constituents" for retracting support for the bill.

Prior to the vote, the proposed ban had strained relations between Warsaw and Brussels, already at odds in a rule of law dispute.

The European Parliament debated the proposed ban on Wednesday.

Barbara Kudrycka, a Polish MEP with the centrist European People's Party, accused PiS lawmakers of having "hearts of stone." 

"Women aren't merchandise you can use to pay off your campaign promises," she said. – Rappler.com

MAYNILA, Pilipinas – Itinuturing ng historyador na si Michael Charleston Chua ang pagkakapili sa "fotobam" bilang Salita ng Taon sa Sawikaan 2016 bilang isang paalala sa isyu ng Torre de Manila.

"Hindi naman natin puwedeng apurahin ang Korte Suprema sa pagde-decide tungkol sa Torre de Manila issue…. 'Yung 'pambansang photobomb' ito ay isang isyu na hindi lamang tungkol sa pagretrato na may asungot, kundi parang na-exalt nga 'yung usaping pangkasaysayan at pangkultura at pamana, sa Korte Suprema," sabi ni Chua sa kaniyang panayam sa Rappler nitong Huwebes, Oktubre 6.

Itinanghal ang "fotobam" bilang Salita ng Taon 2016 noong Huwebes, ang ikalawang araw ng Pambansang Kumperensiya sa Wikang Filipino na ginanap sa Diliman campus ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (UP).

Hango sa salitang Ingles na "photobomb," ang "fotobam" ay tumutukoy sa pagsama sa retrato kahit pa hindi ka dapat kasama.

Naging matunog ang salitang "photobomb" matapos bansagan ang Torre de Manila bilang "pambansang photobomb" dahil diumano'y sinisira nito ang hitsura ng monumento ni Rizal, isa sa mga sikat na atraksyon sa Luneta Park. 

Nagsampa ng petisyon sa Korte Suprema ang mga kritiko ng Torre de Manila noong 2014, ngunit hanggang ngayon, matapos ang 6 na oral arguments, ay wala pa ring desisyon ang Korte Suprema sa isyu. (BASAHIN: TIMELINE: The Torre de Manila case)

Para kay Chua, naging "stepping stone" ang bansag na "pambansang photobomb" upang mapalapit ang isyu ng Torre de Manila sa mga tao, mapadali ang pagpapaliwanag nito, at mapalalim ang diskusyon.

"So, whatever it is, anuman ang maging desisyon ng Korte, in many ways ay kumbaga ito na 'yung nagsesemento ng kahalagahan ng isyu sa ating lipunan, sa ating edukasyon, na sana...ngayong ito'y naging Salita ng Taon, patuloy na pag-usapan ang isyu na 'to, ang kahalagahan nito sa atin, dahil ito ay nagpapakita sa atin kung gaano ba kahalaga 'yung kasaysayan natin, 'yung kultura natin, 'yung pamana natin, paano natin inaalagaan ito at paano natin pinagpupugayan 'yung mga bayani natin," aniya.

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<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="tl" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/Xiao_Chua">@Xiao_Chua</a>: Hindi naman natin puwedeng apurahin ang Korte Suprema sa pagde-decide tungkol sa Torre de Manila issue. <a href="https://t.co/HZvMRL4SZK">pic.twitter.com/HZvMRL4SZK</a></p>&mdash; Jee Y. Geronimo (@jeegeronimo) <a href="https://twitter.com/jeegeronimo/status/783989780065292290">October 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Iniba ni Chua ang baybay o ispeling ng "photobomb," at "fotobam" ang naging salitang kalahok sa Sawikaan.

Ayon sa historyador, ginamit niya ang "fotobam" bilang pagpupugay na rin sa dalawang estudyante ng De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde – sina Carl Angelo Ruiz at Jong Gutierrez – na ginamit ang baybay na ito sa kanilang dokumentaryo.

"Ang 'fotobam' ay organic. Galing ito sa isang estudyante na nagkainteres sa isyu," dagdag ni Chua. 

Para kay Vim Nadera, isa sa mga hurado galing sa Filipinas Institute of Translation na pumili sa "fotobam" bilang Salita ng Taon, ang kakaibang katangian ng "fotobam" ay ang baybay nito na "inangkin na natin."

"Sa halip na gamitin natin 'yung 'asungot,' 'paningit,' 'panira,' o 'wala sa lugar,' e ginagamit natin 'yung 'fotobam' na pasok na pasok. Maaaring sabihin natin sa henerasyong ito ng millennials, sa henerasyong ito na maraming mga pagbabago lalo na sa ating pamumuhay," sabi ni Nadera.

Dagdag niya: "Kung titingnan 'nyo, nademokratisa ang paggamit, halimbawa, ng camera. Dati-rati 'pag may camera, pang-mayaman lang 'yan eh. Ngayon kahit sino puwede na, at kung titingnan mo, 'yun ang pagbibigay kapangyarihan o empowerment nito sa karaniwang Filipino."

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<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="tl" dir="ltr">Vim Nadera on &#39;fotobam&#39;: Ito ay pagkatok sa pintuan ng pagbabago na hindi mapipigil. <a href="https://t.co/9HDKlM0ZvQ">pic.twitter.com/9HDKlM0ZvQ</a></p>&mdash; Jee Y. Geronimo (@jeegeronimo) <a href="https://twitter.com/jeegeronimo/status/783991616402968577">October 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Itinuring din ang "fotobam" bilang People's Choice o salitang pinili ng mga delegado ng Pambansang Kumperensiya sa Wikang Filipino.

Paliwanag ni Nadera, ito ang unang pagkakataon magmula noong 2004 na nagkapareho ang salitang pinili ng mga delegado at ang pinili ng mga hurado. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – They said there would be none of it but the House of Representatives on Thursday, October 6, still allowed the narration of Senator Leila de Lima's alleged sex video at a congressional inquiry.

De Lima condemned this, saying the supposed video has no connection to her alleged links to illegal drugs in the national penitentiary – the subject of the House probe.

The senator, who has been accused of involvement in the drug trade by no less than President Rodrigo Duterte, said what the House did is offensive. She again denied it was her in the video.

"So even if 'di na itutuloy 'yung showing ng alleged sex video, the fact na hinahayaan nila na nagkukuwento tungkol diyan is equally objectionable. I really find it revolting. 'Di nila na-re-realize 'yan. What is the connection of that? Gusto lang nila talaga akong 'pinapahiya," De Lima told reporters after her speech at a democracy forum in Manila.

(So even if the showing of the alleged sex video will not push through, the fact that they allowed the narration of it is equally objectionable. I really find it revolting. They don't even realize that. What is the connection of that? They just want to humiliate me.)

Joenel Sanchez, a member of the Presidential Security Group who was once a close aide of De Lima from 2010 to 2015, explained in detail the alleged video of De Lima and Ronnie Dayan, her alleged lover and former driver.

Sanchez had a falling out with the senator after she supposedly refused to help him when his father had a heart attack. De Lima even got angry at him, Sanchez claimed, when he asked for another politician's help.

For the embattled senator, the House's move is a form of slut-shaming. The alleged video cannot even prove, she said, that Dayan was indeed her bagman.

De Lima added that she was close to all members of her security team.

"Lahat naman ng nagiging security ko more or less nagiging close na in the sense, siyempre, I entrust my life sa kanila. So bakit kailangan busisiin 'yung ganyang mga aspeto kung ang gusto lang nila i-prove na posibleng bagman ko si Ronnie Dayan? Konektado pa rin sa slut-shaming," she said.

(All members of my security team, more or less, have become close to me in the sense that, of course, I entrust my life to them. So why do they have to look into those kinds of things if they only want to prove that Ronnie Dayan could be my bagman? That's still connected to slut-shaming.)

The Senate earlier adopted a resolution condemning the plan of the House to show De Lima's alleged sex video, calling it "illegal" and "violative of inter-parliamentary courtesy."

Some lawmakers also opposed the move despite the backing of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, a party mate of the President.

It was the President who first brought to public attention the alleged video of the senator. He also accused Dayan of collecting money inside the New Bilibid Prison for De Lima, which the latter has repeatedly denied.

Private affairs

Testifying before the House committee on justice, Sanchez recalled how he first found out about the video in 2012. He claimed it was De Lima's driver "Bantam" who showed it to him after Dayan left his phone inside the car parked at the Malacañang compound.

"Nagulat po ako nang ipinakita ni Bantam sa akin ang video ni SOJ De Lima at Ronnie Dayan na may dalawang sex video. Ang isang video po ay nag-posing si SOJ De Lima malapit sa shower room na hubo't hubad at ang isa namang video ay nagbi- 'BJ' si SOJ De Lima kay Ronnie Dayan. Nailang po ako sa aking nakita at hindi ko na tinapos panoorin. Naging biruan na lang namin ang nasabing video," Sanchez said.

(I was surprised when Bantam showed the videos of SOJ De Lima and Ronnie Dayan. There were two sex videos. In one video, SOJ De Lima was posing naked near the shower room, while in the other one she was performing "BJ" to Ronnie Dayan. I felt uneasy with what I saw and I did not finish watching. It just became a topic of our jokes.)

Sanchez also claimed that when Dayan was still the head of the senator's security group, the two's "sweetness" was evident.

He said that after duty, Dayan would stay at De Lima's house, and the two would also sleep in the same room during out-of-town trips.

"Madalas din kaming pumupunta sa bahay ni SOJ De Lima sa Bicol at kapansin-pansin ang sweetness nila. Habang kami ay bumabiyahe papuntang probinsya, sila po ay nagsusubuan ng nilagang saging na saba," Sanchez said.

(We frequently went to the house of SOJ De Lima in Bicol and their sweetness was really evident. While we were traveling to the province, they would feed each other bananas.)

Every Christmas holiday, Sanchez said they would accompany De Lima to Dayan's hometown in Urbiztondo, Pangasinan. He recalled De Lima buying groceries and clothes for Dayan. Dayan, Sanchez said, eventually announced his relationship with De Lima.

"Sa tuwing kami ay mag-go-grocery, binibilhan ni SOJ De Lima si Ronnie Dayan ng paborito niyang Fundador at Marlboro. Binilhan din ni SOJ De Lima si Ronnie Dayan ng barong, sapatos, at mga personal na gamit hanggang tahasan nang ipinagmamayabang ni Ronnie Dayan ang relasyon nila ni De Lima," he said.

(Every time we went to the grocery, SOJ De Lima bought Ronnie Dayan his favorite Fundador and Marlboro. She bought him a barong, shoes, and other personal things until Dayan eventually paraded his relationship with De Lima.)

Sanchez also claimed that De Lima and Dayan had a falling out after a certain Warren Cristobal became part of the team.

Sanchez said the closeness of Cristobal and De Lima was noticeable, leading them to think that the two had a relationship. Duterte also earlier revealed this detail of De Lima's private life.

De Lima has neither confirmed nor denied her relationship with Dayan, only saying she is close to him. She refused to elaborate, saying such details were part of her private life. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – A Canadian man has been jailed for life in the Philippines for selling 160 tablets of ecstasy, with his swift prosecution part of President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war, police said Thursday, October 6.

Jeremy Eaton, 34, was also ordered to pay a fine of 500,000 pesos ($10,000), after he was arrested in a raid in June in the financial district of Makati, police said.

They said Eaton's prosecution, done in just 3 months, was part of Duterte's aggressive campaign against illegal drugs. The crackdown has left more than 3,000 people dead and sparked global condemnation for alleged extrajudicial killings. 

"The judiciary has expedited the prosecution of drug cases, and police are now more active so drug cases are really resolved quickly," Enrico Rigor, legal head of the national police's anti-illegal drugs group, told AFP.

Drug cases in the Philippines usually take several years to resolve, Rigor added. 

Duterte, 71, won May elections in a landslide on a promise to eradicate the drug menace by killing tens of thousands of criminals to prevent the Philippines from becoming a narco-state. 

He also vowed to restore the death penalty in the mainly Catholic nation. 

Eaton had insisted on his innocence.

"I walked into the building, I was jumped from behind, told I’m arrested," he told reporters shortly after his arrest.

"I was searched. I had nothing on my body. I never had anything. I think I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The court decision, dated August 31, said his denial could "easily be concocted and is a common and standard defense ploy". 

Eaton was arrested along with Australian Damian Berg, who also denied selling ecstasy but whose case is ongoing. 

Eaton's conviction was announced in the same week police arrested two local celebrities for allegedly possessing and selling drugs. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – "My beloved President sir, humihiling po ako ng tatlong minuto lang po sa ngalan ng pag-ibig, sir."

(My beloved President sir, I am asking for 3 minutes in the name of love, sir.)

This was how Police Senior Inspector Arvin Jusmillo began his marriage proposal to his girlfriend, a security aide of President Rodrigo Duterte, in front of the President himself.

Carrying a bouquet of red roses, Jusmillo then began his heartfelt message to Police Senior Inspector Romea Alnieza Kinang, who was on stage with Duterte.

Duterte had just finished his speech in front of Philippine National Police Region 13 personnel on Thursday, October 6, in Butuan City.

The President, Special Assistant to the President Bong Go, and police officials watched on as Jusmillo explained that he and Kinang have been together for 5 years.

They were supposed to get married this month, but fought and ended up canceling their plans. Jusmillo, however, said the chain of events led to the rare opportunity of him being able to propose to Kinang in front of Duterte himself, known to have a soft spot for police.

"Kaya hinugot ko ang lakas ng loob sa katawan ko para gawin ito (That's why I summoned all my courage to do this)," said Jusmillo, in front of not only Duterte but his fellow cops and the rolling cameras of the media.

Kinang accepted Jusmillo's flowers and ring. The usually poker-faced Go was smiling at the scene.

Duterte then gamely posed with the couple for a photo. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II scoffed at Senator Leila De Lima’s claim that influential New Bilibid Prison (NBP) gang leader Jaybee Sebastian is a government asset. 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) chief was asked on Thursday, October 6, to react to De Lima’s statement during the 3rd day of the House probe into proliferation of drugs at the national penitentiary when the latter was still justice secretary. 

“I could not believe it. In other words, it is only an afterthought. Why? First, if Jaybee Sebastian is an asset, why is he the king of the illegal drug trade?” said Aguirre. 

“And of course, gagawin mong asset ang alam ng lahat na siyang favorite mo (you’ll make someone everyone know is your favorite to be an asset)? So it’s a lot of bull,” added Aguirre. 

High-profile NBP inmate Noel Martinez previously testified that Sebastian’s law ruled the NBP. 

Witnesses have also claimed that De Lima gave preferential treatment to Sebastian because he supposedly collected millions of drug money within the NBP to help fund the senator’s campaign during the May polls. (READ: The public trial of Leila De Lima)

Aguirre also said Sebastian cannot be a government asset because he was not included among the “Bilibid 19,” high-profile inmates with supposed links to illegal drugs. 

“If Sebastian was really an asset, bakit ‘yan di mo isasama sa 19? Eh anong makukuha mong impormasyon kung ihihiwalay mo?” he said.

(If Sebastian were really an asset, why did you not include him among the 19? What kind of information will you get if he's not part of it?)

Aguirre added that “it is not the business” of any DOJ secretary to have any assets, as this is a practice commonly practiced by investigative agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), and the Bureau of Immigration. 

De Lima, however, had argued that Sebastian became an asset to dispel “wrong” speculations that he was a favored and protected inmate.  

The House committee on justice issued a subpoena for Sebastian to appear on Thursday, but he had to skip it as he was still nursing his injuries following a recent riot at the NBP’s Building 14.

On Thursday, former Police Officer 3 Engelberto Durano, serving time in the NBP for illegal drugs, claimed that he handed P1.5 million ($31,100) to De Lima upon the orders of the Jeffrey Diaz aka "Jaguar," an alleged top drug lord in Cebu. – Rappler.com

US$1 = P48.13

MIAMI, USA (3rd UPDATE) – Some 3 million people on the US southeast coast faced urgent evacuation on Thursday, October 6, as monstrous Hurricane Matthew – now blamed for more than 100 deaths in Haiti alone – bore down for a direct hit on Florida.

President Barack Obama declared a federal state of emergency in Florida, as highways there and in neighboring states clogged up with people streaming inland to escape the storm blasting its way through the Caribbean.

Officials warned the Category Four hurricane will be ferocious and dangerous: beach-eroding waves as tall as two story buildings and winds strong enough to snap trees and blow away roofs or entire houses.

Poor and vulnerable Haiti remained essentially cut in half two days after Matthew hit. Interior Minister Francois Anick Joseph said at least 108 Haitians have died, with 50 killed in a single town in the south where the coastline was described as wrecked. 

In its latest target, the storm slammed the Bahamas Thursday, blowing off roofs, downing trees and knocking out power. Weather forecasters working out of Nassau airport had to flee for their lives.

A hotel employee in Nassau described the whole glass entrance of the building being blown in by fierce 100 mile per hour (160 km/h) winds.

"You could see the wind was pushing it and pushing it, and it was shaking," said the woman, who asked not to be named. "I screamed out as it shattered in the lobby."  

One resident living southeast of Nassau took to Facebook to plead for emergency rescue.   

"Help!" Tamico Gilbert posted shortly before noon. "Water over bed now.  

"I'm on a chest of drawers. Phone battery low."

Matthew was forecast to be very near or over the east central coast of Florida Thursday night or early Friday.

As US gas stations ran dry, frantic shoppers flocked to stores for essentials.

They snapped up batteries, transistor radios, bread, canned goods, bottled water, ice, pet food, toilet paper and assorted supplies to gird for what Florida Governor Rick Scott warned would be a devastating, killer storm, with winds howling at up to 150 miles per hour (240 kph).

"Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate," Scott told a news conference. "Time is running out."

Matthew has regained strength as it approaches Florida and was upgraded a notch Thursday to Category Four by the National Hurricane Center on its 1-5 scale.

18-foot waves

Around 1.5 million coastal dwellers are under an evacuation order in Florida alone. More than a million others in South Carolina and other coastal states were also told to escape the path of the storm, which first made landfall in Haiti Tuesday.

Mandatory evacuations were also ordered in six coastal counties in Georgia that are home to some 520,000 people.

Some 6,000 US Marine recruits were evacuated off a base at Parris Island, South Carolina.

Miami International Airport cancelled 90 percent of its incoming and outgoing flights on Thursday.

Even Walt Disney World – in Orlando, 35 miles inland from the Atlantic – said it would close early on Thursday and stay shut Friday.

Obama's emergency decree frees up resources to help Florida authorities and authorizes the federal government to coordinate all emergency relief efforts.

The National Hurricane Center called Matthew the strongest in the region in decades.

It said waves whipped up by the hurricane could be as high as 18 feet (5.5 meters) -- nearly as tall as a two-story building. Debris tossed into the air by the storm will be capable of blasting through buildings and cars, the NHC said in a bulletin.

Scott said the forecast is for storm surges of five to nine feet (1.5 to 2.7 meters), not counting the waves on top of that.

"Stop and think about that," he said. "Waves will be crashing on your roof if you're right close to where the storm surge is happening and you're close to where the waves are."

He said power outages, possibly lengthy, are a near certainty.

'It's pretty bad'

Amid the massive flight, officials warned a worrying number of people were not heeding the evacuation order.

In South Carolina's coastal Charleston and Beaufort counties, Governor Nikki Haley said 175,000 people had evacuated as of Thursday morning -- out of 250,000 who were told to leave.

"That is not enough, we need to have more people evacuating," she said. 

As Matthew barreled northwest, Caribbean nations continued the grim task of assessing damage and fatalities, with four dead in the Dominican Republic in addition to the surging toll in Haiti -- which until now stood at 23.

In Cuba, where some 1.3 million people were evacuated, there were no reported fatalities but four cities in the east were cut off because roads were blocked by large chunks of rock hurled by the storm.

Haiti had not been hit head on by a Category Four storm in 52 years. The country's presidential election, scheduled for Sunday, has been postponed. 

In one southern department alone, 29,000 homes were destroyed, the interior minister said.

The town of Roche-a-Bateau, where at least 50 died, is devastated, said a local lawmaker, Ostin Pierre-Louis. "No one's house is left standing," he told AFP.

He added: "I don't know what to do to help these people because we have not received any aid." – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Ronnie Dayan, Senator Leila De Lima’s alleged bagman, failed to appear during the House hearing into the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), and congressmen want to cite him in contempt for it.

Ten hours into the hearing on Thursday, October 6, the House committee on justice unanimously decided to cite Dayan in contempt for his absence despite being issued a subpoena on October 1.

A certain Ernesto Florita received Dayan’s subpoena for him at his residence at Urbiztondo, Pangasinan.

Dayan is a former driver and bodyguard of De Lima, who has been accused by past witnesses for allowing drugs to proliferate at the NBP to help fund her 2016 senatorial bid. Dayan supposedly acted as a bagman for De Lima.  

Former Police Officer 3 Engelberto Durano, serving time in the NBP for illegal drugs, also linked Dayan and De Lima to Jeffrey Diaz aka "Jaguar," an alleged top drug lord in Cebu.

Despite the subpoena and mainstream media’s coverage of the probe, House committee on justice chairperson Reynaldo Umali said Dayan still did not show up on Thursday. 

“We had mga 10 members so meron kaming quorum and wala namang objection so unanimous ‘yung vote to cite him in contempt (We had 10 members so we have a quorum, and we unanimously voted to cite him in contempt). In fact, the secretariat is already working on the arrest order to be signed hopefully by the Speaker [Pantaleon Alvarez],” said Umali.

A few minutes later, however, Majority Leader and committee on rules chairperson Rodolfo Fariñas made a motion that Dayan should be given a chance to explain why he should not be cited in contempt. 

Citing the House rules, Fariñas said committees may punish a person in contempt upon a vote of 2/3 of all its members present in a quorum if there is “refusal without legal excuse to obey summons.”

“We are not yet determined if he has a legal excuse or not. So the first thing that we should do is let him explain why he should not be cited in contempt for failing to obey the summons. For all we know, he might have a legal excuse, so it would be too haste on our part to cite him in contempt without hearing him first,” explained Fariñas.

All the committee members agreed, giving Dayan 24 hours upon receipt of the order to defend himself. 

What happens if he fails to explain?

"He will be charged with indirect contempt before the court, which will hear the complaint and order his arrest," said Fariñas.

No less than President Rodrigo Duterte himself first accused De Lima of having an illicit affair with Dayan. He claimed that De Lima recorded a sex tape with Dayan. 

The alleged sex video was originally planned to be shown at the probe, but backlash from women’s rights advocates prompted Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to just present another witness who could describe its content. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Joenel Sanchez, former aide to Senator Leila de Lima, did not hesitate to go into the detail of the Senator's supposed relationship with her personal security detail during a House hearing on October 6, Thursday.

When asked about his supposed role as messenger and bag man in illegal drugs transactions, Sanchez, who is assigned to the Presidential Security Group (PSG), vehemently denied having anything to do with the illegal drugs trade inside the infamous New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

“Wala pong katotohanan lahat po yan sir (There is no truth to those claims, sir),” said Sanchez at around 8:00 pm or the 10th straight hour of a legislative probe into the spread of illegal drugs inside the prison.

Sanchez, who was assigned to guard De Lima from July 2010 to May 2015, was accused by at least two witnesses – both convicts – as having collected money in behalf of the former justice secretary or of urging Bilibid convicts to sell drugs and raise funds for her 2016 senatorial run.

“Kayo po nagsasabi ng totoo? Not [Herbert] Colanggo o [Noel] Martinez? Eh pag sinabi nila na sila nagsasabi ng totoo, kanino kami maniniwala doon (So you’re telling the truth? Not Colanggo or Martinez? What if they say they’re telling the truth, who should we believe)?” Lawrence Fortun, who represents the 1st district of Agusan del Norte, asked Sanchez.

“Sa akin lang, sir (Believe in me, sir),” Sanchez said in reply.

Sanchez is among several witnesses in a legislative probe that has so far centered on De Lima’s negligence as justice secretary and supposed involvement in the trade of illegal drugs inside and outside Bilibid.

Convicts, all of whom have been granted immunity from suit based on claims made before the committee on justice, have all accused De Lima of receiving drug money from Bilibid detainees.

Sanchez was not given the same immunity by the House committee.

Aside from Sanchez, convicts have pointed to De Lima’s driver and long-time security personnel Ronnie Dayan as her bagman and occasional messenger inside Bilibid.

Dayan is also supposedly De Lima’s lover, a claim that’s also been made by no less than President Rodrigo Duterte himself.

De Lima and Dayan’s alleged relationship composed the bulk of Sanchez’ affidavit submitted to the committee on justice. The former justice secretary's alleged links to illegal drugs, however, were not mentioned in Sanchez's affidavit. 

In the 3-page document, Sanchez said that all of De Lima’s assigned security – at least 6 PSG personnel at one point – got orders from De Lima through Dayan.

“Maganda naman ang pakikitungo sa amin ni [Dayan] at naging ninong siya ng aking bunsong anak. Napansin ko lang ang di pangkaraniwang pagka malapit ni [Dayan] at [De Lima] at kalaunan nakumpirma ko na may relasyon ang dalawa dahil si [Dayan] ay sa bahay ni [De Lima] natutulog,” claimed Sanchez.

(Dayan treated us nicely and I got him as the godfather of my youngest child. I noticed that Dayan and De Lima had an unusual relationship. Eventually, I was able to confirm their relationship because Dayan would sleep at De Lima’s house.)

Sanchez added: “Maging sa mga out of towns na lakad namin, silang dalawa ay magkasama sa iisang kwarto. Madalas din kaming pumunta sa bahay ni [De Lima] sa Bicol at kapansin pansin ang sweetness nila.”

(Even in our trips out of town, they would sleep in the same room. We would also often go to De Lima’s house in Bicol and their sweetness was obvious.)

Sanchez also claimed that a “sex video” of De Lima and Dayan existed, contrary to later claims by now Justice Chief Vitaliano Aguirre III.

The supposed “sex video” – and its proposed showing before the committee – has been a controversial issue tangental to the hearing itself and has prompted the outcry of lawmakers, especially female ones, across party lines.

Legislators, most of them members or allies of the ruling PDP-Laban, took turns grilling Sanchez on his claims over the alleged “sex video” and De Lima’s personal life.

Sanchez admitted he felt “resentment” towards De Lima, after the former justice chief sacked him in May 2015. He supposedly tried to the ask De Lima’s help because his father had a heart attack but she failed to help him.

Sanchez then went to an immigration bureau official and former Mindoro governor Alfonso Umali Jr for help, a move which made De Lima angry. He was then removed as De Lima’s security and returned as “area security” for former president Benigno Aquino III.

Pressed by Fortun if he was telling the truth when he denied his role as an alleged bag man and messenger in De Lima’s supposed Bilibid transactions, Sanchez insisted: “Sir kung totoo po iyan, di na po kayo mahihirapan sa akin. Ako na mismo ang aamin dito (If it’s true, sir, you won’t have a hard time. I would admit it here myself).” – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The Clark International Airport in Pampanga – seen as one of the main options for international flight diversions that cannot be taken care of by the the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) – urgently needs rehabilitation of its control tower building and facilities, the Commission on Audit (COA) said on Thursday, October 6.

The statement, part of a Value for Money Audit released on October 6 explained the results of a technical inspection conducted by a government audit team, which was completed on January 7.

A copy of the audit was earlier submitted to the Board of Directors of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC).

The audit team found the the control tower and its facilities to be non-compliant with regulations, having obsolete or otherwise busted equipment.

“The deteriorating condition of the Aerodome Traffic Control Tower puts airport operations at risk caused by facilities which have gone outdated and not conforming with international standards which hinders the attainment of its objective to develop the airport into a premiere international airport of the Philippines,” the COA wrote.

The most immediate concern cited by the audit was an inoperative elevator. The eleveator is meant to take people and freight up and down the 11 floors of the tower. 

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) personnel who were working as air traffic controllers there said they had to use the stairs every day to reach their workplace.

“The entry of women as Aerodome Traffic Controllers has raised gender-sensitive issues especially for expectant mothers who cannot go upstairs with more than a hundred steps. Moreover, human factors such as faintness may bring constraints to the workforce to climb up the 11-story tower or much worse, may result to accidents,” the COA explained.

Auditors added the lack of a working elevator might endanger airport operations in the event of an emergency.

Among the crucial functions of the control tower personnel based on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Rules of the Air, International Standards, are:

• to issue information and clearances to aircraft to achieve a safe, orderly and expeditious flow of traffic
• to provide information and other support for pilots
• manage air traffic between aircraft flying within the designated area of responsibility of the control tower including aircraft landing and take-off as well as ground vehicles operating in the airport.

Aside from the elevator, the audit team reported cracks on the control tower glass windows and deteriorating visibility that made it difficult to see very small objects.

Poor lighting conditions inside the tower were also noted, including poor night-time visibility. The poor lighting can affect the efficiency of reading and conveying vital information, such as hold-short instruction, take-off and landing clearances, and frequency changes.

Other concerns noted include exposed electrical wiring and components seen as fire hazards, cracked interior wall paint, abandoned equipment in vacant rooms, and litter in the tower terrace.

An interview with CAAP's head in the control tower revealed these concerns were pointed out in monthly reports to the CIAC since 2000. No action had been taken, however.

“We recommend the president and chief executive officer (of CIAC) prioritize the rehabilitation of the Aerodome Traffic Control Tower building and facility to meet the international standards and requirements of ICAO,” the COA said.

In an exit conference with the audit team, the parties agreed CAAP will finance and implement both the installation of the elevator at the control tower as well as construction of the CAAP administration office inside the airport. – Rappler.com

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan's National Assembly passed legislation on Thursday, October 6, closing a loophole that allowed people who killed in the name of "honor" to go free, mandating life imprisonment even if the victim's relatives forgive the murder.

Honor killings "claim the lives of hundreds of victims every year", the bill stated, adding that the legislation was "essential in order to prevent these crimes from being repeatedly committed."

Rights groups and politicians have for years called for tougher laws to tackle perpetrators of violence against women in Pakistan and the move follows a slew of high-profile killings in the country.

The perpetrators of so-called honor killings – in which the victim, normally a woman, is killed by a relative – often walk free because they can seek forgiveness for the crime from another family member.

A 2005 amendment to the law pertaining to honor killings prevented men who kill female relatives pardoning themselves as an "heir" of the victim.

But punishment was left to a judge's discretion when other relatives of the victim forgive the killer – a loophole which critics say is exploited. 

The amendments passed Thursday and published on the National Assembly website mandate judges to sentence someone who kills in the name of "honor" to life imprisonment, even if they have been forgiven, said senior opposition lawmaker Farhatullah Babar. 

The assembly also passed a bill boosting the punishments for some rape offenses.

Rape conviction rates are close to zero percent, largely due to the law's reliance on circumstantial evidence and a lack of forensic testing. – Rappler.com

UNITED NATIONS – The Security Council on Thursday, October 6, unanimously backed Antonio Guterres, the former prime minister of Portugal who was the UN's refugee chief for a decade, to be the next secretary-general.

During a closed-door meeting, the 15 council members adopted a resolution formally presenting Guterres as their choice to be the world's diplomat-in-chief.

Applause rang out in the chamber as the council recommended Guterres for a five-year term from January 1, diplomats at the session told the Agence France-Presse.

The 67-year-old socialist politician, who will be the first former head of government to lead the United Nations, has pledged to revamp the global diplomatic body to boost its peacemaking efforts and promote human rights.

Guterres, who was in Lisbon on Thursday, was due to make a statement at 1600 GMT.

A vote by the General Assembly's 193 member-states to endorse the successor to Ban Ki-moon is expected next week, probably on Thursday.

The unanimous backing for Guterres followed an informal vote on Wednesday during which 13 of the 15 members supported his candidacy and none of the five veto-holding powers blocked him.

Speaking in Rome, Ban hailed Guterres as a "superb choice", saying that "his wide knowledge of world affairs and lively intellect will serve him well in leading the UN in a critical period."

The outcome however confounded some UN diplomats who did not expect such an outspoken candidate with strong political experience to win support from the permanent council members: Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States.

Speaks his mind

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, this month's council president, told reporters after the vote that Guterres was a "great choice".

As UN high commissioner for refugees, a post he held until December, Guterres traveled the world and saw "some of the most gruesome conflicts we have to deal with," he said.

Churkin cited his experience as prime minister and described him as "a person who talks to everybody, speaks his mind, a very outgoing, open person."

Guterres will be confronted with a long list of pressing world crises when he takes over in January along with demands for sweeping reform of the world body, seen as clunky and too slow to respond to emergencies.

The war in Syria, now its sixth year, has raged on as the council has been bogged down in deep divisions between Russia, which backs President Bashar al-Assad, and Western powers supporting opposition rebels.

With a record 65 million people displaced globally, the United Nations has been struggling to provide humanitarian aid and ensure that the rights of refugees are protected.

Peacekeeping operations, at the heart of the United Nations' mandate, have been clouded by a string of allegations of sexual abuse by the blue helmets sent to protect civilians in Africa.

Ukrainian Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko said Guterres must "return leadership to the United Nations" to address so many urgent crises.

"The role of the UN has never been as important as it is today and for that Mr Guterres is the right leader," said Ambassador Francois Delattre of France, which strongly backed Guterres throughout his campaign.

More women at the UN ?

Guterres, who served as prime minister from 1995 to 2002, won the number-one spot in all of the informal votes held by the Security Council.

There were 13 candidates in the race, two of whom dropped out, including seven women who stepped into the fray amid calls from civil society and some countries for a first woman to take up the top post, after eight men.

Guterres has promised to ensure gender parity at the United Nations -- a tall order given that women currently hold only 25 percent of its senior leadership positions.

Expectations are that a woman will be appointed to be the UN's number two, its deputy secretary-general.

With the arrival of a new secretary-general, the world body is headed for a shakeup of its top positions, which have traditionally been held by nationals from the powerful countries on the Security Council.

Churkin on Thursday addressed speculation that Russia had traded its support for Guterres in exchange for a Russian-backed appointee to a plum post, possibly as head of the UN's political affairs department.

"There were no under-the-table deals," he said. "There were questions asked. No direct promises given." – Rappler.com

MIAMI, USA – Tropical Storm Nicole was upgraded to hurricane status on Thursday, October 6, as it swirled in the Atlantic Ocean to the south of Bermuda, the US National Hurricane Center said.

Nicole was packing 130 kilometer per hour (80 mph) winds, and was set to strengthen slightly in the coming 24 hours, triggering swell and rough conditions in Bermuda, although no hurricane warning has been issued at this stage.

It is currently located several hundred miles east of Matthew, the powerful Category Four hurricane ripping through the Caribbean and bound for the US coast. – Rappler.com

Do you ever get tired of being human? You know – the daily grind, the insatiable desires, the complex relationships and all of that to end in dust one day with absolute certainty. I guess we each deal with that kind of “cosmic depression” in our own way.

When the Nobel Laureate poet Pablo Neruda felt tired of being a man, he penned his exhaustion in a verse that when I read it, never fails to sink and float all of what I think makes me human, at the same time. Neruda always has power over me that way. But when Thomas Thwaites wanted a break from being human, he tried to be a goat for 3 days. Yes, you read right, he really did try to be a goat in terms of stance, diet, thoughts and even in terms of social life. That was the work that earned Thwaites the Ig Nobel for biology this year.

Thwaites is a self-confessed “speculative designer”. He thinks of a curious question related to science and technology and then figures out for himself how to answer that question and then actually designs and builds the answer to his question. His famous previous project involved making a toaster from scratch, which was published into a book. The toaster project was not simply about Googling the parts of the toaster and then going to the hardware to buy the parts and assembling them. He wanted to make a toaster from scratch – not ready-made parts.

So he bought a toaster, took it apart, realized that there were about 400 parts made of 100 different materials. He could not do a pre-industrialization search for each of those because he only had 9 months to do the project. So he chose 5 main materials that he was going to fashion from scratch. Those parts were: nickel, steel, mica, copper and plastic.

Nickel was the easiest to source. He just melted some coins. For the steel, he actually went to an iron mine and pounded iron to make his own steel. For mica, a kind of mineral, Thwaites had to hammer away at a silica rock in Scotland to get some of it. For the copper, he had to look for water rich in sulphuric acid that leached through rocks , dissolving some minerals, including copper. Then he had to extract the copper from that liquid. Plastic proved the most problematic since he needed an actual lab if he had to make plastic from scratch, i.e., from crude oil. He just did a shortcut and melted some plastics he found in the garbage dump.

The result was like some kind of radio, after a nuclear meltdown. It had a basic toaster dimension with slots, with the whole thing covered all over with a gooey cloak, with a rod sticking out and of course, a plug which was also covered in the same oozing material. It took in current for about 5 seconds before it exploded. The blasted toaster is now in an art gallery.

For his experience being a goat, he had to design the prosthetics that will make him assume the position of a goat grazing on a mountain with other goats. To know how to do this, he had to spend some time at the Royal Veterinary College homing in on the anatomical differences between him and a goat. It was not about looking like a goat but feeling like one, so the prosthetics had to be designed so he can graze and run uphill and downhill.

For his diet, he did contemplate giving himself the bacteria that will help him digest the grass that he was going to eat because of course, he was going to also eat like a goat. But the risk was diarrhea – for the rest of his very curious life so he had to settle on eating a disgusting but he claims. “delicious” stew made from the grass he spat and cooked in a pressure cooker.  

For his thoughts, he went to the extent that I could not have predicted. He approached an animal behavioralist who told him that so far, we know that goats do not have a “sophisticated” kind of language we do that are born from memories of the past which we also project on our future. And since neuroscientists know, more or less, where this happens and that magnetic stimulation has a weird temporary effect on our brains, he had that part of his brain zapped. This temporarily shut him up.

He even had in his words, a “platonic” relationship with a goat with whom he connected and who seemed to have helped him ease his way to the rest of the herd.

Science is filled with stories that start out with the most peculiar and extreme curiosities. Not rarely do they get laughed at, ridiculed and criticized for being way too “off” or even having too much time on their hands. But what I admire the most about Thwaites is his motivation. For the toaster project, he said in an interview on NPR was struck by a line in  the Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy that had its main character arrive in another part of the universe where he has to build stuff from scratch. Yet, with all the ingenuity modern Earthlings have come to reap from its history, the character could not make a toaster from scratch (just a sandwich!)!

For the goat-man project, he wanted, among other things, time-out from being the human whose very successful toaster project put him in a status that was quite difficult to top, as special projects like his go. Being a goat was “crazy” – so far off, that only human curiosity is capable of fleshing it out that far to see what it’s like to be something else other than this creature that historian Will Durant aptly called the “marauding biped”.

The range of achievements in human civilization, from the perceived millimeter crawls to “quantum” strides and everything in between all had one kind of fuel – curiosity.  Curiosity “willed “Thwaites’ goat as it did the history of science. And lucky for us all, it still does. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The communist National Democratic Front (NDF) stands by President Rodrigo Duterte amid international criticism of his war on drugs, saying he is "doing well" especially in accelerating the peace talks.

Formal talks between the Philippine government and the NDF resumed in August following the temporary release of 22 NDF consultants that the military had tagged to be leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines' (CPP) armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA). 

The talks led to an unprecedented ceasefire between the military and the NPA. 

"In the assessment of his first 100 days, the leading patriotic and progressive organizations have made conclusions that the Duterte government is doing well," CPP founder Jose Maria Sison said at the opening ceremony for the 2nd round of talks in Oslo, Norway, on Thursday, October 6. 

"One of the strong points of the Duterte government is, of course, the accellerated process of the peace negotiations," Sison added.

Duterte and the guerrillas share one thing in common: They don't like the Americans. The CPP blames the superpower's "neoliberal policies" for widespread poverty in the Philippines.

Hurting from US criticism of his war on drugs – linked to the deaths of at least 3,500 people– Duterte hurled invectives against the superpower and threatened to cut ties with the country's staunch ally. 

"President Duterte has made manifestations that he's open to the principles and policies which NDF stand for, and you have witnessed legal and progressive forces in the Philippines welcome so many times the pronoucnements made by President Duterte," Sison said.

"The reaction of progressive forces are quite different from their reaction to previous presidents despite, of course, attempts of certain international and Philippine forces to put the Duterte government in a more difficult situation," Sison added.

Peace talks with the communist rebels was among the campaign promises of Duterte, a former student of Sison at the Lyceum. The two had a high-profile Skype conversation during one of Duterte's campaign sorties, where Sison promised a ceasefire if he wins. – Rappler.com

BOGOTA, Colombia – FARC guerrillas returned Thursday, October 6, to their hideouts in the Colombian jungle and mountains after voters rejected a landmark peace deal with the government, Red Cross sources said.

The Marxist rebels had gathered in a remote area known as El Diamante in southern Colombia in preparation for a UN-monitored disarmament process.

But they returned to their positions after the shock referendum result on Sunday, October 2, said sources at the humanitarian group, which helped facilitate their transport.

"They traveled unarmed and in civilian clothing," said a source from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The sources would not say how many of the FARC's nearly 6,000 fighters were involved, or what kind of transport they used.

The redeployment comes as Colombia teeters between war and peace.

President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC have been left scrambling to save their peace accord – the product of nearly 4 years of negotiations – after right-wing hardliners led a successful campaign to vote against it.

The leader of the "No" camp, former president Alvaro Uribe, argued the deal offered the rebels impunity for their crimes and would put Colombia on the path of "Castro-Chavismo" – a reference to the far-left governments of Cuba and Venezuela.

Santos, who has staked his legacy on making peace, has warned that the country is now in a "very dangerous limbo."

He said the army would halt its ceasefire with the FARC at the end of the month if no solution is found – though he later said the deadline could be extended.

The opposition wants Santos to renegotiate a tougher deal with the rebels.

FARC leaders have vowed they are committed to making peace, but it is unclear whether they will be able to sell a new deal to the rank and file.

In the meantime, they have ordered their fighters back to "secure sites."

FARC commander Pastor Alape said on Twitter that the order aimed to avoid "provocations" from opponents of the peace deal.

The Colombia conflict has killed more than 260,000 people and left 45,000 missing over 5 decades, drawing in several leftist guerrilla groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the oldest and largest rebel group, was to relaunch as a political party under the deal. – Rappler.com

MIAMI, USA (UPDATED) – Florida is facing the most dangerous storm in its history as Hurricane Matthew barrels in from the Atlantic threatening coastal cities with surging tides, torrential rain and 130 mile-an-hour winds.

After cutting a deadly swath across the Caribbean and leaving at least 264 dead in Haiti, the Category 4 storm was to hit the southeastern United States early Friday, October 7. 

Over the course of the day it will scour its way up a 600-mile strip of coast from Boca Raton in Florida to just north of Charleston, South Carolina, driving seawater and heavy rain inland.

Evacuation orders were issued for areas covering at least 3 million residents and major cities like Jacksonville, Florida and Savannah, Georgia lay in the path of the terrible storm.

Matthew has already battered Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas and US officials were taking no chances, warning that loss of life is a virtual certainty.

"This storm is a monster," declared Florida's Governor Rick Scott. "I want everybody to survive this. We can rebuild homes. We can rebuild businesses ... We can't rebuild a life."

Matthew was churning over the ocean just off Grand Bahama Island at 8:00 pm on Thursday, October 6 (0000 GMT) and heading towards Florida and South Carolina at 13 miles per hour (20 kph).

By 2:00 am on Friday it is expected to be off Port St Lucie, threatening Florida's beaches and ports with sustained winds of up to 130 miles-per-hour and gusts of up to 160.

"And when you get the wind you will get immediate flooding, strong rip current, beach erosion. The risk of tornados," Scott warned.

"Think about this: 11 feet of possible storm surge. And on top of that, waves. So if you are close, you could have the storm surge and waves over your roof."

Highways were jammed with people streaming inland to escape the storm, forecast to be strong enough to snap trees and blow away roofs or entire houses.

As US gas stations ran dry, frantic shoppers flocked to stores for batteries, transistor radios, bread, canned goods, bottled water, ice and pet food.

Poor and vulnerable Haiti remained essentially cut in half two days after Matthew hit, with routes to the devastated south cut by flooding. Local radio cited at least 264 dead.

At least 4 people – 3 of them children – were killed in Haiti's neighbor the Dominican Republic and more than 36,500 were evacuated, with 3,000 homes destroyed, flooded or damaged.

The wealthier Bahamas, which had more time to prepare, was less badly hit and there were no reports of fatalities, but there were power outages, some roads were cut and there was property damage. (READ: Second hurricane, Nicole, forms south of Bermuda – US monitor)

Ghost resorts

In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the normally bustling resort turned into a ghost town as tourists loaded up cars, cut short vacations and fled north.

"It was packed with people here yesterday and then we came today and it was like 'Oh my God there is nobody here,'" said Kelly Allmendinger, a 26-year-old bartender.

Officials complained a worrying number of people were not heeding evacuation orders, and many communities set up storm shelters.

The fire service in St Augustine, northern Florida, issued a video message on Facebook warning that damage to the city was expected to be "catastrophic" and urging all holdouts to leave their homes.

"We as a city are evacuating," said Fire Chief Carlos Aviles. "I cannot emphasize enough: we are encouraging you to leave."

"If you are choosing to stay in St Augustine, you are choosing to do so at your own risk. There will be no public safety personnel to assist you."

The largest shelter in the quaint beach city had reached its capacity of 500 people, and authorities turned frustrated residents back into the rain, pillows under their arms.

Miami International Airport canceled 90% of its incoming and outgoing flights on Thursday and Walt Disney World – in Orlando, 35 miles inland – was to stay shut on Friday.

President Barack Obama spoke with the governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, pledging to provide them with all necessary federal resources to cope with the storm. – Rappler.com

WASHINGTON DC, USA – One month from Saturday, October 8, Hillary Clinton is favored to make history as the first female US president. But with a resilient Donald Trump standing in her way, the Election Day outcome remains anything but certain.

The possible pitfalls – an "October surprise," a Clinton debate meltdown, damning revelations from her controversial private emails or an act of terrorism – are unknowable now, but they have a potential to upend an already extraordinary 2016 campaign.

The Democratic candidate has a 3.2-point advantage over her Republican nemesis, according to the RealClearPolitics national poll average, heaping pressure on Trump to make up ground in the closing weeks of their battle to succeed Barack Obama in the White House.

She has the upper hand in swing states, too. Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin are tilting Clinton's way, polls show.

Trump, 70, is leading in Iowa and the crucial state of Ohio, where he claims strong support among working-class white voters. But Clinton, 68, would not need those states if she can hold other battlegrounds.

Campaign momentum had swung in Trump's favor ahead of his first debate with Clinton, on September 26. The provocative real estate tycoon had seized on Clinton's description of half of his supporters as "deplorables," and earned praise for acting more disciplined.

But Trump – whose incendiary rhetoric and propensity to go off script have been campaign hallmarks – did not toe the line for long.

"After the debate, the Republican momentum ended," Columbia University professor Robert Shapiro said.

Not only did most analysts declare Clinton the debate's winner, but Trump's subsequent pre-dawn rant about a former Miss Universe raised doubts about his temperament as he seeks the world's most powerful job.

"That looked pretty unpresidential, tweeting at 3:00 in the morning," Shapiro said. "The polls have moved further in Hillary Clinton's direction."

Caution

Last week's revelations that Trump's declared loss of $916 million in 1995 allowed him to avoid paying federal taxes for almost two decades have not helped, even as he presented himself as "smart" for exploiting the complex tax code to his maximum advantage.

Democrats remain cautious about November 8, however.

Despite a cascade of insults and problematic policy proposals – Trump has described Mexican immigrants as "rapists," called for a ban on Muslim visitors, and suggested providing Japan and Saudi Arabia with nuclear weapons – the celebrity billionaire emerged triumphant from the Republican primaries.

He swept aside 16 challengers, including Senator Ted Cruz, who branded him a "pathological liar."

Trump became "the Teflon Don;" the more he was attacked, the stronger he became.

"I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?" Trump exulted in January.

The most caustic US presidential campaign in decades has potentially turned off millions of voters.

Clinton has amassed high-profile Democratic motivators: the president, First Lady Michelle Obama, Clinton's onetime primary rival Bernie Sanders, ex-president Bill Clinton and liberal firebrand Senator Elizabeth Warren.

But after 30 years in public life, Clinton – a former secretary of state, senator and first lady – remains deeply unpopular.

The case of her private email server, Republican exploitation of her handling of the deadly 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, concern over donations to the Clinton Foundation, and her connections to Wall Street collectively reinforce a narrative that she is not trustworthy.

Many Republican voters will be converting their hatred for Hillary into motivation to head to the polls.

Their overwhelming desire for change after 8 years of Obama is another factor. While Trump began the race with no political experience, he tapped into a deep well of anger at a system that many voters say has left them behind.

'Uphill battle'

Trump – who, like Clinton, is viewed unfavorably by more than half of Americans – has harnessed that anger, but he, too, turns off voters.

"He has never been able to be consistent," said political science professor Jeanne Zaino of Iona College.

"He has a few good weeks, and then he ends up with the Khan situation," she said, referring to Trump's attacks against the Muslim parents of a slain US soldier.

"He has a few good weeks, and he is attacking women calling them fat," including beauty queen Alicia Machado, the subject of Trump's late-night tweet storm.

For months, supporters urged Trump to start acting more presidential and even-tempered, but "it looks like he may have passed the point of no return on that," Shapiro said.

The real estate billionaire has insulted Muslims and Hispanics, and broken with tradition by refusing to release his tax returns. Yet he continues to surprise.

He became the voice of millions frustrated by globalization, fearful of terrorism and betrayed by the political establishment.

Can he still bounce back with sharp performances in the second and 3rd presidential debates on October 9 and 19? Zaino predicted that would be difficult.

"I think it is really an uphill battle for him." – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Self-confessed hitman Edgar Matobato on Friday, October 7, surrendered at the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame after a Davao court issued an arrest warrant against him.

Matobato – who had accused President Rodrigo Duterte of ordering summary executions of suspected criminals, among others, when he was Davao City mayor – was accompanied by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV at Camp Crame past 9 am.

The alleged former Davao Death Squad member was then taken to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group National Capital Region (CIDG NCR) office to  undergo booking procedures. He had a chance conversation there with Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa.

An arrest warrant was issued against Matobato this week for failure to show up for his arraignment over charges of illegal possession of firearms filed against him in filed against him 2012, a bailable offense.

He will likely spend the weekend under CIDG custody. Police will have to present Matobato before the Davao court that issued the warrant against him before he is assigned a detention facility.

Matobato was presented before a Senate committee investigating the rise of killings in Duterte's "war on drugs." The probe, then led by Senator Leila de Lima, eventually zoomed in on the supposed existence of the so-called "Davao Death Squad," a vigilante group that targets suspected criminals. (READ: Matobato tells Senate: They can have me killed, I won't run)

Matobato said it was Duterte himself who formed and gave orders to the supposed death squad. Duterte has denied these claims.

PNP chief: I'll protect Matobato

Dela Rosa, who Matobato also accused of being part of the death squad, assured Trillanes and the public that the self-confessed hitman would be safe under the custody of the CIDG.

"I am giving the assurance na mamamatay si Matobato (that if Matobato dies, it will be) over the dead bodies of these CIDG personnel who are assigned to escort him. That's my word," Dela Rosa said in a press conference following Matobato's surrender.

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="tl" dir="ltr">PHOTO: PNP chief Dela Rosa meets Edgar Matobato at CIDG NCR <a href="https://twitter.com/rapplerdotcom">@rapplerdotcom</a> <a href="https://t.co/tMtq7tuBaq">pic.twitter.com/tMtq7tuBaq</a></p>&mdash; Bea Cupin (@beacupin) <a href="https://twitter.com/beacupin/status/784211373978898432">October 7, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Asked about their conversation at the CIDG NCR headquarters, Dela Rosa said Matobato "aired his side" and told him about an infected wound on his back.

"We are both from Davao. Sabi niya (He said), he knows me pretty well. Alam niyang mabait akong tao. Sabi niya sa akin: Mabait ka na tao, Sir, kaya kampante ako na sa iyo ako dinala ni Senator Trillanes (He knows I am a good person. He told me: I know you're a good person sir so I'm confident that Senator Trillanes brought me to you)," said Dela Rosa.

Dela Rosa spent most of his career in the Davao region and was appointed chief of the Davao City Police Office for over two years. Matobato, meanwhile, hails from nearby Samal Island but also spent time in Davao City.

Trillanes earlier told media they prefer that Matobato stay in Manila than in Davao, where the case against him was filed. Matobato's lawyers have appealed the arrest warrant and are requesting that the case be moved to a Manila court.

Dela Rosa insisted that Davao would still be safe for Matobato because it is "under his control."

"'Yung safety and security is a matter of perspective. Ako (The aspect of safety and security is a matter of perspective. As for me) I respect [Dela Rosa]. He has given me his word. I don't have any reason to doubt that," said Trillanes.

Senators allied with the administration had thumbed down Matobato as a credible witness, citing "inconsistencies" in his testimonies. (READ: Matobato's hits and misses)

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III had denied De Lima's request that Matobato be granted protective custody by the Senate. Pimentel had explained that Matobato's testimony was beyond the scope of the inquiry, which was supposed to focus on extrajudicial killings under the Duterte administration.

Matobato used to be under the Department of Justice's Witness Protection Program during the previous administration, but left it when it became clear that Duterte had won the presidency.

He went into hiding, but later decided to volunteer to testify at the Senate inquiry. – Rappler.com