TEHRAN, Iran – An Iranian F-4 Phantom fighter jet crashed during training exercises near the border with Pakistan on Tuesday, killing both pilots, state television reported.

State TV quoted a local security official as saying the plane had crashed about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from the city of Konarak in Iran's southern Sistan-Baluchistan province.

"Unfortunately a military training aircraft crashed today due to technical problems," killing the pilot and co-pilot, Ali Asghar Mirshekari, the provincial deputy security chief, told the channel.

No other details were provided on the possible cause of the crash.

Another Iranian F-4 fighter crashed near the city of Shiraz in July 2014, leaving both pilots dead.

The Iranian Air Force continues to operate several F-4s bought from the United States before Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) co-founder Democrito Mendoza died on Tuesday evening, January 12.

The 92-year-old labor leader and lawyer from Cebu died at 6:40 pm. Doctors have yet to announce the cause of his death, TUCP Spokesperson Alan Tanjusay told Rappler in a text message. 

Before he died, Mendoza headed the TUCP as its president. He took the position following the death of then-president Ernesto Herrera in October last year. 

Mendoza was known as one of the founding fathers of the labor movement in the Philippines, pioneering the creation of labor centers in Quezon City, Cagayan de Oro City, and Davao City.

He started as a labor leader when he organized port workers in Cebu and created the Associated Labor Unions (ALU), which later became the biggest labor union in the country.

A 3-time Presidential awardee, Mendoza had consistently called for improved labor conditions both locally and internationally.

In 1983, Mendoza founded the ASEAN Trade Union Council, which helped advance the freedom of association workers. In 1993, he also pushed for a restructuring of the Philippine economy to generate new jobs and protect workers from growing contractualization 

In his honor, Benguet Representative Ronald Cosalan filed House Resolution No. 1051 in April 2015, which sought for a congressional recognition to Mendoza's life-long dedication to the labor movement in the country. 

"Mendoza's unwavering work, advocacy, inspiration and his love for the workingmen has challenged not only the Philippine government but also governments around the world," Cosalan said in the resolution.– Rappler.com 

PARIS, France – A French woman convicted of causing a hotel fire that killed 24 people, including 11 children, walked free on Tuesday, January 12, after an appeals court reduced her sentence.

The Paris court eased the jail term for Fatima Tahrour given by a lower court in January 2014 from 3 years to two, opening the way for alternatives such as house arrest or electronic monitoring.

The night-time inferno, the deadliest in the city since the 1944 liberation of Paris during World War II, gutted the Paris-Opera Hotel in April 2005.

Tahrour, who was 31 at the time, admitted accidentally causing the fire during a fight with her then-boyfriend, Nabil Dekali, a night watchman at the hotel.

In a fit of anger, she flung some clothes on some burning candles and stormed out.

Dekali, who had taken cocaine and alcohol, was accused of not contacting firemen immediately and trying to douse the flames himself.

The mother of one of the victims screamed "You killed my baby" when the ruling was pronounced, prompting the judge to clear the court.

Since the fire, Tahrour has only spent one week in jail – ahead of the initial trial. 

Another woman who lost a child, 36-year-old Vania Mendes, told reporters afterwards that Tahrour "had contempt for all of the victims. I can never put it behind me. I lost my daughter Patricia who was about to turn two. I have been sentenced to life."

But Tahrour's lawyer Philippe Blanchetier said he found the ruling fair. 

"I'm aware that this decision is incomprehensible for some plaintiffs. I hope that time will ease the pain," he said.

The hotel, which housed many struggling immigrant families, was located just behind the upmarket Galeries Lafayette department store, a landmark in the French capital.

Dekali's parents Rachid and Fatima, who managed the building, were also tried for allowing too many guests, as there were 77 people living in the hotel, which had a legal capacity of 62.

The mother was acquitted but the father was jailed for two years.

Firemen who arrived at the building described an "apocalyptic scene", with bodies having "rained down on the street, and panicked people throwing children out of windows". 

Aomar Ikhlef, who heads an association of the victims of the fire, said: "Madame Tahrour won't go to jail, she's won. She caused 24 deaths, plunged 20 times that many more people into mourning, without counting those who were handicapped (by the fire), and the appeal court sided with her."

The blaze was one of several that year in buildings housing foreigners in Paris, sparking a public outcry over housing for the poor and prompting authorities to reinforce fire standards in hotels. – Pierre Rochiccioli, AFP/Rappler.com

WATCH LIVE: 2016 State of the Union | Starts 9 pm Washington DC, 10am Manila

WASHINGTON DC, USA (UPDATED) – US President Barack Obama on Tuesday, January 12 (Wednesday, January 13 in Manila) will tell Americans nervous about terror and the changing economy that they should not fear the future, in a farewell State of the Union address designed to draw sharp contrast with Republicans.

In the election-year address before he leaves office, Obama will hail a period of "extraordinary change" that is only set to quicken and which has the potential to "broaden opportunity, or widen inequality."

Attempting to cast himself as an optimistic foil to Republicans, who warn the country is going in the wrong direction after his seven years in office, Obama will say "America has been through big changes before."

"Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears." 

Tuesday's primetime address is perhaps Obama's last big opportunity to sway a national audience and frame the 2016 election race.

Around 30 million viewers are expected to watch live, a nationwide audience that may only be matched in political terms during the Democratic nominating convention later this year.

But it risked being overshadowed by news that 10 US Navy personnel have been taken to an Iranian naval base in the Gulf.

Senior US officials said they had received assurances the crews would sail onwards come first light, but Republicans have held the crisis up as evidence that Obama was naive to engage with Tehran.

Ditched laundry list

As they try to limit the damage, Obama aides say the commander-in-chief will push ahead with an unorthodox speech that lifts the country's gaze beyond the next year, and beyond his presidency.

"Traditionally, State of the Unions – a president gets up and they give a long laundry list of things that they want to accomplish legislatively," Obama himself said in a preview message.

"I want to identify three or four big ideas, three or four big things that we have to focus on."

The speech, in the works since the autumn, will mark achievements, from health care reform to gay rights to a pending trans-Pacific trade deal to the controversial nuclear deal with Iran.   

But it will also focus on generational challenges like tackling partisan politics, economic inclusiveness, race, justice reform and defining America's role in the world.

"A lot of what we can do is to change the political environment and change people's attitudes and start a process where change begins to happen," Obama said.

"It's a relay race, and it's important you get started."

It is a high-risk strategy for Obama who, with just a year left in office, could look cripplingly out of touch if he misjudges the nation's mood.

Amid poisoned politics, terror threats and middle-class malaise, some 67 percent of Americans believe the country is going in the wrong direction, according to a recent Rasmussen poll.

While unemployment rates are low, the economy is growing and the tumult of the financial crisis has passed, wage growth is lackluster and the gap between rich and poor is cavernous.

"The president's record has often fallen far short of his soaring words," South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is expected to say in her rebuttal of Obama's address.

"As he enters his final year in office, many Americans are still feeling the squeeze of an economy too weak to raise income levels."

She will also cite "chaotic unrest in many of our cities" and "the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11th." – Andrew Beatty, AFP / Rappler.com

TEHRAN, Iran (UPDATED) – Iran's Revolutionary Guards in a statement early Wednesday, January 13, confirmed they had seized two American boats and 10 sailors in "Iranian territory" near the Farsi island in the Gulf.

"At 16:30 (1300 GMT) Tuesday [January 12], two American combat boats carrying 10 armed marines who had entered Iranian territory were seized by the combat units of the Guards naval force and moved to Farsi island," an official statement said.

"Passengers of the American boats, including nine men and one woman, (are being treated) with the Islamic conduct customary of the soldiers of the Guards naval forces, and they are in good health and being kept in a proper location," it added.

Two aircraft carriers – the USS Harry S. Truman and French Charles de Gaulle– were both in international waters near Farsi island when the US boats were captured, the statement said. 

The Iranian Fars news agency, which is close to the Guards, reported that the "violating boats were 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) inside Iranian territory".

"This information was recorded on their GPS devices, and the Guards have got hold of that information," it said. – Rappler.com

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea's "successful" submarine-launched ballistic missile test last month was, in fact, an explosive failure that was not even launched from a submarine, separate expert analyses concluded Wednesday, January 13.

The North released a video of the purported December 21 test on Saturday, January 9, showing leader Kim Jong-Un – dressed in a winter coat and fedora hat – looking on as a missile was launched vertically from underwater and ignited in mid air.

The video then cut to a rocket flying through the clouds.

The footage was almost immediately dismissed as a fake – digitally manipulated footage of the actual launch and spliced footage from other missile tests to give the impression of a successful outcome.

Analysts at the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies said the missile almost certainly blew up after a successful pop-up.

"Although (it) appears to eject successfully...  we think that a catastrophic failure occurred at ignition," said Catherine Dill, a research associate at the centre.

North Korea "manipulated the footage in an attempt to obscure this result, but one clip plays for two frames too long. The rocket appears to explode," Dill said.

The outside world has been paying close attention to the North's efforts to acquire a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) capability which, if fully developed, would take its nuclear strike threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and the potential to retaliate in the event of a nuclear attack.

The December test was understood to be the third of its kind since May.

A second test in November was also believed to be a failure, with South Korean intelligence reports suggesting the submarine launch vehicle had been badly damaged.

In a separate analysis of the December launch video, experts at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University noted several frames showing what appeared to be a support vessel berthed as little as 50 metres from the launch site.

"That would be dangerously close to a submarine operating at shallow depth for a missile launch. But it would be just about right, and quite necessary, for a submerged barge," aerospace engineer John Schilling wrote on the institute's website 38 North.

"So the test was most likely from a barge, not a submarine," he added.

Whether the test was successful or not, Schilling said it was clear that the North Koreans were intent on developing an SLBM capability and "will presumably get it right eventually".

However, he predicted that developing a fully operational SLBM system would take until 2020. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Starting Monday, January 18, private motorists should avoid using the yellow bus lanes along EDSA or else face apprehension. 

Traffic enforcers from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Philippine National Police - Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) will begin imposing a stricter traffic management system along the southbound lane of Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City to Guadalupe in Makati City, identified as one of the chokepoints along EDSA.

This is in line with a long-standing rule that bans private vehicles from using the yellow bus lane except when they are about to turn into a side road or to enter the main thoroughfare from secondary roads.

Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said private vehicles caught using the yellow bus lanes, unless they are making a turn, will be apprehended.

"If they will not cooperate, we will issue tickets," Almendras said.

Additional MMDA and HPG personnel will be deployed to manage the flow of traffic, while barriers placed along EDSA will serve as delineators for the lanes.

The move is the latest effort to speed up travel along EDSA. In September last year, the government deployed highway police to man chokepoints along the major thoroughfare in a bid to ease worsening congestion in the capital region.– Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Grace Poe on Wednesday, January 13, said one of the resource persons during last year’s Senate probe into a bloody police operation “was not honest” during his or her testimony behind closed doors.

The senator, however, did not identify the person.

“Dun sa aming mga naging executive session, wala naman akong nakitang dapat pang itago. Kung meron man, magpapatunay nga... May isa kaming resource person na hindi naging tapat sa maraming mga pananalita n’ya,” said Poe during an interview on Ted Failon’s “Failon Ngayon” on Wednesday, January 13.

(I don’t think there’s a need to hide what was said during our executive sessions. If there is something, it will prove that… there’s one resource person who was not honest in many things he said.)

Poe headed and will head again a Senate committee’s probe into “Oplan Exodus,” a controversial January 25, 2015 police operation that claimed the lives of more than 60, including 44 elite cops in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao.

One year later, the Senate will re-open its probe upon Senator Juan Ponce Enrile’s request, citing “personal knowledge” and “new evidence.” (READ: Enrile on Mamasapano: Did Aquino do enough to save SAF?)

The probe is scheduled on January 25, exactly a year after the clash but Poe said it might be moved since the Philippine National Police (PNP) has a planned event that day to remember its fallen comrades.

A PNP official earlier told Rappler that the police force's leadership requested that the probe be moved to January 27. The PNP will also be celebrating their founding anniversary on January 25. 

Failon asked Poe about Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s call to reveal the contents of an executive or closed-door session with then PNP Special Action Force (SAF) chief retired Director Getulio Napeñas.

The Senate held at least 5 executive sessions with police and military officials during the probe, owing to the sensitivity of some issues.

Poe said she sees no problem in revealing the contents of the closed-door sessions, but emphasized that it still needs to be voted upon by the Senate.

Exodus was a top-secret operation against terrorists wanted by both the Philippines and the United States. Although SAF troopers were able to kill one of the targets, Malaysian bomb maker Zulfili bin Hir (alias Marwan), the operation ended as one of the bloodiest in PNP history.

In the aftermath, President Benigno Aquino III saw his ratings dip to their lowest, amid criticism over his involvement and perceived lack of empathy for the dead. The operation also prompted heated debate over the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the product of a peace deal between the Aquino administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

MILF fighters and members were among those who exchanged bullets with the PNP SAF in Mamasapano.

Poe had vowed to keep the probe free from grandstanding, as political opponents and observers accuse the Senate of using it for political gain.

“Ngayon, sa ating mga kababayan naman na nagsasabi na pulitika at ano, ito po ay trabaho namin. Ngayon kayo naman po ang huhusga sa aming pagtatanong at sa aking pagpe-preside kung ito ba ay ginawang grandstanding o kung ano pa man,” she said.

(For our countrymen who are saying this is just for politics… this is our job. Now you’ll be able to judge us based on how we ask and how I preside if it’s being used for grandstanding or whatever else.)

The senator is seeking the presidency in 2016 as an independent candidate. Several senators, many of whom where vocal in the 2015 probe, are also seeking higher posts in 2016.

Napeñas is running for senator under the party of opposition standard-bearer Vice President Jejomar Binay.

At the same time, the senator said she would hold accountable resource persons who failed to reveal information during the probe then and only chose to do so now.

“Sinasabi ko rin sa mga dadalo na kapag nalaman namin na hindi ninyo sinabi sa amin ang mga impormasyon na 'yan noon na tinatanong namin sa inyo, meron din kayong pananagutan sa batas. Sapagkat, noon pa man na nag-executive session na kami, hindi ninyo pinagtapat 'yan. E, bakit ngayon lang? Ayun po ang ating sasabihin,” she added.

(I’ve been telling those who will attend that if we find out that you did not give the information we asked of you then, you’ll be held accountable under the law. Because when we held executive sessions then, why didn’t you choose to reveal that? Why only now? That’s what I’ll tell them.) – Rappler.com

JALALABAD, Afghanistan – Seven Afghan forces were killed Wednesday, January 13, when militants launched an hours-long gun and bomb siege near Pakistan's consulate in Jalalabad city, just days after four-country talks in Islamabad aimed at reviving Taliban peace negotiations.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes after a series of strikes on Indian installations in the region and amid an unprecedented Taliban campaign of winter violence. 

The brazen assault sent terrified young students in an adjacent school fleeing the area, which is also close to the Indian diplomatic mission.

"Seven of our security forces were killed and seven others wounded as a result of the terrorist attack," interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter four hours after the attack started.

Afghan troops killed all gunmen holed up in an empty government guesthouse near the consulate, where they had traded heavy gunfire with soldiers after a suicide bombing in the area, officials said.

Pakistan's foreign office said in a statement it was in contact with its embassy in Kabul as well as Afghan officials, but could offer no further information.

Indian interests have been targeted twice this month in spectacular assaults – an attack on the consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif, and a raid by Islamist insurgents on an air force base in the northern Indian state of Punjab.

A small bomb also exploded near the Indian consulate in Jalalabad last Tuesday, but no casualties were reported.

The spike in violence came in the wake of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise visit to Pakistan last month, after the nuclear-armed rivals announced they would resume high-level peace talks. 

India has been a key supporter of Kabul's post-Taliban government, and analysts have often pointed to the threat of a "proxy war" in Afghanistan between India and Pakistan.

This week representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China met in a bid to revive stalled Taliban peace talks, even as the insurgents wage a brazen winter campaign of violence more than 14 years after they were ousted from power.

The so-called "roadmap" talks were meant to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between the Afghan government and the Islamists.

The four-country group is set to hold the next round of discussions on Monday, January 18, in Kabul.

The Taliban's nationwide winter offensive is testing the capacity of Afghanistan's overstretched military and putting pressure on Pakistan to rein in its one-time proxies.

In September the Taliban briefly seized the northern provincial capital of Kunduz, and in recent weeks they have seized large swathes of the key opium-rich district of Sangin in the southern province of Helmand, their traditional stronghold.

Observers say the intensifying fighting highlights a push by the militants to gain greater concessions during any future direct talks. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay has launched a new political advertisement, saying the average Filipino is dark-skinned and short or “nognog” just like him.

The ad begins with a question, “Sino ba si Nognog? (Who is Nognog?)”

What follows is a montage explaining that “nognog” is every Filipino who labors under the sun, who endures studying in makeshift classrooms, and who has barely enough money to eat every day.

The ad also focuses on the plight of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), a part of the voting population that Binay, former presidential adviser on OFWs, is currently wooing during his trip to the United Arab Emirates this week. (READ: The Leader I Want: Jejomar Binay's to-fix list for 2016)

“Sino pa ba ang magtutulungan kundi tayo? (Who else will help us but ourselves?)” asks a smiling Binay towards the end of the video, with a throng of his supporters in the background. 

Critics of the Vice President previously used “nognog” as a derogatory term for Binay, but the United Nationalist Alliance standard-bearer has since embraced the term to paint himself as an underdog who performs.

The term "nognog" is short for "sunog" or burnt, a reference to a dark, short, with curly hair and a stubby nosed comic character created by L.S. Martinez in the 1970s. The comics story was made into a movie in 1980 with then child star Niño Muhlach in the lead role.

The Binay ad is also consistent with the Vice President's long-standing message that what he has already done in Makati, where he was mayor for 21 years, is what other politicians are only starting to promise to the voters.

Things are currently looking bright for Binay, who topped the latest Pulse Asia survey at 33% despite a string of corruption charges and allegations of unexplained wealth. – Rappler.com

MONROVIA, Liberia – The two-year Ebola epidemic which laid waste to communities across West Africa and killed more than 11,000 people is due to be declared over Thursday, January 14, with Liberia expecting the all-clear.

The worst outbreak of the tropical pathogen in history has devastated health services and wrecked the economies of the hardest hit nations since it emerged in southern Guinea in December 2013. 

At its height, the epidemic cut a swathe through the capital cities of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with bodies piling up in the streets and overwhelmed hospitals recording hundreds of new cases a week.

WHO said Thursday's announcement in Geneva will "mark 42 days since the last Ebola cases in Liberia were tested negative." The announcement was previously scheduled for Friday, January 15, and no reason was given for the change.

"We will remain careful and keep calling on the population to take the necessary measures in preventing reoccurrence," said Francis Karteh, Liberia's chief medical officer and major figure in the response to the epidemic.

Liberia, hardest hit in the outbreak with 4,800 deaths, discharged its last two cases – the father and younger brother of a 15-year-old victim – on December 3.

It was the last country affected by an outbreak infecting almost 29,000 people and claiming 11,315 lives, according to official data which most experts accept represents a significant underestimate.

The patients' recovery triggered a 42-day countdown – twice the incubation period of the virus – before Liberia can be declared free of transmission for a third time.

Ebola can fell its victims within days, causing severe fever and muscle pain, weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea. In many cases it shuts down organs and causes unstoppable bleeding.

The virus is spread through close contact with the sweat, vomit, blood or other bodily fluids of an infected person, or the recently deceased.

Aggressive spread

Liberia was first declared free of human-to-human transmission in May, only to see the fever resurface 6 weeks later. It was officially credited with beating the epidemic for a second time in September before another small cluster of cases emerged. 

The virus spread aggressively from "patient zero", a Guinean infant who became the first victim, into Liberia and then Sierra Leone, quickly notching up more deaths than all other outbreaks combined.

Sporadic cases were also registered in Mali, Nigeria and Senegal as deaths mounted at a dizzying rate, igniting fears in Europe and elsewhere of a virus that transgressed borders and national controls.

The epidemic devastated the economies of the worst-hit countries, as crops rotted in the fields, mines were abandoned and goods could not get to market.

Strong recent growth has been curtailed in Guinea and while Liberia has resumed growth, Sierra Leone is in a severe recession according to the World Bank, which has mobilized $1.62 billion for Ebola response and recovery efforts. 

"Ebola has reduced me to a pauper, as many of my creditors were foreigners, mainly Nigerian nationals," said textile dealer Mohamed Sow, one of numerous entrepreneurs interviewed by AFP in Sierra Leone this week who have described being ruined by the epidemic.

"They owed me millions and they left Freetown when the Ebola virus was raging."

Existential threat

During the two months of peak transmission in August and September 2014, Liberia's capital Monrovia was the setting for some of the most harrowing scenes from the outbreak.

The largest Ebola unit ever built opened there with 120 beds in August 2014 but was immediately overwhelmed, with staff forced to turn patients away at its gates, despite more than doubling its capacity.

Liberian Defense Minister Brownie Samukai told a meeting of the UN Security Council that the country was facing "a serious threat to its national existence".

At the time, more than 400 new cases were being reported each week, with uncollected and highly infectious bodies piling up in the streets of Monrovia, a sprawling, chaotic city at the best of times.

Schools remained shut after the summer holidays, unemployment soared as the formal and black market economies collapsed, clinics closed as staff died and non-emergency healthcare ground to a halt.

Amid the horror, one case stood out as uniquely cruel.

In the quarantined hamlet of Ballajah, 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the capital, 12-year-old Fatu Sherrif was locked into her home with her dead mother as panicked neighbors fled to the forest.

Her cries could be heard for several days by the few who had stayed in the abandoned village before she died alone, without food or water.

The international community came under fire for a response that saw West African states treated as pariahs.

But that all changed when aid workers started falling ill and going home for treatment, resulting in the first-ever domestic infections outside of Africa – two in the United States and one in Spain.

From a position of indifference, the West rallied to the cause, sending thousands of troops and medics to Africa in 2014 and developing possible treatments and vaccines, many of which are still being tested. – Zoom Dosso, AFP/Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) affirmed the poll body in its decision to bar the presidential bid of Senator Grace Poe’s nemesis, Rizalito David, because he is a nuisance candidate.

The SC also said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is right in declaring lawyer Elly Pamatong a nuisance bet as well.

David and Pamatong both ran to the SC to appeal the Comelec rulings that stopped them from running.

“The Court, uniformly, in Minute Resolutions, dismissed the petitions on the ground that the Comelec did not act with grave abuse of discretion,” the SC announced.

The Comelec cancelled David’s COC because, among other things, he has no proof “of his financial capability to run a nationwide campaign.”

David, a broadcaster, then slammed the Comelec for “adding another requirement” to run for president.

“‘If you don’t have the money, you can’t run.’ That’s what they’re saying: ‘You’re only a broadcaster, you have no capacity to launch a national campaign,” David said. 

David has filed petitions to disqualify Poe as senator and as president, saying she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen. 

Habitual nuisance bet

Pamatong, on the other hand, had been declared a nuisance candidate in the past.

Pamatong’s camp slammed the Comelec because it “sabotaged” his candidacy “for the third time.” 

The Omnibus Election Code defines a nuisance candidate as someone who files a certificate of candidacy “to put the election process in mockery or disrepute or to cause confusion among the voters by the similarity of the names of the registered candidates or by other circumstances or acts which clearly demonstrate that the candidate has no bona fide intention to run for the office for which the certificate of candidacy has been filed, and thus prevent a faithful determination of the true will of the electorate.” 

The Comelec disqualifies these nuisance bets even as the Constitution mandates “equal access to opportunities for public service.”

This is because, according to the SC, running for public office is a privilege, not a right. – Rappler.com

QUETTA, Pakistan – A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a polio vaccination center in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Wednesday, January 13, killing at least 15 people, mainly police, officials said.

The policemen had been gathering outside the centre to accompany polio workers on the third day of a vaccination campaign which are frequently targeted by Taliban and other Islamist militant groups in Pakistan.

Quetta is the capital of the restive Balochistan province, which is home to a separatist insurgency that has been raging since 2004, with rebels frequently targeting government personnel and facilities.

"There are 15 dead, including 12 police, one paramilitary, and two civilians," a local police official told the Agence France-Presse.

Sarfraz Bugti, Balochistan home minister added: "So far 15 people have been injured in the blast, seven of whom are in critical condition." 

An AFP reporter at the site saw three burned out vehicles that had been blown up in the explosion, while human remains lay strewn across the ground, walls, and electrical poles, along with items of clothing including the caps and shoes of policemen.

Some officials had begun to gather evidence from the scene while others were collecting body parts to put in bags.

Eye-witness Shabir Ahmed, a 32-year-old police constable, told AFP he had been deployed to protect a polio vaccination team that was due to leave for various neighbourhoods of Quetta at 10 am.

"Suddenly there was a loud bang and I fell to the ground, I could not see anything, there was dust everywhere," he said.

"Then I heard people screaming and sirens of ambulances," he continued, adding he had received shrapnel wounds to his stomach, hands, legs and feet.

Anwar ul Haq Kakar, a spokesman for the provincial government, vowed the polio immunization drive would continue.

"We won't allow the nefarious designs of the terrorists to succeed, we will eliminate polio," he said.

'Conspiracy against Muslims' 

Pakistan is one of only two countries where polio, a crippling childhood disease, remains endemic. Attempts to eradicate it have been badly hit by militant attacks on immunization teams that have claimed nearly 80 lives since December 2012.

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's attack, Islamist groups including the Taliban say the polio vaccination drive is a front for espionage or a conspiracy to sterilize Muslims. 

In 2014 the number of polio cases recorded in Pakistan soared to 306, the highest in 14 years, falling to 52 in 2015.

The most recent attack came in November last year, when unknown gunmen shot and killed the head of an immunization program in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district of Swabi.

Islamist opposition to all forms of inoculation mounted after the CIA organised a fake vaccination drive to help track down Al-Qaeda's former leader Osama Bin Laden in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad.

The terror chief was killed during a US special forces raid in 2011.

Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but most impoverished province, is also home to a raging insurgency that has claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers and militants since it re-ignited in 2004, with rebels often attacking government installations and personnel. 

The province's roughly 7 million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth. – Maaz Khan, AFP/Rappler.com

ISTANBUL, Turkey (UPDATED) – Turkey said Wednesday, January 13, it had arrested one person in connection with a deadly suicide bombing that ripped through the historic heart of Istanbul, killing 10 German tourists and raising alarm over security in the country.

Ankara has said that Tuesday's attack was carried out by a 28-year-old Syrian who belonged to the Islamic State (ISIS) group and had recently entered Turkey from Syria.

One person was arrested on Tuesday evening in connection with the bloodshed, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said on Wednesday, without explaining the suspect's role in the strike.

Turkish security forces over the last two days rounded up 68 suspected IS members across the country, state media said, but it was not clear if any of them were directly connected to the Istanbul bombing. 

"The investigation is continuing in a very intensive way," Ala told a news conference in Istanbul alongside German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere.

The foreign ministry in Berlin said Wednesday all 10 of those killed in the attack were German. But de Maiziere said there was "no indication" the attack specifically targeted Germans, saying there was no need to cancel travel plans.

"It was an attack against humanity," he said. "I see no reason to refrain from trips to Turkey."

But the German foreign ministry has advised its nationals to keep away from large groups in public places and tourist attractions in Istanbul.

German tourism giant TUI said customers who had booked trips to Istanbul can switch destination without paying a penalty.

Posing as a refugee?

Turkey has been hit by a string of deadly attacks blamed on jihadists over the last year, including a double suicide bombing in October in Ankara that killed more than 100 people.

But Tuesday's bombing was the first time in recent memory tourists had been targeted in the heart of Istanbul.

The bomber, identified as Nabil Fadli, detonated his charge in Sultanahmet Square, home to Turkey's most visited historic sites including the Ottoman-era Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia church.

The explosion went off by the Obelisk of Theodosius, a monument from ancient Egypt, one of the city's most iconic landmarks.

The Sabah daily said the bomber had entered Turkey as a refugee from Syria on January 5.

He was then fingerprinted by the Turkish migration service, explaining why the authorities were able to identify the bomber so rapidly after the attack.

The Hurriyet daily said Turkey's spy agency had twice issued warnings over the risk of a suicide attack in Istanbul.

'Pray for the victims'

Police on Wednesday removed a cordon preventing access to the area of the attack, which was quickly thronged by media and some tourists, an AFP correspondent said. 

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and de Maiziere placed red roses by the obelisk, which appeared to have sustained no damage in the bombing.

The blast left 15 people wounded, most of them Germans but also Norwegians, Peruvians and at least one Turk. Berlin said seven injured Germans were being treated in hospital, five of them in intensive care.

The tourists were part of a group of 33 who had been staying at a boutique hotel in the upmarket Galata district and had been bussed to Sultanahmet that morning, media reports said.

"I saw the young man pull the pin and I shouted 'run!' in German. Then we started to run away, and the bomb instantly exploded," the group's tour guide Sibel Satiroglu told investigators, the Hurriyet newspaper said. 

In impromptu remarks at his weekly audience, Pope Francis called on all believers to pray for the victims.

"May the Lord, the merciful, bring eternal piece to the departed, comfort to their families, the solidarity of all society and may he convert the hearts of violent men," he said. 

Crackdown on ISIS

Long accused of failing to crack down on ISIS, Turkey has in recent months moved against jihadist cells operating on its territory. 

Among those arrested in the wake of Tuesday's bloodshed were 16 people suspected of planning a major attack in Ankara, Anatolia news agency said.

On Wednesday, 3 more suspected ISIS members were detained in the southern resort city of Antalya. All 3 are Russian citizens, it added.

And a week before the attack, 220 people "identified" as ISIS members were detained in Turkey, the interior minister said on Wednesday. 

Despite criticism from Western allies that it was not doing enough in the fight against IS, Turkey is now hosting aircraft from the US-led coalition engaged in deadly attacks on the jihadist group strongholds. – Stuart Williams and Dilay Gundogan, AFP/Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay promised overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that should he win the presidency, he will pursue “good working relations” with Middle East countries. 

In a statement on Wednesday, January 13, Binay reiterated his promise that his administration will prioritize providing jobs in the Philippines so that overseas employment “becomes a matter of choice and not necessity.”  

The Vice President is currently on a 3-day trip to the UAE, where 246,231 OFWs were deployed in 2014, according to the latest data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). 

On Tuesday, Binay was the guest of honor at a Filipino community event hosted by the Bayanihan Council in Abu Dhabi.

"Mahirap higitan ang uri ng pagmamahal na araw-araw ninyong inaalay. Ang paglaban sa lungkot at pangungulila sa inyong pamilya at sariling tahanan, ang hirap ng kondisyon ng trabaho sa ibang bayan, ang mga pangambang bunga ng pagiging isang dayuhan – ilan lamang ito sa araw-araw ninyong pagsubok bilang isang OFW," said Binay, who used to be the presidential adviser on OFW concerns until his resignation in June 2015.  

(It’s hard to measure up to the amount of love you offer every day. Fighting the sadness and the longing for your families, the difficulty of working abroad, the anxiety brought about by being a foreigner – these are just some of your daily struggles as OFWs.)

While he did not specify how, Binay promised the OFWs in the audience that he will improve government efforts to assist distressed migrant workers should he win as president. (READ: The Leader I Want: Jejomar Binay's to-fix list for 2016) 

"Lubos ang aking paninindigan na uuwi kayo sa isang maunlad at mapagkalingang Pilipinas, kung saan ang maginhawang buhay ay makakamit sa sarili nating bayan, kapiling ang bawat Pilipinong minamahal ninyo sa buhay," he said.

(I have a strong conviction that you will come home to an improved and caring Philippines, wherein a comfortable life can be achieved at home and with your loved ones.)

Binay also had lunch with 39 wards of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Abu Dhabi, where the Vice President dined with OFWs who became victims of maltreatment and human trafficking. (READ: Binay: No gov’t shortcomings in effort to save Joselito Zapanta)

He asked his daughter Senator Nancy Binay, who is with the Vice President during the trip, to consider creating a special assistance fund for undocumented OFWs.

Meeting with the UAE leaders

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Meeting w/ UAE Minister of Labour Saqr Ghobash <a href="https://t.co/Wpx3g7kH7P">pic.twitter.com/Wpx3g7kH7P</a></p>&mdash; Nancy Binay (@nancybinay) <a href="https://twitter.com/nancybinay/status/687080912840966144">January 13, 2016</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>{/source}

On Tuesday, Binay met with Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyen, Abu Dahbi crown prince and deputy supreme commander of the UAE’s Armed Forces.  

The Vice President described the 30-minute meeting as “very warm and cordial.”

"The meeting was a surprise, we were told only this (Tuesday) morning. It wasn’t part of the schedule. But it’s a good opportunity," said Binay.​

According to the Vice President, he and Sheikh Mohammed discussed investment opportunities in power and infrastructure in the Philippines. 

Binay added that the crown prince is interested to visit the Philippines and that Sheikh Mohammed wants the country to know that the “UAE [is] grateful to the Filipinos who live and work here.”

Binay met with UAE labor minister Shaqr Ghobash as well to discuss 3 new UAE labor decrees, which Ghobash said will pave the way for improved labor relations between the UAE and the Philippines.

The Vice President also visited on Tuesday the Philippine Global School-Abu Dhabi, an all-Filipino primary and secondary academic institution of more than 2,000 students. – Rappler.com

JALALABAD, Afghanistan – Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists on Wednesday, January 13, claimed responsibility for a deadly gun and bomb siege targeting the Pakistani consulate in Afghanistan's Jalalabad city, in the first attack by the group on the Pakistani government.

Afghan officials said all 3 attackers and 7 security forces were killed in the brazen assault in eastern Nangarhar province, where the group has made alarming inroads in recent months. 

The 4-hour siege near the consulate comes amid renewed international efforts to revive peace talks with the Taliban, locked in a tussle for supremacy with Islamic State jihadists in Afghanistan.

In an Arabic statement released via Twitter, the ISIS group said two of its fighters blew themselves up at the scene by detonating explosive belts, while a third managed to escape unharmed.  

"The attack lasted almost 4 hours during which the consulate building was destroyed and tens of its employees were killed together with a number of officers from the apostate Pakistani intelligence services," the statement said. 

The toll appeared to be exaggerated, with Islamabad saying officials at the consulate itself are safe and accounted for.

The brazen assault sent terrified young students in an adjacent school fleeing the area, which is also close to the Indian diplomatic mission.

"This is first attack claimed by ISIS against the state of Pakistan," Muhammad Amir Rana, a Pakistani security analyst, told AFP.

"This is a highly symbolic attack as the Pakistani consulate is a high-profile installation in Jalalabad."

Lethal assault

There was no immediate comment on the ISIS group's claim from Islamabad.

In a statement earlier Wednesday, Pakistan's foreign office "strongly condemned" the attack on its consulate.

"The government of Afghanistan has been requested to thoroughly investigate this incident and bring the culprits to book," the Pakistani government said in a statement. 

"We have requested that details of the investigation should be shared with us."

Islamabad has officially denied that ISIS is operating in Pakistan, but authorities have expressed fears the jihadists could find recruits among the country's myriad of Islamist militant groups. 

In May last year, the ISIS group claimed responsibility for an attack that claimed the lives of at least 43 members of the Shiite Ismaili minority in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi.

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani phoned Pakistan's leader Nawaz Sharif Wednesday to assure him of greater security for Islamabad's diplomats in Afghanistan following the attack, according to a statement from the prime minister's office.

The Jalalabad attack bore chilling similarities to a similar deadly siege last week near the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. No group has claimed that attack so far. 

Nangarhar faces an emerging threat from loyalists of ISIS, which controls territory across Syria and Iraq and is making gradual inroads in Afghanistan, challenging the Taliban on their own turf.

The jihadists have managed to attract disaffected Taliban fighters increasingly lured by the group's signature brutality that has made them notorious.

In a sign of their growing reach in Afghanistan, the group has taken to the airwaves in a 90-minute Pashto-language radio show called "Voice of the Caliphate".

The government has said it is trying to block the broadcast, beamed from an undisclosed location, that is aimed at winning new recruits.

This week representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China met in a bid to revive stalled Taliban peace talks, even as the insurgents wage a brazen winter campaign of violence.

The so-called "roadmap" talks were meant to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between the Afghan government and the Islamists to end the 14-year Taliban insurgency.

The 4-country group is set to hold the next round of discussions on January 18 in Kabul. – Inamullah Samoon, AFP/Rappler.com

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait – Kuwait's Shiite lawmakers boycotted parliament Wednesday, January 13, a day after a mass sentencing of members of the minority to prison or death for belonging to an Iran-linked cell.

All 9 Shiite lawmakers stayed away from the national assembly, which held a secret debate on the impact of regional conflicts on Kuwait, following attacks on Sunni-ruled ally Saudi Arabia's diplomatic missions in Iran.

One of them, Saleh Ashour, said: "The anger of Kuwaiti Shiites has reached its peak in recent days with followers of a complete sect" being accused of acting as "agents for Iran and being members of (Lebanese Shiite militia) Hezbollah."

At the same time, authorities are failing to take action against people taking part in fighting in Iraq and Syria, Ashour said on Twitter, a reference to members of Sunni jihadist groups.

Abdulhameed Dashti, another Shiite legislator, wrote on Twitter that he was boycotting the 50-seat parliament for the day, although like the others he did not give an explicit reason.

It comes after a lower court on Tuesday sentenced 22 people, all but one of them Kuwaiti Shiites, who were charged with spying for Iran and plotting attacks in the Gulf country.

Two defendants, including an Iranian tried in absentia, were sentenced to death while 19 were handed jail terms ranging from five years to life.

Another was fined 5,000 dinars ($16,500) while 3 were acquitted.

The court said the cell members had links with Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Shiites form around 30% of Kuwait's native population of 1.3 million.

The oil-rich emirate has witnessed a rise in sectarian tensions due to regional strife.

Kuwait recalled its ambassador from Iran to protest the attacks on the Saudi missions, and summoned Tehran's ambassador to express its disapproval.

The attacks, carried out by protesters angry at Saudi Arabia's execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, prompted Riyadh to cut diplomatic ties with Tehran. – Rappler.com

BERLIN, Germany –German prosecutors said Wednesday, January 13, they have charged 4 people with forming a right-wing extremist "terror" group which was allegedly planning a bomb attack at an inhabited refugee shelter. 

The 4 German suspects are accused of starting a "far-right terrorist organization" called Oldschool Society with a larger group of people in 2014.

Germany has recorded a sharp jump in crime attributed to the far-right in tandem with the surge in asylum seeker arrivals which reached 1.1 million last year.

At its first meeting in November 2014, the group allegedly "discussed the manufacturing of explosives as well as attacks on Salafists and asylum seekers," federal prosecutors said in a statement.

By May 2015, when they were arrested, they had hatched a plan "for a bomb attack at an inhabited refugee shelter".

Suspects Markus W., 40, and Denise Vanessa G., 23, were allegedly tasked with procuring pyrotechnic explosives from the Czech Republic.

Markus W. and another suspect, 57-year-old Andreas H., were examining how they could modify the explosives to make them more powerful.

"They discussed wrapping the explosives with nails or fuel. But the attacks did not take place as they were arrested on May 6, 2015 and have since been in detention," said prosecutors.

The fourth suspect was named as 47-year-old Olaf O., the "press spokesman" of the group.

In the wake of a rash of crime targeting women at New Year's festivities in Cologne that has been blamed on migrants, Germany is on edge with fears that the rampage could fuel xenophobic violence.

Police said groups linked to Cologne's extremist hooligan scene had used social media to organise gatherings in the inner city Sunday evening, and launched a spate of attacks against Pakistani, Syrian and African men. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is set to offer the US military use of 8 bases, a military spokesman said Wednesday, January 13, after the country's Supreme Court upheld a security agreement with Washington forged in the face of rising tensions with China.

The facilities include the former US Clark airbase and air and naval facilities on the southwestern island of Palawan which faces the South China Sea, the focus of territorial disputes with China. 

Military spokesman Colonel Restituto Padilla said the facilities would be used to store equipment and supplies. 

He added that the offer had still to be finalized after the Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a 10-year security accord.

The decision allows for the full implementation of the Enhanced Defense Co-operation Agreement (EDCA), signed in 2014 but not implemented due to legal challenges from groups opposed to US military involvement in the Philippines, a US colony from 1898 to 1946.

It will see more US troops rotate through the Philippines for war games and help Manila build military facilities. (READ: PH vows ‘prompt, mutually beneficial’ implementation of EDCA)

"We have resumed talks now that there is a go-signal that EDCA is constitutional," Padilla said.

"We are continuing talks and we will finalize the agreement on the locations," he said without giving a timetable when the decision would be reached. 

The Philippines hosted two of the largest overseas US military bases until 1992, when the senate voted to end their leases, a decision influenced by anti-US sentiment.

The new pact does not authorize a return of US bases.

China and the Philippines – as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan – have conflicting claims to the South China Sea which is a major shipping lane, rich fishing ground and potential source of mineral resources.

The Philippines has been seeking closer defence ties with the United States, accusing China of increased aggressiveness in the South China Sea.

In April 2012, after a tense stand-off with Philippine ships, Chinese vessels took control of a shoal just 220 kilometers (135 miles) off the main Philippine island of Luzon. 

Philippine President Benigno Aquino negotiated the EDCA to help the Philippines improve its military capabilities and draw the United States closer, partly to counter China's increasing presence.  – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has affirmed the dismissal of Mayor Jose Villarosa of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, and two other officials for misusing the municipality’s tobacco trust fund in 2010. 

Also ordered dismissed were municipal accountant Pablo Alvaro and municipal treasurer Carlito Cajayon, the Ombudsman said in a statement on Thursday, January 14.

Morales directed Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento to implement the dismissal order on the officials, who were found guilty of grave misconduct, dishonesty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service. They also face technical malversation charges.

The officials have been perpetually barred from re-employment in the government service and also meted the accessory penalties of cancellation of eligibility and forfeiture of retirement benefits.  

The Ombudsman said that in case of separation from the service, the penalty is convertible to a fine equivalent to the respondent’s one year salary.

Farmers' fund used for Xmas lights, snacks

Based on the investigation, Villarosa authorized the use of P2.9 million ($60,872) from the tobacco trust fund to purchase 10 multi-cab vehicles, Christmas lights, meals and snacks for newly-elected barangay captains, medicines, gravel and sand, bus and vehicle rentals.

This runs counter to the purpose of the trust fund which, the Ombudsman said, "should be used solely for cooperative, livelihood and or agro-industrial projects that enhance the quality of agricultural products, develop alternative farming systems, or enable tobacco farmers to manage and own post-harvest enterprises.”

"No genius is required to discern the disparity between the Legislature’s declared policy and respondents’ actual expenditures,” the Ombudsman said in a Joint Resolution.

She added that “the diversion of funds resulted in the deprivation of farmers who were the intended beneficiaries.”

"[The] respondents’ concerted acts, seen in the light of their years in public office, were certainly motivated by a clear and flagrant intent to violate the law and disregard established rules," Morales said.

Charges vs Bogo mayor, vice mayor

The Ombudsman also affirmed the recommendation of the Office of the City Prosecutor of Cebu to file grave coercion charges against Bogo City Mayor Celestino "Junie" Martinez Jr and two others over an incident in 2010 involving the official's rival.

Charged with Martinez are Vice Mayor Santiago Sevilla and lawyer Jose Carlo Martinez, the Ombudsman said in a statement on Tuesday, January 12.

This comes  6 years after the tense 4-hour standoff in Bogo City between Martinez and his rival, Benhur Salimbangon.

Salimbangon has accused the Martinezes – the ruling political dynasty in Bogo – of barring him from leaving Polambato Elementary School during the May 2010 elections.

In her review, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales affirmed the findings of the investigation.

"It is clear that when the complainants were prevented from moving their vehicles within the area of Palombato Road in Bogo City and respondents searched the vehicles of the complainants, there was such a display of material force which necessarily produced intimidation, and in effect, controlled the will of the complainants," Morales said.

Use of intimidation is a violation of Article 286 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC). Coercion is committed when a person "who, without authority of law, shall, by means of violence, prevent another from doing something not prohibited by law, or compel him to do something against his will."

The Ombudsman found that the Martinezes and other supporters verbally abused the group of Salimbangon.

Martinez told local newspaper Cebu Daily News:“I won’t issue any comment for now. I was only informed about this just now. But if ever that’s true, I’m willing to face trial."

Salimbangon, district chair of the ruling Liberal Party (LP), will face off with Martinez again as they both gun for Cebu's 4th District in the House of Representatives. – with a report from Ryan Macasero/Rappler.com

US$1 = P47.64