Philippines
Manila responds to Duterte
Secretary of Defense Gilberto Teodoro yesterday vowed to “strictly enforce” the country’s sovereignty, joining the chorus of security officials pledging to defend the nation following secessionist threats made by former president Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte on Tuesday last week called for the independence of his hometown island Mindanao as his alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr disintegrated last week over disagreements around efforts to amend the constitution. “The mandate of the Department of National Defense is to secure the sovereignty of the state and integrity of the national territory as enshrined in the constitution,” Teodoro said in a statement. “We will strictly enforce this mandate whether externally or internally,” he added. Teodoro’s remarks echoed similar statements made by the national security adviser, who on Sunday said the government would not hesitate to “use its authority and forces to quell and stop any and all attempts to dismember the Republic.”
PHILIPPINES
China hackers target sites
Hackers operating in China attempted to break into Web sites and e-mail systems of the president and government agencies, one promoting maritime security, but failed, a Department of Information and Communications Technology official said yesterday. The mailboxes of the department, the Web site of National Coast Watch and the personal Web site of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr were among the targets of the unsuccessful hacking operations this month, department spokesperson Renato Paraiso told DWPM radio. “We are not attributing this to any state, but using the Internet protocol addresses, we pinpointed it to China,” Paraiso said, adding that the hackers were traced to be using the services of Chinese state-owned Unicom.
CHILE
Fire death toll rises
The death toll from wildfires climbed to at least 112 people on Sunday, after President Gabriel Boric warned that the number would rise “significantly” as teams search gutted neighborhoods. Responders continued to battle fires in the coastal tourist region of Valparaiso amid an intense summer heat wave, with temperatures soaring to 40°C over the weekend. The Ministry of the Interior late on Sunday said that the medical examiner’s office had received 112 dead victims, 32 of whom have been identified, and that there are 40 fires still active in the country.
HONG KONG
Firm scammed for US$26m
Scammers tricked a multinational firm out of about HK$200 million (US$26 million) via 15 transactions by impersonating senior executives using “deepfake” technology, police said on Sunday. An employee in the finance department of a company received “videoconference calls from someone posing as senior officers of the company requesting to transfer money to designated bank accounts,” police said. Police received a report of the incident on Monday last week. The scammers pretended to be the firm’s UK-based chief financial officer, media reports said. “Scammers found publicly available video and audio of the impersonation targets via YouTube, then used deepfake technology to emulate their voices ... to lure the victim to follow their instructions,” Acting Police Senior Superintendent Baron Chan (陳純青) told reporters. The videos were prerecorded and did not involve dialogue or interaction with the victim, he added.
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
CONSPIRACIES: Kano suspended polio immunization in 2003 and 2004 following claims that polio vaccine was laced with substances that could render girls infertile Zuwaira Muhammad sat beside her emaciated 10-month-old twins on a clinic bed in northern Nigeria, caring for them as they battled malnutrition and malaria. She would have her babies vaccinated if they regain their strength, but for many in Kano — a hotbed of anti-vaccine sentiment — the choice is not an obvious one. The infants have been admitted to the 75-bed clinic in the Unguwa Uku neighbourhood, one of only two in the city of 4.5 million run by French aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Kano has the highest malaria burden in Nigeria, but the city has long
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