Another US warship to visit PHL

source: www.gmanetwork.com

A United States Navy guided missile destroyer will arrive in Subic Bay in Zambales on Tuesday for a routine port visit, the American embassy said Monday.

The USS Stockdale (DDG-106), the third US vessel to visit the Philippines since January, will replenish supplies as well as offer its crew an opportunity for rest and relaxation, the embassy said in a statement.

The Stockdale's routine port call and goodwill visit at Subic Bay — once one of the largest US military installations in the world outside of the American mainland — “is a great opportunity to continue the long-term relationship between the Philippines and the United States,” said ship commanding officer Cdr. Lex Walker.

This will be the Stockdale’s first visit to the Philippines. The visit is part of the ship’s nine-month deployment to the Western Pacific that began in January 2013.

During the visit, Stockdale sailors will also engage in a number of community relations projects including visits to local orphanages, the embassy said.

The USS Stockdale was commissioned on April 18, 2009, and is homeported in San Diego, California. It is named for Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale, who was the highest ranking US naval officer to be held as a Prisoner of War in Vietnam.

Walker also spoke about the diversity of his crew. “We have quite a few Filipino –American Sailors among our crew, and I hope that the citizens of the Philippines can look at our ship and see that their people and their culture are well represented and respected in the U.S. Navy.”

Some 15 Filipino-Americans sail aboard the USS Stockdale, among them sailors with family ties to Baguio City, Manila, Marikina City, Orion, Olongapo City, Quezon City, and Santa Monica.

Some, like Geno C. Uy (GSM2) and Ryan Angeles (AM2), were born in the Philippines and immigrated to the US in recent years. Others, including Joel Marsigian (AM2) and Dean Rivera-Villanueva (ADAN), were born in the US but still have relatives in the Philippines.

Many of the Stockdale’s sailors plan to visit family while in port, the embassy said. — Michaela del Callar/KBK, GMA News

PH assures fines over Tubbataha damage

souce: www.abs-cbnnews.com

MANILA - Malacañang said the Philippine government will still impose fines and ask for compensation from the United States government over the damage of Tubbataha Reef even if it has given assistance for coral restoration efforts.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said a final assessment of the damage will be done after the USS Guardian is extricated.

“That’s not compensation, that’s assistance. We still have to determine the amount of fines that are going to be imposed based on a final assessment on the damage caused to the reef and that has not been done yet,” Lacierda said.

“They’re going to do that over and above the fines that we are going to impose based on the law that we have in place. And certainly we have seen their commitment to preserving the reef as part of their ongoing efforts, previous efforts, and certainly these are acknowledgments of the importance of the richness of the biodiversity that is found in Tubbataha Reef.”

The Guardian became grounded on the Tubbataha Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in a remote part of the Sulu Sea, on January 17.

The badly damaged minesweeper will need to be dismantled before it is removed.

The US Navy had previously said the boat, which has a wood and fibreglass hull, was too badly damaged to be towed away.

Thousands of litres of oil on board the Guardian have been removed but the vessel is being battered by huge waves, causing it to gouge a destructive trail along the reef, according to superintendent of the Tubbataha marine park Angelique Songco.

She said dismantling the ship would further damage the reef but letting it remain there longer would lead to even more harm.

The US Navy has repeatedly apologised for the incident but has refused to explain publicly why the Guardian was sailing so close to the reef.

This has fueled anger over the incident in the Philippines, a former American colony and important US ally in the Asia-Pacific region.

Vessels sailing into the marine park need permission, but Philippine authorities said the crew of the Guardian had made no request to enter and had even ignored radio messages from government rangers that it was about to hit the reef. -- with Agence France-Presse

Chinese ships' drills no cause for tension — Palace

source: www.gmanetwork.com

Malacañang on Sunday said it sees no problem with the entry of a Chinese navy fleet into the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) for patrols and drills.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the exercises involving the Chinese ships will be conducted in international waters.

“I understand that the exercises will be conducted on international waters. I’ve also read that report ... and it did say that they were keeping to one of the international sea routes in international waters so it shouldn’t be a problem,” she said on government-run dzRB radio.

Earlier reports said a Chinese navy fleet including three Chinese warships entered the South China Sea Friday for patrols and drills, after passing through the Bashi Channel.

The Bashi Channel is between Taiwan and Luzon, and is an international sea route.

Since April 2012, the Philippines and China have been in a row over a territorial dispute over the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal.

Last year, Philippine forces spotted Chinese fishermen gathering marine species from the area but were blocked by Chinese ships when they tried to make arrests.

Also, the Philippines and China are among six claimants to the Spratly Islands. The other claimants include Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. — LBG, GMA News

Indian navy prepared to deploy to South China Sea

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

NEW DELHI - The Indian navy is prepared to deploy vessels to the South China Sea to protect India's oil interests there, the navy chief said on Monday amid growing international fears over the potential for naval clashes in the disputed region.

India has sparred diplomatically with China in the past over its gas and oil exploration block off the coast of Vietnam. China claims virtually the entire mineral-rich South China Sea and has stepped up its military presence there. Other nations such as Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia have competing claims.

Indian state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has a stake in a gas field in the Nam Con Son basin, off Vietnam's south coast.

Indian Navy Chief Admiral D.K Joshi said while India was not a claimant in the dispute over territorial rights in the South China Sea, it was prepared to act, if necessary, to protect its maritime and economic interests in the region.

"When the requirement is there, for example, in situations where our country's interests are involved, for example ONGC ... we will be required to go there and we are prepared for that," Joshi told a news conference.

"Now, are we preparing for it? Are we having exercises of that nature? The short answer is yes," he said.

He described the modernisation of China's navy as "truly impressive" and acknowledged that it was a source of major concern for India.

Any display of naval assertiveness by India in the South China Sea would likely fuel concern that the navies of the two rapidly growing Asian giants could be on a collision course as they seek to protect trade routes and lock in the supply of coal, minerals and other raw material from foreign sources.

"It is one of the most important international waterways and freedom of navigation there is an issue of utmost concern to India because a large portion of India's trade is through the South China Sea," said Brahma Chellaney, analyst at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.

Chellaney, however, played down Joshi's comments, saying the Indian navy's focus would remain on the Indian Ocean, which the Asian nation views as its strategic backyard.

New rules

In September 2011, an Indian warship sailing in the South China Sea to the Vietnamese port of Haiphong was challenged when a caller identifying himself as an official of the Chinese navy warned the ship on an open radio channel that it was entering Chinese waters.

Nothing happened, the ship sailed on, and both India and China have since played down the incident, with New Delhi saying the vessel was well within international waters in the South China Sea and that there was no confrontation.

China's neighbours are fretting about a recent Chinese media report on new rules that will allow police in the southern Chinese province of Hainan to board and seize control of foreign ships which "illegally enter" its waters from Jan. 1.

The Philippines on Saturday condemned the Chinese plan as illegal and Singapore, home to the world's second-busiest container port, said on Monday it was concerned.

Asked about the report of China's plan to board ships, Joshi said India had the right to self-defence.

Estimates for proven and undiscovered oil reserves in the South China Sea range as high as 213 billion barrels of oil, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a 2008 report. That would surpass every country's proven oil reserves except Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, according to the BP Statistical Review.

Japan 'releases Chinese fishermen'

source: www.news.yahoo.com

Japan on Sunday released the captain and crew of a Chinese boat who had been detained on suspicion of illegal fishing, Chinese state media reported amid a festering territorial row between the neighbours.

The 100-tonne coral fishing boat with a crew of 13 was stopped on Saturday by a Japanese coastguard patrol in waters some 45 kilometres (28 miles) northeast of Miyako island in the southern Okinawan chain.

The skipper and all his crew were released after the Chinese consulate general in Fukuoka submitted a bail guarantee, Xinhua news agency said, quoting the consulate general.

The fishing boat and all its crew departed Miyako for China late on Sunday, it said.

The Japanese coastguard said Saturday that the captain had been arrested on suspicion of fishing in the exclusive maritime zone without permission from Japan.

The incident occurred amid a simmering dispute over the Tokyo-administered Senkaku islands, which China also claims and calls the Diaoyus.

Miyako is about 210 kilometres (130 miles) off the biggest Senkaku isle.

The arrest was made on the same day that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe toured the southern region of Okinawa near the disputed islands in the East China Sea, where he vowed to defend Japan against "provocations".

Abe's comments came in the same week that his government approved a rise in defence spending for the first time in over a decade, explicitly aimed at beefing up defence of the contested island chain.

Chinese government ships have routinely circled the islands since September, when Tokyo nationalised some of them.

Chinese planes have also sporadically breached the airspace over them, stoking the long-running sovereignty row.

It was the first time that the captain of a Chinese fishing boat was detained in waters in the Okinawa region since September 2010 when Japan arrested a Chinese trawler captain after he rammed his vessel against two coastguard patrol boats in waters around the disputed islands, Kyodo news agency said.

The arrest sparked off a fierce diplomatic protest from Beijing and Tokyo released the captain weeks later without prosecuting him.

Swedish man held after woman dies during sex game

source: www.news.yahoo.com

London, Jan 28 (IANS) A Swedish man will stand trial for manslaughter for allegedly killing his German girlfriend during a brutal sex game, a media report said Monday.

The 28-year-old German woman exchange student was hit over 100 times with a wooden blackboard pointer by the 31-year-old man at his home in Umea in northern Sweden in October 2012, the Daily Mail reported.

The man said the woman was a willing "sex slave" in the game.

Police said the man raised the alarm when the woman stopped breathing during their violent sex session.

The woman was treated for two days in the intensive care ward of a local hospital before her life support machines were switched off.

She had sustained brain damage as a result of her airways being restricted.

Police said she took a cocaine substitute and drank alcohol before the sex session.

A prosecutor said the woman had her mouth stuffed with something that led directly to her death.

Trump Jr. wants U.S. ship saved before Tubbataha

source: www.news.yahoo.com

The U.S. government has already vowed to dismantle a warship stuck in the Philippines' Tubbataha reef, but at least one of its high-profile citizens finds the idea absurd.

The namesake son of real estate magnate Donald Trump thinks saving the $277-million USS Guardian should be prioritized over saving the protected Philippine reef.

"This is how stupid we are! $1/4 bil+ ho hum '@DRUDGE_REPORT: Navy to scrap $277 million ship to avoid scraping reef... http://drudge.tw/XSG79T'," Donald Trump, Jr. posted on his Twitter account Thursday.

He was reacting to a story published on the Washington Free Beacon about the U.S. Navy's decision to cut up the minesweeper to prevent it from further damaging the Tubbataha Reef.

Related story: Stuck Minesweeper to Be Cut Into Pieces

Trump's statements almost immediately drew reproach from his followers, Filipinos and other netizens alike.

Most of the reactions noted that the reef is an environmental treasure and is worth more than the U.S. ship which ran aground earlier this month while on its way to Palawan.

The Tubbataha Reef was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 and included in a global list of Wetlands of International Importance in 1999.

"@DonaldJTrumpJr A boat is more important than a coral reef?" a user called Adam Quirk challenged.

Also read: US Navy fined for 'illegal entry' at Philippine reef

Trump was quick to respond: "@adamq112 not the whole reef but yes a 277mil boat is more important than a 200x50 section of reef that has already been run over."

"[T]he whole reef was not destroyed just a chunk the size of a boat. That is not worth 277 million by any standard," he added.

He also slammed the U.S. government's move to shoulder the cleanup cost.

"[P]lease cleanup costs? The ship is 200 by 50 at most on the edge of a reef. it hit and stopped give me a break 277 million," Trump tweeted.

Related story: US not exempt from laws: Philippines' Aquino

Filipinos took out on Trump more aggresively.

Controversial cultural activist Carlos Celdran said: "@DonaldJTrumpJr @DRUDGE_REPORT This is our natural resources. US should spend more than 277 million to repair damage. Jeez. Asshole much?"

"Hijo @DonaldJTrumpJr, before you criticize, you ought to ask yourself how in the world did they even get there?" Twitter user @dudeinterrupted said.

Krizette Chu said: "@DonaldJTrumpJr YOU ARE UR FATHER'S SON, DUMB ASS. The reef is worth MORE THAN 200M. It Takes thousands of years to regenerate!"

"And for your information, the TUBBATAHA is home to HALF OF THE WORLD's marine species. Is it still expensive?" she added.

'Persona non-grata'

Youth group Anakbayan, meanwhile, urged President Benigno Aquino III to declare Trump Jr., as well as all American military forces, "persona non grata."

"Trump Jr.'s attitude towards the Tubbataha Reef reflects that of the U.S military and government's general view towards the Philippines: as a colony. Thus their lack of respect for our sovereignty and national heritage," Anakbayan national chairperson Vencer Crisostomo said.

“In the entire duration of Philippine-American relations, we have been treated as a dumping ground of toxic wastes, a stockpile of nuclear weapons, a testing ground of torture methods, and a source of women for U.S soldiers to violate," he added.

"We thus reiterate our call for a proactive approach to the issue of protecting our national sovereignty. An apology is not enough," Kabataan Party-list national president Terry Ridon said.

“In the entire duration of Philippine-American relations, we have been treated as a dumping ground of toxic wastes, a stockpile of nuclear weapons, a testing ground of torture methods, and a source of women for U.S soldiers to violate," he added.

"We thus reiterate our call for a proactive approach to the issue of protecting our national sovereignty. An apology is not enough," Kabataan Party-list national president Terry Ridon said.

"To prevent similar incidents from happening again, we must scrap the Visiting Forces Agreement, the Mutual Defense Treaty, and expel the U.S military from our territory," he said further.