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China is attempting to open a new front in its territorial dispute with Japan by questioning Tokyo's sovereignty over the island of Okinawa, home to 25,000 US troops. The two countries are already pushing rival claims to the Senkakus, a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that are controlled by Tokyo. The dispute over the islands, known as the Diaoyu in China, has hit bilateral trade and sent diplomatic relations to their lowest point for decades. Beijing began its attempt to broaden the territorial dispute earlier this month when the communist party newspaper, the People's Daily, ran...

An outspoken nationalist mayor said the Japanese military's forced prostitution of Asian women before and during World War II was necessary to "maintain discipline" in the ranks and provide rest for soldiers who risked their lives in battle. The comments made Monday are already raising ire in neighboring countries that bore the brunt of Japan's wartime aggression and have long complained that Japan has failed to fully atone for wartime atrocities.

MANILA — The Philippines said Friday it may quickly withdraw from a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights because of security concerns, following the abduction of four Filipino troops. Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said he had made a recommendation to President Benigno Aquino to pull out the more than 300 troops from the area. "As soon as he says go, we will undertake to do that as soon as possible," del Rosario told reporters. Syrian rebels seized the four Filipino peacekeepers at an observation post in the Golan Heights on Tuesday, two months after 21 Filipino...

McLean home owned by Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, real estate records say A case of "possible human trafficking" at a Saudi diplomatic compound in Virginia is under investigation, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to News4. Homeland Security Special-Agent-in-Charge John Torres, who is leading the probe, said Fairfax County Police responded to a tip Tuesday night citing a possible case of modern slavery. U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement/Homeland Security Investigations were called to a home in the 6000 block of Orris Street in McLean and -- in the words of a source familiar with the investigation -- "rescued" two women....

Immigration officials are investigating a report of human trafficking at a home owned by Saudi Arabia in northern Virginia. Two women were rescued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and spokesman Brandon Montgomery said the women - who are from the Philippines - were possible victims of domestic servitude. One woman reportedly tried to flee by squeezing through a gap in the front gate as it was closing. It is not yet clear if the women alerted authorities or if someone else called it in. Fairfax County police were called in to help. 'Homeland Security Investigations DC did encounter two...

Federal authorities have launched an investigation into a Saudi Arabian compound in Northern Virginia over suspicions its residents may be engaging in human trafficking. Federal and local police responded to a call from a house in the D.C. suburb of McLean and found “two potential victims of trafficking” who hailed from the Philippines, Raw Story reported. One of the women tried to run. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the investigation could move sluggishly because of complications from diplomatic immunity rules.

Feds Investigating A Saudi Compound In Virginia For Possible Human Trafficking Rebecca Baird-RembaMay 2, 2013Screenshot via NBC Washington Immigration officials rescued two women from this Saudi-owned home in McLean. Immigration officials are investigating a possible case of human trafficking at a home in McLean, Va., owned by the Saudi government, according to various media sources. Department of Homeland Security agents rescued two women, possible victims of domestic servitude, from a Saudi diplomatic compound early Wednesday morning, a local NBC affiliate reports. One woman tried to escape by "squeezing through a gap in the front gate as it was closing," according...

MESSAGE FOR U.S. CITIZENS U.S. Embassy, Manila, The Philippines April 29, 2013 THE EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES IS TRANSMITTING THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION THROUGH THE EMBASSY WARDEN SYSTEM AS A PUBLIC SERVICE TO AMERICAN CITIZENS IN THE PHILIPPINES. PLEASE DISSEMINATE THIS MESSAGE TO ALL U.S. CITIZENS IN YOUR ORGANIZATION OR NEIGHBORHOOD. Cebu Agency Reduced Hours of Operation in May The U.S. Embassy wishes to inform U.S. citizens in the Philippines that the Consular Agency in Cebu will operate under a reduced schedule during the period May 9, 2013 through May 31, 2103. The Agency will resume its normal operating schedule...

You are subject to none Conquerer of all for My Presence "IN" you "IS" Holy and True ! Do you see My children the enemy would attempt to convince you of your unholiness but My Righteousness STANDS ETERNAL and is " subject to none " ! Thererfore wear the garments of Righteousness that I have given you and walk in My ways for I HAVE finished the fight you are in against darkness ! Merely APPLY MY WORD to each situation you are in and I will shut the mouth of the lions for you for THE BATTLE IS MINE...

The Philippines’ powerful Catholic Church is to ask Filipinos to vote candidates who support birth control out of office in the May elections, a Church official said Saturday. The guidelines, to be read at Sunday masses across the country, are seen as an attack on President Benigno Aquino III’s allies who pushed for a controversial birth control law that was passed last year. Archbishop Socrates Villegas, vice president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said in a copy of the pastoral letter sent to Agence France-Presse: “Pro-choice is anti-life.” He added: “We advise you not to vote for...

In the Philippines, developers are putting up luxury condo towers bearing names such as Starck and Trump. Japanese firms, including Canon, are building new plants. Work crews are preparing to improve run-down airports and pour concrete for new highways. Construction is the most visible sign of growth in the Philippines, a group of islands in Southeast Asia that was long shunned by foreign investors concerned about political instability, crime and corruption. Now it looks set to succeed Indonesia as the next hot destination for investment. The headlines have been eye-catching: The Philippines’ 2012 GDP growth was more than 6 percent,...

In 1943, two Hollywood movies were made about the heroic nurses of the Philippines, “Cry ‘Havoc’ ” and “So Proudly We Hail,” but the real-life Angels of Bataan and Corregidor were almost forgotten after they were interned. The letters they wrote to their families in America never arrived and were found after the war in a Manila warehouse. Mrs. Manning later said that the prison camp had no showers, beds or kitchens. A single toilet was used by hundreds of people. Yet somehow she and the nurses persevered. They maintained strict military order among themselves, always wearing their uniforms and...

MANILA - A squadron of supersonic fighter jets from the United States are expected to take part in the annual Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises between the US and Philippine military which will kick off Friday, April 5, amid protests from groups. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), in a statement on Thursday, said the 12 F/-18 Hornets are expected to land at Clark Air Base in Pampanga in the coming days to join the military exercises. These "Hornets" are twin-engine supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable fighter jets designed to attack ground targets. The F/A-18 has been used by the US Navy since...

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — Four officers of a U.S. Navy minesweeper that ran aground on coral reef in the Philippines are being relieved of their duties. The U.S. Pacific Fleet said in a statement Wednesday that initial findings indicate all four sailors failed to adhere to standard navigation procedures at the time of the Jan. 17 grounding of the Guardian. The sailors are the commanding officer, the executive officer and navigator, the assistant navigator and the officer of the deck. They've been reassigned. snip

On Saturday, Barack Obama was accused of nationalizing U.S. elections for Democratic partisan advantage through the president's issuance of a new executive order on the electoral process.

Link "Pakistan told Indian officials to look into all aspects, including an LTTE or Al-Qaeda connection. Pakistan also informed India that some of the terrorists appeared to be South Indians and looked like LTTE cadres. India investigated every angle," the official said. London's Pakistani High Commissioner in an interview told BBC over the weekend that some of the terrorists looked very much like South Indians. From Sir Lanka Ministry of Defence ....... A little known terror outfit "Deccan Mujahideen" has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Anti-terrorist operations are continuing as Indian security forces take on the formidable mission to...

Cardinal Tagle Watch the Rome Reports video profile.Cardinal Luis Antonio “Chito” Gokim Tagle is Primate of the Philippines and titular archpriest of San Felice da Cantalice a Centocelle in Rome. He is the country’s 32nd archbishop and when he was named a cardinal last October he became the second youngest cardinal in the world (he is just two years older than Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal of India). Cardinal Tagle is already a household name in the Philippines and is often seen around Manila, commuting to work on his bike. But only recently have the worldwide media taken an interest. At...

IMUS, Philippines (AP) -- Asia's most prominent Roman Catholic leader knows how to reach the masses: He sings on stage, preaches on TV, brings churchgoers to laughter and tears with his homilies. And he's on Facebook.

Syria’s civil war entangled the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the disputed Golan Heights area between Syria and Israel on Wednesday, when 30 armed fighters for the insurgency detained a group of 20 peacekeepers investigating a damaged observation post, the United Nations said. It was the first time that members of the Golan peacekeeping mission, officially known as the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, had been detained by any of the combatants in the Syrian conflict, although the Golan region has been periodically affected by armed clashes and occasional artillery or mortar bombardments that have become a source of concern...

The UN has confirmed that 20 peacekeepers have been captured near the Golan heights by armed Syrian rebel fighters who call themselves the "Martyrs of Yarmouk" brigade. "The UN observers were on a regular supply mission and were stopped near Observation Post 58, which had sustained damage and was evacuated this past weekend following heavy combat in close proximity, at Al Jamlah," the United Nations said in a statement. The UN has since sent a team in to assist with the resolving the situation. The brigade seized the soldiers who were stationed in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria...

... Although largely forgotten and dismissed as a vestige from a bygone era, Kiram's sultanate, once based in the southern province of Sulu, has sparked the biggest security crisis in Malaysia and the Philippines in decades -- early last month, he sent his younger brother with about 200 followers, dozens of them armed, by boat from southern Philippines to a village in Sabah state in neighboring Malaysia to claim the land the sultanate insists belongs to them. A stunned Malaysia, which runs the frontier resource-rich region of timberlands and palm oil plantations as its second-largest federal state, poured in elite...

Malaysian security forces on Tuesday began attacking a group of armed men from the Philippines who had clashed with police after staking a claim to a remote part of the island of Borneo, authorities said. The group of Filipino men, believed to number between 100 and 300, arrived three weeks ago on the east coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah, on Borneo, demanding to be recognized as representatives of a sultanate that used to rule the area. Malaysian authorities initially tried to persuade the men to return peacefully to their homes in the nearby southern Philippines. But the intruders...

Cardinal Luis Tagle of Manila after becoming a cardinal in November (CNS/Paul Haring) One could make a pretty strong argument that nobody's chances of becoming the next pope benefit more from Benedict XVI's resignation than those of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila in the Philippines.Under ordinary circumstances, Tagle's youth would be seen as an almost insuperable bar to election. At 55, he's three years younger than John Paul II was when he was elected in 1978, so a vote for Tagle would be tantamount to a vote for another long papacy, perhaps as much as 30 years.Tagle actually looks...

As most of you have read or seen by now, a journalist and NBC/MSNBC media consultant named William “Bill” Arkin has created quite a stir by viciously insulting American soldiers in Iraq. He wrote at his Washington Post blog, “Early Warning: William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security” column (1/30/07), that “… this NBC (Nightly News) report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer force that thinks it is doing the dirty work” re Iraq. The “report,” according to Arkin, featured “a number of soldiers (who) expressed frustration with...

Cardinal Luis Tagle of Manila, left, greets his new colleagues after being made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI during a consistory in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican last fall. (CNS/Paul Haring) By Cindy WoodenCatholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At 55, Cardinal Luis Tagle of Manila, Philippines, is one of the youngest and newest members of the College of Cardinals, but he is also one of the cardinals most frequently mentioned as a possible pope. His youthful energy, his pastoral experience, his theological training and his communications skills impressed cardinals and bishops from around the world...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The world's largest saltwater crocodile in captivity has died, sending villagers to tears in the backwater southern Philippine town that had started to draw tourists, revenue and development because of the immense reptile. The crocodile had been blamed for deadly attacks on people before it was captured in 2011 and sent to live at an eco-tourism park that was built to house the giant. The reptile quickly became a star attraction of marshy Bunawan, a far-flung town of 37,000 people in Agusan del Sur province about 515 miles (830 kilometers) southeast of Manila.

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — The Navy minesweeper USS Guardian — stuck on a protected reef off the coast of the Philippines for a week — will most likely stay there up to two more weeks, Navy officials said Thursday. Rear Adm. Tom Carney, Joint Group Unit Guardian commander, said two contracted heavy-lift ships from Singapore are scheduled to arrive next Wednesday or Thursday at the site near Palawan Island to begin removing the stranded ship. The work ultimately depends on conditions at sea and efforts to stabilize the vessel and lighten its load. During a news conference with Philippine...

This is a Navy Times article, and as of such, cannot be posted, merely linked to.

In the wake of increased tension with Japan over disputed islands, China’s soldiers have been directed to be ready for a war in 2013 and also win it. Government Chinese media disclosed this in a report. The report also said the soldiers are being prepared to the best possible level and that they are being trained for the purpose. According to reports, in 2012, no such directive- of getting ready for a war and winning it- was given. The Chinese army has also been told to improve its activities and enhance information and intelligence gathering techniques. In 20th century, Japan...

A US Navy minesweeper has run aground in a protected marine sanctuary in the Philippines, the US embassy in Manila said Thursday. The USS Guardian ran aground on the Tubattaha Reef on Wednesday night "during normal transit", it said. The extent of the damage to the ship and the cause of the accident was still not known, it added. "The government of the Philippines was promptly informed of the incident and offered to assist the US Navy," it said. The US Navy said on its website that the 224-foot (68-metre) vessel is based in Sasebo, southern Japan but it was...

Survivor: Caramoan — Fans vs. Favorites is the 26th season of Survivor. It begins February 13, 2013 on CBS at 8/7c with a special two hour episode. References: Official Survivor site at CBSWikipedia article Each team will consist of ten players. The Favorites tribe consists of returning players. As with last season, this season takes place in Caramoan, Camarines Sur, Philippines. Bikal Tribe (favorites - purple buffs): Andrea, Brandon, Brenda, Cochran, Corinne, Dawn, Erik, Francesca, Malcolm, Phillip Gota Tribe (fans - orange buffs): Allie, Eddie, Hope, Julia, Laura, Matt, Michael, Reynold, Shamar, Sherri Cast biosCast photosVideo: Survivor: Caramoan - Season...

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine economy expanded 7.1 percent in the third quarter, among the fastest growing in Asia despite headwinds from overseas, officials said Wednesday. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said household spending, public construction and higher farm output boosted growth. Exports have also improved but trade makes up a smaller proportion of the economy than in many other Asian nations, cushioning the Philippines from weak growth in Europe, Japan and the U.S. The economy grew 6.5 percent for the first nine months of the year and is likely to exceed the government’s 5-6 percent growth target for 2012,...

As debate intensified over amendments to the RH Bill in the Philippines Tuesday, the principle sponsor of the bill in the Senate, Senator Pia Cayetano, said that the government has a role in ensuring “pleasurable sex” for women, and led an effort to strike down an amendment deleting such language from the bill.Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile introduced an amendment that would remove the word “pleasurable” in the bill from the phrase “pleasurable and safe sexual experiences” which is included in the bill’s definition of sexual health.“Many women are denied a pleasurable sexual experience,” explained Sen. Cayetano. “They give in...

The air that now blankets Palau is warm, dry, still, and disturbingly ominous. Palau’s sky has reason to brood for in less than 24 hours Typhoon Bopha is predicted to make landfall on the tiny nation of the Republic of Palau with a near direct hit. This typhoon has been securing strength and intensity while at sea and is expected to be a monster typhoon with a violent entry. As of 4am on December 2, 2012, this typhoon is predicted to sustain 150-mph winds and 180-mph gusts when it reaches Palau on early morning Monday. If that were not enough,...

erhaps the reporting system has improved. Or perhaps HIV cases are truly on the rise in the Philippines, as public health officials have reported. In the latest UNAIDS Report on Global AIDS Epidemic, the Philippines was one of just nine countries reporting a 25 percent increase in HIV/AIDS cases from 2001 to 2011. The other countries are Bangladesh, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Sri Lanka, according to the report prepared by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. While the actual numbers are much lower in the Philippines, some African countries that have been hit hard by HIV/AIDS...

BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) - Police in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan will board and search ships which illegally enter what China considers its territory in the disputed South China Sea, state media said on Thursday, a move likely to add to tensions. The South China Sea is Asia's biggest potential military trouble spot with several Asian countries claiming sovereignty over waters believed to be rich in oil and gas. The shortest route between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, it has some of the world's busiest shipping lanes. More than half the globe's oil tanker traffic passes through it. New...

Vatican City, (VIS) - In St. Peter's Basilica at 11 a.m. today, Benedict XVI celebrated an ordinary public consistory for the creation of six new cardinals: James Michael Harvey, Bechara Boutros Rai O.M.M., Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, Ruben Salazar Gomez and Luis Antonio G. Tagle. Following the new appointments the College of Cardinals will be composed of 211 members of whom 120, being under the age of eighty, are eligible to vote in a conclave for the election of a new Pope. After the opening prayer and the proclamation of the Gospel, the Holy Father pronounced his...

SNIPPET: "They are: Soheil Omar Kabir, 34, a Pomona man who is an American citizen from Afghanistan; Ralph Deleon, 23, an Ontario man who was born in the Philippines; Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales, 21, an Upland man who was born in Mexico and whose was U.S. citizenship was pending; and Arifeen David Gojali, 21, of Riverside." SNIPPET: "The three men followed the essays of the now-deceased al-Qaida leader Anwar Al-Awlaqi, who led terrorist operations in the Arabian Peninsula." SNIPPET: "Santana and Deleon told the plot to a confidential informant working for the FBI, according to the complaint." SNIPPET: "In order...

The Ebola virus can spread through the air from pigs to macaques, a new study suggests. Transmission of the virus — which causes an often fatal hemorrhagic fever in people and primates — was thought to require direct contact with body fluids from an infected animal or person. But in the new study, published online November 15 in Scientific Reports, piglets infected with Ebola passed the virus to macaques housed in the same room even though the animals never touched. “The evidence that the virus got from a pig to a monkey through a respiratory route is good,” says Glenn...

I desire to explore options for relocation away from the US. Countries to live in. Transferring funds. What are some expat Freepers experiences and tips and tricks? Thank You.

Starting 1 January, 2013 US Military retirees and their families living in the Philippines will be ordered, (mandated), to use only doctors and hospitals that the Tricare Management Activity, (TMA), and their contractor, International SOS, (ISOS), have contracted with to provide medical care to retirees and their families in the Philippines. This is the roll out of the TMA Demonstration Project in the Philippines. The rules state that all retirees must use only the medical providers, (doctors and hospitals), that ISOS was able to beg to agree to be a contracted network provider. If the retiree uses a doctor or...

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines remained as the top Asian country in ensuring that men and women have equal access to rights and privileges, including economic opportunities, a report released Wednesday by the World Economic Forum showed. The country remained at the 8th spot of the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index 2012, which ranks countries based on their ability to close the gender gap in healthcare, education, political participation and economic equality. "The Philippines remains the highest-ranking country from Asia in the Index. It ranks 1st on both education and health and is also among the top 20...

VIDEO. Philippines, Muslim rebels hope for lasting peace with new deal.

SAN FRANCISCO – About 30 Filipino-American seniors from all over the Bay Area gathered Thursday morning at a community center in a largely Filipino enclave in the heart of San Francisco’s South of Market district. Along with their regular breakfast and a mental health workshop, Rudy Asercion, who directs the West Bay Filipino Multi-Services Inc., also served up a good dose of politics, rallying them to register and vote. He also invited them to the center that evening to watch the vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan in their first and only televised debate. A recent national survey...

An undercover FBI agent on a case of weapons smuggling from the Philippines to the United States denied a defense attorney's allegation that he paid for sex for himself and the suspects using taxpayer dollars. The agent, a 16-year veteran who was not identified by name in court documents because he is working undercover in a separate investigation, in a sworn declaration strongly denied allegations of what a public defender contended was "outrageous government misconduct" and should be grounds for the case to be thrown out. Federal prosecutors have acknowledged that the government paid for $14,500 in expenses incurred by...

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said Sunday that his government has reached a preliminary peace agreement with the nation's largest Muslim rebel group in a major breakthrough toward ending a decades-long insurgency in the country's south. snip... The accord calls for the establishment of a 15-member "Transition Commission" that would thresh out the details of the preliminary agreement and draft a law creating the new Muslim autonomous region in about two years. The rebels would undertake a "graduated program" to decommission their armed guerrilla units "so that they are put beyond use," the agreement said, without specifying a timetable.

Another US submarine to dock at Subic By Florante S. Solmerin | Posted on October 04, 2012 | 12:01am The United States has sent its fourth submarine to the Philippines this year, and it’s expected to dock at Subic Bay in Zambales on Thursday, according to a statement released on Wednesday by the US Embassy in Manila. The submarines have been visiting the country amid the territorial disputes of the countries claiming all or part of the Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea, with China increasingly imposing its will on the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei over the...

EMERGENCY MESSAGE TO U.S. CITIZENS September 28, 2012 THE EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES IS TRANSMITTING THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION AS A PUBLIC SERVICE TO U.S. CITIZENS IN THE PHILIPPINES. PLEASE DISSEMINATE THIS MESSAGE TO ALL U.S. CITIZENS IN YOUR ORGANIZATION OR NEIGHBORHOOD. THANK YOU. Threat Against American Citizens in Manila The U.S. Embassy advises American citizens in the Philippines that a threat against American citizens in metropolitan Manila, specifically the Pasay City neighborhood, has been detected by reliable security forces. This threat remains in effect until October 10, 2012. In response to the threat, the U.S. Ambassador has ordered an...

The shoes were the stuff of legend: pairs upon colorful pairs of pumps, flats and other footwear that evinced the lavish lifestyle of Imelda Marcos, the woman wed to deposed Philippines strongman Ferdinand Marcos. Thousands of showy shoes were found at the Manila presidential palace and another Marcos home decades ago, left behind in 1986 when the couple fled the country in the throes of a popular revolt. The new government held up the high heels as the epitome of the ejected Marcoses’ extravagance as their nation was mired in barefoot poverty, an anti-Cinderella story warning of the dangers of...

An internationally prominent Catholic priest has dropped out of sight in the Philippines, years after admitting to me that he had sex with altar boys in the U.S. and supplied them with drugs. Monsignor Cristobal Garcia’s sudden low profile coincides with a new National Geographic article on the ivory trade. It calls Garcia “one of the best known ivory collectors in the Philippines” and quotes him as giving advice on how to smuggle ivory into the U.S., in defiance of a 1989 global trade ban. The magazine refers to my 2005 investigative piece on the priest, who had fled the...