Pacquiao Gets Hero’s Welcome In Manila Amid Talks Of Marital Problems

AHN Staff Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Seven-division boxing title holder Manny Pacquiao got a hero’s welcome upon returning home to Manila on Friday. Amid the celebrations, which disrupted life in the national capital region, talks of marital problem continue to hound Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee. Aside from the huge crowds which greeted the boxing champ from General Santos City in Mindanao, Pacquiao was conferred the Order of Sikatuna by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The Order is usually conferred on heads of states and diplomats. Straight from the airport, among his first stop was at the Department of Environment, which is headed by Secretary Lito Atienza, who had helped Pacquiao’s boxing career and whom the boxer considers his second father. The boxer also dropped by his studio, GMA 7, where he stars in a sports magazine show and a sitcom. His motorcade route included Quezon City, Manila, Pasay and Makati. The roads where his motorcade passed were full of fans and bystanders. Pacquiao and his wife brushed aside reports of marital rift, fueled by video footage of Jinkee crying at a thanksgiving mass and media accounts that Pacquiao is having an affair with a movie starlet, Krista Ranillo. Pacquiao and Ranillo star in a movie which will be shown in Manila in December. Talks of an affair between the two were bolstered by a YouTube video of the two in Pacquiao’s car in the U.S. days before Jinkee arrived to watch the boxing match. Pacquiao said he wants to take a vacation first while his hand and ear are healing before he prepares to run for a congressional seat and for his next boxing bout, possibly with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

India’s Textile Industry Set For Bigger Growth And More Foreign Investment

Nilanjana Bhowmick – AHN India Correspondent New Delhi, India (AHN) – The Indian textiles and apparels industry is expected to attract much foreign investment in the future, India’s textile minister Dayanidhi Maran said. He made the comment at the beginning of the 25th International Apparel Foundation (IAF) World Apparel Convention. The textiles minister said that Indian textiles and apparel exports, which are currently valued at $22 billion, are expected to increase four fold. The minister emphasized the facts that around 60% of Indian exports are textiles, over 70% of clothing is headed to the United States and European Union markets and there is an urgent need to explore new markets, The minister explained that there was an urgent need to attract and sustain foreign direct investment in the textiles sector in order to create more employment, upgrade technology and create brand India to attain a 4% share of global trade in textiles and clothing. It is expected that the Indian retail Industry will be an attractive destination for foreign Investment in coming years. Jyotiraditya Scindia, minister of state for commerce and industry said that with skilled manpower, a diverse raw materials base and growing economy, the Indian market is an attractive destination for foreign capital. He added that his ministry is taking steps to diversify Indian exports to new and emerging markets. He also urged foreign investors to take a good look at Indian handlooms which are not only environmentally sustainable but also offer a range of fabrics and designs. The IAF Convention is being held “to explore experiences, opinions, strategies and the possibilities of forging inter-dependent relationships throughout the entire fashion industry value chain. The textile and apparel industry also forms the backbone of India’s recent economic boom,” according to a statement on the IAF Website. The Indian textiles and apparel industry is currently valued at $40 billion. It is growing at around 14 percent. Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

Briton Suspect In Shooting Dead Of Son Of Philippine President Arroyo’s Staff

Windsor Genova – AHN News Writer Manila, Philippines (AHN) – A British staff of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila was identified by police as the owner of a diplomatic car driven by a suspect who shot dead the son of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s staff Wednesday night. The Briton is Stephen Pollard, 50, an economist working at the ADB, according to Quezon City police. The ADB immediately issued a statement denying that its staff was involved in the killing of Renato Victor Ebarle Jr. over a traffic altercation. Ebarle is the son of Undersecretary Renato Ebarle, who works for the Office of the Presidential chief of staff. Witnesses told police the shooter of Ebarle was riding a blue wagon bearing the diplomatic plate number 20903. The suspect is between 25 to 30 years old and sports a tattoo on his right arm. Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

Study: 46 Percent Of Filipino Students Spend $6.37 Monthly On Internet

AHN Staff Manila, Philippines (AHN) – A study made by the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication from February to April this year showed that 46 percent of Filipino schoolchildren spend about P300 ($6.37) monthly for Internet. About 80 percent of the students rely on Internet cafes spread in major cities across the Philippines to go online. Among their favorite online activities are visiting social networking sites, playing computer games and for chatting. Among the social networking sites, Friendster is the favorite of Filipino students, according to the study. To help the Filipino student cut cost on Internet usage which normally come from their daily allowance, the ISJC suggested that the government provide PCs to all public schools. The UNICEF funded the study to help the agency create a child-friendly virtual community, according to AIJC President Ramon Tuazon. Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

American Week Begins In Rajshahi, Bangladesh In Early December

Siddique Islam – AHN Correspondent Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) – Continuing a tradition of outreach across Bangladesh, the U.S. Embassy is sponsoring “America Week” in Rajshahi of Bangladesh in early December. “America Week highlights the important ties between the people of the United States and Bangladesh by taking U.S. Embassy activities to the people outside the capital,” a U.S. embassy press statement in the capital, Dhaka on Thursday. This will be the second time that Rajshahi hosts America Week. Chittagong, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet have hosted past America Weeks. This edition of America Week features presentations, outreach and site visits showcasing U.S. government-funded programs in Rajshahi, according to the statement. Visitors will have opportunities to learn more about studying at a U.S. university, applying for a U.S. visa, or participating in a U.S. government development project. The embassy is also sponsoring screenings of critically-acclaimed American films. Following a tradition of past America Weeks, people can visit more than 40 booths run by the U.S. Embassy, USAID and its development partners, and some U.S. businesses. The booths and many presentations will be at the Parjatan Hotel. More information on this year’s America Week schedule will be announced soon, the statement added. Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

Filipino Residents Cook At Dump Oozing With Methane

Windsor Genova – AHN News Writer Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Residents of Marikina City have turned a dump into a kitchen as methane seeping from the ground there is used to cook food and boil drinking water. About 100 hundred families in Nangka district are cooking at the site to take advantage of the free combustible gas discovered leaking at the site three weeks ago. The city government, however, will fence off the area and ban people from cooking there while inspectors determine if the gas is safe to use. An engineering team from the Philippine National Oil Company will conduct the inspection. Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

Manila’s 2010 Election Hopefuls File Official Candidacy Friday

Kris Alingod – AHN Contributor Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Campaigning for the 2010 general elections officially ends in the Philippines on Friday, when thousands of contenders make their bids official by filing certificates of candidacy. Much anticipated is the filing by presidential hopefuls, including former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada, who was ousted and convicted of plunder, and prominent writer Danton Remoto, whose gay rights advocacy group was prohibited from joining the elections for “moral” grounds. Filing of COCs with the Commission on Elections and local government offices will last until Nov.30. Campaigning is banned starting Friday, and only begins on February 9 for national races, and on March 26 for local contests. The campaign period ends two days before May 10, election day. The administration party, the Lakas-Kampi-CMD coalition, used its last day of the year to campaign by officially announcing its ticket: former Defense Sec. Gilberto Teodoro and actor Edu Manzano. The event was headlined by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who called on the party faithful to “to consolidate our rank[s] and fortify our party for the electoral battle ahead.” The Liberal Party, the ruling coalition’s main rival, proclaimed its ticket early this week just as a poll showed its standard-bearer leading by a wide margin. Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, the only son of the late former President Corazon Aquino, is ahead in the Pulse Asia survey, bolstered by his running mate, Senator Mar Roxas, husband of a popular broadcast journalist and the grandson of Manuel Roxas, the nation’s first president. Roxas spent Thursday campaigning in Davao, the largest city in Mindanao and one of several tourism hubs in the nation. Aquino, for his part, faced his first major volley of the race with allegations that he had used his family’s influence to have an exit along a major highway, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), constructed near Hacienda Luisita, an estate owned by his family. Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, meanwhile, said he would announce his candidacy before the filing period ends. “I have made a decision, but I will make the announcement at the appropriate time, but definitely before Dec. 1,” he told reporters in Tagalog. “I will discuss more about it at the right time, but the desire to run is there, it cannot be denied.” Escudero, a former congressman popular among young voters, unexpectedly left the Nationalist People’s Coalition last month. The 40-year-old is a lawyer who was key in the impeachment efforts against Arroyo in 2005. The filing of certificates is expected to bring legal nuances to the fore, such as whether Estrada is not barred by term limits to run again. Remoto is also said to be planning to run despite the Commission on Election’s decision this week not to accredit his LGBT group as a sectoral party. The ruling, which cites the Bible and the Koran and says Ang Ladlad “advocate[s] immoral doctrines,” has been widely panned by officials, activists and pundits. Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

Saudi Clerics Told to Keep Sermons Short

The Media Line Staff Saudi authorities have told the kingdom’s imams to shorten their Friday mosque-sermons to prevent unnecessary congestion in places of worship. The instructions are the latest in a series of measures taken by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs to safeguard the health of worshippers against the H1N1 virus ahead of the Hajj. The Hajj, which begins next week, is an annual Muslim pilgrimage which attracts around two million pilgrims to Saudi Arabia every year. The festival plays a major role in consolidating the kingdom as a regional religious center. The new guidelines address “the urgent need for imams in mosques to raise awareness among worshipers in ways to protect themselves against diseases and encourage them to follow directives issued by the Ministry of Health in such matters.” Saudis are taking extra precautions to minimize the risk of swine flu infection following fears that the epidemic may severely damage the country’s image and tourism revenues. Shariff, a tour operator with the UK-based Shariff Enterprises Ltd, is departing for Saudi Arabia on Friday with a group of pilgrims. “All of them have taken the ordinary flu jab and meningitis as well,” he said, describing an ordinary precaution taken every year. “During the month of Ramadan there were a lot of people [in Saudi Arabia], around a million people, and only about 20 were affected,” Shariff said, referring to swine flu. “So I think the Saudi authorities thought that a flu jab is the only one to take.” Shariff said that other members of the group had consulted their doctors and contacted the Saudi Ministry of Hajj ahead of time. “They just want to perform the Hajj, which is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.” Muslims have been flocking to Saudi Arabia in the thousands since the beginning of the week in preparation for the Hajj. Visitors to Mecca are being greeted by billboards and public notices in the entrances to hotels with instructions on swine flu prevention. Saudi Arabia has also launched anti-swine flu campaigns on local radio and television stations. The Saudi Health Ministry is recommending several precautions to be taken to prevent the spread of swine flu: the age of the pilgrim should be no younger than 12 and no older than 65; that pilgrims suffering from chronic diseases such as heart disease, liver, kidney and complications of diabetes, obesity or other diseases affecting health or immunity should refrain from performing the Hajj; and that people heading towards Mecca and Medina should take a seasonal flu vaccine two weeks before arrival. Saudi Arabia is requiring nationals that intend to perform the Hajj to be vaccinated for swine flu by November 22. The Saudi Health Ministry insists that no swine flu deaths have been documented among pilgrims and visitors to Mecca and claims that the authorities are taking all possible precautions against the disease. Around 70 people have died of swine flu in Saudi Arabia but none of them were pilgrims. “The accumulated experience that the kingdom has confirms that we have the full capability of monitoring and confronting the illness,” said Khalid Al-Marghalani, a spokesman for the ministry told the official Kuwaiti news agency. Saudi authorities say that despite the preventative measures being taken, the number of Muslims who have applied for permission to carry out the pilgrimage has dropped considerably compared with last year. Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

Israeli, Palestinian Olive Crops Beset By Theft And Violence

The Media Line Staff Israeli Itzhak Moreno holds a sack of freshly picked, plump olives, purple and ripe for the press. For the past year, he has been toiling in an orchard off the main road to Jerusalem, waiting for the right moment to harvest his olives and produce extra virgin olive oil. But the sack he holds does not contain fruit he collected. He confiscated it from thieves from a nearby Arab village who stole his fruit in middle of the night. “We need to guard our olives during the day, evening and night,” Moreno says. “There are a lot of Arabs around here and they come and steal olives from us. This is our reality.” Across the mountains, deep in the West Bank, Palestinian farmer Fadel Ahmed Narwajeh looks dejectedly into his half-filled bucket of olives. Above him stand armed Israeli soldiers. But Narwajeh is actually pleased to see troops, as they are there under a Supreme Court order to protect him and his grove from Jewish settlers who have laid claims on the land and have damaged his olive trees. The olive trees are more than just a source of fruit. They symbolize a claim to the land, and as such have caused huge problems between the Palestinians and Jewish settlers. “This year we only have 150 kilos because the Jews took all of the olives from here,” Narwajeh says. “This is our land. We have deeds. Only today the soldiers are guarding and only because the court said it was the Arabs’ land. But the Jews don’t recognize the court. They want our land.” In Israel and the Palestinian territories, the olive is more than just the fruit one finds in a martini; it’s a delicious part of the Mediterranean diet and its oil has been valued since ancient times. But this year mother nature has provided a poor harvest, driving up both the price of the olives and the level of friction between those fighting over what few olives there are. In Israel, the consumption of olive oil has risen sharply in the past decade. Local farmers produce some 7,000 tons of olive oil but the Israeli market consumes over twice that much (16,000 tons). Due to the cyclical nature of the trees and last year’s drought, the estimated olive oil yield will only be some 2,000 tons. “Olive oil is not a luxury anymore; it is a way of life and a necessity in the kitchen,” says Eli Basher, a delicatessen owner in Jerusalem’s Mahaneh Yehuda market. “The expectation is that there will be a great shortage of olives and that the price will go up by more than 50%.” Last year’s price was about $12 a liter. The coming season’s premium oil is already fetching upwards of $20 a liter. Imports from Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey are expected to meet the demand. For the Palestinians, the olives are the mainstay of their economy but this year’s small harvest could mean that they too will have to import oil from Jordan to meet their needs. The olive harvest is traditionally a festive occasion, but in the West Bank it has become a bitter season as Jewish settlers and Palestinian olive pickers are involved in frequent clashes. Palestinian farmer Fadel Ahmed Narwajeh from the village of Sussia has been able to harvest his olives thanks not only to the Israeli army, but also to international peace activists. It was largely due to legal action by human rights groups that led to the court ordered protection of the Palestinians. Learning from previous years and acting on the orders of the Supreme Court, the Israeli army coordinated with the Palestinian farmers and village representatives a schedule for the harvest. There are over 10 million olive trees spread out across the West Bank but even here the scale of the forces allocated to guard the Palestinians was severely cut following the drastic reduction in harvest. With his whole family, toddlers included, clambering in the low branches of the olive trees to pluck the fruit, Narwajeh walks through his grove and points out stumps and stunted trees, which he claims Jewish settlers destroyed. Organizations, like Rabbis for Human Rights, have joined the Palestinians to serve help them with their harvest and shield them from the confrontations. “I feel good about that because that is an achievement of our organization,” says Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann, Field Director for Rabbis for Human Rights. “The real test of a Jewish democracy is the ability to enforce human rightsÂ…. That Jews can behave decently in their own democracy is the most basic correction of past history. And the behavior of people who abuse that or use that to attack people who are weak I find more than offensive. I find that spiritually disturbing.” In the middle of the harvest, Narwajeh invites the families and volunteers to gather as they eat sharp goat’s cheeses and dip freshly baked bread into olive oil. “These are good people for helping the Arabs a lot here. If there is a problem with the Jews they help us,” Narwajeh says. Realizing that some of the volunteers were also Jewish he quickly added: “Not all of the Jews are the same. The Arabs too. We all aren’t the same either.” Rabbi Grenimann says that the clash over the olive is a microcosm of the Arab-Israeli conflict, where normal agricultural disturbances take on biblical dimensions. “It is about land. It is about religious faith. The settlers here are fundamentalists. They say God gave us the land. The way they understand the bible, which we disagree with of course, is that non-Jews in this area can be suffered but are in some sense second class citizens. These people don’t believe in democracy.” In nearby Jewish Sussia, residents refused to be interviewed on record. Danny Kapach, the head of security for the Jewish communities in the region, said that the Palestinians were encroaching on Jewish land with the help of international volunteers. His comments were echoed by other residents who also expressed anger at the volunteers. Human Rights groups like Bet’selem have documented abuse by some settlers, including burning down or cutting down trees and assaulting Arab olive pickers and volunteers. The violence and theft, however, is not limited to the West Bank. In the Elah Valley region between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the fields are filled with olive groves and vineyards. Itzik Moreno is glad to harvest his crop but he too, often finds his year of hard work lost to thieves. “We’re just trying to make a living,” says Moreno as he operates a powered, hand-held rake that pulls the olives off the branches into waiting nets laid out on the ground. “Thank god we have olives and we will make extra virgin olive oil with them.” In both Israel and the Palestinian territories it’s increasingly difficult to find traditional stone wheeled olive presses. Today, most mills are imported from Italy and produce high quality oil with grinders and centrifuges. Moreno is part of a growing trend in Israel to develop a boutique olive oil business. This is his first season that he will be operating his mill. “The olive is very related to the Earth, to this country and nowadays a lot of people are trying to find their roots and get this feeling of belonging to the country. The olive oil symbolizes this connection of the Jewish people to this place. And it’s tasty and it’s healthy. People use it. They love it and they love to talk about it. There is a lot of buzz about the olive now. Basically it was always the situation here, we just forgot about it for the past few decades,” Moreno says. When the olives finally do reach the mill, it’s a joyous occasion for both Arab and Jewish farmers. Because of the shortage, this year’s precious oil will be fetching double the price from last year. But with olive oil the main staple of most dishes, it’s a price people are willing to pay. Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

Truck Inspections Causing Havoc, Delays Along Saudi-UAE Border

The Media Line Staff Between 4000 – 5000 trucks are stuck in 15 mile queues without access to shelter or provisions at a Saudi – U.A.E. border crossing due to new Saudi customs checks. Drivers and suppliers are worried fruit and vegetables cargo will be left to spoil if the lines are not cleared and the delay in the delivery of construction materials and industrial goods is causing frustrations in both countries. “They are inspecting all the cargo going into Saudi, every box is being opened and it takes a lot of time,” Godwin Varghese, Director of UAE based AGN Freight, told The Media Line. “Almost everyone in global handling and road freight has been stuck there, it affects everyone negatively,” he said, adding that “since the products will be sent by air freight the product price will go up.” The annual trade between the two counties is estimated at $12 billion. An influx of pilgrims traveling to Saudi to participate in this year’s Hajj is adding pressure on officials at the the Al-Ghuwaifat Emirati border crossing, leaving them unable to keep up with the backlog. Local newspapers have blamed the build-up on a decision by Saudi to reduce the number of trucks allowed in from 500 to 200 following the seizure of contraband goods. The slow moving line, which requires drivers to be alert in sporadic bursts, is causing frustration and leading to sleep deprivation among drivers. A similar border build-up in June was eventually cleared following a series of meetings between customs officials from both countries. It appears no such meeting has been scheduled to address the current backlog. Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

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