KAKAMMPI News

Fr. Shay Cullen 8 April 2022 Christians everywhere will be celebrating Palm Sunday, a day when the Gospel account tells of Jesus of Nazareth being escorted by his supporters into the city of Jerusalem. They waved branches of palm trees and called him Messiah, a role he never claimed himself. He was a charismatic leader who spoke his mind from the heart. He challenged the corrupt power structure that ruled Palestine, one that exploited and oppressed the poor in his day. Today we have political power structures that are waging wars and exploiting the poor and the earth. The super-rich and their multinational corporations have so much wealth and power that they control governments and manipulate the political systems and support corrupt politicians to protect and increase their wealth. They control the economy by manipulating the buying and selling of shares, goods and commodities. That is what Jesus of Nazareth saw in microcosm when he came to visit Jerusalem. The Holy Temple had...

Mayen Jaymalin - The Philippine Star April 13, 2022 | 12:00am MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Migrant Workers transition committee is asking President Duterte to nullify what it described as an “irregular” set of implementing rules and regulations (IRR) issued by DMW Secretary Abdulla Mama-o. In a two-page letter dated April 4, the committee asked Duterte to disapprove the IRR signed by Mama-o for being “violative” of the provisions of Republic Act 11641 creating the DMW. “The valid constitution of the DMW will be prevented without effective implementing rules and regulations,” the committee said. The letter was signed by the transition committee members, who represent agencies involved in the overseas employment sector, led by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration chief Bernard Olalia. RA 11641 mandates the committee to formulate the department’s IRR within 60 days from the effectivity of the law in February...

Agence France-Presse Taiwan's military published a handbook on Tuesday advising civilians on how to prepare for a potential Chinese invasion, including where to find bomb shelters and how to stockpile emergency supplies. China's Communist Party has never controlled self-ruled Taiwan but it nonetheless views the island as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary. Those threats have turned more bellicose under Xi Jinping, China's most authoritarian leader in a generation. Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine has also heightened fears that China might one day follow through on threats to annex its smaller neighbour. The 28-page guide contains information which "the general public can use as an emergency response guideline in a military crisis or natural disaster," defence ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang said during an introduction at an online press conference. It is the first time Taiwan's military has published suc...

Lawrence Chung, South China Morning Post Taiwan's military sent warplanes into the island's capital early on Tuesday in a drill simulating an air attack by the People's Liberation Army, while a survival handbook was released telling citizens what to do in the event of a bombardment. It comes as Russia's invasion of Ukraine has prompted the self-ruled island to look at how well prepared it is for a potential attack from mainland China. Beijing - which claims Taiwan as part of its territory - has not ruled out the use of force to take the island under its control and has heaped pressure on President Tsai Ing-wen in a bid to push her to agree to unification talks. People in Taipei were startled by Tuesday's exercise, as warplanes roared overhead from 5am to 7am without warning - with some even fearing a PLA attack was under way since military aircraft are usually only ever seen in the city during parades and special events. Do you have questions about the biggest t...

Liu Zhen, South China Morning Post Hundreds of Chinese arms makers showcase their equipment at PLA event highlighted on state television Demonstrations included a drone evacuating a ‘wounded soldier’ on a stretcher and an unmanned fire engine in action China's military has brought together hundreds of arms makers to showcase their products as the PLA looks for new drones and intelligent vehicles to boost logistics, according to state television. The event – organized by the People’s Liberation Army’s Joint Logistics Support Force and held at an unspecified location – was highlighted on state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday, though it did not say when it took place. The Joint Logistics Support Force, which is seeking to develop an unmanned intelligent logistics system, was said to have inspected and assessed the performance of a range of new equipment on display at the event. Footage aired in the report showed some of the drone demonstrations. They included an unmanned aerial ve...

Vivian Lin, Agence France-Presse SHANGHAI - By day it's Romeo's workplace, by night it's his home. Like many other finance sector workers in Shanghai, he has moved into the office to keep the wheels of commerce turning during a harsh Covid lockdown of the megacity. Anticipating that creeping closures would catch him out, Romeo decamped to the Pudong district in Shanghai's east in late March shortly before the city shut down. The business hub has since become the epicenter of China's biggest Covid-19 outbreak since the virus emerged more than two years ago, recording around 25,000 infections a day. Most of Shanghai's 25 million residents are under strict stay-at-home orders, raging at food shortages and fearful of testing positive for Covid as it would land them in a giant quarantine centre. Some, like Romeo, are living strangely dislocated lives as businesses struggle to keep operating in one of the world's major financial hubs. "There are people ...

Agence France-Presse French police officers arrived in Ukraine on Monday to help the country investigate alleged Russian war crimes after hundreds of civilian bodies were discovered in towns around Kyiv, the French ambassador to Ukraine said. "Proud to welcome to Lviv the detachment of technical and scientific gendarmes who came to assist their comrades in investigations of war crimes committed near Kyiv," Etienne de Poncins said on Twitter. "France is the first to provide such help. They will start work tomorrow." He posted a photo of around 20 uniformed investigators standing by a mobile laboratory van in the western city of Lviv. Ukraine has vowed to find and identify those behind civilian killings in the Kyiv region and has called for international help in doing so. The country's prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova said Sunday that Kyiv discovered 1,222 bodies near the capital in areas from where the Russian army recently retreated. She also s...