KAKAMMPI News

Michael Holden and Andy Bruce, Reuters Posted at  May 24 2017 09:43 PM MANCHESTER - The suicide bomber who killed 22 people including children in Manchester likely did not act alone, Britain's interior minister said on Wednesday as soldiers were being deployed to key sites to help prevent further attacks. The official threat level was raised late on Tuesday to its highest level, "critical", meaning an attack is expected imminently. Police have named British-born Salman Abedi, 22, as the perpetrator of the bombing at the Manchester Arena indoor venue at the end of a concert by US pop singer Ariana Grande on Monday, attended by thousands of children and teenagers. "It seems likely, possible, that he wasn't doing this on his own," interior minister Amber Rudd told BBC radio. Rudd also said Abedi had been known to security services before the bombing. She said up to 3,800 soldiers would be deployed on Britain's streets, freeing up pol...

ABS-CBN News Posted at  May 16 2017 06:39 PM  | Updated as of  May 16 2017 07:55 PM MANILA - The implementation of the visa-free entry to Taiwan for Filipinos has been rescheduled to September 2017, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) announced Tuesday. In a statement, the Taiwanese post in Manila said the exact date of the implementation of the visa-free entry "will be further announced in September or at other appropriate date this year." In April, TECO in Manila said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) granted visa exemption for Philippine travelers, effective June. But in the advisory Tuesday, TECO said the implementation of visa-free entry to the Taiwan for Filipinos was postponed "in order to complete relevant administrative procedures and inter-agency coordination." Taiwan, an emerging destination for Filipino travelers since the flight takes less than two hours, relaxed visa requirements f...

ABS-CBN News Posted at  May 05 2017 08:39 PM  | Updated as of  May 05 2017 09:35 PM MANILA- Taiwan's offer of visa-free entry for Filipino travelers may not push through on June 1 due to some “technical problems” faced by the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). Lito Banayo, chairman of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office told ANC on Friday that the visa-free grant may be postponed for about a month or two. “I was just told by the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs the other day so it may be postponed for a month or two, simply [because of] technical problems that they are having, you know in the issuance of visas and lifting of these visas,” he said.

JR Wu, Reuters Posted at  May 25 2017 07:56 AM Supporters wave their mobile phone torches in the colors of the rainbow during a rally after Taiwan's constitutional court ruled that same-sex couples have the right to legally marry, Wednesday.  Tyrone Siu, Reuters TAIPEI - Taiwan's constitutional court declared on Wednesday that same-sex couples have the right to legally marry, the first such ruling in Asia, sparking celebration by activists who have been campaigning for the right for years. The court, known as the Judicial Yuan, said current marriage laws were "in violation of both the people’s freedom of marriage ... and the people’s right to equality", and it gave two years for legal amendments to allow same-sex marriage. "If relevant laws are not amended or enacted within the said two years, two persons of the same sex who intend to create the said permanent union shall be allowed to have their marriage registration effectuated," the ...

Agence France-Presse Posted at  May 25 2017 03:24 AM Police guard an area in Jakarta where an explosion reportedly occurred. Two blasts rocked a bus terminal in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Wednesday and caused casualties, police said.  Darren Whiteside, Reuters Two blasts rocked a bus terminal in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Wednesday and caused casualties, police said. "There were two blasts at around 9:00 pm (local time), close to each other, there are three victims," East Jakarta police chief Andry Wibowo told TV station MetroTV, without saying whether the victims had been killed or injured. "From the damage I can see the explosions were pretty big." It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts at the Kampung Melayu terminal, which is served by minibuses and buses. An eyewitness, Sultan Muhammad Firdaus, told TV station Kompas TV he heard two explosions about 10 minutes apart. "The explosions were quite loud, I cou...

Some 200 undocumented Filipinos were on their way home Tuesday after availing of the amnesty offered by the Saudi Arabian government. The group left Jeddah Tuesday morning on board an Emirates Airlines flight and is expected to arrive in Manila on the wee hours of Wednesday. "Para pong nasa... hindi ko po masabi ang pakiramdam ko po dahil sa sobrang tuwa," Iluminada Ermino, who has been illegally staying in the Kingdom for 16 years, said. "Halos hindi na po ako makatulog nang mabigyan ako ng exit [visa]. Maraming maraming salamat po dahil ngayon ay makakauwi na rin sa haba ng panahon ng paghihirap ko makikita ko na rin pamilya ko," said the 64-year-old Filipina. According to Consul General Imelda Panolong, some 5,500 undocumented Filipinos have already registered for the amnesty since it started on March 29. The amnesty period will last up to the last day of June, and Panolong said the number of Filipinos who will avail of it could balloon to 7,000....

The camp of Filipino death row inmate Mary Jane Veloso on Thursday expressed disappointment at the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) to prevent her from spilling the beans on her recruiters who allegedly tricked her into transporting illegal drugs in Indonesia. "The bottom line is: how in heaven's name can we get to hear the side of a fellow compatriot who is behind bars and waiting in death row in a foreign land and who cannot come home for said purpose?" said National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL) president Edre Olalia in a text message. Veloso's testimony was supposed to be gathered on April 27 in Yogyakarta prison but the CA 11th Division came out last March with a temporary restraining order (TRO) whose  validity was extended  through a preliminary injunction issued on May 22. The CA action stemmed from the petition filed by the Public Attorney's Office (PAO), counsel for Veloso's recruiter Maria Cristina Sergio and her live-in partner...