MAYNILA - Maging ang alkalde ng Borongan City ay nabigyan ng maagang pamasko ng kabayang nanalo ng halos kalahating bilyon sa 6/58 Ultra Lotto jackpot. "Natuwa ako nung isang araw, I was in my office, mayroon akong isang empleyado, 'Mayor, nandito yung P5,000 mo,'" ayon kay Borongan City Mayor Fe Abunda sa panayam sa DZMM Biyernes ng umga. Ipinambili na lamang nila ang balato ng pang meryenda, sabi ng alkalde. Bukod kay mayor, lahat ng casual at regular employee ng city hall ay nabiyayaan ng balato ng jackpot winner. "Namigay po siya ng bawat casual at permanent ng tag-P5,000," sabi ni Abunda. Personal na kilala ng mayora ang Ultra Lotto winner. "The mother of this person naging yaya sa anak ko. Yung ako'y naging mayor, nabigyan ko po siya ng pagkakataong maging permanent employee," sabi niya. Natutuwa siya at sinuwerte ang nasabing tao at may malasakit itong magbahagi ng kaniyang panalo sa mga kababayan. "Tapos yesterday, nagsimula ang pagbibigay sa kaniyang ka-street. Bawat household … [Read more...] about Alkalde ng Borongan City, nabalatuhan rin ng Ultra Lotto winner
Australia’s bank chiefs to face the music as misconduct inquiry…
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The CEOs of Australia’s top banks and wealth manager will testify at a public inquiry into financial-sector misconduct in two weeks of hearings starting on Monday, in the final stages of a year-long process that looks set to transform the industry. FILE PHOTO: A Commonwealth Bank of Australia logo adorns the wall of a branch in Sydney, Australia, May 8, 2017. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo All eyes will be on the new heads of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX) and AMP Ltd (AMP.AX), Matt Comyn and Mike Wilkins respectively, who were appointed earlier this year after the inquiry exposed widespread wrongdoing. The two executives at the helms of those firms when rampant fee-gouging and other abuses were taking place, former CBA boss Ian Narev and AMP’s Craig Meller, have moved on without being publicly grilled by barristers assisting the inquiry. Allan Fels, a former chairman of consumer watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer … [Read more...] about Australia’s bank chiefs to face the music as misconduct inquiry…
US, China rivalry to dominate APEC summit
Donald Trump is skipping the two-day APEC meeting, sending Vice President Mike Pence in his place, who is leaving after one day and staying in Australia rather than the dusty and notoriously crime-ridden Papua New Guinea capital. The contrast with China could hardly be more stark. President Xi Jinping arrived two days before the summit for a state visit, and will open a road and school, both funded by Beijing. Papua New Guinea has rolled out the red carpet for its visitor with Chinese flags fluttering down the length of the new road and images of the Chinese leader beaming down from massive billboards around Port Moresby. In an opinion piece published ahead of the visit, Xi vowed to "lend fresh impetus to our common development" and "expand practical co-operation with Pacific Island countries in trade and investment." Ben Rhodes, former president Barack Obama's top foreign policy advisor, said Trump's absence had "opened up an enormous opportunity for China to expand its influence." … [Read more...] about US, China rivalry to dominate APEC summit
Vietnam still wary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative
"Trust is a very important issue as the public still does not fully understand the cooperation between Vietnam and China in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)," Nguyen Xuan Cuong, head of the China Research Institute at the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, said. He was speaking at the second "Belt and Road Initiative and Vietnam-China Cooperation" conference in Hanoi Wednesday organized by the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and the Chinese embassy and attended by over 50 government officials, business executives and others from the two countries. The BRI is a development strategy proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 as the union of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Road. A man walks past the podium at the Belt and Road summit in Hong Kong, May 18, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Bobby Yip According to the Chinese government, it is aimed at enhancing regional connectivity by developing infrastructure projects that create land and sea networks … [Read more...] about Vietnam still wary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative
‘Private War’ steers clear of journalism grandstanding
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune Published 9:35 PM EST Nov 15, 2018 There’s no movie blather like journalism movie blather. Even if you’re not a journalist, you can usually tell when a fact-based biopic about investigative reporters or a war correspondent settles for shortcuts, speech-y overstatement and, yes, fake news. The new film “A Private War” ranks higher than most in the truth department and in cinematic storytelling. Whatever your personal interest or disinterest in Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin’s line of work, the way she did it — and the bloody global conflicts she ran toward, full gallop — makes for a tense, engrossing account. She was killed in Syria in 2012 while covering the Assad regime’s slaughter of its own people. Rosamund Pike, best known in the U.S. as the heartless heart of “Gone Girl,” portrays Colvin, but the casting isn’t ideal. The actress carries trace elements of royalty with her … [Read more...] about ‘Private War’ steers clear of journalism grandstanding