The 102 female police officers and soldiers sent to this battle-scarred capital of Lanao del Sur were well aware of their daunting task in helping residents of this city, which was attacked by terrorists, recover quickly.

Insp. Jecille Ibañez said most of them, deployed here as part of the joint civil relations team of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), were excited to work with evacuees in rehabilitation and recovery efforts.

But Ibañez said they were also aware that the job would not be easy largely due to perceptions that the military and the police were responsible for the destruction of Marawi.

Displacement

The fighting between government forces and Islamic State-inspired terrorists who took over sections of the city on May 23 entered is 100th day on Wednesday and had displaced nearly 500,000 people from the city and nearby areas.

Ibañez, a Bohol native whose last assignment was in Maguindanao province, said her fellow soldiers knew that they would have a hard time dealing with some of the evacuees.

“We expect that it will be more difficult to dialogue with them, especially so that they see us as the enemy, that we are to blame for what happened to Marawi,” she added.

But Ibañez assured that she and the more than 100 policewomen and female soldiers sent here would take the extra effort to make people understand what really happened to their hometown.

“We will explain to them … that we in the government are willing to help, whatever the cost may be,” she said.

Ibañez said their deployment here was meant to show the people that the government was with them as they prepared to rise from the devastation.

Ibañez said they wore white hijabs (head scarves) as a way to demonstrate this. “It is one way of showing [our] respect to the Muslim culture. It is an honor to wear it,” she added.

Helping women

First Lt. Ginalyn Peña, a native of Pulacan town in Zamboanga del Sur province, said her assignment here was an opportunity to help those most affected by the fighting.

“Helping them is a big opportunity and it will also show them that women can do many things, even in the event of a crisis,” Peña said.

The team arrived here on Tuesday via the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental province. Its members were taken from various AFP and PNP units in the country and underwent training for two weeks on psychosocial intervention before their deployment.

Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr., commander of the Western Mindanao Command, said the military and the police thought of sending women here to help the government determine the needs of the displaced, especially those vulnerable like children, women and the elderly.

“We conceived the idea of forming an all-woman group because of [cultural sensitivity, because] men cannot mingle with women [here],” Galvez added.

He said the deployment indicated that the fighting and clearing operations were coming to an end.

“But the most important work after this crisis is really recovery and rehabilitation and bringing back normalcy in Marawi City. These female soldiers and policewomen will play a big part in it,” Galvez added.

German display materials maker Merck on Friday unveiled a new textile facade concept combining organic photovoltaics and organic light-emitting diodes technologies at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.

The facade concept was prepared by Merck in partnership with OledWorks, OPVIUS and South Korean chemicals company Kolon.

German architects Nikolaus Hirsch and Michel Muller as well as New York-based Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija designed the work as part of their ongoing project called “The Land.”

Titled “Do We Dream Under The Same Sky,” the facade has been designed to “produce energy and emit light using advanced OPV and OLED technology, while seamlessly combining natural beauty with innovative design,” according to Merck.

The shingle-like facade is suspended from a series of four-meter long bamboo tubes, which symbolises oriental elegance, integrity and simplicity, the firm said.

After being featured at the Seoul Biennale in 2017, the facade concept will pass through multiple exhibitions in Germany and arrive at the final destination or “The Land” near Chiang Mai, Thailand where the prototype will be expanded to a 400 square metre building for research and a workshop.

“Merck material solutions show the capability to combine innovative technologies, transform architecture and extend the realm of possibilities,” said Martina Hueber, Head of Global Operative Marketing OLED at Merck.

For many years, a typical meal for Mr Mah Yap Hong would look something like this: a bowl of laksa or a plate of roast pork rice. These were cheap, fuss-free options for the former roadworks labourer.

It was only after he was diagnosed as a diabetic that Mr Mah, now 76, started to make nutritious meals a greater priority, adding more vegetables and fruit to his meals.

Meanwhile, for Madam Lim Cheo Tee, 64, a fast-food outlet worker, a typical meal would be economy rice and fried noodles. “I know hawker food isn’t very healthy but it’s convenient,” she said.

The pair’s long-time diets are typical of those of many older Singaporeans. Around one-third of those aged 55 and above who live at home are undernourished, said experts, citing studies carried out over the years.

And now, a new long-term study aims to find out what exactly causes these elderly Singaporeans to be undernourished.

A new centre set up by Changi General Hospital (CGH) and consumer healthcare firm Abbott will track 1,200 people aged 65 and above from now to May 2019 and see what happens when their diets are modified. The new Nutritional Health for the Elderly Reference Centre is supported by the Economic Development Board.

With the results, the researchers hope to be able to guide policymakers to create dietary solutions that are specific to Asians. Most data today is based on Western research.

Dr Low Yen Ling, director of research and development at Abbott Nutrition Asia-Pacific Centre, pointed out, for example, that Asians tend to eat more carbohydrates such as porridge as they age, while Westerners have more protein-rich diets.

In Singapore, undernourishment could happen when people consistently eat only one type of food such as carbohydrates, without adequate proteins and vegetables. All three need to be present for a nutritious meal.

In particular, the elderly tend to eat insufficient meat, observed CGH geriatrician Samuel Chew. “They grew up in times of hardship and so are used to eating much less. There is also the belief that as you grow older, you don’t need to eat as much meat.”

Ms Magdalin Cheong, CGH’s head of dietetic and food services, added: “Older people tend to have poorer appetites, have dementia, are depressed and find it difficult to chew tougher foods so they simply stop eating them without replacing them. They are undernourished, partly also because they’re eating very small quantities.”

This results in muscle and weight loss, which in turn increases the odds of infections and longer hospital stays. One sign to watch out for is when someone inexplicably loses at least 5 per cent of his weight in one month, or 10 per cent in six months, said Adjunct Assistant Professor Chew.

MP Tin Pei Ling, whose MacPherson ward has many elderly residents, said that although she does not have hard data, she believes that undernourishment among the elderly, especially those “who are lower income”, is an issue.

She said: “Their choices are limited, particularly the single elderly who don’t have someone to keep an eye on them to let them know what’s healthier.”

While housewife Jayaletchumi Palanisamy, 67, eats healthily she said it may be difficult for those”who can’t afford it”. “Healthy food comes at a price,” she added.

Two landslides within hours caused no injuries but destroyed houses in several villages and cut access roads into the Bregaglia valley, near the Italian border.

A violent thunderstorm and heavy rains lashing the Piz Cengalo at the Italian border set an already unstable landmass in motion, sending rocks and sludge down the mountainside late Thursday.

The river of mud followed the same path as the giant landslide that hit the area last week, when eight hikers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland disappeared.

Thursday’s landslide flowed into Bondo and neighbouring villages, destroying houses and roads in its path, municipal authorities in the Bregaglia valley said in a statement.

Early Friday, a second landslide flowed from the Maloja peak into the opposite side of the valley, cutting off a highway, it said.

Most residents in the hamlet of Spino had left on their own, but two elderly people were evacuated by emergency workers. No one was injured, the statement said.

In Bondo, where around 100 people were evacuated after last week’s landslide, several houses were completely demolished.

Houses were also destroyed in the village of Promontogno, which also lost power, and some houses were damaged in Spino.

Authorities said it appeared that the latest landslide had been quite large, though its exact size has not yet been determined.

They had warned Bregaglia residents earlier Thursday that the heavy rains made more landslides in the region likely.

The initial landslide that hit the area on August 23 set four million cubic metres (141 million cubic feet) of mud and debris in motion.

The event was so severe that the vibrations set off seismometres across Switzerland, which registered the equivalent of a 3.0 magnitude earthquake, according to the Swiss Seismological Service.

Authorities have warned that up to one million cubic metres of rock and dirt remain unstable and could still come tumbling down Piz Cengalo.

“We never forgot Cologne,” Elizabeth Reichert told the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper by phone from her home in Philadelphia.

She said she and her Jewish husband Arnulf Reichert both grew up in the western German city. They met in 1944, she recalled, when Arnulf lived in hiding to avoid being discovered by the Nazis.

They married a year after the war ended and briefly moved to Israel before settling in the US, where they lived the American dream and made their fortune.

Reichert said she worked as a hairdresser, while her husband took a job for a wholesaler selling pets and pet supplies, before setting up his own business and making millions.

Shortly before her husband died in 1998, the childless couple agreed to bequeath their money to the Cologne Zoo after their deaths.

“When you start thinking about who you want to leave your money to, memories play a big role. With the zoo, the money is well spent,” Reichert said.

The couple had already shown their affection for the zoo in 1954, when they gifted a soft-shell turtle.

The considerably larger donation this time will come into effect after Reichert’s death, when a foundation named after her husband will provide the zoo with an annual payment.

The zoo’s director, Christopher Landsberg, said he was taken aback when he learned of the windfall from across the pond.

“I nearly fell off my chair,” he told the DPA news agency.

A further 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, the UN added in statement late Thursday, but are barred from entry as they run from burning villages and Myanmar army operations.

Rumours of massacres and the systematic torching of villages by security forces — as well as by militants — have further amplified tensions, raising fears that communal violence is spinning out of control.

Desperate to reach Bangladesh, thousands of Rohingya have taken to makeshift boats, some constructed from flotsam, in an effort to cross the Naf River which separates the two countries.

Sixteen bodies washed ashore on the Bangladeshi side of a river on Friday, a border official said, lifting the grim toll over the last two days from apparent boat capsizes to 39.

“They had been floating in the river for a while,” according to Mainuddin Khan, police chief of the border town of Teknaf, adding the dead included a young girl.

The latest round of a bitter and bloody five-year crisis began last Friday when Rohingya militants swarmed remote police posts, killing 11 state officials and burning villages.

Myanmar security forces have launched “clearance” operations to sweep out insurgents whose ranks appear to be swelling as male Rohingya villagers pick up sticks and knives and join their cause.

US concern

Thousands of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, Hindus and other local ethnic groups have also been displaced — the apparent targets of militants who are fighting under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).

An AFP reporter on a government-led trip to Maungdaw, this week saw columns of smoke rising from several burning villages, while terrified civilians huddled in schools in the main town.

International pressure is mounting on Myanmar and its de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The United States on Thursday urged Myanmar’s military to protect civilians, while Yanghee Lee, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, expressed fears that “grave violations” could take place.

“The worsening cycle of violence is of grave concern and must be broken urgently,” she added.

Rakhine State has been the crucible of religious violence since 2012, when riots erupted killing scores of Rohingya and forcing tens of thousands into of people — the majority from the Muslim minority — into displacement camps.

The ARSA emerged as a force in October last year when attacks killed Myanmar border police, prompting a crackdown by security forces that killed scores and forced 87,000 people to flee to Bangladesh.

The Rohingya are reviled in Mynamar, where the roughly one million-strong community are accused of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Most are denied citizenship, while their freedom to move and work is severely controlled.

Those who make it to Bangladesh are met by extreme poverty.

The country already hosts 400,000 Rohingya and does not want more.

The bamboo-lined flat trollies are a testament to Cambodian creativity and enterprise in an impoverished nation with little infrastructure.

They were first invented as part of a homegrown, unofficial transport system to make use of the country’s abandoned colonial-era train tracks but later morphed into a popular tourist attraction.

“It was good to finally have some breeze happening (on) my face,” exclaimed 25-year-old Swedish tourist Josefin Strang, after completing a ride on the rickety cart under a blazing tropical sun.

“I’m actually happy that it was the bamboo train and not an ordinary train, because that track was not in good shape,” she laughed.

But the hallowed site in northwestern Battambang province will soon be no more as a government project to refurbish the country’s dilapidated rail system inches closer.

That is especially worrying news for the community of drivers, ticket-takers and snack vendors who live off the proceeds from the unique attraction that has become a fixture on the tourist circuit.

“We are very worried about how we will make a daily income good enough to feed ourselves,” said 49-year-old Soy Savuth.

He is one of several drivers who spend their days shuttling a trolly up and and down the seven-kilometre (four-mile) track, charging foreigners $5 a ride.

Built under French colonial rule, Cambodia’s railroads once ran from the southwestern seaport of Sihanoukville, then known as Kompong Som, to the capital and up north to the Thai border.

But decades of civil war and neglect left vast stretches of track in ruins or overgrown with weeds.

– ‘No rights’ –

===============

With cars a luxury of the rich and roads in similarly bad shape, Cambodians started building their own small bamboo trollies in the 1980s to ferry people and goods across the countryside.

The earliest versions were hitched onto the railtracks and simply pushed along by a bamboo pole.

Then they started using small petrol engines that connected to a fan belt that spins one of two axles, propelling the carts along at about 15 km/hour.

As Cambodia’s roads improved, locals started moving away from using the bamboo carts — known in Khmer as “norries” — to transport goods.

Tourists filled the demand gap, with savvy operators in Battambang charging backpackers to hitch a ride on a unique piece of Cambodian railway culture.

On a recent Sunday the dusty site was billowing with foreign and local tourists, eager to pile on for the windy trip through rice fields and over small creeks.

But Chan Samleng, director of the Railroad Department, told AFP the Bamboo Train operators will soon need to clear the area so that builders can start restoring the line for a train service.

“They have no right to run on the railroad anymore,” he said of the drivers. “They can look for other jobs.”

While Cambodia remains one of Asia’s poorest nations, it is also one of the continent’s fastest growing.

In recent years the government has turned its attention to its railways.

In April 2016, the line from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville was reopened to passenger trains, displacing dozens of bamboo trolley operators.

Previous deadlines to close down Battambang’s Bamboo Train operators have passed without consequence in a country where projects are routinely hampered by delays.

But Soy Savuth and the other drivers are worried that the latest threat is real.

“If there are no rails to drive on, it will be hard to find a job because this is the only skill I have,” he said.//AFP

Duterte signed Republic Act 10951 or “An Act Adjusting the Amount or the Value of Property and Damage on which a Penalty is Based, and Fines Imposed Under the Revised Penal Code” on August 29.

Article 154 of the new law imposes stiffer penalty on “unlawful use of means of publication and unlwaful utterances.”

Under the law, penalty of arresto mayor and a fine ranging from P40,000 to P200,000 shall be imposed on any person publishing false news, “which may endanger the public order, or cause damage to the interest or credit of the state.”

Arresto mayor has a jail term from 1 month and 1 day to six months.

The law also applies to “any person who by the same means, or word, utterances or speeches shall encourage disobedience to the law or to the constituted authorities or praise, justify, or extol any act punished by law.”

The fine will also apply to “any person who shall maliciously publish or cause to be published any official resolution or document without proper authority or before they have been published officially.”

The law also penalizes “any person who shall print, publish, or distribute or cause to be printed, published, or distributed books, pamphlets, periodicals, or leaflets which do not bear the real printer’s name, or which are classified as anonymous.”

“We call on the Philippine authorities to immediately release Senator De Lima by withdrawing the drug trafficking charges against her,” Emily Lau, a former legislator who was part of Hong Kong’s umbrella movement, said in a statement.

Representatives from the Women’s Caucus of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) who visited De Lima on Thursday at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City, said the senator was detained due to her staunch opposition to alleged extrajudicial killings in the country.

“Clearly, this is a case of political persecution resulting from Senator De Lima’s staunch opposition to extra-judicial killings, and her continuing detention is a travesty of justice. At the very least, she should be allowed to post bail given the weakness of the evidence against her,” Lau said.

CALD, the only alliance of liberal and democratic parties in Asia and has members from 12 countries across the region, also noted that charges against De Lima were based on “conflicting testimonies of criminals.”

“The charges do not stand even a cursory legal scrutiny, having been based on conflicting testimonies of criminals who were subsequently absolved of drug charges after they agreed to be prosecution witnesses,” Lau said.

The European Union (EU), Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Liberal International (LI) were also among the institutions that previously visited De Lima at the detention center.

The senator, who has been detained since February 24, earlier filed a petition in the Supreme Court to nullify the drug cases filed against her before three regional trial courts where she also previously filed a motion to quash.

In these petitions, she argued that the cases against her should be dismissed due to “lack of jurisdiction, absence of evidence, and for being largely based on testimonies of ineligible witnesses.”

“We implore the courts to rule on the petitions of Senator De Lima in accordance with the right to fair and speedy trial, which is recognized in both the Philippine constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), where the Philippines is a contracting party,” said CALD Women’s Caucus Chair Jayanthi Balaguru, who is also a litigator in Malaysia.

“Every day that Senator De Lima spends in jail as a political prisoner is an affront to human rights, rule of law and public accountability—fundamental principles that the Philippines prides itself on as a democratic country,” she added.

The vice president of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) and International Network of Liberal Women (INLW), Maysing Yang, also appealed to the Senate and the courts to grant De Lima’s request to participate in important legislative deliberations.

“As a duly elected senator of the Philippines, she should be afforded the right to fully carry out her legislative duties, including the right to cast her vote on legislative bills, especially since she is not yet convicted of any wrongdoing,” said Yang.

“Denying her this right is a great disservice to the more than 14 million Filipinos who put their trust in her in the last elections,” she added.an old tin mine lake, has been captured after two days and two nights of hunting.

The 3 metre crocodile is a salt water crocodile, originally thought to be a fresh water croc. Headed by the Phuket Fisheries Office, croc experts and local fisherman finally captured the crocodile at 3.30 this morning. The beastie is estimated to be 200 kilograms and around 10 years old.

The reptile was first seen swimming off Bang Tao Beach last Friday and reported to Phuket Gazette by ‘Mike’. Since then the crocodile has spurred an intense search by wildlife officials and local reptile experts.

At least 18,500 Rohingya have fled their homes following attacks by militants on August 25 in Rakhine State and a crackdown by security forces who have torched villages and targeted civilians, according to witness accounts.

Officials in Bangladesh say growing numbers of Rohingya are trying to cross the Naf river which divides the two countries, in rickety boats that are ill-equipped for the rough waters as they become increasingly desperate to escape.

On Thursday, Bangladesh coastguards found the bodies of 17 Rohingya, many of them children, who drowned when their boats capsized as they attempted to flee.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, later issued a statement chastising Myanmar’s security forces.

“As Burmese security forces act to prevent further violence, they have a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law, which includes refraining from attacking innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and ensuring assistance reaches those in need,” Haley said.

Photographs from the scene showed the bodies of several small children lined up on the ground, covered with sheets.

One survivor told AFP the small, overcrowded boat he was travelling on had been tipped over by huge waves near where the Naf river opens out into the sea.

“Nobody knew how to navigate the sea waters. When huge waves tilted the boat, we panicked,” Shah Karim said.

On Wednesday, the bodies of two Rohingya women and two children also washed up in Bangladesh after their boat capsized.

‘Grave concern’

The Naf river is narrow in some places, but the Rohingya are increasingly crossing where the river is wider, or even venturing out to sea, after Bangladeshi authorities intensified border patrols.

Bangladesh is already home to an estimated 400,000 Rohingya, a mainly Muslim stateless minority that rights groups say has long faced persecution in Myanmar.

Most live in squalid and increasingly overcrowded camps in the coastal area of Cox’s Bazar, and Dhaka has made clear it wants no more to come.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday asked the US to put pressure on Myanmar to stem the flow.

“We have given shelter to a huge number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds and it’s a big problem for us,” she said, according to the state-run BSS news agency.

The latest clashes in Myanmar began last Friday when Rohingya militants staged deadly attacks on police posts, prompting raids on the community and searches by troops and police.

The violence left at least 110 people dead, including 11 state officials.

Ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and other tribal groups are also among the dead and displaced after allegedly being targeted by Rohingya militants.

An estimated 6,000 Rohingya are massed on the border, having fled villages in Myanmar that they say were set on fire by police, troops and Buddhist mobs.

UN special rapporteur Yanghee Lee expressed alarm Thursday about a worsening cycle of violence in the area that she said was “of grave concern” and “must be broken urgently”.

“If human rights concerns are not properly addressed, and if people remain politically and economically marginalized, then northern Rakhine may provide fertile ground for radicalization, with people becoming increasingly vulnerable to recruitment by extremists,” she said.

Bangladesh under pressure

Bangladesh is under intense international pressure to allow the fleeing Rohingya to cross into its territory, but it has pushed a number of them back, in what rights groups say is a contravention of its international obligations.

On Thursday, a Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) commander told AFP that 71 newly arrived Rohingya had been arrested for entering the country illegally and told to go back, though not forced to return.

“The police arrested 71 Rohingya from inside Bangladesh and later on handed them to us,” said Manzurul Hassan Khan.

“We did not push them back, rather we told them… you should go back to your territory,” added Khan, who said there was a “humanitarian crisis” developing along the border.

Media access to Rakhine is restricted, but on Wednesday an AFP reporter on a government-led visit to the worst-hit section of the state saw plumes of smoke billowing from several burning villages.

The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss the violence but there was no formal statement on the crisis.