GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Philippines is focusing more than usual on births and deaths with the UN declaring a girl born in Manila 30 October shortly before midnight, Danica May Camacho, 2.5 kg, to be the symbolic 7 billionth baby in the world. Meanwhile police in the city are gearing up to protect cemeteries during All Soul’s Day 1 November, according to the Manila Standard Today.
The UN Population Fund’s office in the Philippines organized media coverage to welcome the tiny girl into the world, but another special guest was the symbolic 6 billionth child, who is now 12 years old.
Some 2,000 police officers will be guarding city cemeteries and more than 1,000 others are on special traffic duties starting 31 October to ensure that All Saints Day and All Souls Day, 1 and 2 November respectively, remain crime-free, says the head of a major police district. “He made his statement even as an environmental watchdog asked the people visiting their dead on Nov. 1 and 2 to light only one or two candles and to bring their trash home to minimize pollution in the cemeteries,” reports the Standard Today.
Ed. note: Halloween, celebrated in several countries 31 October, is the eve of All Saints Day, and should not to be confused with All Souls Day, which in some churches, notably the Roman Catholic in the West, is observed 2 November 2011.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The rescue of a French woman kidnapped last week in Kenya failed Saturday 1 October and 2 Kenyan Navy officers died in the attempt.
In the Philippines, there was good news as Filipino-American Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann was released early Monday 3 October after two months. Abu-Sayyaf rebels still hold her 14-year-old son and her 19-year-old nephew. Zamboanga Mayor Celso Lobregat, who is credited by US authorities with playing a key role in her release, told local media there was no talk of ransom. Yeatts Lunsmann was born in the Philippines but adopted by a family in the US, where she was raised. She works as a veterinarian in Virginia, where she and her husband and son live.
French woman Marie Dedieu, 66, who is disabled, was kidnapped from her Mandu Island cottage and Kenyan authorities believe she is now in Somalia, taken there by al Shabaab militia members. A rescue attempt at sea by the Kenya Navy failed. Some of the naval officers were in a fishing boat which capsized in an accident and two of them remain lost at sea.
Dedieu’s kidnapping comes less than a month after two British citizens, David Tebbutt and his wife Judith were kidnapped in Kiwayu, near Lamu. He was killed and she was taken to Somalia by the same militia group, authorities say.
Links to other sites: BBC, MSNBC (family photo), Sun Star, Philippines, The Nation, Kenya
Correction Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The US has granted Wipo, the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, $50,000 for a six-month programme in Kenya, Morocco and the Philippines to help local authorities raise awareness about the risk of counterfeit products. The programme, to be administered by Wipo, which is matching the grant, will involve a series of seminars.
US Ambassador Betty E King, speaking at an event in Geneva with John Tarpey, head of communications for Wipo, said that “trademark infringement and counterfeiting raise very serious health and safety concerns, such as those attributed to counterfeit medicines, food, automotive parts and electrical products.”
Tarpey notes that half of all drugs sold on the Internet, for example, are counterfeit. The funding will allow Wipo to run workshops to develop a toolkit that will help intellectual property authorities in the three countries conduct more effective outreach campaigns, he says.
Three Philippine nationals have been executed in China for drug trafficking, despite months of efforts by the Philippine government to have their lives spared. The three were accused of carrying at least 4 kg of heroin into China. They were arrested separately, all of them in 2008. Their own government argues they were most likely duped into smuggling the drugs.
Jaime FlorCruz, a Philippine national who has been in China for more than 30 years, reports that the executions prompted mixed reactions in his native land. He quotes Vice-President Jejomar Binay, “During his visit to Beijing in February, Vice President Binay told CNN that there was no under-the-table deal with China. “We do not condone drug trafficking and we respect China’s laws,” Binay said. “However, we believe these Filipinos were merely victims of trans-national drug syndicates. They were just duped into their crimes.”
Attention is focusing on drug syndicates in the Philippines, which often use Philippines nationals who are anxious to find a job or get rich quickly. More than 70 other Philippines nationals are scheduled for execution in China, on drug-related charges, according to Executed Today.
Links to other sites: Executed Today, Jaime’s China on CNN, GMA News
Andal Ampatuan Jr, the mayor of Datu Unsayalso, who is also the son of a provincial governor on the Philippines island of Maguindanao, has been charged with multiple murders in connection with the cold-blooded massacre of 57 unarmed civilians by a large group of armed men Monday 24 November. The massacre has sent shock waves through the Philippines, with the president’s office saying she is enraged at what is a “limited clan political rivalry.” The area has been subject to violence in the past linked to Muslim secessionist groups, but President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s spokesperson says the massacre is not linked to those groups.
Kidnapped Irish Catholic priest Michael Sinnott has been released unharmed in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao. The army commander in charge of the region, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Muhammad Dolorfino, said no ransom was paid, and praised the assistance of the armed separatist group Moro Islamist Liberation Front (MILF) in securing his release.
Sinnott disputed the theory that he had been kidnapped by MILF, saying he thought they were locals with separatist tendencies looking to make money. The Colomban missionary was taken from his house 11 October by four or five armed men, and said he was very well treated. CNN, GMANews
Vietnamese authorities ordered people in southern and central coastal areas to evacuate as tropical storm Mirinae approached the Vietnamese coast, Sunday 1 November. Fishermen were advised to get out of the path of the storm. The storm was expected toreach land in the afternoon 2 November. Typhoon Ketsana last month killed more than 160 people and caused damage worth $800 million.
Mirinae caused widespread flooding and destruction, and 16 people died in the Philippines when it was still a typhoon and crossed that country’s main island Luzon. It was the country’s fourth major storm since September. AFP, Bloomberg
The typhoon called Ramil locally, and Lupit internationally, is gathering strength as it steadily makes its way westward across the Pacific Ocean with winds of 175km and gusts up to 210km. It is expected to make landfall on Wednesday 21 or early Thursday 22 October on the northern tip of the Philippines’ main island, Luzon, mostly sparing the capital Manila. The military is moving relief goods and trucks, speedboats and soldiers north in anticipation of rescue missions.
The Philippines is still recovering from the last two typhoons with survivors in the north still living in tents being urged not to return to their homes. Philippine weather service chief, Prisco Nilo, told a press conference in Manila 18 October that people should be evacuated “now that there is still time” [and not] “in the middle of a typhoon”. AP, Philippine Inquirer
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Eight countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus and five in Southeast Asia are implementing early warning systems to protect against weather-related events, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Today 14 October is International Day for Disaster Reduction, and the agency is highlighting how early warning and disaster risk reduction can save many lives when extreme weather strikes. Similar projects were introduced in seven southeast European countries in 2007.
These national and regional cooperation projects are part of a concerted programme that relies on technical expertise and funding provided by the WMO, the World Bank, UNDP and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).
“Natural hazards are a part of life. But natural hazards only become disasters when people’s lives and livlihoods are swept away…” (Kofi Annan, World Disaster Reduction Day, 2003)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland is giving CHF450,000 to the Philippines Red Cross as emergency money to help victims of the floods provoked by tropical storm Ketsana, Bern announced late Thursday 1 October. It is also sending two experts from the Humanitarian Aid corps to help assess needs.
A tsunami washed over the Southern Pacific islands of Samoa early 30 September leaving at least a hundred people dead and many more injured. Six-metre high waves flooded up to 1.5 km inland, washing away entire villages in low-lying areas on both of the main islands of Samoa and American Samoa, a US dependency. The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale about 30 km underground and only 190km off the coast. A tsunami warning went out immediately but officials said there was practically no time to heed the warning. BBC, Reuters
In the Philippines, hundreds of thousands of exhausted survivors from the weekend’s torrential rains and floods have swamped shelters in churches, schools and gymnasiums. Relief officials say they cannot keep up. Agriculture ministry officials estimated that tropical storm Ketsana, known as Ondoy in the Philippines, had destroyed more than $60 million worth of income-generating crops. The storm has continued moving west, causing death and destruction in Vietnam and Cambodia. BBC, Manila Times
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – One hundred forty deaths have been attributed to weekend flooding in the Philippines, drenched Saturday by tropical storm Ketsana, which dumped a record amount of rainfall: 410.6 millimetres in nine hours in the Manila metropolitan area. Ondoy, as the storm is called in the Philippines, submerged parts of the city and the Rizal area, affecting more than 400,000 people. The storm was heading late Monday Philippines time across the Sea of China towards Vietnam, but the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) in Geneva says the country is bracing for yet more rain. The rainfall is the most received in such a period since 1967.
Video,Associated Press
Links to other sites: CBS News
Chinese authorities evacuated almost one million people from coastal areas in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces ahead of typhoon Morakot, which made landfall early morning 9 August in China. Sustained winds of over 110 km per hour, and reports of 9-metre waves caused floods and destroyed buildings. Thousands of fishing boats were warned to return to harbour. The typhoon had already wreaked havoc in Taiwan: the BBC shows dramatic footage of an empty hotel being undermined by up to 200 cm of rain in 24 hours as the storm passed over the island. In the Philippines, the storm caused widespread damage, flooding and mudslides.BBC, CNN, Reuters, Xinhua
Update 11:00 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The third hostage taken by rebels in the southern Philippines six months ago was released early Sunday 12 July Manila time, the ICRC (International Red Cross)) has announced. Eugenio Vagni, an Italian citizen, was freed after 179 days in captivity and the ICRC says that although he is tired “given the circumstances [he] is doing remarkably well.” His fellow hostages and ICRC employees Mary Jean Lacaba and Andreas Notter were released in April.
Andreas Notter (image © 2009 T Gassmann, ICRC)
Geneva, Switzerland (TSR, Fre and ICRC) – Swiss ICRC (International Red Cross) employee Andreas Notter, back in Switzerland after he escaped his captors in the Philippines 19 April, told journalists at a press conference today that he was not freed by force by the Philippines army, one of the stories circulating about his move to freedom.
Somali pirates have released a Philippine tanker and its crew of 23 who have been held since November 2008, according to the Phillipines government, but the announcement made no reference to a ransom and it is unclear if one was paid. The ship was taken in the Gulf of Aden.
Updated 10:10 Philippines and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Andreas Notter, Swiss ICRC (International Red Cross) worker in the Philippines who has been hostage for three months, was freed by government soldiers who attacked the town on the island of Sulu where he and Italian ICRC employee Eugenio Vagni have been held by rebels. (Ed. note: click on image to view map larger. Sulu is in southwestern Philippines.) The ICRC in Geneva confirmed the news Saturday morning 18 April but provided no details.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Philippines media ABS-CBN News reports late Tuesday 31 March that Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan says no beheadings of ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) staff happened Tuesday despite the 14:00 deadline being passed. ABS-CBN says this matches reports from its sources. The Abu Sayyaf rebel group has threatened to behead one of the hostages it took 15 January.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Two international organizations based in Geneva have issued urgent appeals to the captors of their employees to release them unharmed. Rebels in the Philippines, who are holding three ICRC (International Red Cross) employees, including Swiss Andreas Notter, are threatening to decapitate one of them if the army does not leave the area where they are held. Tuesday morning the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) told the kidnappers of John Solecki in Pakstan that they are entirely responsible for his health, expressing concern over the lack of news in the past two weeks.
Updated 19 March 08:30 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A Philippines senator said 19 March that rebels holding three ICRC (International Red Cross) employees in the Philippines have agreed to release one of them, according to the local Red Cross Thursday. The three hostages include one Swiss. Wednesday the rebels, who were in a gunfire battle with government forces early this week, threatened to behead one of the hostages if they were attacked again.
ICRC, Red Cross activities in Philippines, 2009 (map © ICRC)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Geneva-based ICRC (International Red Cross) confirmed Wednesday that Lady Ann Sahidulla, vice-governor of Sulu Island and chair of the Sulu Red Cross in the Philippines, was able to visit the three Red Cross workers who were kidnapped 15 January while returning from a visit to a prison. The three have been in regular phone contact with the Red Cross and appear to be healthy and calm.
Updated 16 January 11:00 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Military authorities Friday said they have identified one of the kidnappers of three ICRC workers in the Philippines, a former prison guard at the prison where the three had been working, according to 20 Minutes/ats, Fre.
The Red Cross in the country confirmed, as did the ICRC in Geneva, the kidnapping Thursday in the southern Philippines of three people identified by a military spokesperson, as three ICRC workers: Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Jean Lacaba.BBC
