No more soldier prince: UK's Harry to leave army in June

LONDON (AP) — It's a soldier's life no more for Britain's Prince Harry.

Royal officials said Tuesday that the 30-year old prince will leave the armed forces in June after 10 years of service that included two tours of duty in Afghanistan.

Harry's final army duties will include a four-week assignment in April and May with the Australian Defence Force. The prince will spend time in Darwin, Perth and Sydney and attend centenary commemorations of the World War I Gallipoli campaign in Turkey.

Harry said that leaving the army had been "a really tough decision" but he was excited about the future.

In a statement, Harry said he felt "incredibly lucky" to have had the chance to serve in the armed forces.

"From learning the hard way to stay onside with my Color Sergeant at Sandhurst, to the incredible people I served with during two tours in Afghanistan — the experiences I have had over the last 10 years will stay with me for the rest of my life," he said. "For that I will always be hugely grateful."

Harry, who is fourth in line to the British throne, graduated from Sandhurst officers' academy in 2006 and joined the Household Cavalry as an armored reconnaissance troop leader. He served in Afghanistan as a battlefield air controller for 10 weeks in 2007-2008 until a media leak cut his tour short.

Keen to return to the front lines despite fears he would be a top Taliban target, Harry retrained as a helicopter pilot and served in Afghanistan in 2012-2013 as an Apache co-pilot gunner.

Most recently he has served as a staff officer in the army's London headquarters, playing a big role in bringing the Invictus Games — an international sports competition for wounded troops — to Britain.

Kensington Palace said that after leaving the army Harry will volunteer with the British military's Recovery Capability Program, which helps wounded service members, "while actively considering other longer-term employment opportunities."

Harry was the first British royal to see combat since his uncle, Prince Andrew, who flew Royal Navy helicopters during the 1982 Falklands War.

His older brother Prince William also attended Sandhurst before training as a Royal Navy search-and-rescue helicopter pilot. He has since left the navy to become an air-ambulance pilot.

Harry has often seemed more comfortable as a soldier than in his royal duties, although he has been visibly energized by his work with charities for wounded veterans.

"It's very easy to forget about who I am when I am in the army. Everyone's wearing the same uniform and doing the same kind of thing," Harry said in an interview after returning from Afghanistan in 2013.

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Freight forwarders blacklisted over undelivered balikbayan boxes

Blacklisted Foreign Freight Forwarders

Country of Origin	Foreign Freight Forwarders/Consolidators
Australia	Dausan International Forwarder
Bahrain	Dreamsworld Travel Tourism & Cargo Co. W.L.L
China	Philippine Eastern Transit Express Inc.
Cyrpus	Freight Link Global Logistics
Germany	Alexander D. Cunanan – ADC Spedition Services
Hong Kong	Asia Express HK
	Ford Cargo International (FCI)
Ireland	Maharlika Enterprise Cargo Services
	SCRL Cargo
Italy	Jet Express Cargo
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)	WRJ Freight Forwarders (A Division of Al-Zagel Cargo)
	Caravan Cargo Agency
	Cargo Net Worldwide Services formerly FAL-World Express Cargo
	Global Cargo
	Kabalen Forwarders
	North and South Express Cargo
	PC Worldwide Cargo
	Sir Cargo Forwarders
Kuwait	NC Manila Cargo
	Pacific Logistics International Cargo
	Philippine Cargo International
	Sri Sara Cargo
	The Filipino Cargo International
	Eastern Cargo
	CNC Manila Cargo / New Cliffe Gen. Trad. & Cont. Co.
Malaysia	Bayanihan Express
Oman	Godlen Coast Trading
Singapore	ASPAC Cargo
	Hagibis Express Pte.Ltd
	Asia Pacific E-Serv Pte. Ltd
	Maru Cargo Logistics LLP
Spain	E.B. Barbosa Enterprise
United Arab Emirate (UAE)	Dagupan Cargo Packaging Services
	Express Link Cargo Services
	Smooth Express
	Grace Express Cargo
	Al Rodah Marine Cargo
	Cityline Cargo
United Kingdom (UK)	Philbox Direct Ltd.
	Philand Ynterlink Ltd.
United States of America (USA)	Shipping Express
	AAA Cargo Express Inc.
	Aerosend
	Associated Consolidation Express (ACE)
	GV Gordan Freight
	Mabuhay Cargo
	Pentagon Cargo Inc.
	Philippine Cargo International Inc.
	Philippine Cargo Forwarder
	REN International
	South Atlantic Cargo
	Super Mama Cargo

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DOH: Death of OFW from China possible case of bird flu

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday announced that the death of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who returned from China might be a possible case of Avian flu or bird flu.

“The patient was considered a possible case of Avian Flu or Bird Flu,” DOH acting secretary Janette Garin said in a press conference.

The said OFW, who worked as a musician in China for six years, arrived at the country last February 9 without symptoms of the disease.

The patient experienced cough, fever and abdominal pain on February 10. He consulted a doctor on February 11 upon noticing his worsening condition. The OFW passed away on February 14.

Garin noted that the OFW might have been aware that he was sick at the time of his arrival in the country and have taken medicine which made the fever subside and undetected.

“The patient was initially referred to DOH as possible case of MERS-CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus), however upon review of his case, Avian Flu was decided to be a more proximate findings,” Garin added.

The DOH assured that if ever it was confirmed that the OFW died from bird flu, transmission of the disease is not a possibility since the patient has already died.

"Wala po tayong dapat ikabahala. Subalit kinakailangan pa rin ang maigting na pagbabantay at patuloy na pagpapalaganap ng tamang impormasyon sa ating mga kababayan sa mga bansang nagtatala ng kaso ng Bird Flu or Avian Influenza," the acting Health Secretary said.

As safety precaution, Garin reminded OFWs to fully declare only true information on their health declaration checklist, practice good hygiene and practice immediate consultation.

The Avian virus has spread from Asia to Europe to Africa since its widespread re-emergence in 2003 and 2004.

Diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, chest pain, and bleeding from the nose and gums are some of the symptoms of bird flu, according to a report.

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Gunman kills 3, found dead in South Korean city: police

By KIM TONG-HYUNG | Associated Press – Fri, Feb 27, 2015

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A gunman shot and killed three people Friday before he was found dead at a home in a city near the capital Seoul in the second such incident in three days, police officials said.

Shooting incidents are rare in South Korea, which tightly controls gun possession, and the two deadly shootings this week will likely trigger a debate on whether the country should tighten its control on hunting weapons that can be legally owned.

A police official from Hwaseong City, who didn't want to be named, citing office rules, said the victims included a policeman who was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene. The official said the suspect, 75, is believed to be the brother of an 86-year-old victim, whose wife, 84, was also dead.

The suspect was found dead with a gunshot wound in what the police believed to be a suicide. The daughter-in-law of the dead couple managed to escape by jumping from a second-floor window before alerting the police, and is currently being treated at a hospital for a minor back injury.

Police said the murder weapon was believed to be a hunting gun. The gunman had retrieved the gun from a nearby police station about an hour before the morning shooting, the police official said.

South Koreans can obtain licenses for shotguns and air rifles for the purpose of hunting animals, but they are required to keep the weapons at police stations and use them only during legal hunting periods. It wasn't immediately clear whether the suspect owned the gun or had a proper license for it.

The incident follows another shooting on Wednesday when a gunman shot and killed three people in Sejong City in the central part of the country before apparently killing himself. The gunman appeared to have used two shotguns he owned and had licenses for.

According to figures from the National Police Agency, South Koreans legally owned about 160,000 guns as of January, a figure that included hunting weapons and self-defense tools such as gas-emitting guns.

With sledgehammer, Islamic State smashes Iraqi history

By Isabel Coles and Saif Hameed

ARBIL/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Ultra-radical Islamist militants in northern Iraq have destroyed a priceless collection of statues and sculptures from the ancient Assyrian era, inflicting what an archaeologist described as incalculable damage to a piece of shared human history.

A video published by Islamic State on Thursday showed men attacking the artifacts, some of them identified as antiquities from the 7th century BC, with sledgehammers and drills, saying they were symbols of idolatry.

"The Prophet ordered us to get rid of statues and relics, and his companions did the same when they conquered countries after him," an unidentified man said in the video.

The smashed articles appeared to come from an antiquities museum in Mosul, the northern city which was overrun by Islamic State last June, a former employee at the museum told Reuters.

The militants shoved stone statues off their plinths, shattering them on the floor, and one man applied an electric drill to a large winged bull. The video showed a large exhibition room strewn with dismembered statues, and Islamic songs played in the background.

Lamia al-Gailani, an Iraqi archaeologist and associate fellow at the London-based Institute of Archaeology, said the militants had wreaked untold damage. "It’s not only Iraq’s heritage: it’s the whole world’s," she said.

"They are priceless, unique. It's unbelievable. I don’t want to be Iraqi any more," she said, comparing the episode to the dynamiting of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Afghan Taliban in 2001.

As well as Assyrian statues of winged bulls from the Mesopotamian cities of Nineveh and Nimrud, Gailani said the Islamic State hardliners appeared to have destroyed statues from Hatra, a Hellenistic-Parthian city in northern Iraq dating back around 2,000 years.

Eleanor Robson, professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at University College London, also said on Twitter that statues from Hatra and Nineveh had been wrecked, though she added that some objects shown in the video were modern replicas.

The director of UNESCO's Iraq office, Axel Plathe, would not comment on the content of the video, saying it has yet to be verified. But he described the damage to Iraq's heritage since Islamic State overran Mosul last year as an attempt "to destroy the identity of an entire people".

Plathe said UNESCO was working with Iraqi authorities and governments of neighboring countries to crack down on the smuggling of artifacts from areas under Islamic State control, and had alerted auction houses to be on the lookout for stolen items.

Islamic State espouses a fiercely purist school of Sunni Islam, deeming many other Muslims to be heretics. Its fighters have destroyed Shi'ite and Sufi religious sites and attacked churches and other shrines in the parts of Syria and Iraq under their control.

"Muslims, these relics you see behind me are idols that were worshipped other than God in the past centuries," the unidentified man in the Islamic State video said.

"What is known as Assyrians, Akkadians and others used to worship gods of rain, farming and war other than God and pay all sorts of tributes to them."

Last week, Islamic State released another video showing a pile of books in flames.

An employee of the Mosul museum said he feared these books were manuscripts from the library of endowments, although the library itself was still in tact last week.

Enrile rushed to Makati Medical Center due to pneumonia

ANC – Thu, Feb 26, 2015

The Philippine National Police (PNP) revealed that Senator Juan Ponce Enrile was rushed to Makati Medical Center at around 3 a.m. on Thursday, February 25.

Enrile, who was ordered detained at the PNP General Hospital, was brought to the private medical facility in Makati due to pneumonia, PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo Jr. said.

Cerbo explained that Enrile's sudden transfer to the private hospital is allowed by the Sandiganbayan, noting that the anti-graft court has a standing resolution allowing Enrile to be brought to another hospital with better facilities in case of emergency.

Enrile is accused of pocketing P172 million in kickbacks or commissions from alleged pork barrel fund scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles. —report from Johnson Manabat, dzMM

Gov’t can’t compel MILF to yield killers

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400 schools to raise tuition, other fees this year

By By Janvic Mateo | Philippine Star – 17 hours ago

Around 400 universities and colleges across the country have plans to increase tuition and other school fees, according to youth group National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP).

Citing data from its tuition monitor network, the NUSP said a number of schools have already signified their intention to raise tuition by up to 13 percent, while some have plans to increase other schools fees by up to 20 percent.

However, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said it would issue its own list by March or April after all reports from its regional offices have been submitted.

“Currently, CHED is working with the Philippine Institute for Development Studies to come up with a formula on the reasonable rate of tuition fee increase each year and per province or region,” CHED media officer Abi Lasaca said.

The NUSP, which is composed of over 650 student councils and federations across the country, said several schools which had raised tuition and other school fees last year have plans to impose another round of increase this year.

“(The yearly increases are) inhumane, incessant and anti-student,” said NUSP president Sarah Elago.

“Administration-sponsored consultation for the longest time has evolved into a mere justification and presentation of fees… Skyrocketing tuition increase under the guise of ‘development’ actually kills students’ and youth’s right to accessible and quality education,” Elago added.

The group questioned the decision of schools to impose “illegal, redundant and dubious fees,” such as payment for lifelong relations and spiritual development.

“NUSP has time and again raised to (CHED) the illegality and questionability of these fees, but it has remained ‘inutile’ and ‘negligent’ of delivering justice to these cases,” the group added.

Youth groups held an indoor protest yesterday at the University of Santo Tomas to protest a proposed 5 to 7.9 percent tuition hike for the incoming year.

“Small yet steady doses of tuition and other fee increase inflict a heavy burden to students. These prove that the UST admin is peddling education as a profitable business instead of a social service,” said League of Filipino Students spokesperson Charisse Bañez.

“Payment for the university’s services should all be included in the tuition. By imposing other dubious school fees, UST clearly intends to double the profit they acquire from charging tuition fees alone,” she added.

Student and youth groups are planning a nationwide walkout on Feb. 27 to demand accountability on the Mamasapano incident and protest the new spate of tuition and other school fees increases.

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‘US military involved in Exodus’

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