China ships sail through disputed waters as tensions simmer

 News
Dec 082013
 
China ships sail through disputed waters as tensions simmer

Agence France-Presse 2:29 pm | Sunday, December 8th, 2013 In this Sept. 2, 2012 file photo, the survey ship Koyo Maru, left, chartered by Tokyo city officials, sails around Minamikojima, foreground, Kitakojima, middle right, and Uotsuri, background, the tiny islands in the East China Sea, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. AP FILE PHOTO TOKYO – Three Chinese ships entered disputed waters off Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea on Sunday, the Japanese coastguard said, the first such incident since Beijing announced an air defense zone in the area last month. The vessels entered the 12-nautical-mile territorial waters at about 9:00 a.m. (0000 GMT) off one of the Senkaku islands, which China also claims and calls the Diaoyus, the Japan Coast Guard said. They left the area shortly after noon. It was the first time that Chinese coastguard ships had been spotted sailing through the waters since Beijing raised regional tensions with its declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone in November. Chinese vessels have sailed in and out of contiguous waters around the islands but stayed away from entering territorial waters since November 22, a Japanese coastguard official said. Japan’s conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed no compromise on sovereignty of the islands and stepped up defence spending, believing that China is trying to change the status quo through growing sea incursions. Chinese state-owned ships and aircraft have approached the Senkakus on and off to demonstrate Beijing’s territorial claims, especially after Japan nationalised some of Read More …

US envoy Goldberg vows ‘Yolanda’ aid to continue

 News
Dec 022013
 
US envoy Goldberg vows ‘Yolanda’ aid to continue

New US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg: Continuing aid. AFP FILE PHOTO New US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg on Monday met with President Aquino, expressing condolences for the victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” and vowing that his country would continue to help the Philippines in its rehabilitation efforts. “I first want to say that we’re all still saddened and want to send our condolences to the people of the Eastern Visayas, with all the people of the Philippines after Typhoon Yolanda,” Goldberg told reporters in Malacañang after presenting his credentials to the President. “I had a chance to make the same kind of expression to President Aquino that the United States will remain with the Philippines as you move from the relief period into reconstruction. And the United States will take the lead of the Philippine government in areas that are most urgent for rehabilitation and reconstruction,” he said. But Goldberg also took the opportunity to make a pitch for an agreement that would allow “increased rotational presence” of US troops and access to their former military bases in the Philippines. “In the security area, but also in the cooperation that we have undertaken to work on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, we want to further that effort and be able to help even more as we move toward a framework agreement where the United States and the Philippines can move to the next level of [their] relationship,” he said. Goldberg, however, could not say when Manila and Read More …

US military scales down aid efforts in Philippines

 News
Nov 232013
 
US military scales down aid efforts in Philippines

MANILA – The US military has began scaling back its emergency relief operations in the Philippines as work shifts to recovery and rehabilitation in typhoon-hit areas, a US aid agency official said on Saturday. Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), the most powerful storm to make landfall this year, struck the central Philippines on Nov. 8, killing more than 5,200 people, displacing 4.4 million and destroying an estimated P12 billion worth of crops and infrastructure. The US Navy has pulled out its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, but still has ten C-130 aircraft delivering relief supplies. Last week, the United States had 50 ships and aircraft in the disaster zone. Jeremy Konyndyk, director for Foreign Disaster Assistance at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said the US military had started to reduce its presence to allow civilian aid agencies to step up efforts. “What we have seen, particularly over the past week, is now civilian and private-sector commercial capacity has started coming back up again and that is taking the burden off of the military actors,” Konyndyk told Reuters in an interview. “You don’t want the military playing that role in the long run, they are an interim bridging capacity there, but in the long run, that really needs to be civilian role.” Konyndyk said there had been significant progress in meeting people’s basic needs as more roads and ports opened in the worst-hit Leyte and Samar islands. “Food has been distributed to 3 million people, shelter kits have been Read More …

Phl bourse tumbles on concerns over US economic stimulus

 Economy
Nov 212013
 
Phl bourse tumbles on concerns over US economic stimulus

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – The Philippine stock market further retreated below the 6,200-level today over concerns that the United States might soon taper its economic stimulus. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 0.53 percent or 32.45 points to 6,122.89, while the broader all-share index fell by 0.70 percent or 26.50 points to 3,737.18. Trading volume reached 853.18 million shares worth P8.54 billion ($196.06 million) with 123 stocks declining, 34 advancing and 41 were unchanged. Of the six counters, only the industrial and the holding firm sectors bucked the trend. “Weakness continue to prevail, following indications of tapering plans in the US,” brokerage 2TradeAsia.com said in its daily stock market comment.   Investors are worried that the US Federal Reserves might soon go slow on its $85-billion a month asset purchase program following signs of recovery in the labor market. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 This caused major currencies to slide and the Dow Jones to close Wednesday’s session 66.21 points lower. 2TradeAsia.com advises investors to spot for good trading windows in second-tier shares that have breached “oversold zones.” Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly down. Among those sold out were Ayala Land, Inc., Alliance Global Group, Inc. and heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.    

PHL accepts China’s offer to send hospital ship

 News
Nov 212013
 
PHL accepts China’s offer to send hospital ship

The Philippines has accepted China’s offer to send its naval hospital ship to aid distressed survivors of Typhoon Yolanda that devastated many areas in the Visayas nearly two weeks ago. “We are thankful for the offer of China to send the Peace Ark Hospital Ship to support the relief operations,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez told a press briefing Thursday. China’s Peace Ark Hospital, reports said, is already bound for the badly-hit Visayas region to provide relief assistance to the victims. “The schedule and other details related to its deployment are now being coordinated with the concerned agencies,” Hernandez said. China’s increased assistance came amid criticisms of its initial paltry donation of $100,000 to the Philippines, a United States ally and Beijing’s rival claimant in the South China Sea territories. Tensions spiked anew between Manila and Beijing this year when the Philippine government sued China before an arbitral tribunal to question the legality of its massive territorial claim. Amid mounting pressure to increase aid, China, the world’s second largest economy, pledged P73 million more. Asked if the US would still push through with an initial plan to deploy its USNS Mercy hospital ship, Hernandez said: “There is an agreement in principle between the Philippines and the US that the USNS Mercy will be deployed at a time when it is needed most based upon the assessment of the needs of the Philippines.” Nevertheless, he said the Philippines is “grateful” for the continued assistance provided by the US in the aftermath Read More …

Villagers mob US aid choppers as Yolanda relief effort spreads

 News
Nov 172013
 
Villagers mob US aid choppers as Yolanda relief effort spreads

CABUNGAAN, Leyte – Mobbed by hungry villagers, US military helicopters dropped desperately needed aid into remote areas of the typhoon-ravaged central Philippines, as survivors of the disaster flocked to ruined churches on Sunday to pray for their uncertain future. The Philippines is facing up to an enormous rebuilding task from Typhoon Yolanda, which killed at least 3,681 people and left 1,186 missing, with many isolated communities yet to receive significant aid despite a massive international relief effort. Philippine authorities and international aid agencies face a mounting humanitarian crisis, with the number of people displaced by the catastrophe estimated at 4 million, up from 900,000 late last week. President Benigno Aquino, caught off guard by the scale of the disaster and criticized by some for the sometimes chaotic response, visited affected areas on Sunday. Not for the first time, he sought to deflect blame for the problems onto local authorities whose preparations he said had fallen short. In Guiuan, a hard-hit coastal town in eastern Samar province, he praised the city mayor for conducting a proper evacuation that had limited deaths to less than 100, saying that was a contrast to other towns. “In other places, I prefer not to talk about it. As your president, I am not allowed to get angry even if I am already upset. I’ll just suffer through it with an acidic stomach.” While aid packages have begun to reach more remote areas, much of it carried by helicopters brought by the USS George Washington aircraft Read More …

US military ‘godsend’ to ‘Yolanda’ victims

 News
Nov 172013
 
US military ‘godsend’ to ‘Yolanda’ victims

Residents protect themselves from strong wind created by a US Navy Sea Hawk helicopter from the US aircraft carrier USS George Washington as it takes off upon dropping relief supplies for villagers isolated by last week’s super typhoon Yolanda Saturday Nov.16, 2013 on Manicani island, Eastern Samar. AP ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON — As soon as Navy pilot Matthew Stafford puts his helicopter down in the village of Borongan, he is rushed by dozens of local men who form a line to unload the supplies he has flown in from the USS George Washington aircraft carrier. On the Philippine islands of Leyte and Samar that were shattered by Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan), there is no doubt about it: the US military has been a godsend. “It is awesome to see this,” says one grateful villager. “They are saving us.” Villagers stranded by last week’s Typhoon Yolanda scramble for aid from a US Navy Sea Hawk helicopter from the U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington in the coastal town of Tanawan, central Philippines Sunday, Nov. 17. 2013. But while US military support can be critical when disasters like Yolanda strike, staging massive humanitarian relief missions for allies in need isn’t just about being a good neighbor. They can be a strategic and publicity goldmine for US troops whose presence in Asia isn’t always portrayed in such a favorable light — and a powerful warning to countries that aren’t on board. This aerial photo shows the devastation caused by last Read More …

US carrier starts typhoon relief ops as Aquino comes under fire

 News
Nov 142013
 
US carrier starts typhoon relief ops as Aquino comes under fire

TACLOBAN – A U.S. aircraft carrier “strike group” started unloading food and water to the typhoon-ravaged central Philippines on Thursday, as President Benigno Aquino faced mounting pressure to speed up the distribution of supplies. While relief efforts picked up, local authorities began burying the dead – an important, if grim, milestone for a city shredded by one of the world’s most powerful typhoons and the tsunami-like wall of seawater believed to have killed thousands. “There are still bodies on the road,” said Alfred Romualdez, mayor of Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people reduced to rubble in worst-hit Leyte province. “It’s scary. There is a request from a community to come and collect bodies. They say it’s five or 10. When we get there, it’s 40.” Many petrol station owners whose businesses were spared have refused to reopen, leaving little fuel for trucks needed to move supplies and medical teams around the devastated areas nearly a week after Typhoon Haiyan struck. “The choice is to use the same truck either to distribute food or collect bodies,” Romualdez added. The nuclear-powered USS George Washington aircraft carrier and accompanying ships arrived off wind-swept eastern Samar province, carrying 5,000 crew and more than 80 aircraft, after what strike force commander Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery called a “high-speed transit” from Hong Kong. It is moored near where U.S. General Douglas MacArthur’s force of 174,000 men landed on October 20, 1944, in one of the biggest allied victories of World War Two. “Operation Damayan” started with Read More …

Pentagon names special report ‘Operation Damayan’ on its website

 News
Nov 142013
 
Pentagon names special report ‘Operation Damayan’ on its website

By Julliane Love de JesusINQUIRER.net 9:51 pm | Thursday, November 14th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—Naming its humanitarian assistance to the typhoon-ravaged Philippines using Filipino words, the Pentagon, or the United States Department of Defense, has dedicated a special report in its official website on “Operation Damayan.” “Damayan” is loosely translated “helping each other.” After Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name Haiyan) barrelled the entire coastal communities in Central Visayas leaving thousands dead, foreign aid poured in the affected areas as global concern for the Philippines grew. In the case of Pentagon, concern and relief efforts for its partner country manifested even in the cyberspace.   With a customized header for “Operation Damayan,” the US Department of Defense featured news articles, videos and photo essays of American troops who came to the Philippines’ rescue. From their preparation in Japan for relief operations, the visuals documented the US soldiers giving aid to the survivors of “Yolanda” in the worst hit Tacloban City in Leyte province, where more than 2,000 have been recorded dead. It also collated statements from US President Barack Obama and US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel alongside the Central Intelligence Agency’s website providing information on the Philippines. A day after Yolanda battered the country, Obama sent his sympathies to the Philippines in a public statement saying: “Michelle (Obama) and I are deeply saddened by the loss of life and extensive damage done by Supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’. But I know the incredible resiliency of the Philippine people, and I am confident that the spirit Read More …

US sends ‘Mercy’ to Yolanda victims

 News
Nov 142013
 
US sends ‘Mercy’ to Yolanda victims

By Julliane Love de JesusINQUIRER.net 8:09 pm | Thursday, November 14th, 2013 USNS MERCYphoto from http://www.med.navy.mil MANILA, Philippines – A US Navy hospital ship will come to the Philippines to support disaster relief efforts in areas ravaged by the supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan). Expected to dock in the Philippines this December, naval ship “Mercy” was activated by US Pacific Fleet on Wednesday for immediate deployment, commander of the US Pacific Fleet Admiral Harry Harris Jr. said in an official statement. “If ordered to deploy, Mercy would get underway in the next several days and could arrive in the Philippines sometime in December, joining other US Pacific Fleet units already supporting Operation Damayan,” the Pentagon’s humanitarian assistance program for “Yolanda” victims launched in cooperation with the US Agency for International Development. Damayan in Filipino means “help in time of need”. As of posting time, the US has transported more than 107,000 pounds of relief supplies. In the official website of USNS Mercy has three to four operating rooms, one emergency room, four Intensive Care Unit beds and isolation ward, 62 ward beds and 22 hotel beds. The US Navy will also send amphibious ships USS Ashland (LSD 48), USS Germantown (LSD 42), USS McCampbell (DDG 85) and USNS Charles Drew (T-AKE 10), which were expected to arrive in the country starting Thursday. “This collection of ships and their complement of aircraft, to include much-needed helicopters, will provide food and water, the capability to move relief supplies to isolated areas, and Read More …

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