Home Blog Page 11104

Happy GDPR Day — but not for some US websites

The EU’s flagship new data protection laws came into effect on Friday but hit an early hitch as several major US news websites were blocked to European users.
The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune newspapers were among those inaccessible on the other side of the Atlantic following the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Separately Facebook and Google already face their first legal cases under the new law after an Austrian privacy campaigner accused them of effectively forcing users to give their consent to the use of their personal information.
The EU has billed the GDPR as the biggest shake-up of data privacy regulations since the birth of the web, saying it sets new standards in the wake of the recent Facebook data harvesting scandal.
But it has also been blamed for a flood of emails and messages in recent weeks as worried firms rush to request the explicit consent of users.
It led to the hashtag #HappyGDPRDay taking off on social media as people sarcastically celebrated the end of the deluge of spam.
Even though the rules were officially adopted two years ago, with a grace period until now to adapt to them, companies have been slow to act, resulting in a last-minute scramble this week.
Companies can be fined up to 20 million euros ($24 million) or four percent of annual global turnover for breaching the strict new data rules for the EU, a market of 500 million people.
– ‘Currently unavailable’ –
Several firms experienced real-world problems over complying with the EU laws, with US newspapers owned by the Tronc group, formerly known as Tribune Publishing, saying that they were blocked to Europeans for now.
“Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries,” said the message carried by the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Baltimore Sun and Orlando Sentinel.
“We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.”
Local US newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises, including the St. Louis Post Dispatch and Arizona Daily Sun, were also out of reach, explicitly blaming the GDPR.
The European Commission insisted that it was not responsible for the blackout of some US sites, saying it was “proud to set high data protection standards” for the bloc’s 500 million citizens.
“We have seen the press reports, but it is not for the Commission to comment on individual companies’ policies in terms of offering services in the EU,” a spokesman said in an emailed comment to AFP.
“We expect all companies to fully comply with the General Data Protection Regulation as of today. With the new rules in place, EU data protection authorities will watch over their correct application across the EU and ensure full compliance.”
– ‘Forced consent’ –
Meanwhile campaigner Max Schrems said he had launched four court cases on Friday under the new law.
They target Google in France, picture-sharing site Instagram in Belgium, WhatsApp in Germany and Facebook in his native Austria.
The problem with all these sites, he said, is with the pop ups that have been appearing on them in recent weeks, asking users to agree to new terms of use, adding that this amounts to a system of “forced consent” from users.
A previous case brought by Schrems against Facebook triggered the collapse of a previous EU-US data sharing agreement.
Brussels says the new laws put Europeans “back in control” of their data.
“When it comes to personal data today, people are naked in an aquarium,” said EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova.
The law says individuals must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used. It also establishes their “right to know” who is processing their information and what it will be used for; and gives them the “right to be forgotten”.
Parents will decide for children until they reach the age of consent, which member states will set anywhere between 13 and 16 years old.
The case for the new rules has been boosted by the recent scandal over the harvesting of Facebook users’ data by Cambridge Analytica, a US-British political research firm, for the 2016 US presidential election.
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said as he apologised to the European Parliament on Tuesday over the scandal that his firm will be “fully compliant” with the EU law. — AFP

Serena can come back and win tournaments, says Halep

PARIS — World number one Simona Halep said on Friday that she thinks Serena Williams is still capable of challenging for titles, as the American prepares to make her Grand Slam return at the French Open.
Williams will be playing in her first major tournament since winning last year’s Australian Open, having taken time off to give birth to her first child.
Halep, a two-time runner-up in Paris, knows that despite a lack of time on court, the unseeded Williams could prove a threat.
“It’s great for tennis that she’s back,” said Halep ahead of the start of the tournament on Sunday.
“Maybe she needs a little bit more time to get again used to the tournaments and everyday playing.
“In my opinion… She’s able to come back and to win tournaments again.
“She knows how to handle the pressure, how to handle all the situations. She’s (been) there for so many years. So I think she will come back and she will be good again.”
Williams, who opens her campaign with a first-round match against Czech Kristyna Pliskova, struggled on her return to tennis in March with early defeats in Indian Wells and Miami before taking more time off to get fully fit for Roland Garros.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion is joined in Paris by fellow former world number ones Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, with the trio playing a major tournament together for the first time since the 2016 Australian Open.
“I feel that now everyone is here (it) feels that the tournament is completed and everyone is here just to show that tennis is really nice and also that everyone can win it,” added Halep.
“These girls are coming back, Vika (Azarenka), Serena, with the kids, which is amazing. Makes it a little bit different and also special.”
Romanian Halep will be looking to end her wait for a first Grand Slam title after three previous final defeats, including last year at Roland Garros by Jelena Ostapenko and in February’s Australian Open against Caroline Wozniacki.
“It’s a Grand Slam. Everyone is at the highest level here,” she said.
“So it’s going to be difficult. I’m not thinking about the title, because it’s really far. I’m thinking just of my first match.”
The top seed will take on American world number 105 Alison Riske in the first ROUND. — AFP

Several airlines hold off listing Taiwan as part of China

Several international airlines still listed Taiwan as a separate country on their websites on Friday despite a deadline set by Beijing for carriers to refer to the self-governed island as a Chinese territory.
Chinese Civil Aviation Administration sent a notice to 36 foreign airlines last month, asking them to comply with Beijing’s standards of referring to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as Chinese territories, in a move described by the White House as “Orwellian nonsense.”
According to a copy of the letter circulating on Chinese social media, it was dated April 25 and gave carriers 30 days to comply, indicating a deadline of May 25. AFP could not verify the authenticity of the document.
But AFP found at least eight foreign airlines were still listing Taiwan as a country on their websites as of Friday, including United, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, All Nippon Airways and Qantas.
A spokesperson for Qantas told AFP that Chinese authorities have given the Australian carrier “additional time to further clarify how we refer to Chinese territories”.
Around a dozen other airlines including Air Canada, Air France, British Airways and Germany’s Lufthansa list Taiwan as a Chinese territory, though it is unclear when they started referring to the island that way.
The Taiwanese foreign ministry last week requested Air Canada for a “speedy correction” after the carrier made the changes.
China’s Civil Aviation administration declined to comment on when the deadline was or how many airlines have complied with their request.
The letter did not clarify the punishment for non-compliance, only saying it would be deemed as “serious discreditable conduct”.
China sees democratic Taiwan — which has never formally declared independence from the mainland — as a renegade part of its territory to be brought back into the fold, by force if necessary.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong, a British colony until 1997, and Macau, a Portuguese colony until 1999, are now “special administrative regions” of China.
Beijing has become increasingly sensitive to how foreign firms describe them, pressuring numerous international brands in recent months to amend language perceived as slights to its national sovereignty.
US retailer Gap Inc. apologised last week for selling a T-shirt which it said had an “incomplete map” of China.
Japanese retailer Muji was fined 200,000 yuan ($31,000) for packaging that identified Taiwan as a separate country, Shanghai’s administration for industry and commerce said last month.
Washington has maintained a delicate diplomatic balance since 1979, recognising Beijing’s sovereignty as part of its “One China” policy, while remaining Taiwan’s most powerful unofficial ally and main weapons supplier. — AFP

Indonesia passes tougher terror law after suicide attacks

Indonesia passed a new law Friday that will give police more power to take pre-emptive action against terror suspects following the country’s deadliest Islamist attacks in years.
The bill had been stalled for almost two years as parliament wrangled over key details, including how to define terrorism.
But a wave of deadly suicide bombings on churches and a police station this month — claimed by the Islamic State group — heaped pressure on lawmakers to pass the legislation.
President Joko Widodo threatened to issue an emergency regulation if parliament failed to pass the beefed-up law.
Police will now be allowed to detain terror suspects for as long as 21 days, up from the current one week, and they will also be able to charge people for joining or recruiting for a “terrorist” organisation, at home or abroad.
Hundreds of Indonesians flocked to Syria and Iraq in recent years to fight alongside IS and many have since returned, but police had previously been powerless to arrest them.
The revamped law also carries tougher jail terms and opens the door to the military playing a bigger role in Indonesia’s counter-terrorism efforts.
But the military’s patchy rights record has raised concerns among activists who said the bill’s vague wording could lead to a crackdown on any group seen as a threat.
Jakarta should instead focus on improving programmes to deradicalise militants, said Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch.
“I don’t see this new law as the ultimate cure to eradicate terrorism,” he said.
“It’s time for a sober assessment of why most deradicalisation programmes have not worked.”
Open discrimination against minorities — including Christians, the ethnic Chinese population and LGBT community — were emboldening Islamist radicals in the world’s biggest Muslim majority country, Harsono added.
The suicide attacks in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya, which killed 13, were committed by two families, including a nine and 12-year-old girl.
The families were part of the same religious study group and had ties to an extremist network allied to Islamic State.
Indonesia — which is set to host the Asian Games in three months and an IMF-World Bank meeting in Bali in October — has long struggled with Islamist militancy.
Security forces arrested hundreds of militants during a sustained crackdown since the 2002 Bali bombing, which killed more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists.
Most attacks in recent years have been limited to low-level operations against security forces, but police said they needed beefed-up terror laws to crack down on homegrown militancy. — AFP

EU, NATO urge Russia to 'accept responsibility' for MH17

The EU and NATO urged Russia on Friday to take responsiblity for the 2014 downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine after international investigators concluded that a missile which destroyed the plane came from a Russian military brigade.
The 28-nation European Union and the 29-country US-led military alliance issued statements on the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines plane hours after the Netherlands and Australia said they both held Moscow liable.
“The European Union calls on the Russian Federation to accept its responsibility and to fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability,” the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement.
She said the joint investigation that announced its findings on Thursday “concluded that the BUK installation used to bring down flight MH17 belonged beyond doubt to the armed forces of the Russian Federation”.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a separate statement: “I call on Russia to accept responsibility and fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability.”
Former Norwegian prime minister Stoltenberg said MH17 was a “global tragedy and those responsible must be held accountable”.
The probe concluded that the Russian-made BUK missile which smashed into the Boeing 777 in mid-air on July 17, 2014 came from a brigade based in Kursk.
All 298 people on board the flight en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed when the missile slammed into the plane as it flew over territory held by pro-Russian rebels.
Most of the dead were Dutch, but there were 17 nationalities including Australians on board. — AFP

Weinstein turns himself in to NY police station

Fallen Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to New York police on Friday to face sex crime charges, nearly eight months after his career imploded in a blaze of assault accusations and triggered the global #MeToo movement.
The former powerbroker — once the toast of Hollywood, whose films won scores of Oscars — is likely to be charged with raping one woman and forcing another into performing oral sex, US media have reported.
The 66-year-old former studio boss walked into the downtown Manhattan police station shortly before 7:30 am (1130 GMT) wearing a pale button-down shirt, a blue sweater and a dark blazer before a mob of television cameras.
Inside he was expected to have his mugshot and fingerprints taken, before being taken to a Manhattan court, where The New York Times reports that he will put up $1 million in cash and agree to wear a monitoring device.
His travel will be restricted and he will surrender his passport.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office and New York police have investigated Weinstein for months, coming under growing pressure from the Time’s Up movement to bring the disgraced producer to justice.
A Friday court appearance would mark the first criminal charges filed against the twice-married, shamed former titan.
Lucia Evans, who said he forced her into oral sex in 2004, is thought to be at least one of the women whose cases he will be charged over, according to US media.
– Dozens of accusers –
Ben Brafman, Weinstein’s powerful defense attorney, has declined to comment. Neither the district attorney’s office nor the police department has also spoken publicly about his surrender.
Police have, however, previously confirmed an active Weinstein investigation regarding Evans, who was an aspiring actress at the time.
New York police have also confirmed a credible rape allegation against Weinstein after “Boardwalk Empire” actress Paz de la Huerta accused him of raping her twice at her New York apartment in late 2010.
The mogul’s career went down in flames last October over sexual assault allegations following bombshell articles in The New York Times and New Yorker, which sparked a sexual harassment watershed across the United States and won both outlets a Pulitzer.
Women around the world came forward with similar cases of sexual mistreatment by men.
More than 100 women have since accused the 66-year-old of crimes ranging from sexual harassment to assault and rape going back 40 years.
More than two dozen actresses including Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie say they were sexually harassed by the producer. A few, including Asia Argento and Rose McGowan, said they were raped.
“We are one step closer to justice,” McGowan was quoted as saying by Variety. “May this give hope to all victims and survivors everywhere.”
Evans, now a marketing consultant, told The New Yorker that Weinstein approached her in a club in 2004 and that an assistant subsequently set up a daytime meeting at the Miramax office in Tribeca.
“He forced me to perform oral sex on him,” she said. “I said, over and over, ‘I don’t want to do this, stop, don’t,'” she added.
Weinstein has denied any non-consensual sex and has reportedly been in treatment for sex addiction. — AFP

US economist questions conventional thinking on raising babies

Washington, United STATES — Emily Oster has been crusading for years against what she calls the onslaught of bad advice directed at new parents, chastising everyone from grandmothers to charlatans to health authorities in her first book about pregnancy. And there’s more to come in her second book about early childhood.
“There are still many terrible studies being done,” said the 38-year-old professor of economics at Brown University.
It all began out of frustration when, pregnant with her first daughter, she ran into a brick wall of universal recommendations by doctors, but was unable to find actual statistics about the risks of things like drinking coffee or undergoing amniocentesis.
Then a professor at the University of Chicago, who had trained in statistics while obtaining her PhD in economics from Harvard, Oster went back to the studies that had been done on the risks posed by alcohol, tobacco, deli meats, sushi and even gardening.
Sometimes, she was able to confirm the general wisdom: tobacco, for instance, is indeed dangerous for pregnant women.
But Oster more often rejected the common advice, or found it wasn’t conclusive.
She found no evidence to prove that drinking coffee in moderation is dangerous. Eating sushi does expose one to the risk of salmonella, yes. But it is no riskier for a pregnant woman than for anyone else.
And gardening is to be avoided due to a parasite called toxoplasmosis, found in animal waste, which risks harming the developing fetus.
A passage in her book about drinking alcohol stoked plenty of controversy, but the economist was unmoved by the emotional responses.
Drinking a lot is dangerous for the fetus, she said, but no one had proven the same for light drinking, despite US and French recommendations for “zero alcohol while pregnant.”
Oster’s book, “Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong-and What You Really Need to Know,” has sold 80,000 copies since 2014 and has been translated into Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese and Korean (the Japanese version cut a chapter on epidurals, which are very rare in that country).
– Bad studies –
Oster says pregnancy and child-raising are fields in which bad studies abound.
The number of participants in these studies is often too small, making generalizations impossible.
And rare are the randomized, controlled trials — the gold standard in scientific research because they allow scientists to isolate the effect of a single element or medication.
Even more, some doctors are unable to translate the latest findings into medical advice. For instance, why do many doctors continue to recommend bed rest, when the evidence shows it is useless, and possibly even harmful?
“It can be difficult for all of us, not just doctors, to use data over anecdotes or over our own experiences,” said Oster.
Fear of lawsuits can also make some US doctors hyper-cautious.
– Breast-feeding –
Oster never says something is “true” or “false.” But she often says, “there is no evidence,” which can be a frustrating conclusion for parents on the hunt for certainty.
Her next book, due out in April 2019 and focused on children aged one to three, no offers no more reassurances.
Oster even takes on breastfeeding, a practice recommended by the World Health Organization, which touts its benefits for intelligence and against obesity.
In the United States, women are often encouraged to breastfeed as long as possible.
But Oster says she found just one rigorous study, large scale and randomized, comparing two groups of mothers in Belarus in the 1990s.
Half were encouraged to breastfeed, the other half were not.
Most studies compare the IQ of children who were breastfed to children who were not — but women who breastfeed are often wealthier, more educated and possess a higher IQ themselves, which could contribute to the difference.
“The trouble is that the evidence they are based on is often seriously biased by the fact that women who breastfeed are typically different from those who do not,” said Oster.
“Breastfeeding rates differ dramatically across income, education and race.”
To really uncover the effect of breastfeeding, a randomized trial is necessary.
What is clear from the Belarus trial, she says, is that mother’s milk reduces diarrhea and eczema in the short term.
“But many of the long term benefits that people claim are probably well not supported in the evidence,” such as on IQ and obesity.
– No universal manual –
Topics in her book include infant sleep issues, vaccines, disciplinary methods, educational philosophies and the impact of children on a couple’s relationship.
She did not reveal her findings, but gave a broad outline of what readers can expect.
“More so than in the first book, it becomes really clear that the preferences of the family and what works for the family should influence a lot of the choices that you make,” said Oster.
“Something that works for some people is not going to work for other people,” she added.
“There’s really not one recipe.”
There is one exception, she says, for parents who are hesitant to praise their children too much — particularly little ones.
“It’s fine, you can tell your baby that they’re great as much as you want!”
At least until proven otherwise. — AFP

Australian nun in last-minute appeal of Manila deportation

An elderly Australian nun facing deportation after angering Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte launched a last-minute appeal against the order on Friday, the deadline for her to leave the country.
Sister Patricia Fox, 71, has been accused of illegally engaging in political activism as the government cracks down on foreign critics on its soil.
Duterte, who accuses the Melbourne native of “disorderly conduct”, had the immigration service detain her briefly last month, after which her missionary visa was cancelled.
“Of course my wish is to continue my missionary work here and be with the poor,” Fox told reporters after filing her appeal with the justice ministry, which oversees immigration.
Fox had earlier filed an appeal with the immigration service, which this week upheld the deportation order asking the nun, who has been in the Philippines for nearly three decades, to leave by Friday.
However, on Thursday the immigration service’s spokesman Dana Sandoval told AFP her office “will submit to any directive that may come from” the justice ministry. Sandoval did not return calls for comment Friday.
Lawyer Katherine Panguban said Fox’s legal team was studying other options in case the justice ministry rejects her appeal.
“We will exhaust all administrative and judicial remedies available,” she said.
Authorities have previously said she would be allowed to remain while her appeals are pending.
Fox told AFP earlier this month she apparently angered the president by joining a fact-finding mission in April to investigate alleged abuses against farmers, including killings and evictions by soldiers fighting guerrillas in the southern Philippines.
“You insult me under the cloak of being a Catholic priest, and you are a foreigner! Who are you? It is a violation of sovereignty,” Duterte said in a speech last month, apparently referring to Fox.
Duterte has also launched verbal attacks against critics of his government’s narcotics crackdown, which has killed thousands of alleged dealers and users.
Last month Manila also deported Italian Giacomo Filibeck, deputy secretary general of the Party of European Socialists, who had previously condemned “extra-judicial killings” in Duterte’s anti-drug war. — AFP

Australian nun asks DoJ to reverse visa cancellation, deportation order

Text and photo by Dane Angelo Enerio
Australian missionary Patricia Fox on Friday petitioned the Department of Justice (DoJ) to reverse a government directive dated April 23 that cancelled her missionary visa and ordered her to leave the country.
The Bureau of Immigration had earlier accused Ms. Fox of being involved in partisan political activities, thus violating the terms and conditions of her missionary visa.
Ms. Fox argued in her 24-page petition for review that “it is not shown, and it is not even mentioned, in the assailed Order that any of the grounds for cancellation of a visa is present in this case.”
“The visa of a foreigner sojourning in the Philippines may only be cancelled or downgraded based on the grounds provided for by law and/or administrative/implementing issuances,” the petition read.
It pointed out: “[N]ot only did the Order fail to sufficiently state which ground it is relying for the cancellation and downgrading of the Respondent’s visa, it also failed to afford the respondent the procedures and processes spelled out in Rules 12 and 13 of the Omnibus Rules of Procedure where it is specifically required that the Petitioner should have been served with a copy of the petition for cancellation of visa, and given the opportunity to file an answer to refute the allegations against her.”
“Clearly, (Ms. Fox’s) right to due process was blatantly violated, since the cancellation and downgrading of her visa was not in accordance with the grounds and manner required by law for such cancellation,” the petition explained.
Ms. Fox also criticized the BI report used as the basis for the cancellation, describing it as being “unsubstantiated” and “purely speculative.”
“The place, context and even the source of the photographs (in the report) were not duly established as required by the Rules of Evidence. Technically, the statements contained in such report are mere allegations of wrongdoing, and cannot be made a basis for the said cancellation and downgrading,” the petition read.
According to the petition, using her alleged political activities as a basis for cancellation violates her right to freedom of speech and assembly, a right it cited as being “universally recognized and accorded to all, regardless of citizenship.”
The petition also prayed for the dismissal of another BI order dated April 17 which denied her motion that urged the BI to reverse its first order.
Ms. Fox’s lawyer, Katherine Panguban, told reporters right after the filing that her client’s visa was still valid despite the BI order being final and executory.
“Our filing is within the Omnibus rules of the BI. This would stay the execution of the order of the BI. Therefore, the missionary visa of sister Fox is still valid pending the decision of the DoJ,” she said in a mix of Tagalog and English.
When sought for comment, Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra told reporters, “I will read the appeal first. Will issue an appropriate order later.”
In response to the submission, the DoJ late on Friday issued a statement that ordered the BI to comment on the petition within 10 days of receipt.
The DoJ’s statement also clarified that Ms. Fox “had a remaining period of twenty-five (25) days from 24 May 2018, the date when she was served a copy of the Order denying her Motion for Reconsideration, or until 18 June 2018 witin which to leave the country,” in contrast to the BI order that gave her until May 25.
Ms. Fox “may file a reply within a non-extendible period of five (5) days from receipt of a copy of respondent BI’s comment,” the statement read further.

Asia stocks fall as Trump ditches Kim summit, but Europe rebounds

Asian markets mostly fell Friday as US President Donald Trump abruptly axed next month’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but Europe rebounded on hopes the pair would still meet.
Frankfurt, London and Paris equities had already skidded lower on Thursday as Trump’s announcement hit the newswires, prompting many investors to ditch risky equity investments.
But European indices bobbed higher on Friday as both Washington and Pyongyang left the door open for the summit to eventually take place.
North Korea declared that it is willing to talk to the United States “at any time”, while China urged both sides to show restraint.
“The focus has been firmly centred upon Donald Trump, with his decision to cancel the June meeting with Kim Jong Un bringing about a return to the risk-off sentiment,” said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG.
“However, it seems that it is the North Korean who is the pragmatist on this occasion, with his openness to reinstate the meeting helping limit the fallout from yesterday’s announcement.”
In a letter released by the White House, Trump told Kim he was cancelling the June 12 summit because of North Korea’s “anger” and “hostility”.
The message came after a key aide to Kim hit out at comments by Vice President Mike Pence, saying they were “ignorant and stupid” and warning the talks could be cancelled.
However, Trump’s letter added that the talks could still go ahead.
Markets have been jittery this week as the US president had warned in recent days that he could cancel the summit, while also voicing his displeasure at a deal to avert a trade war with China and threatening tariffs on car imports.
Thursday’s summit cancellation took many by surprise — including North and South Korean officials — and fuelled concerns about the future of a rapprochement that has had many hoping for peace on the divided peninsula.
“It looks like we are back to fire and fury as the modus operandi for the White House again after President Trump (threatened) a new 25 percent car import tariff and cancelled the summit with North Korea,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader.
“Not only was the summit cancelled but it was back to threatening the DPRK with a military response.”
– Fears for oil cap –
World oil prices meanwhile dived by more than a dollar, extending Thursday’s heavy falls after Russia said an agreement with OPEC to cap production — which has provided support to prices in recent years — could be up for revision at a meeting next month.
The comments from Energy Minister Alexander Novak dented a rally in the commodity, which has hit three-and-a-half-year highs on the back of improving demand and supply worries from Venezuela and Iran.
Meanwhile Russian and Saudi Arabian oil ministers meeting in Moscow on Friday said they believe a deal is possible to gradually boost oil output from as soon as July. — AFP

DoJ ends witness protection coverage for pork barrel scam suspect

Alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles’s provisional coverage under the Department of Justice’s (DoJ) Witness Protection Program (WPP) has been terminated, a statement released to reporters on Friday said.
“Secretary of Justice (Menardo I. Guevarra) issued today a letter to Janet Lim Napoles, through her counsel, giving notice of the termination of her provisional coverage under the Witness Protection Security and Benefit Program (WPSBP), effective 25 May 2018,” read the statement.
Ms. Napoles, who surrendered to the government in 2013 over graft and plunder charges for the alleged misuse of government funds amounting to P10 billion, was partially admitted into the program on Feb. 27 after she submitted a classified affidavit.
Her request to be transferred to the custody of the DoJ’s WPP was denied for lack of merit in a resolution dated April 5.
According to the statement, “Ms. Napoles had requested to be admitted into the Witness Protection Program of the (DoJ) due to alleged threats to her personal security, and specifically requested protection by way of transfer from her place of detention at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City to a secure housing facility with limited access to the public.”
“Considering the denial of Ms. Napoles’ Urgent Motion for Transfer of Custody to the (DoJ) WPSBP by the First, Third, and Fifth Divisions of the Sandiganbayan, the main purpose for which Ms. Napoles had sought admission into the WPSBP has become moot and academic,” it read further.
“As there has been no further claim of threats to her personal security inside Camp Bagong Diwa, the Secretary of Justice has found no reason to extend further Ms. Napoles’ provisional coverage under the (WPP),” the statement explained.
For its part, Malacañang welcomed the termination, with presidential spokesperson Harry L. Roque saying, “we support (Mr. Guevarra’s) decision and (agree) that Lim is not least guilty whose testimony is not indispensible and can be testified upon by other witnesses.” — Dane Angelo Enerio with Arjay L. Balinbin

Senate panel recommends suspension of fuel excise tax

The Senate committee on public services has moved to recommend the suspension of excise taxes on fuel amid rising prices in the wage of the tax reform law.
“We will ask the Department of Finance and other government agencies to study carefully the suspension of excise taxes on fuel because of the continuous price hike on petroleum products,” Senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares, chair of the committee on public services, said in Filipino during a hearing held in Iloilo Provincial Capitol on May 25.
The committee is also set to craft some proposals on how to cushion the impact of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law based on Friday’s discussion with stakeholders.
Ms. Poe noted that the cost of fuel increased by 30% since December 2017 on Panay Island, adding at least P10 to diesel and gasoline prices, which, in turn, also resulted in higher prices of basic commodities.
Senators Joseph Victor G. Ejercito and Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV made the same calls, reiterating that the public is bearing the brunt of the tax law.
“I urge government to implement the TRAIN Law provision that provided for the suspension of fuel excise tax increase ‘when the average Dubai crude oil price based on Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) for three months prior to the scheduled increase of the month reaches or exceeds $80 per barrel,'” Mr. Ejercito said in a statement.
The Department of Energy (DoE) said it may serve as arbiter to suspend fuel tax when world crude prices hit an average of $80 per barrel over three months but noted that the suspension will only cover the excise taxes due for 2019.
Filipinos are swamped by rising costs. Let us not wait for those costs to rise further,” Mr. Aquino said in Filipino, noting that waiting for 2019 to act would be “too late.”
Early this month, Mr. Aquino filed a bill to amend the TRAIN Law to introduce a mechanism that would suspend excise tax on fuel when inflation rate breaches government’s quarterly targets. — Minde Nyl R. Dela Cruz