Insights from an inspiring leadership seminar with Romy
The seminar-workshop of COPS (Community On Peace and Security) lasted for a few months and it was greatly appreciated by Barangay Chairperson(s), Tanods, students, and the people at large in the 3rd District. During weekends after lecture, the whole group would convene in a modest videoke bar like ISKARGU in Bay, Laguna to sing their favorite songs while enjoying grilled pork and Tilapia for a change. No one drank intoxicating liquor so you can imagine the kind of discipline the group had in pursuing their advocacy.
The best part of the program was the “graduation day” set for each cluster. The participants came to the assigned venue wearing their Sunday’s best attire all too glad to receive the Certificate of Attendance amidst round of applause from the audience. One Barangay Tanod even bragged that that was the first time he received a written recognition for attending what he called a ‘class’ and that he would have his certificate framed and put on display in the living room of his house. The awarding of the certificates of attendance was a concerted idea of SPO4 Rey Paras, Romy and Fiscal Ante.
The whole program may seem expensive but it was not. It was done by the group purely out of passion, love and dedication to teach the people in the barangays about the importance of : understanding the country’s justice system; how to prevent crimes proliferating during those times; the formation of correct moral values; and the importance of mental health. It was one work worthy of emulation but sad to note, no other group followed. Obviously, nobody wanted to share their time, efforts and knowledge without compensation.
When we were done with the seminars-workshops, Rey Paras and wife Marina treated Romy and I to a week-long vacation in Subic, Zambales. We stayed in a beachfront hotel where we relished the sound of the rushing waves to the shore, the fine sand and the beautiful sunset. We even visited the ‘Bat Kingdom’ and the home of monkeys – a sight to behold! It was my first time to see a throng of monkeys – young and old lined up on the side of the road with a couple of mother monkeys breastfeeding her young like humans. They were waving their hands and making sounds only their kind obviously understood. Much as we wanted to give them food, we were prescribed by the local authorities to feed them.
At the hotel, Romy and I would take down notes we can use in writing short stories and poems for our respective columns in the local community newspaper. Had cellphone with camera been available during that time like today, I would definitely have in my possession a good collection of photographs for reference purposes
BOSTON. A renowned Titanic expert, a world-record holding adventurer, two members of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families and the CEO of the company leading an expedition to the world’s most famous shipwreck are facing critical danger aboard a small submersible that went missing in the Atlantic Ocean.
The submersible Titan was reported overdue Sunday night about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, according to Canada’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center, spurring a desperate international rescue effort. Rescuers were racing against the clock because the oxygen supply could run out by approximately 6 a.m. Thursday.
A Canadian aircraft detected underwater noises during the hunt for the Titan. The U.S. Coast Guard said via Twitter early Wednesday that as a result of the noises detected by the Canadian P-3 patrol aircraft, search efforts have been relocated and the data is being used to help guide the ongoing effort.
The expedition featuring the Titan was led by OceanGate, making its third voyage to the Titanic, which struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing all but about 700 of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew.
A pilot and four other people are on the Titan. They are:
STOCKTON RUSH
Although his background is in aerospace and technology, Rush founded OceanGate Inc. in 2009 to provide crewed submersibles for undersea researchers and explorers, according to the company’s website. Rush is the Titan’s pilot, said company spokesperson Andrew Von Kerens.
The private company based in Washington started bringing tourists to the Titanic in 2021 as part of its effort to chronicle the slow deterioration of the wreck.
“The ocean is taking this thing, and we need to document it before it all disappears or becomes unrecognizable,” Rush told The Associated Press in 2021.
In an interview with CBS News last year, Rush defended the safety of his submersible but said nothing is without risk.
“What I worry about most are things that will stop me from being able to get to the surface — overhangs, fish nets, entanglement hazard,.” he said, adding that a good pilot can avoid such perils.
Rush became the youngest jet transport rated pilot in the world at age 19 in 1981, and flew commercial jets in college, according to his company biography. He joined the McDonnell Douglas Corp. in 1984 as a flight test engineer. Over the past 20 years, he has overseen the development of multiple successful IP ventures.
Greg Stone, a longtime ocean scientist and a friend of Rush, called him “a real pioneer” in the innovation of submersibles.
“Stockton was a risk-taker. He was smart. He was, he had a vision, he wanted to push things forward,” Stone said Tuesday.
HAMISH HARDING
A British businessman, Harding lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Action Aviation, an aircraft brokering company for which Harding serves as chairman, said he was one of the mission specialists, who paid to go on the expedition.
Harding is a billionaire adventurer who holds three Guinness World Records, including the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel. In March 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench. In June 2022, he went into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.
“Both the Harding family and the team at Action Aviation are very grateful for all the kind messages of concern and support from our friends and colleagues,” the company said in a statement.
In a Facebook post Saturday, Harding said he was “proud” to be part of the mission.
“Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023,” he posted. “A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive (Sunday).”
Harding was “looking forward to conducting research” at the Titanic site, said Richard Garriott de Cayeux, the president of The Explorers Club, a group to which Harding belonged.
“We all join in the fervent hope that the submersible is located as quickly as possible,” he said in a statement.
SHAHZADA AND SULEMAN DAWOOD
Father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood are members of one of Pakistan’s most prominent families. Their family said in a statement that they were both aboard the vessel.
“We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety while granting the family privacy at this time,” the statement said. “The family is well looked after and are praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members.”
Their firm, Dawood Hercules Corp., based in Karachi, is involved in agriculture, petrochemicals and telecommunication infrastructure.
Shahzada Dawood also is on the board of trustees for the California-based SETI Institute that searches for extraterrestrial intelligence. The Dawoods live in the UK, according to SETI.
Shahzada Dawood is also a member of the Global Advisory Board at the Prince’s Trust International, founded by Britain’s King Charles III to address youth unemployment.
He has degrees from the University of Buckingham in the United Kingdom and Philadelphia University (now Thomas Jefferson University) in the U.S.
PAUL-HENRY NARGEOLET
Nargeolet is a former French navy officer who is considered a Titanic expert after making multiple trips to the wreckage over several decades.
David Gallo, a senior adviser for strategic initiatives and special projects at RMS Titanic, said in an interview with CNN that Nargeolet was on board.
He is director of underwater research for E/M Group and RMS Titanic Inc., has completed 37 dives to the wreck and supervised the recovery of 5,000 artifacts, according to his company profile.
He was expedition leader on the most technologically advanced dive to Titanic in 2010, which used high-resolution sonar and 3D optical imaging on the bow and stern sections as well as the debris field.
While with the French Institute for Research and Exploitation of Sea, he led the first recovery expedition to the Titanic in 1987.
Submersible pilot Randy Holt, right, communicates with the support boat as he and Stockton Rush, left, CEO and Co-Founder of OceanGate, dive in the company’s submersible, “Antipodes,” about three miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., June 28, 2013. Rescuers in a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean raced against time Tuesday, June 20, 2023, to find a missing submersible before the oxygen supply runs out for five people, including Stockton, who were on a mission to document the wreckage of the Titanic. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
CALAMBA CITY, Laguna. Isang trahedya ang naganap nang patayin ng isang nagbebenta ng cellphone ang kaniyang customer matapos umanong pagpapaluin ito ng tubo sa ulo noong Lunes ng gabi, Hunyo 19, sa Purok 7 Ilaya, Barangay Parian dito.
Ayon sa mga ulat, nagkaroon ng hindi pagkakasundo sa presyo ang suspek na si Elmer, na kilala rin bilang “Bukol,” at ang biktima na si Domingo Ramilo Gonzales bago naganap ang insidente.
Matapos matuklasan ng suspek na may interes ang biktima na bilhin ang kanyang cellphone, nagkasundo sila sa isang tiyak na halaga bandang 7:30 ng gabi.
Ngunit noong magbabayad na sana ang biktima, bigla umanong nagbago ang isip ng suspek at itinaas ang napagkasunduang presyo. Dahil dito, nagkaroon ng mainitang pagtatalo sa pagitan nila na nagdulot ng tensyon at galit.
Ayon sa mga saksi, sa gitna ng kanilang pag-aaway, kinuha ng suspek ang isang bakal na tubo at walang habas na pinagpapalo nito ang ulo ng biktima.
Dahil sa malalakas na palo sa ulo, bumagsak ang biktima patungo sa sahig, at nawalan ito ng malay.
Agad na tumakas ang suspek habang dinala ng mga kaanak ang biktima sa Calamba Doctor Hospital. Gayunman, matapos masuri ng mga doktor, idineklara ang biktima na patay na.
Kasalukuyang iniimbestigahan ng mga awtoridad ang insidente.
Nagpapaalala si Police Colonel Randy Glenn Silvio, director ng Laguna Provincial Police Office sa lahat na maging maingat sa mga transaksyon at maging mapanuri sa mga sitwasyon upang maiwasan ang mga karahasan na maaaring maganap. Ang pag-aari ng isang cellphone ay hindi dapat maging dahilan ng pagkamatay ng isang tao, ayon sa kanya.
Hundreds of mourners attended a funeral on Sunday for a Hong Kong model whose grisly death earlier this year shocked the city, with floral tributes flowing in from loved ones, friends and celebrities alike.
Abby Choi, a 28-year-old mother of four, went missing in late February until parts of her dismembered body were found by police in a rural village house.
The death of the prominent model and influencer, who had made appearances at international fashion shows and commanded significant followings on both Instagram and Douyin – China’s version of Tik Tok – made headlines worldwide.
Friends and loved ones were finally able to bid Choi goodbye some four months after her death at a funeral service that was decked out in her favorite color pink.
Hundreds of people dressed in black lined up outside the Po Fook Memorial Hall in a quiet suburb of Hong Kong just a dozen miles south of where her remains were found.
The entrance was decorated with pink curtains and two images of Choi – posing in a pink dress against a column of balloons in various shades of the same color.
Among those present at the funeral was her late husband Chris Tam, whose family founded a popular noodle chain in the city.
Holding the hands of one of their children, Tam, dressed in a suit, arrived at the funeral parlor an hour prior to the Buddhist ceremony to bid farewell to his wife.
Floral tributes from various celebrities could be seen being carried by workers into the funeral home, including from Aaron Kwok, a veteran of Hong Kong’s pop music scene in the 1990s.
Choi was cremated on Monday with a black hearse embellished with pink flowers ferrying her body to a famous monastery on a nearby island.
Choi’s ex-husband Alex Kwong, 28, his brother Anthony, 31, and their father, Kwong Kau, 65, have been charged with murder over her death. Alex Kwong’s mother Jenny Li, 63, is charged with perverting the course of justice.
The family was denied bail and are currently in jail custody, with the next hearing scheduled on July 31.
Two others have been charged with assisting the ex-husband’s effort to escape, though they have been released on bail.
The 21-foot-long civilian submersible with five people aboard that went missing Sunday in the remote waters of the North Atlantic Ocean where the Titanic sank has four days of emergency capability, the leader of search and rescue efforts said Monday afternoon.
Assets from the US and Canadian Coast Guards are searching the sea surface 900 miles east of Cape Cod and using sonar to listen for sounds in the water, which is up to 13,000 feet deep in the area.
The five people on board the vessel, which was on an expedition to view the Titanic wreckage, comprised one pilot and four “mission specialists,” Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the Coast Guard’s First District, said Monday in a news conference. He didn’t identify the five and said authorities still were in the process of contacting family members.
He referred reporters to the group conducting the expedition, OceanGate Expeditions, for information about what the term “mission specialist” entails.
“We’re working very closely at this point to make sure that we’re doing everything that we can do to locate the submersible and rescue those on board,” Mauger said.
The Canadian research ship Polar Prince on Sunday notified the military branch it had lost contact with the underwater vessel, according to Coast Guard spokesperson Lt. Samantha Corcoran. In a tweet, the Coast Guard said the communications silence began approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes into the vessel’s dive.
Time is a factor, officials said. “In terms of the hours, we understood that that was 96 hours of rescue or emergency capability from the operator,” Mauger told reporters. “And so we anticipate that there’s somewhere between 70 to the full 96 hours available at this point.”
A British businessman based in the United Arab Emirates, Hamish Harding, is one of the people on the submersible, according to a social media post by the company he owns, Action Aviation.
“The sub had a successful launch and Hamish is currently diving,” the company said in an Instagram post on Sunday.
Harding was one of the first people to travel the Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean – the deepest known point on Earth. On Saturday he wrote of the Titanic mission: “I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic.”
Search assets include civilian ships
C-130 aircraft were searching the surface and two P-8 planes that use sonar to find submarines were part of the search efforts, Mauger said Monday. Commercial ships are also involved and one has sonar, he added.
“Oftentimes we rely on commercial operators to be the first vessels on scene,” Mauger said. “And so we’ve been in touch with additional commercial vessels that are operating in the area as well as initiating the movement of additional Canadian Coast Guard assets and US Coast Guard surface assets into the area over the course of the next couple of days.”
The US Coast Guard also has been in touch with the US Navy and the Canadian military to determine what underwater rescue capability is available, if needed, Mauger said.
OceanGate is assisting in the search and said it is “exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.”
“Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families. We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible,” the group said. “We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers.”
Chief Mi’sel Joe of Miawpukek First Nation, which co-owns the Polar Prince, the support vessel on the expedition, said he received a call Sunday afternoon alerting him the sub was two hours overdue and still hadn’t surfaced, and they had lost communication with the sub. At that point, requests for search and rescue had gone out, he said.
Sub has safety features, company says
OceanGate Expeditions operates a trip taking passengers to the Titanic’s wreckage at the bottom of the ocean for prices starting at $250,000, according to an archived version of its website, accessible via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
“Follow in Jacques Cousteau’s footsteps and become an underwater explorer — beginning with a dive to the wreck of the RMS Titanic. This is your chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary,” the website said. “Become one of the few to see the Titanic with your own eyes.”
The eight-day expedition is based out of St. John’s, Newfoundland and begins with a 400-nautical-mile journey to the wreck site. There, up to five people, including a pilot, a “content expert” and three paying passengers, board a submersible named “Titan” and descend over two hours to the bottom of the ocean to see the Titanic up close.
According to OceanGate, Titan is a 23,000-pound submersible made of carbon fiber and titanium. As a safety feature, the sub uses a “proprietary real-time hull health monitoring (RTM) system” that analyzes the pressure on the vessel and the integrity of the structure, the company states.
The Titanic infamously hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in April 1912, killing more than 1,500 people. The wreckage of the Titanic, discovered in 1985, sits in two parts at the bottom of the ocean nearly 13,000 feet below the surface, southeast of Newfoundland.
Unlike a submarine, a submersible has limited power reserves so it needs a mother ship that can launch and recover it, according to NOAA.
‘Think positive’ expedition participant on Polar Prince posts
An expedition participant on board the Polar Prince, the ship that launched the now-missing sub, said they are all “focused on board here for our friends.”
“We have a situation that is now the part of a major Search and Rescue effort, being undertaken by major agencies,” Rory Golden wrote on Facebook after being contacted by CNN. “That is where our focus is right now.”
He asked people not to ask for or speculate on the names of those on the missing sub.
“I have seen some comments already on social media that are highly inappropriate and insensitive,” he said. He added their online and internet options were being restricted “to keep bandwidth available for the coordinated effort that is taking place.”
“The reaction and offers of help globally is truly astonishing, and only goes to show the real goodness in people at a time like this,” he said. He ended the post thanking everyone and saying, “… think positive. We are.”
The Polar Prince ship is seen while moored in Vancouver, British Columbia, Oct. 23, 2017. A search is underway, Monday, June 19, 2023, for a missing submersible that carries people to view the wreckage of the Titanic. Unlike submarines that leave and return to port under their own power, submersibles require a ship to launch and recover them. OceanGate hired the Polar Prince to ferry dozens of people and the submersible craft to the North Atlantic wreck site. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)
Tuluyan nang mauubos ang mga nars na nagtatrabaho sa Pilipinas kung hindi mababawasan ang bilang ng mga umaalis patungo sa ibang bansa upang magtrabaho. Ito ang pahayag ni health secretary Ted Herbosa, na kasabay ng pagpapahayag na mas marami ang umalis kaysa sa mga bagong pumapasok.
“I saw the figures, mas marami ‘yung umaalis kesa sa napo-produce natin. In a few more years, I don’t know how many but I think it can be counted by the fingers of one hand. In a few years, if we don’t do anything, maubusan tayo ng nurses,” dagdag pa ni Herbosa.
Batay sa talaan ng Department of Health (DOH), mayroong 44,602 na doktor at 178,629 na nars ang nagtatrabaho sa Pilipinas. Malayo ito sa mga datos ng Professional Regulatory Commission na nagpapahayag na mayroong 95,000 na lisensyadong doktor at 509,000 na lisensyadong nars sa bansa.
Kinumpirma rin ng Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPI) na 40-50% ng kanilang mga nars ang nagbitiw sa kanilang mga trabaho sa loob ng nakaraang dalawang taon upang maghanap ng trabaho sa ibang bansa.
Dahil dito, bukas ang PHAPI sa pagbibigay ng pansamantalang lisensya sa mga nars na hindi pa nakapasa sa mga pagsusulit sa board o sa mga nars na hindi pumasa sa unang pagkakataon. Ang layunin nito ay mapunan ang kakulangan sa mga nars at mapanatili ang kalidad ng serbisyong pangkalusugan sa bansa.
Ngunit, itinutulak din ng PHAPI ang mga hakbang upang mapababa ang bilang ng mga nars na umaalis. Kasama na rito ang pagbibigay ng mas maayos na pasahod at trabaho sa loob ng bansa, upang maging kaakit-akit ito sa mga nars na manatili at maglingkod sa Pilipinas.
Sa kasalukuyan, patuloy pa rin ang pag-aaral at paghahanap ng mga solusyon upang mapangalagaan ang mga health worker sa bansa, partikular na ang mga nars na kritikal sa pagpapanatili ng kalusugan ng mamamayan.
LONDON. European Union consumer protection groups urged regulators on Tuesday to investigate the type of artificial intelligence underpinning systems like ChatGPT, citing risks that leave people vulnerable and the delay before the bloc’s groundbreaking AI regulations take effect.
A transatlantic coalition of consumer groups also wrote to U.S. President Joe Biden asking him to take action to protect consumers from possible harms caused by generative AI.
Europe has led the world in efforts to regulate artificial intelligence, which gained urgency with the rise of a new breed of artificial intelligence that gives AI chatbots like ChatGPT the power to generate text, images, video and audio that resemble human work.
The EU is putting the finishing touches on the world’s first set of comprehensive rules for the technology, but they are not expected to take effect for two years.
The groups called for European and U.S. leaders to use both existing laws and bring in new legislation to address the harms that generative AI can cause.
They cited a report by the Norwegian Consumer Council outlining dangers that AI chatbots pose, including providing incorrect medical information, manipulating people, making up news articles and illegally using vast amounts of personal data scraped off the internet.
The consumer groups, in countries including Italy, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Greece and Denmark, warn that while the EU’s AI Act addresses some of the concerns, they won’t start applying for several years, “leaving consumers unprotected from a technology which is insufficiently regulated in the meantime, and developing at great pace.”
Some authorities have already acted. Italy’s privacy watchdog ordered ChatGPT maker OpenAI to temporarily stop processing user’s personal information while it investigated a possible data breach. France, Spain and Canada also have been looking into OpenAI and ChatGPT.
Lawmakers vote on the Artificial Intelligence act Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. European Union consumer protection groups urged regulators on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, to investigate the type of artificial intelligence underpinning systems like ChatGPT, citing risks that leave people vulnerable and the delay before the bloc’s groundbreaking AI regulations take effect. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias, File)
NEW DELHI. India’s prime minister has a reputation of casting himself as an ascetic. So when Narendra Modi leads foreign dignitaries and bureaucrats in a session for International Yoga Day on Wednesday at the United Nations’ Secretariat in New York, millions of Indians will take note.
Yoga, an ancient discipline first practiced by Hindu sages, is now one of India’s most successful cultural exports after Bollywood. And it’s become a piece of India’s diplomacy. Surinder Goel, a 61-year-old yoga instructor in the capital, New Delhi, practices daily. He says the activity is “India’s contribution to the world.”
“Our prime minister has done a great job in spreading yoga to the world,” Goel said. “Today, even the Muslim countries learn and follow it, only because of the PM.”
Goel says yoga should be a daily practice worldwide, no matter how busy a person is, citing the prime minister’s devotion to the practice.
Nine years ago, the Hindu nationalist leader successfully lobbied the U.N. to designate June 21 as International Yoga Day. Since then, Modi has harnessed yoga as a cultural soft power to stretch his nation’s diplomatic reach and flex his country’s rising place in the world.
Modi has promoted yoga so much that even foreign diplomats have been seen stretching themselves in gardens and their embassy offices. Government bureaucrats and officers have taken to social media to show themselves folding in different poses and sometimes tiredly grabbing their backs after mass outdoor yoga sessions. The Indian military has done downward dog with trained K-9 units, boat pose atop an aircraft carrier and mountain pose in the high-altitude Himalayas in bone-chilling temperatures.
Modi has also been living la vida yoga, flexing his own hardcore devotion to the practice.
In 2018 he posted a two-minute video on Twitter that showed him doing a range of yoga poses in a garden, including stretching and leaning backward on a rock in a spread-armed savasana that birthed many memes.
In 2019, after the final day of national polling, he retreated to a Himalayan mountain cave to meditate and seek isolation — with a camera crew that relayed live visuals to the entire nation.
A year later, Modi went the extra mile, tweeting videos showing an animated version of him doing yoga poses.
Now, Modi is guiding leaders from around the world in the practice of yoga to promote its benefits as part of his three-day visit to the U.S.
With over 1.42 billion people, which recently surpassed China as the most populous, India has become fragmented largely along religious lines. Despite its religious roots, Modi has used yoga to try and boost his image in the diverse nation.
Modi’s ministers, following their leader in practicing yoga, have sometimes marked it with religious connotations by doing sun salutations and chanting Sanskrit verses considered holy in Hinduism. Government employees and students have been asked to practice the same, and some state administrations ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party have sought to make it mandatory in schools.
This has angered some of the prime minister’s critics. In particular, some Muslims — India’s largest minority, which has faced rising violence under Modi by Hindu nationalists — say they should not be forced to perform sun salutations or chant Hindu hymns.
Government ministers tried to address these concerns by guaranteeing that sun salutations would be optional, though some dissenters are not assured.
Srivalli Cherla has noticed yoga becoming more politicized in recent years.
The 30-year-old yoga instructor based in India’s remote Ladakh region originally took to yoga for physical exercise in 2017. After months of consistent practice, she noticed subtle changes in her body and mental health, and realized yoga was helping her release anger she was holding on to.
“Whenever I am having a bad day, I come back home and roll out my yoga mat. It’s a form of mental discipline too; you learn not to give in to certain thoughts, so it challenges you mentally,” she says.
Cherla said she had signed up for a program to receive a yoga instructor certification recognized by the Indian government’s Ayush Ministry, which promotes Ayurveda traditional medicine. But she quit just 10 days into training.
“The teacher passed a comment that essentially called it a Hindu — and not secular — practice, which left a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve never seen it as religious. It’s part of India’s culture, but this comment made me realize what they were teaching didn’t align with my own beliefs or experience of yoga,” she says.
In New Delhi, yogi Goel agrees that yoga is for everyone, regardless of religion.
“We should not connect yoga with religion or politics. Yoga is meant to benefit the common people, not ministers,” Goel says.
And he believes yoga has the power to do more than just diplomacy.
“Yoga can change the person, the country and the world,” he says.
More than 300 Pakistani nationals have been killed in the sinking of a overcrowded fishing trawler off the coast of Greece, the latest tragedy to expose the refugee crisis confronting the European Union as tens of thousands seek sanctuary from war, persecution and poverty.
The chairman of of Pakistan’s Senate, Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, disclosed the numbers in a statement Sunday, sending condolences to grieving families of the dead.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with you, and we pray that the departed souls find eternal peace,” Sanjrani said. “This devastating incident underscores the urgent need to address and condemn the abhorrent act of illegal human trafficking.”
Greek authorities have yet to confirm Pakistan’s death toll.
Pakistan is in the midst of its worst economic crisis in decades, with efforts to secure a financial lifeline from the International Monetary Fund complicated by political turmoil in the country.
Growth has stalled and inflation has soared in the South Asian country of 220 million over the past year. The country has struggled to import essential food products, leading to deadly stampedes at distribution centers.
The number of Pakistanis traversing dangerous routes to Europe in search of a better future has reverberated through the nation, prompting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to declare Monday a national day of mourning for those who died in the boat’s sinking.
In a tweet Sunday, he ordered a “high-level inquiry” into the incident.
“I assure the nation that those found negligent towards their duty will be held to account. Responsibility will be fixed after the inquiry and heads will roll,” Sharif wrote.
About 750 men, women and children were on the packed boat when it capsized last week, the United Nations Migration Agency (IOM) said, killing hundreds and making the tragedy one of the worst in the Mediterranean Sea, according to the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson.
Every year, tens of thousands of migrants fleeing war, persecution, climate change and poverty risk treacherous routes to Europe.
Johansson condemned the role of “smugglers” who put people on the boats.
“They are not sending them to Europe, they are sending them to death. This is what they’re doing and it’s absolutely necessary to prevent it,” she said.
Questions raised
Greek authorities have faced criticism for how the disaster was handled, and uncomfortable questions have been raised about European countries’ attitudes toward migrants.
Despite the dangers, tens of thousands of people are willing to risk everything to make the unsafe journey to Europe, searching for a better life.
At the same time, many European countries have toughened their borders and their stance toward migrants.
Last week, Greek authorities denied claims that the boat had capsized after the coast guard attempted to tow it to shore.
Authorities had initially said the coast guard kept its distance but their assistance “had been declined” after they threw a rope to the vessel to “stabilize and check if it needed help.”
But Tarek Aldroobi, a man who had three relatives on board, told CNN that they had seen Greek authorities towing the vessel with ropes – but says they were tied in the “wrong places,” which caused it to capsize.
“Their boat was in a good condition and the Greek navy tried towing them to the beach but the ropes were tied in the wrong places,” Aldroobi said. “When the Greek navy tried pulling them it caused the boat to capsize.”
Speaking to Greek national broadcaster ERT, government spokesperson Ilias Siakanderis said the coast guard arrived two hours before the boat capsized after its engine broke down and there had been “no connection” between the two.
“The engine broke down at 1:40 a.m. and at 2:00 a.m. it sank – therefore there can be no connection between (the coast guard approaching the boat and the time of its sinking),” he told ERT.
The Hellenic coast guard also defended its response.
“When the boat capsized, we were not even next to boat. How could we be towing it?” Nikos Alexiou, a spokesman for the coast guard told CNN.
Alexiou said their patrol boat only used a small rope to stabilize itself while it was close to the migrant boat and they were unable to tow the fishing boat.
“Regretfully there was movement of people, a shift in weight probably caused by panic and the boat capsized. As soon as we got there, we started our rescue operation to collect those who were in the water,” said Alexiou.This story was first published on CNN.com, “Hundreds of Pakistanis dead in Mediterranean migrant boat disaster, official says.”
BURDEOS, Quezon. Namatay ang isang 38-anyos na lalaki matapos barilin ng bagong kinakasama ng kanyang dating live-in partner sa hangaring mabawi ang kanyang anak sa araw ng Father’s Day sa Sitio Puerto Verde, Brgy. Aluyon sa bayang ito.
Ang biktima na tinamaan ng bala sa mukha ay kilalang si Jerry Peñamante, binata ng Brgy. Calasumanga, Panukulan, Quezon habang naaresto naman ang suspek na si Kevin Pardilla, 31, ng Sitio Puerto Verde, Brgy. Aluyon, Burdeos, Quezon, sa isinagawang follow-up operation.
Ayon sa ulat ng pulisya, bandang alas-4:10 ng hapon, pumunta ang biktima sa bahay ng suspek kung saan naninirahan rin ang kanyang dating live-in partner upang ipagdiwang ang Araw ng mga Tatay at makuha ang kanyang anak.
Ngunit tumangging sumama ang babae at sa puntong iyon, bigla na lamang lumapit ang suspek at walang pagsasaalang alang na binaril ang biktima sa mukha saka tumakas ngunit kalaunan ay nahuli rin itoi.
Ang pulisya ay kasalukuyang nag-iimbestiga upang matukoy ang mga motibo at iba pang mga detalye na may kinalaman sa insidente.
Inaasahan na mas malalim na imbestigasyon ang isasagawa upang mahatulan ang suspek at makamit ang hustisya para sa nasawi.
Nananawagan naman ang mga awtoridad sa publiko na maging mapagbantay at magsumbong ng anumang impormasyon na maaaring makatulong sa pagsulong ng kasong ito.
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