Thursday, September 29, 2016
WHY IT MATTERS: Russia
Philippines boxing icon Pacquiao used drugs as a teen but backs Duterte
By Karen Lema and Clare Baldwin
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippines boxing icon Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao says he took all kinds of drugs as a teenager but fully supports President Rodrigo Duterte, whose vicious anti-drugs campaign has led to the killing of more than 3,000 people, mostly users and pushers, in three months.
Pacquiao, now a senator and a close ally of the president, also said Duterte was anointed by God to discipline the Filipino people and his authority must be respected.
"The president, he doesn't know my experience with drugs," said Pacquiao, 37, adding he was confident it wouldn't damage their close relationship.
"He always gives a chance to people who want to be changed," said the boxer-turned-lawmaker in an interview in his senate office.
"I tried drugs...many kinds of drugs, all kinds of drugs," he said, dressed in the traditional white Filipino barong shirt and trousers.
Pacquiao said this phase lasted for years "before I became a champion".
Duterte, who took office on June 30, has made the war on drugs the central part of his presidency, saying narcotics are destroying the nation of 100 million people. A total of 3,171 people have been killed since then, including users and pushers, nearly two thirds by unknown assailants and the rest in legitimate police operations, according to police.
The friendship between the boxer known as "The Destroyer" and the president known as "The Punisher" dates back at least 15 years as Pacquiao tells it, to a boxing ring in Davao, where Duterte helped organize one of his fights.
"He helped me a lot. He helped me with the promotion when I started in boxing. One of my fights held in Davao, he sponsored it," said Pacquiao, a southpaw who has been an eight-division world champion. "He helped with the promotion, financially as well."
Pacquiao has the initials of a group called Guardians Mindanao Brotherhood tattooed on his wrist, as does Duterte, according to media reports. "It's a fraternity," Pacquiao said.
Guardians Brotherhood started as a soldiers group that was later disbanded.
Pacquiao was born in the town of Kibawe in the Mindanao region of the southern Philippines, about 80 km (50 miles) from Davao city, where Duterte was mayor and congressman since 1988.
STOWAWAY MADE GOOD
Pacquiao's family was dirt-poor, and, according to his autobiography, the family lived in a thatched hut. His father harvested coconuts and his mother sold peanuts.
Pacquiao did odd jobs to survive and stowed away on a boat to Manila as a teenager, where he started competitive boxing.
According to Forbes, he has earned $500 million from purses, pay-per-view and endorsements so far in his career.
Pacquiao could not recall his first meeting with Duterte but said it was when he was 22 or 23. Since then, Pacquiao said they had frequently met for meals and that he is a godfather to Duterte's grandson.
Even now, Pacquiao says, Duterte often calls after a fight to congratulate him.
Pacquiao calls the president by his nickname, Digong, a play on his first name, Rodrigo.
"He's a very nice person, a nice guy," Pacquiao said, adding that the president was totally unlike the popular perception that he was foul-mouthed and aggressive. "He is a respectful person, a hospitable person, a friendly person."
Pacquiao said blaming the killings on the president was unfair because it was drug lords and drug pushers who were killing one other.
"God put him there for a reason, for purpose - to discipline the people," he said, adding that the people had to respect the authority and "the anointed one".
Pacquiao supported Jejomar Binay, a rival of Duterte, in the presidential campaign, but switched allegiance to Duterte later. Now he is one of the president's closest allies, and one of his first acts in the senate was to file a bill to reinstate the death penalty for drug-related and serious crimes, one of Duterte's key plans.
Last week, Pacquiao helped sideline one of Duterte's most outspoken critics, fellow Senator Leila De Lima, by leading a motion to oust her as the chair of a high-profile committee examining the president's links to vigilante death squads in Davao during his time as mayor.
"It's not my intention to remove her from the chairmanship of the committee to stop the investigation," Pacquiao said. "The investigation will continue. We just want to implement it in the right way."
For Pacquiao, Duterte is doing nothing wrong.
"In the past administrations, people didn't respect the law, the leader, the authorities," he said. "What Duterte is trying to do is let the people know - and put it in their hearts and minds - that you need to respect the law of the land."
Pacquiao then left for a training session. Often described as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, he has come out of retirement to challenge World Boxing Organisation welterweight champion Jessie Vargas in November.
Pacquiao said he wanted to remain in the sport for some time. "I miss boxing, boxing is my passion," he said.
14,000-year-old campsite in Argentina adds to an archaeological mystery
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
MH17 shot down by missile brought into Ukraine from Russia
Nieuwegein (Netherlands) (AFP) - The missile that downed flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine was transported from Russia, a criminal inquiry revealed Wednesday, announcing about 100 people were being investigated for playing "an active role" in the disaster.
Saying they had "irrefutable evidence" that the BUK missile system was used to blow the Malaysia Airlines plane out of the sky, investigators also confirmed the device was fired from a field in a part of eastern Ukraine then controlled by pro-Russia separatists.
The findings of the Dutch-led probe stopped short of directly accusing Moscow of involvement in the tragedy in July 2014, and both the rebels and Russia issued fresh statements denying any responsibility.
But the new details appeared to back up long-standing accusations from Ukraine and the West that pro-Russian rebels were to blame using a missile which may have been provided by Moscow.
The Boeing 777 was ripped apart mid-air during a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukraine, where a war pitting separatists allegedly armed by Russia against the Kiev government erupted in April 2014.
All 298 people on board the plane including 196 Dutch citizens were killed.
But despite two official international investigations, the burning questions of who gave the orders and who pulled the trigger remain unresolved.
Ukraine said the inquiry proved Russia's "direct involvement" in the tragedy, adding it put "an end to all of Russia's attempts to discredit the activities and conclusions" of the inquiry team.
And one relative told AFP the results "clearly suggest the involvement of the Russian Federation."
- No such weapon -
A "BUK missile from the 9M38-series" was used that "came from the territory of the Russian Federation," said Wilbert Paulissen, the head of the Dutch police investigation.
It was transferred in Ukraine onto a white Volvo truck and escorted by armed men in uniform. Afterwards the missile launcher system "was taken back to Russia," Paulissen said.
Using thousands of photos, videos, some 200 witness statements and 150,000 tapped telephone conversations, the investigators have retraced the route taken by the convoy which brought the missile system into eastern Ukraine.
In one chilling wiretapped phone conversation from July 16, 2014 played to reporters on Wednesday, one man believed to be a Russian-speaking military commander asks another if he can "receive a BUK in the morning" saying his forces are under pressure from air strikes and he doesn't know if "they can hold on."
The 700-kilogramme (1,500-pound) BUK, a complex radar-guided anti-aircraft weapon, was fired from a field in Pervomaiskyi which at the time "was in the hands of the Russian separatists," said Paulissen.
The joint investigation "has identified approximately 100 people" believed to have had an "active role" in the transporting of the missile system used to bring down the routine flight, added chief investigator Fred Westerbeke said.
Moscow, which has always denied having any role in the disaster, described the inquiry on Wednesday as "biased" and "politically motivated" saying it was "disappointed" in the results.
Ukrainian rebels also quickly rejected any conclusion that they were behind the disaster.
"The forces of the People's Republic of Donetsk could not have fired at the plane from a BUK system because we have no such sort of weapons," general Eduard Basurin of the self-proclaimed republic told AFP.
The investigation has been headed by the Dutch prosecution service, but includes teams from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine, who also briefed relatives Wednesday.
"What is clear is that the BUK missile system came from Russia to Ukraine, was fired and taken back to Russia," Piet Ploeg, who lost three relatives in the disaster, told AFP.
The findings "clearly suggest the involvement of the Russian Federation," he added.
- Justice yet to be done -
The criminal investigation has now been extended to 2018, but Westerbeke said he could make "no promises" about when any suspects would be brought to justice.
"Apart from wanting to know exactly what weapon was used and where it was fired from, we also want an answer as to where we go from here," said Evert van Zijtveld, chairman of the foundation that supports families of MH17 victims.
"We want to see the perpetrators caught and put on trial," said Zijtveld who lost his 18-year-old son Robert-Jan and daughter Frederique, 19, in the tragedy.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the preliminary findings "an important step on the road to the ultimate goal: finding and prosecuting the perpetrators."
But no decision has been made on what form an eventual tribunal will take in a process some experts say may still take years.
Should any Russian suspects in any event be identified, chances are small that they'd be prosecuted, as the Russian constitution expressly forbids Moscow from extraditing its citizens to another country.
Meanwhile, Russia remains under sanctions imposed by the European Union, which along with other countries accuses Moscow of actively backing the pro-Russia separatists.Missile that shot down Malaysian flight came from Russia: probe
Friday, September 9, 2016
Russia holds large-scale military drills in Crimea
Philippines positions naval blockade against Abu Sayyaf
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
The US is bogged down in the Middle East — and China knows it
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