Macron vows at summit France to ‘deliver’ on AI acceleration
By Tom BARFIELD and Daxia ROJAS
Paris, France — President
Emmanuel Macron on Monday said France would slash through red tape to build artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, aiming to keep Europe in the running for the technology’s hoped-for benefits at a global summit in Paris.
Co-hosted with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Paris summit aims to lay the groundwork for governing the nascent sector, as global powers race to play leading roles in the fast-developing technology.
On AI projects, “we will adopt the Notre Dame de Paris strategy” that saw France rebuild the landmark cathedral within five years of its devastation in a 2019 fire, Macron told attendees including tech industry bosses and political leaders.
“We showed the rest of the of the world that when we commit to a clear timeline we can deliver,” he said in remarks delivered entirely in English at the opulent Grand Palais in the French capital.
“You decide, you streamline all the procedures, somebody is in charge,” he added, saying the scheme would apply to data centres, authorisations to bring AI
Africa’s ‘bold generation’ see bright future at home
Nairobi, Kenya — They see themselves as the “bold generation” and the “conscious youth” of the African continent.
AFP met six African students from Generation Z who, from Dakar to Nairobi, and Johannesburg to Abidjan, displayed a realistic optimism and a desire to transform their countries.
Born just before or after 2000, these students in urban planning, environment, medicine or biology combine their education with a
deep political commitment, far from the stereotype of a self-centred generation cut off from reality.
For 24 hours, they allowed an AFP team to share their daily lives.
For Dakar native Sokhna Ndeye Merry Sall it began with morning prayer. For Ivorian Marie Elodie Yeo Guefala it was a tour of a cramped student room on the Bingerville campus near Abidjan.
Thick fog enveloped the famous Mandela Bridge in Johannesburg when Palesa Molefe went to class at the University of Witwatersrand while Kenyan Geoffrey Mboya made light work of Nairobi’s traffic jams riding on the back of a motorcycle taxi.
All six of them said they want to stay in their countries to contribute to development.
That kind of commitment is not always obvious: nearly six out of 10 young Africans plan to emigrate within three years, primarily to find a job, according to a 2024 study by the South African Ichikowitz Family Foundation.
That report was conducted in 16 countries on the continent.
In Nigeria, this widespread aspiration for a better life abroad even has its own slang -- “japa” -- which means “to flee” in Yoruba
products to market and business “attractiveness”.
High-profile attendees had earlier said that while AI could massively boost global trade in future, it is already sharpening
gender pay disparities.
World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said her staff had calculated that “near universal adoption of AI... could increase trade by up to 14 percentage points” from
its current trend. But global “fragmentation” of regulations on the technology and data flows could see both trade and output contract, she added.
RFK Jr, vaccine critic turned US health secretary, hints at overhaul
By Danny Kemp and Issam Ahmed
Washington, United States —
Newly confirmed Health
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday accused US institutions of “stealing the health of our children” and suggested they should meet the same fate as USAID, which President Donald Trump’s administration is working to slash.
On his first day in office, RFK Jr. -- who has spent decades sowing distrust in vaccines and questioning basic scientific facts -- credited divine intervention for his rise to power and immediately fueled concerns that critical health agencies could soon come under attack.
At his White House swearingin ceremony, following a 52-48 Senate confirmation vote largely
along party lines, Kennedy grew emotional recalling his first visit to the Oval Office in 1962.
He also lavished praise on Trump, saying 20 years of prayers to solve chronic childhood diseases were answered when “God sent me President Trump,” whom he called a “man on a white horse.”
Kennedy argued that while USAID was founded by his uncle, slain president John F. Kennedy, with noble intentions, it has since become a “sinister propagator of totalitarianism.”
He backed Trump’s recent actions at the humanitarian agency, adding, “we want to do the same thing with the institutions that are stealing the health of our children.”
Before the 2024 election, Kennedy vowed to blow up the “corrupt” Food and Drug
Administration and called for cuts to the National Institutes of Health, accusing it of overemphasizing infectious diseases at the expense of chronic disease research.
- Environment crusader to antivaxxerRFK Jr. was once a celebrated environmental lawyer who sued Monsanto and accused climatechange deniers of being traitors.
But for the past two decades he has promoted conspiracy theories linking childhood vaccines to autism and even questioning whether germs cause disease.
During heated confirmation hearings, Democrats pointed to Kennedy’s lucrative consulting fees from law firms suing pharmaceutical companies as conflicts of interest. They also highlighted
French President Emmanuel Macron (2ndL) and his wife Brigitte Macron (L) pose and welcome US Vice President J.D. Vance (R) and his wife Usha Vance before a working lunch, on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris. IAN LANGSDON
‘Make California Great Again’: Danes dream of buying golden state
Copenhagen, Denmark — In the wake of US President Donald Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland, some Danes are California dreaming, offering to buy
the golden state and infuse it with a Nordic vibe and universal health care.
A satirical website has launched a petition for Denmark to buy
America’s most populous state, with more than 200,000 people signing up to the idea so far.
Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.
Mocking Trump’s favourite slogan, the tongue-in-cheek petition urges Denmark to “Måke Califørnia Great Ægain”, rewriting the phrase with letters from the Danish alphabet.
“Let’s buy California from Donald Trump!” the site Denmarkification.com says, in a nod to “Californication”, a word the Red Hot Chili Peppers band immortalised with its 1990s hit song.
“Let’s be honest -- Trump isn’t exactly California’s biggest fan. He’s called it ‘the most ruined state in the Union’ and has feuded with its leaders for years.”
“We’re pretty sure he’d be willing to part with it for the right price,” it says.
Macron vows at summit France...
In the workplace, AI is mostly replacing humans in clerical jobs disproportionately held by women, International Labour Organization head Gilbert Houngbo told the audience.
That risks widening the gender pay gap even though more jobs are being created than destroyed by AI on current evidence, he added.
- ‘Plug baby, plug!’ -
Political leaders, including US Vice President JD Vance and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, are set to rub shoulders in Paris with the likes of Google chief Sundar Pichai and OpenAI boss Sam Altman.
Technology’s shift to AI was set to be “the biggest of our lifetimes”, Google chief Sundar Pichai told the audience.
He added that “we have the chance to democratise access (to a new technology) from the start.”
Macron’s push to highlight French competitiveness saw him repeatedly trumpet 109 billion euros ($113 billion) to be invested in French AI in the coming years.
He has also hailed France’s decades-old fleet of nuclear plants
as a key advantage providing clean, scalable energy supply for AI’s vast processing needs.
“I have a good friend in the other part of the ocean saying ‘drill, baby, drill’,” Macron said in an apparent dig at US President Donald Trump’s pro-fossil fuels policy.
“Here there is no need to drill, it’s plug, baby, plug!” he added.
The $500-billion US “Stargate” programme led by ChatGPT maker OpenAI and the emergence of high-performing, low-cost Chinese startup DeepSeek have made clearer the technical challenges and price of entry for nations hoping to keep abreast.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is expected to make further announcements on EU competitiveness Tuesday.
- Global governance puzzle -
But Macron’s business-focused boosterism has been criticised by observers, especially as a claimed leaked draft of the summit’s final communique made no mention of the potential dangers of AI.
The supposed draft “fails to even mention these risks, or provide
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any concrete proposals to ensure these powerful systems remain controllable and beneficial,” said Max Tegmark, head of the US-based Future of Life Institute that has warned of AI’s “existential risk”.
“This alarming omission demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the science, and is a recipe for disaster,” he added.
More immediately, media reports suggest that neither Britain nor the United States plan to sign the final statement as it stands.
The results of France’s AI diplomacy will become clear on Tuesday, when political leaders from around 100 countries will hold a plenary session, with notable attendees including Modi, Vance, Zhang and von der Leyen.
France hopes that governments will make voluntary commitments to make AI sustainable and environmentally friendly.
But any agreement may prove elusive between blocs as diverse as the European Union, United States, China and India, each with different priorities in tech development and regulation.
RFK Jr, vaccine critic turned US...
allegations of sexual misconduct and his claims that antidepressants fuel school shootings.
Yet it was his shift toward Republican positions -- particularly on abortion rights, which he once supported but has since signaled a willingness to restrict -- that won over conservatives wary of his liberal past.
Ultimately, only one Republican opposed him: former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a childhood polio survivor. Democrats were united in opposition.
“I will not condone the relitigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles,” said 82-year-old McConnell.
Kennedy dismissed the criticism, claiming his views were mischaracterized and insisting
he was simply advocating for “common sense” policies.
“Vaccines should be tested, they should be safe, everyone should have informed consent,” he said.
Speaking later on Fox News, he sent mixed signals, stating, “I’m not going to take away anyone’s vaccine,” while also asserting, “We lack comprehensive safety studies on nearly all vaccines.”
- Make America Healthy AgainKennedy found firmer footing with his “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda -- a play on Trump’s MAGA slogan -- emphasizing the need to tackle chronic disease by holding the food industry accountable.
“A lot of what I’m going to do is about radical transparency,” he said on Fox, suggesting plans for more detailed labeling policies.
Kennedy launched an independent presidential bid in
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2024, making headlines with bizarre revelations, including claims of recovering from a parasitic brain worm and once decapitating a dead whale.
Last year, 77 Nobel Prize winners signed an open letter opposing his nomination, while some of his harshest critics came from within his own family.
His cousin Caroline Kennedy, a former diplomat, accused him of being a “predator” who led younger relatives toward drug addiction.
“This is a disaster waiting to happen -- and it will happen,” Paul Offit, a leading vaccine expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told AFP.
Democratic Senator Patty Murray warned that Kennedy could use his new power to undermine vaccines, including firing the advisory committee that sets insurance-covered immunizations.
“We’ll send our bestest negotiators -- Lego executives and the cast of Borgen,” it mused, referring to the Denmark-based global toy behemoth and the Danishproduced drama series.
“We’ll bring hygge to Hollywood, bike lanes to Beverly Hills, and organic smørrebrød to every street corner. Rule of law, universal health care and fact based politics might apply.”
“Hygge” is a word in Danish that describes a cozy atmosphere while “smorrebrod” is a multi-ingredient sandwich ubiquitous in the Nordic country and its neighbours.
Why would the Scandinavian country want the US state? For its sunny climate, tech industry and wealth of avocados, the site says.
And of course Disneyland, which it proposes renaming “Hans Christian Andersenland”, in reference to Denmark’s famed fairy tale writer.
“Mickey Mouse in a Viking helmet? Yes, please.”
- ‘Absurd’Whether Americans would want to offload the state is not much of a concern.
“Let’s face it -– when has that
ever stopped him? If Trump wants to sell California, he’ll sell California.”
On Wednesday at 16:45 am (1545 GMT), almost 218,000 people had signed the petition, which aims to gather 500,000 signatures.
The idea behind the campaign was “simply to show just how totally absurd Trump’s plans for Greenland are,” the French-Swiss creator of the petition, Xavier Dutoit, told AFP.
“My offer to President Trump is the following: if he stops this neo-colonial madness, I’ll end the campaign.”
Most of those visiting the website in the past 24 hours were Americans, Danes and Dutch, he said.
Since late December, Trump has repeatedly reiterated his desire to take over Greenland, the vast Arctic island rich in natural resources.
Greenland’s leaders, backed by the Danish government, have insisted it is not for sale.
Local Greenland elections are scheduled for March 11. Amid concern over possible election interference, the Greenlandic parliament last week adopted a law banning anonymous or foreign donations to political parties.
Africa’s ‘bold...
language.
“There’s the ‘japa’ syndrome everybody talks about, but, for me, I mean, I’m a patriot,” said Nigerian student Covenant Oluwafemi Odedele.
The 21-year-old juggles “marathon days” between medical studies and a project preparing his classmates to enter into the job market.
“I just want to do all I can to help develop my country.”
- Making voices heardSenegalese Sall said she is shocked to see many of her young compatriots risking their lives and taking the road of irregular emigration.
Despite difficulties, the six students all showed a deep desire to transform their countries. And they did not wait until the end of their studies to get involved in community or political life.
South African Molefe, 21, raises awareness about the environment with her church. Sall is busy with an association cleaning the cemetery in her Yoff neighbourhood in Dakar.
They also agree that their generation is not sufficiently listened to by those in power.
“We still have a long way to go,” Odedele said.
For South African Molefe: “The change I would like to bring is to ensure that the voice of youth is included in every decision-making process.” This will translate into “more young people in parliament or among the country’s leaders,” she said.
“Along with all conscious youth, we aspire to have a place in institutions,” Senegalese student Sall said.
Those demands are significant not least because of the continent’s demographics: 70 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is under 30, according to the UN.
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In 2024, this generation made themselves heard, shaking power with protests in Kenya, driving change in Senegal or no longer listening to the historic parties that emerged from independence, such as the ANC in South Africa.
“Young people in Kenya are rising up, they are uniting across all political divides, across all ethnic groups,” said Geoffrey Mboya, 24, a social sciences student who participated in the protest movement and wants to become a member of parliament.
“Young people from all walks of life are now politically aware,” he added.
Gen Z “is a bold generation”, said Nigerian medical student Odedele, “a generation that believes it can conquer the world, that the world is there to be conquered by it.”
Demonstrators rally against US President Donald Trump during a protest, part of the “50 States 50 Protests 1 Day” movement, to mark President’s Day in Sacramento, California. FRED GREAVES
NEWS AS OF PRESS TIME
Manila neighbourhood puts bounty on dengue-carrying mosquitoes
Manila, Philippines —
Residents in a central Manila neighbourhood lined up Wednesday, as dengue cases spike nationwide, to collect a bounty -- one peso for every five mosquitoes, dead or alive.
Carlito Cernal, village captain in Addition Hills, said the awarenessraising project he initiated could have a “huge impact” on curbing the tropical disease’s spread when combined with local clean-up efforts.
Philippine health officials and experts who spoke to AFP were less convinced, but enthusiasm was high among residents who carried pails, cups and other containers filled with dengue-spreading mosquitoes to exchange for cash at the village hall.
Iluminado Candasua brought three live specimens in a sealed plastic cup that were duly counted and transferred by village officials to their so-called death chamber, a glass-enclosed UV light machine.
“It’s very hard to capture mosquitoes,” Candasua told AFP, explaining how he strategically chose a darkly lit fire station where he used a cup to manually trap the insects against a wall.
Candasua said the peso he got for his efforts, worth little more than a US penny, would go into a
piggy bank he’s using to save for a cellphone for his child.
The World Health Organization ranked the Philippines as the country most affected by dengue in the Western Pacific region in 2023 when it had 167,355 cases and 575 deaths.
The tropical disease, while rarely fatal, carries symptoms ranging from fever and headaches to swollen glands.
- ‘Unusual rise’ -
The country has seen an “unusual rise” in cases this year, with 28,200 patients recorded as of February 1, according to Department of Health spokesman Dr. Albert Domingo, a 40 percent increase from the same period last year.
Five cities and municipalities have declared outbreaks.
Domingo told AFP on Wednesday it was important that local communities consult with health authorities before launching ad hoc efforts, adding that the problem was best addressed by “going back to the fundamentals”.
“The sooner we clean our surroundings and overturn any possible areas where stagnant water is collecting, then we will have a better fight against dengue,” he said, urging residents to protect
themselves with insect repellent and long sleeves.
Public health expert Anthony Leachon told AFP that while he welcomed all anti-dengue initiatives, the Addition Hills roundup would have “little or no impact at all”.
Some residents, he warned, might even exacerbate the problem by cultivating mosquitoes for coins.
While Rachel Estoque did not intentionally breed mosquitoes, the haul she turned in Wednesday came from a source of stagnant water in her home.
The 45-year-old housewife told AFP she woke up early to catch mosquito larvae growing in water in her flower pot. The 20 larvae earned her four pesos, enough for a tiny packet of cooking oil.
But like others waiting to trade in their catch, Estoque said the money was less important than the principle involved.
“My child suffered from dengue before and I know how scary and difficult that is... that’s why I’m participating in this project,” she said.
Village chief Carlito Cernal (R) and welfare workers look for mosquitoes in a plastic container handed over by residents at the start of “peso for a mosquito” program as part of the village program to eradicate dengue in Manila. Residents in a central Manila neighbourhood lined up, amid a national spike in dengue cases to collect a bounty -- one peso for every five mosquitoes, dead or alive.
TED ALJIBE
Vietnam parliament approves $8 billion rail link to China
By Alice Philipson and Lam Nguyen
Hanoi, Vietnam — Vietnam’s parliament approved plans on Wednesday for an $8 billion rail link from its largest northern port city to the border with China, boosting links between the two communistruled countries and making trade easier.
The new rail line will run through some of Vietnam’s key manufacturing hubs, home to Samsung, Foxconn, Pegatron and other global giants, many of whom rely on a regular flow of components from China.
The route will stretch 390 kilometres (240 miles) from the port city of Haiphong to the mountainous city of Lao Cai, which borders
China’s Yunnan province, and will also run through the capital Hanoi.
Construction of the railway was backed in a vote by 95 percent of parliamentarians in Vietnam’s rubber-stamp National Assembly, an AFP journalist in the chamber said.
China will provide some funding through loans for the project, which is expected to cost more than $8 billion.
It is one of two railway lines to China that Vietnam plans as part of its “Two Corridors, One Belt” initiative, which connects to Beijing’s Belt and Road global infrastructure programme.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday the two countries were “working to expedite the construction of
the connection line” between Lao Cai and the Chinese border city of Hekou.
Both sides had “held multiple discussions on advancing railway connectivity”, Guo Jiakun told a regular news briefing but referred reporters to “relevant authorities” for details.
The approval comes just over a year after the neighbours pledged during a visit to Vietnam by President Xi Jinping to deepen ties as Beijing sought to counter growing US influence with Hanoi.
Vietnam’s transport infrastructure is considered relatively weak, with a road network struggling to keep up with demand and an underdeveloped rail system.
The country is an increasingly favoured destination for foreign businesses looking for an alternative to China, but low-quality infrastructure is seen as holding back surging investment.
Dan Martin, international business adviser of Dezan Shira & Associates, said the new rail link could help smooth out bumps in international supply chains caused by the current reliance on slow and costly trucks that are “prone to border bottlenecks”.
“China supplies much of the raw material that fuels Vietnam’s manufacturing sector, and keeping that pipeline steady is critical,” he told AFP.
“A modern rail link cuts through... inefficiencies, ensuring
Niger turns to satellites to bridge digital divide
By Boureima HAMA
Niamey, Niger — Less than a third of Niger’s vast territory has internet access, so the west African country is betting on satellite broadband to bridge the digital divide in remote rural areas.
The patchy coverage is mostly down to a lack of investment and the destruction of relay antennae by the numerous armed groups active in the country, according to electronic communications regulator ARCEP.
In November, Niger’s military rulers granted a five-year contract with US billionaire Elon Musk’s company Starlink to provide highspeed internet access across the Sahel state.
It is one of around 15 African countries to have authorised the use of Starlink’s thousands of satellites on their territory.
“Essential services that drive economic development -- banks, hospitals, schools, the energy and farming sectors -- all rely on the internet and data,” said economist Ibrahim Adamou Louche.
Communications Minister Sidi Ahmed Raliou predicted the move would provide internet access to “about 80 to 100 percent” of Niger -1,267 square kilometres (490 square miles) largely covered by desert plains and sand dunes.
The deal is lucrative for the US company.
In a country where almost 50 percent of the population earns less than a dollar a day, according
to the World Bank, users who want internet access must pay between 260,000 and 400,000 CFA francs ($414 and $637) for the satellite firm’s necessary basic equipment.
- Big in the countryThe drive to access the internet has also spawned illicit operations.
The equipment, much of it imported from neighbouring Nigeria, is sometimes brought across the border illegally.
Users who cannot afford the equipment must pay the US company for one-off access to the internet for a limited amount of time.
“On market days especially, people congregate round the wifi router,” said Moussa Djibrilla, a secondary school teacher in the rural western community of Mangaize.
Much of the enthusiasm for satellite broadband comes from remote areas, said vendor Ali Sat.
In the capital, Niamey, sales of equipment have not so far taken off and only a handful of homes are connected, he added.
In rural areas, the situation is different.
Technician Moumouni Harouna said the biggest demand for satellite internet equipment came from people “out in the bush” who liked it because “they don’t lose connection”.
- Elusive signal“We’re back in civilisation,” grinned Alfa Hama, a villager in the western hamlet of Gorou, near the border with Mali, where the local phone and internet relay antennae
were destroyed eight years ago.
“We don’t need to go six kilometres and climb to the top of a hill to get an elusive signal any more,” he said. “The wifi is right here.”
For a price, high-speed internet access is now available in some parts of the Tenere desert, through which travellers pass, alongside thousands of migrants seeking to make the perilous journey out of one of the world’s poorest countries and through Libya towards the El Dorado of Europe.
In Tabelot, a little further south, illegal gold mining operations, markets and the long-distance bus station all offer connection points for those who can pay.
Local Touareg chief Youssaf Houssa said whole neighbourhoods sometime clubbed together to afford a piece of communal satellite equipment.
“People are able to come together more thanks to WhatsApp groups and do business online,” he said.
Niger’s four long-standing telecommunications operators, who are often criticised for the quality of their services, are less than keen to see the military rulers embrace the new US competitor.
“Satellite solutions complement what we do but they can’t replace the advantages we offer in terms of cost, performance and personal service,” said a senior official from one of the operators, asking to remain anonymous.
goods move smoothly whether they’re flowing into Vietnam’s factories or heading to global markets via Haiphong’s port,” he said.
- 2030 deadline -
Vietnam says a feasibility study for the Haiphong-Lao Cai railway will begin this year and it wants the line finished by 2030, although the country has a history of overruns on major infrastructure projects.
The line, spanning nine provinces and cities, will follow roughly the route of an existing rail track built during the French colonial period.
Pham Thu Hang, spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs, said last week the rail link would “promote economic, trade, investment and tourism cooperation between the two countries as well as in the region”.
It comes just three months after Vietnam approved plans for a $67 billion high-speed railway from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, another
much-needed boost to infrastructure that is expected to drive growth.
That railway, which will stretch more than 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) from the capital in the north to Vietnam’s business hub in the south, will reduce the current journey time by rail from 30 hours to around five.
The other line to China, which has not yet been approved by parliament, will connect Hanoi to Lang Son province, which borders China’s Guangxi region, travelling through another area packed with global manufacturing facilities.
The two countries signed more than 30 agreements, including a pledge to develop rail links, during Xi’s visit to Hanoi.
Vietnam has long pursued a “bamboo diplomacy” approach, striving to stay on good terms with both China and the United States.
It shares US concerns about Beijing’s increasing assertiveness in the contested South China Sea but also has close economic ties with China.
Stock markets pressured by Trump auto tariff threat
New York, United States — Global stocks were under pressure Wednesday after US President Donald Trump broadened his tariff threats, leaving European bourses lower even as the S&P 500 notched a fresh record.
Trump warned the previous day that he would impose tariffs “in the neighborhood of 25 percent” on auto imports and a similar amount or higher on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.
“Understandably this has helped drive European carmakers lower, with the likes of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and VW losing ground,” said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.
European markets all dropped, with London hit by higher-thanexpected inflation figures.
Tariff threats also knocked auto firms and semiconductor manufacturers in Tokyo, dragging the index into the red.
Wall Street indices veered in and out of negative territory throughout the session before finishing higher.
The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to its second straight closing high.
The tariff threats added to market uncertainty since Europe and Kyiv were excluded from the first high-level talks between the US and Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Frankfurt’s DAX 40 index set another record high during morning trading, but broke a two-week winning streak ahead of weekend elections.
“The uncertainty surrounding the election is likely to negatively impact short-term price developments,” said CMC Markets analyst Konstantin Oldenburger.
Asian markets struggled for direction, with Hong Kong dragged lower by tech firms after Chinese internet giant Baidu’s fourth-quarter earnings saw a fall in revenue and a
warning of near-term pressures.
President Xi Jinping’s meeting with China’s top business leaders this week -- including Alibaba cofounder Jack Ma -- added to the optimism amid hopes of a fresh boost for the private sector.
The Shanghai stock market rose while Taipei was weighed by a selloff in chip giant TSMC.
In other company news, Swiss mining and commodity trading giant Glencore dropped more than six percent on London’s FTSE 100 after it reported a net loss for 2024. Shares in Dutch medical device maker Philips dropped more than 11 percent on the Amsterdam stock exchange after it posted worse-thanexpected losses.
- Key figures around 2130 GMTNew York - Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 44,627.59 (close)
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 6,144.15 (close)
New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 20,056.25 (close)
London
Vietnamese lawmakers vote on a rail link project to China at the National Assembly in Hanoi. Vietnam will build an 8 billion USD rail link from its largest northern port city to the border with China, after the country’s rubber-stamp parliament gave the go-ahead to the project. DANG ANH
LIVING AND ENJOYING IT, AROUND THE PLANET
Musk and space travel skewered in S. Korean director Bong’s latest
By Femke COLBORNE with Adam PLOWRIGHT in Paris
Berlin, Germany —
Interplanetary space travel and the vanity of tech billionaires like Elon Musk are the subject of acclaimed South Korean director Bong Joon Ho’s satirical new film “Mickey 17” which will be shown at the Berlin film festival on Saturday.
The writer and director of the Oscar-winning 2019 hit “Parasite” returns to screens with a darkly comic take on the sci-fi genre starring British actor Robert Pattinson as Mickey, an intrepid but accident-prone space explorer.
The film tells “a story of the future but it seems like it could also happen in the present or the past”, Bong said at the Berlin Film Festival.
The plot revolves around a megalomaniac billionaire with a resemblance to Musk -- played with brio by “Avengers” star Mark Ruffalo -- who boards a spaceship travelling to colonise an icy planet in a not-too-distant future.
“Mark Ruffalo is a character who embodies the dictators of the past who we’ve experienced,” said Bong, who adapted the book “Mickey7” by sci-fi writer Edward
Ashton.
Mickey is a struggling workingclass passenger known as an “expendable” who is chosen to undertake all the most dangerous missions aboard the vessel.
When he dies -- in various grisly fashions -- Mickey can be recreated again using a human 3D printer.
- ‘Philosophical’Pattinson said he enjoyed playing characters who have “an incredibly complicated philosophical situation they have to deal with”.
“I think there’s something quite moving with Mickey where he is trying to process what he is and what he’s made out of, but also at the same time has a kind of relationship with all of his previous selves,” he said.
“I think it’s actually a question that most people have to deal with at one point or another. Basically asking why do I exist, but having quite a silly character trying to consider it.”
Musk, who has emerged as one of US President Donald Trump’s most trusted aides, is in the vanguard of Silicon Valley’s right-wing “techutopians” who believe innovation can solve everything from the climate crisis to human mortality.
‘Let out your inner granny’:
Knits at the flicks craze grips Vienna
By Kiyoko METZLER
Vienna, Austria — Armed with yarn, needles and hooks, dexterous moviegoers flock to a cinema in Vienna every month to combine their favourite hobbies: knits and flicks.
With many having turned to time-honoured crafts like crochet and knitting during the Covid-19 pandemic, a growing number of enthusiasts are looking to connect with the Austrian capital’s craft community in real life.
Vienna’s Votiv Kino has become the latest movie theatre in Europe to offer craft cinema nights, a trend trailblazed by Nordic countries.
“We saw that it exists in the US, in Denmark, in Finland, in Germany,” said avid knitter Luisa Palmer, who initiated the knitting nights at the Votiv Kino with a colleague.
Since the launch event in December, the monthly knitting nights have sold out, drawing almost 180 visitors each time.
With the lights only slightly dimmed while “The Devil Wears Prada” was showing on Sunday, the cinemagoers got crafty.
“It is a bit ‘grannycore’, but I find it very calming and pleasant. Why not let out your inner granny?” Alexander Koch, 28, quipped while crocheting away.
Kaja Vospernik, a 23-year-old fashion student, who is knitting a sweater, told AFP that she was excited about “meeting new people, who have the same interests”.
“I really enjoy knitting while watching movies or listening to
podcasts, so of course the cinema is a great place for that,” Vospernik said.
The movie seemed to take a backseat as passionate knitters and crocheters -- some of whom were donning their handmade knitwear -- kept chatting and working away.
“A lot of people started knitting and crocheting during the pandemic and out of necessity, only did it at home alone. That’s why a lot of people now want to do it with others,” 32-year-old Palmer said.
In an increasingly digital world with many hunched over computers at work, people enjoy “creating something with their own hands you can later even wear,” said Palmer.
“Cozy films that you have already seen” are best suited for knitting, Palmer added.
And Vienna’s “diverse” crafting community, which is “open to all age groups”, has meanwhile grown to an estimated 1,000 people, Judith Hasloewer, who co-initiated the event at the cinema, told AFP.
“You can just sit in the theatre and knit and keep to yourself, but if you feel like company, you’ll definitely find it here,” she said.
Crafting your own garment allows you to “connect to reality, as it slows you down” while it also symbolises a bold statement against “fast fashion”, Hasloewer, 27, said.
According to Votiv Kino spokeswoman Lisa Stolze, knitting nights are the latest addition to their special shows -- which include cinema breakfasts and screenings for parents and their babies -- that are designed to “appeal to the different interests of our audience”.
The South African-born Tesla boss has spent billions of dollars developing rockets at his SpaceX company to send a manned mission to Mars by 2030, with interplanetary travel seen by him as crucial for humanity’s survival.
The ambition was given a boost by Trump during his inauguration speech on January 20 when he vowed to “plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars”.
Other US billionaires such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are also engaged in a private space race.
- ‘Faces in mind’ -
Bong said he “had some faces in mind” when creating the Ruffalo’s character, but he was based on “bad politicians... from the past” rather than anyone from the present.
“But history always repeats itself, so (the film) seems to cover current events as well,” he said.
In “Mickey 17”, passengers hop on the rocket ship almost casually for a variety of reasons, with Mickey seeking to escape his problems on Earth.
It is not the first time a dystopian future has provided the backdrop to a Bong film, with his 2013 movie “Snowpiercer” set on a train following a failed climate change
experiment that has plunged the planet into a new ice age.
Bong, 55, said he wanted his foray into science fiction to have a “very human” element and for the situation in the film to be “one you could experience in real life”.
“I want to make films of all
genres, that’s my life’s goal. Though I’m a bit nervous about musicals,” he said.
“Mickey 17”, a Warner Bros. production, will be released first in South Korea on February 28 before appearing in cinemas internationally from March 5.
Tech weary Brits revive apple tree ‘wassailing’ tradition
By Helen ROWE
Chepstow, United Kingdom —
“Wassail!” yelled the crowd. “Cider for everyone!” In an orchard by a Welsh castle, hundreds of people gathered to wish good health to the apple trees in a centuries-old tradition enjoying a revival.
As mulled cider -- a warm alcoholic drink made from fermented apple juice -- was handed around, a dozen hobby horses swayed eerily to folk music.
Made from real horses’ skulls mounted on poles and carried by someone cloaked in a bed sheet, they are bedecked in ribbons with shiny baubles glinting in the eye sockets.
Singing, drinking, banging saucepans and hanging toasted bread on tree branches are all part of wassailing, along with the colourful horses’ heads, which are a Welsh variation.
“It’s a celebration of life, nature and the community,” said amateur folk dancer Richard Worrin who helped organise this year’s wassail in the Welsh border town of Chepstow.
The tradition, which has Pagan roots, is a far cry from Worrin’s day job as a murder squad detective.
“You need an antidote,” he laughed, stressing participants did not need to be a folklore expert to join in.
Wassailing was for everybody, he said, a mid-winter opportunity to get together and have fun.
“I just love the feel to it all, lots of drinking, meeting people and having a laugh. Simple as that,” he told AFP.
- ‘Collective heritage’Traditionally held on Twelfth Night, the Christian festival on the last night of the 12 days of Christmas, wassailing is intended to ward off
bad spirits from orchards, ensuring a bountiful crop of fruit.
In decline for many decades, it has made a comeback in recent years, especially among people tired of living their lives online, some modern-day wassailers told AFP.
“Basically, we’re missing the connection to our ancestry and the land itself,” said Kerry Milburn, a 32-year-old IT analyst from Swansea, in Wales. “There’s too much technology today.”
Radiographer Catherine Perry, 46, from Glastonbury in southwestern England, put the revival down to people “craving a deeper connection with nature”.
People were also “frightened of AI and multi-billionaires from massive conglomerates”, she said.
The word wassail comes from the Old English “waes hael” meaning “be in good health”.
This year, over 70 public wassails were listed on the English folklore website Tradfolk.co “and we’re aware of dozens more happening across the country”, editor James Merryclough told AFP.
“People are rediscovering the joy of shared traditions that connect us with nature, our communities, and our collective heritage,” he said.
Wassailing would have once been the highlight of the winter season in cider producing areas of the UK.
But as the urban middle classes in the late 19th century began to adopt Christmas, rather than Twelfth Night, as the main festival of the winter season, wassailing and other regional celebrations were gradually swept away.
The revival has seen wassailing gain popularity even in urban areas with no history of cider making.
Eight wassails were being held right across London in January and
February this year.
- ‘Modern twist’Around 100 people gathered in eastern Hackney, London, in a small community orchard overlooked by factories and a hulking electricity pylon.
Started 14 years ago “it used to be about 20 people every year but it’s grown and grown”, said co-organiser Annie Moreton.
“There’s a lot of younger people who are massively concerned about the planet, the climate, they want to connect to green spaces and wellbeing and to be able to do something that isn’t online or in a social media space.”
Marine biologist Cordelia Roberts, 29, said she took part in wassails while living in the southern English city of Portsmouth, but was delighted to find them in the capital too.
“I’m a scientist so I really like the nurturing of the Earth, the cycle of life aspect to it,” she said.
From small beginnings in 2010, Chepstow’s wassail has grown to become a day-long family-friendly event including dancing by three different “sides” or teams of Morris dancers.
Also included is the Mari Lwyd, the Welsh wassailing ritual involving hobby horses. It used to be carried from house to house by groups of men who would eventually be invited to share food and drink with householders.
Dan de la Bedoyere, 47, also an IT worker from Glastonbury, said he was delighted the pagan traditions he “loved to honour” were reestablishing themselves.
“The wonderful thing about folk traditions -- if we can revive them and give them a modern twist -- is that they are such fun,” he said.
English actor Naomi Ackie (L) and Australian actress Toni Collette poses upon arrival for the World premiere of the film “Mickey 17” in Leicester Square in central London. BENJAMIN CREMEL
THE REAL WORLD BEHIND THE HEADLINES
Top issues in Germany’s election campaign
Berlin, Germany — From immigration and Germany’s ailing economy to cannabis and gender politics, here is a round-up of the burning issues on voters’ minds in the run-up to Sunday’s election.
- Immigration -
After a series of deadly attacks blamed on asylum seekers shook
Germany, conservative poll frontrunner Friedrich Merz has proposed a crackdown on irregular immigration.
In a clear break with his CDU party’s more centrist former chancellor Angela Merkel, Merz wants all undocumented foreigners to be turned away at the border, including asylum seekers.
He also wants to restrict family reunification and make it harder to obtain German citizenship.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has accused Merz of trying to “bury Europe” with his plans.
But Scholz’s SPD has also pledged to tighten border controls and speed up deportations -- albeit in a way he describes as more
“humane and consistent”.
The far-right AfD has called for a “bulwark” against illegal migration -- promising to monitor Germany’s borders day and night and slash benefits for asylum seekers.
- Ukraine war -
Three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany has been the second biggest military backer for Kyiv after the United States.
The mainstream parties have pledged continued support even as US President Donald Trump has thrown the Western alliance into turmoil with his direct outreach to Russia.
Scholz and Merz have different views on what weapons to send to Ukraine.
Merz wants Germany to supply Taurus missiles capable of striking deep into Russian territory, while a more cautious Scholz has warned this would mean playing “Russian roulette”.
Three other parties -- the AfD and the far-left Die Linke and BSW -- have called for an end to all arms deliveries to Ukraine.
The SPD, CDU/CSU and Greens have all voiced willingness to increase military spending above NATO’s target of two percent of GDP.
- Fiscal policyMired in recession, Germany is seeking to repair its ailing economy, raising questions on how it can pay for new investment in creaking infrastructure, defence and the green energy transition.
For the SPD and the Greens, the answer lies in lifting the so-called debt brake -- a constitutional rule that limits annual structural deficits to 0.35 percent of GDP.
The conservatives have shown signs of openness on the issue, but are more focused on corporate tax
cuts and reducing jobless benefits for those resisting a return to work.
Merz -- who once famously argued that a tax return should fit onto a beer coaster -- has also vowed to slash back bureaucracy and red tape.
Scholz has proposed income tax cuts for 95 percent of households, the reintroduction of a wealth tax and higher inheritance tax.
- Energy and climatePolicies such as weaning Germany off Russian gas, shuttering nuclear power plants and winding down coal have sparked bitter divisions in Germany.
To help the beleaguered car industry, the CDU/CSU wants to reverse a planned European ban on combustion engines from 2035.
It also wants to study a return to atomic power.
The conservatives also want to row back a much-maligned law pioneered by the Greens to encourage the installation of renewable heating systems.
The Greens have promised a climate allowance to compensate citizens for higher heating and energy prices.
The AfD, meanwhile, has denied climate change, and its leader Alice Weidel has labelled wind turbines “windmills of shame”.
- Culture wars -
The conservatives and AfD have promised to row back several progressive laws passed by Scholz’s coalition -- beginning with the legalisation of cannabis.
The CDU/CSU claims this has led to “violent gang warfare”, while advocates of legalisation say it has helped curb the black market.
In a broadside against what they call “woke” culture, the conservatives and AfD have also pledged to cancel reforms that have made it easier for people to change their legal gender.
Trump and his deputies wield power with a ‘macho’ hand
By Aurélia END
Washington, United States —
He courted young, angry men during his presidential campaign.
Now Donald Trump is back in the White House, where he and his acolytes are applying what they see as a decidedly masculine stamp on all they do.
Seeking a return to traditional gender norms, the new administration is making a big show of centering men -- from Elon Musk declaring that “testosterone rocks!” to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doing push-ups to redefining government acronyms from a male perspective.
And the push goes well beyond the performative, with the fistpumping Trump moving to sign executive orders eroding healthcare access for transgender people and declaring the country will recognize only two genders -- men and women -- in his first days in office.
Musk, Trump’s top donor and most powerful ally, whom the president has tapped to lead government cuts and, specifically, to slash programs targeting racism
and inequality, has repeatedly been at the vanguard of the push to make America manly again.
The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX boss on Wednesday warned of what he said were risks facing men from policies that seek to combat discrimination.
In a videoconference, he offered the bizarre-sounding suggestion that an artificial intelligence-based program designed to promote “diversity at all costs” could even “decide that there were too many men in power and execute them. So problem solved.”
The world’s richest person, Musk also posted a message on his X platform saying “Testosterone rocks.”
New Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, who has criticized the presence of women in combat roles and vowed to bring “warrior culture” back, on Friday shared photos of himself jogging and exercising with US troops on a snowy path in Poland.
Hegseth, a military veteran, said he had done five series of 47 pushups -- a reference to Trump as the 47th American president.
The Trump administration has even imposed a male-centric stamp on some government acronyms.
A warning system for pilots known as NOTAM, for “Notice to Air Missions” has been changed officially to the “Notice to Airmen.”
- ‘Nostalgic patriarchy’There is a method to all this maleness, experts say.
“The emphasis on a rigid gender binary is an outgrowth of a nostalgic patriarchy that wants to return to a mid-20th century understanding of gender relations, with white, heterosexual men at the pinnacle of a hierarchical identity pyramid,” said Karrin Anderson, a communications professor at Colorado State University.
Trump, of course, is at the heart of the movement.
Shortly after his return to power on January 20, the president ordered an end to passports with a gender-neutral “X” option and moved to restrict gender transition procedures for people under the age of 19.
The 78-year-old billionaire, who has promised to “protect” women “whether the women like
it or not,” also signed an order banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports events.
At the signing event, he surrounded himself with women and young girls.
His administration even went so far as to scrub all references to transgender and queer people from the National Park Serviceadministered website for a monument to the 1969 Stonewall riots, a foundational moment in the struggle for LGBTQ rights.
The approach can take on a religious hue, with Trump not averse to presenting himself as a providential emissary from God. Newly confirmed health minister Robert F. Kennedy Jr. compared the president on Thursday to “a man on a white horse” arriving at a gallop to save America.
- ‘Healthy masculinity’ -
“The revitalization of American masculinity is our nation’s most pressing need,” Jim Daly of the conservative evangelical group Focus on the Family said last month.
Writing in the Washington
Examiner, he said that Trump, like conservative US president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, was promoting what he called “healthy masculinity.”
With Reagan’s portrait hanging in the Oval Office, it has been under the gaze of the former Western movie actor that Trump deploys his thick black marker to sign orders that, Anderson says, confirm his muscular approach to power.
“By bypassing Congress and flouting Constitutional checks and balances,” she said, “Trump demonstrates his might by exercising masculinized, autocratic authority rather than engaging in collaborative, democratic decisionmaking.”
Trump 2.0 is not entirely an old boys club, however.
While the Republican president has named a male-dominated cabinet, he has brought in more women than during his first term, some in strategic positions.
His new chief of staff Susie Wiles -- whom Trump calls “the ice maiden” for her coolness under fire -- is the first woman in that influential post.
Co-leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and her party’s top candidate for Chancellor Alice Weidel and co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Tino Chrupalla address a press conference in Berlin, one day after the German federal elections. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party celebrated a record election result that fuelled its wildest hopes of one day entering government. TOBIAS SCHWARZ
THE BIG GAMES AND PLAYERS AROUND THE WORLD
More than cricket as Pakistan hosts first major tournament in 29 years
By Shahid HASHMI
Karachi, Pakistan — Pakistan
will host a first major cricket tournament in almost three decades from Wednesday in a move hailed as a landmark just a few years after the country was off-limits because of security fears.
Staging the Champions Trophy in three cities over the next two-anda-half weeks will be a huge boost to the South Asian nation’s reputation if authorities can pull it off smoothly and safely.
“Convincing the world that Pakistan is a safe country and that it is capable of delivering such a global event from an administration point of view took serious hard work and convincing,” former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja told AFP.
“The world eventually understood our viewpoint,” said Raja, under whose tenure the event was awarded in 2021.
The build-up has not been without problems after neighbours and arch-rivals India refused to play in Pakistan over long-standing political tensions.
A powerhouse of the sport on and off the pitch, India will instead play their matches in Dubai, but the other seven countries will be based in Pakistan.
The country has stepped up security, especially in host cities Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi, even if attacks in major cities are increasingly rare.
Pakistan had been due to host the Champions Trophy, the premier ODI event after the World Cup, in 2008.
PUBLIC NOTICE
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION REGIONAL TRIAL COURT MANILA, BRANCH 55 rtc2mnl055@judiciary.gov.ph (02) 5-310-5326
IN THE MATTER OF CORRECTION OF ENTRIES IN THE CERTIFICATE OF DEATH OF JOVITA MALLARI BARREDO, particularly:
1. Entry number 7, correcting her civil status from “Widow” to “Married” JAIME BERJA BARREDO, Petitioner,
-versus- CIVIL CASE NO. R-MNL-25-00206-SP
THE LOCAL CIVIL REGISTRAR OF MANILA, PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY (PSA), CIVIL REGISTRAR GENERAL, THE OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL, HENRY M. BARREDO, DOLY M. BARREDO, JAIMER M. BARREDO, JR., AND ALL OTHER PERSONS INTERESTED, Respondents.
This case is a verified Petition for Correction of the Certificate of Death of Jovita Mallari Barredo filed by the petitioner Jaime Berja Barredo seeking seeking correction of the civil status of the deceased Jovita Mallari Barredo in the latter’s Certificate of Death from “Widow” to “Married”.
Petitioner Jaime B. Barredo and deceased Jovita M. Barredo got married on March 4, 1975 in Manila evidenced by their marriage contract with Register No. 1612. Their union as spouses was blessed with three (3) offsprings namely: Henry M. Barredo, Dolly M. Barredo and Jaime M. Barredo, Jr. On August 16, 2024, Jovita M. Barredo died due to Acute Cardio-Pulmonary Failure. When the petitioner was processing the documents required by GSIS for the monthly pension of deceased Jovita and the requirements for the claiming of death/burial assistance, he discovered that the Certificate of Death of his wife Jovita reflected the latter’s civil status as widow where in truth, he and deceased Jovita are married.
WHEREFORE, being sufficient in form and substance, the Petition is set for hearing on 22 April 2025 at 8:30 o’clock in the morning, in the Session Hall of this Court sitting at Room 432, 4th Floor, City Hall, Manila.
Let this Order be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks, in a newspaper of general circulation and published in Metro Manila, to be selected by raffle, at the expense of the petitioner.
Let copies of this Order and the Petition with its annexes be posted in a public and conspicuous place in the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Regional Trial CourtManila.
Similarly, let copies of this Order together with copies of the Petition and all its annexes/attachments, including the compliance, be served to the private respondents, the Office of the Local Civil Registrar of Manila, Philippine Statistics Authority, and the Office of the Solicitor General. The private and public respondents are given fifteen (15) days from notice of the petition, or from the last date of publication of such notice, within which to file their opposition thereto, if any. In the event that the Solicitor General cannot appear on the scheduled hearing, to designate the City Prosecutor of Manila to appear for and on behalf of the State.
SO ORDERED.
Manila, Philippines, 23 January 2025. (sgd.) Hon. Josefina E. Siscar Presiding Judge
TFP: February 27, March 6 & 13, 2025
It was instead staged in South Africa a year later because of a security crisis that spilled over from the war in neighbouring Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks.
Pakistan became a no-go zone for international sides in 2009 after Islamist gunmen attacked a bus carrying Sri Lanka’s team in Lahore, wounding several players and killing eight policemen and civilians.
But since a sweeping military crackdown that started in 2014 and lasted several years, security has vastly improved.
Those teams will all be in Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.
- ‘Terrorism took everything’For 77-year-old businessman Haji Abdul Razzak, a global event coming back to Pakistan is like another birthday.
The last time Pakistan held a major international cricket tournament was as co-hosts, with India and Sri Lanka, in 1996.
Razzak raised the Sri Lankan flag on March 17, 1996 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore when the islanders defeated Australia to clinch the title.
Twenty-nine years later the cricket fanatic will attend the opening match of the Champions Trophy in Karachi on Wednesday between holders Pakistan and New Zealand.
“It is fresh in my mind,” a tearyeyed Razzak told AFP. “My country was thriving back then and cricket was on everyone’s mind.”
Although militancy is still a threat in Pakistan, the violence is nearly entirely limited to the remote border regions from north to south, far away from the stadiums. With the capital Islamabad placed in lockdown, Pakistan recently hosted a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and a global meeting on girls’ education, raising its profile on the international stage.
As a test case for its readiness, Pakistan last week staged a tri-series with New Zealand and South Africa and crowds flocked to the recently renovated stadiums in Lahore and Karachi.
Raja, a former Pakistan captain who played in the 1987 World Cup hosted by Pakistan and India, said holding the Champions Trophy has enormous significance that goes beyond sport.
“This Champions Trophy is a crucial step toward normalising its standing in the global cricket community,” he said.
Messi too hot for Sporting in sub-zero Champions Cup clash
Los Angeles, United States —
Lionel Messi shrugged off sub-zero temperatures to score the only goal as Inter Miami defeated Sporting Kansas City 1-0 in their weather-delayed CONCACAF Champions Cup first-leg clash on Wednesday.
Messi struck in the 56th minute at Children’s Mercy Park, showing superb individual skill before rifling a low angled shot past Sporting goalkeeper John Pulskamp.
The victory gives Inter a precious away goal as they attempt to secure their passage into the last 16 in next Tuesday’s second leg in Florida.
Wednesday’s game in Kansas City had been postponed by 24 hours after an arctic storm dumped several inches of snow across the region while sending temperatures plummeting to near-record lows.
Despite the rescheduling there was no let-up from the freezing conditions, with the temperature at kick-off plunging to minus 17 degrees Celsius (one degree Fahrenheit).
Argentine superstar Messi and his Inter team-mates took to the field wearing gloves and neck warmers, with several players on both teams wearing full-length leggings to combat the cold.
Kansas City finished near the foot of Major League Soccer’s Western Conference last season, winning just eight of their 34 regular-season games -- in stark contrast to Miami, who topped the Eastern Conference with a record 74 points after winning 22 games.
Miami’s technical superiority was evident for long periods of the
first half, Luis Suarez going close to opening the scoring in the eighth minute with a shot that curled just wide of the post.
Suarez went close again after 35 minutes, his shot from the edge of the area whistling just wide of the post. The breakthrough for Miami finally came early in the second half.
Messi’s former Barcelona teammate Sergio Busquets floated a cross-field pass into the area which found the Argentine playmaker. The 37-year-old superstar controlled the ball on his chest before a brilliant touch took him wide of Kansas City midfielder Erik Thommy, creating space for a low shot across goal into the far corner.
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION REGIONAL TRIAL COURT PASIG CITY
OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE JUDGE rtc1pas154@judiciary.gov.ph
APPLICATION NO. 181 (2025-2026)
IN RE: PETITION FOR NOTARIAL COMMISSION
ISABELLE PEREZ CASPILLO, Petitioner.
NOTICE OF HEARING
Notice is hereby given that a summary hearing on the petition for commission as Notary Public of ATTY. ISABELLE PEREZ CASPILLO for and in the City of Pasig Metro Manila shall be held on March 03, 2025 at Branch 154, 4th Floor, Hall of Justice, Regional Trial Court, City Hall Compound, Caruncho Avenue, Pasig City at 1:00 o’clock in the afternoon. Any person who has any cause or reason to object to the grant of the petition may file a verified written opposition thereto, received by the undersigned before the date of the summary hearing. Pasig City, February 24, 2025.
(sgd.) ACHILLES ARISTOTLE APOLINARIO C. BULAUITAN Executive Judge
TFP: February 27, 2025
NOTE: IN THE EVENT THAT THE DATE OF HEARING DOES NOT TAKE PLACE ON SAID DATE IT SHALL BE HELD ON March 10, 2025 AT THE SAME TIME AND PLACE WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE.
New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra (L) celebrates after scoring a century (100 runs) with teammate Tom Latham during the ICC Champions Trophy one-day international (ODI) cricket match between Bangladesh and New Zealand at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi. FAROOQ NAEEM
In warming world, skiing tries to stay snow white by going green
By Valentine GRAVELEAU
Saalbach, Austria — The snow fell on Saalbach on Friday, dusting the Austrian valley white for the World Championship men’s giant slalom and briefly disguising the issues facing the sport in an increasingly warm and hostile environment.
“We know about global warming,” Susanna Sieff, Sustainability Director for the International Ski Federation (FIS) told AFP. “We have to struggle with this. And let me say we are the first victim.”
For the first 10 days of the championships, skiers flew down a strip of artificial snow on a mountainside otherwise completely green in the middle of winter.
The Austrian Meteorological Institute said that before Friday, hardly a single snowflake fell in the country in February and that January
was on average two degrees celsius warmer than the average for that month from 1991 to 2020.
“Being on site, it is quite a sad picture that there is basically no natural snow at the moment,” Moritz Nachtschatt, from the Protect Our Winters (POW) association, told AFP, before Friday’s fall covered Saalbach’s embarrassing nakedness. “It’s the beginning of February. There is a lot less snow than 20 years ago.”
POW wrote a letter two years ago signed by 142 skiers, including stars such as Mikaela Shiffrin, asking FIS to step up its efforts, because their sport was “in danger”.
Saalbach, at an altitude of 1,000m, is particularly threatened.
“Ski World Cups will be possible in the future, but a place like Saalbach could have difficulties,” said Nachtschatt. “Anything below 1,500 meters, I’m quite sure, won’t
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CIVIL AERONAUTICS BOARD
IN RE: APPLICATION FOR ORIGINAL AUTHORITY TO OPERATE AS AN INTERNATIONAL & DOMESTIC AIRFREIGHT FORWARDER CAB CASE NO. EP-25-0924-ACFD-022025-1051-R WICE LOGISTICS PHILIPPINES COMPANY LIMITED INC. Applicant.
NOTICE OF PRELIMINARY HEARING
Pursuant to the provision of Republic Act No. 776, as amended, Notice is hereby given that WICE LOGISTICS PHILIPPINES COMPANY LIMITED INC. has applied with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) an application for original authority to operate as International and Domestic Airfreight Forwarder. The application shall be given due course by this Board within three (3) working days from completion of all requirements.
Parties opposed to the granting of this application must file their written opposition supported by documentary evidence within ten (10) working days from publication hereof, furnishing a copy of the same to the applicant, and if any so desire, appear before the Board. Failure on the part of any interested party to register its opposition on time shall be construed as a waiver of its right to be heard. Thereupon, the Board shall act upon the application on the basis of the records and documentary evidence presented by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive additional documentary and/or testimonial evidence.
The applicant is required to have this Notice of Hearing published at least once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation, and/or have copy thereof sent to existing airfreight forwarders either by personal service or registered mail with return card at least ten (10) working days from complete submission of the documentary requirements by applicant.
Let a copy of the application and this Notice be posted in CAB Bulletin Board beginning this day.
11 February 2025
City, Philippines
be possible anymore in 20 years.”
Sieff, whose position was created by FIS two years ago, agrees.
“There will be less venues to do this and this is a reality we know, for the lower ski resort,” she said. “We have also to work with ski resorts higher up that are our future.”
Saalbach’s organisers say they are organising a green single-site event, emphasising sustainability and cheap communal public transport.
“This is a positive,” said Ursula Bittner of Greenpeace Austria, who nevertheless called for more “transparency” from the organisers regarding the “green label”.
She also said the FIS calendar posed a problem.
Alpine, nordic and freestyle skiers and snowboarders spend their winters criss-crossing the globe to some 330 FIS World Cup events.
But as the planet warms, more
World heavyweight champion Usyk plans two more fights before retiring
London, United Kingdom — World heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk said Wednesday he intends to take on two more fights before heading into retirement.
The 38-year-old Ukrainian, who remains undefeated in the ring, also said that one of those bouts will be against the winner of the Daniel Dubois v Joseph Parker clash later this month.
Usyk defeated Britain’s Tyson Fury to win all four of the major heavyweight titles last May, becoming the first undisputed champion in almost 25 years.
He gave up the IBF belt but retained the unified WBC, WBA and WBO championships with his repeat victory over Fury.
“I think two years, one and a half (left in boxing),” Usyk told Sky Sports.
“I feel great myself. I feel I have two fights to prepare for, not more. Just two.”
He added: “I will fight (who wins) Joseph Parker, Daniel Dubois, no problem.”
English fighter Dubois, the reigning IBF champion, was defeated by Usyk in 2023 but is keen to avenge that loss should he get past New Zealand’s Parker in Riyadh on February 22.
“I’m just getting better, improving. They say when you win a world title you improve. So I feel like that’s what’s happening with me, I’m ready to show what I can do again and conquer whoever they put in front of me,” Dubois told Sky Sports.
and more often they arrive at an event to find it cancelled for lack of snow.
Snow uncertainty is also a problem for resorts trying to attract hobby skiers.
“The season is becoming less reliable, especially at the beginning and at the end,” said Robert Steiger, a professor at the University of Innsbruck who specialises in climate change.
“The snow comes later and you’re able to open the resort later than you’re used to and you have to terminate the season earlier than it used to be.”
- ‘Can you afford it?’Competitions are not in danger in the medium term because artificial snow makes it possible to stage races.
“The effort to produce snow is increasing,” he said, adding that was “the most obvious consequence of a changed climate”.
“Then the question is what do we do if there is no natural snow at all?” he asked. “Conditions are good for skiing and for the competition but the pictures are not as we would like to have it, we have those white strips in the green or brown landscape.”
With snow-making tecnology, said Steiger, “most of the resorts would be able to remain reliable at least for the next three decades or so. The question then is, can you afford it?”
“Surveys show that skiers want to have snow and they want to go skiing. They do not want to switch to a different kind of activity.”
Bittner wants people to be able to carry on skiing.
“We shouldn’t underestimate the importance of having some events, having people enjoying the sport and looking at the professionals,” she said.
“Life is also about life. People come together and celebrate.”
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES REGIONAL TRIAL COURT NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION Branch 15, MANILA Tel No. 5336-5416 rtc1mnl015@judiciary.gov.ph
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR CANCELLATION OF THE LATE REGISTERED CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH OF SJORN CUSTER SAGUN SISON, AND THE CORRECTION OF ENTRIES IN THE CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH OF MARIO SAGUN SISON, JR., SJORN CUSTER SAGUN SISON, Petitioners, -versus- CIVIL CASE NO. R-MNL-24-07604-SP For: Under Rule 108 of the Revised Rules of Court
LOCAL CIVIL REGISTRY OF MANILA CITY, LOCAL CIVIL REGISTRY OF MEXICO, PAMPANGA, and the PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY, Respondents, x--------------------------------------------------x
ORDER
In a verified Petition, petitioner SJORN CUSTER SAGUN SISON prays that, after due notice, publication and hearing, a judgment be rendered in the following manner, to wit:
1. The Local Civil Registry of Mexico, Pampanga, and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to cancel the certificate of live birth (late registration) of Sjorn Custer Sagun Sison; and
2. The Local Civil Registry of Manila City, and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to omit the name Mario Jr. Sagun Sison in the certificate of live birth issued by the Local Civil Registry of Manila with number 6477, and to replace and enter therein the name “Sjorn Custer Sagun Sison”;
Finding the petition to be sufficient in form and substance, set the petition for hearing on May 6 2025 at 8:30 in the morning before this Court located at the 2nd Floor, Old Nawasa Bldg., (formerly Ombudsman Bldg.) in front of LRT Central Station, A. Villegas St., Ermita, Manila, at which date and time any person having or claiming any interest in the petition, may file his/her opposition thereto and appear and show cause, if any, why the petition should not be granted.
Let a copy of this Order be published at the expense of the petitioner, once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks, in a newspaper of general circulation in Metro Manila, to be selected by raffle pursuant to P.D. No. 1079.
Furnish the respondents, the Office of the Local Civil Registrar of Manila, the Office of the Local Civil Registrar of Mexico, Pampanga, the Office of the Civil Registrar General (Philippine Statistics Authority), and the Office of the Solicitor General with copies of the verified petition together with its annexes and of this Order.
SO ORDERED.
Manila, Philippines, December 13, 2024.
(sgd.) EDUARDO RAMON R. REYES Presiding Judge
TFP: February 13, 20 & 27, 2025
Copy furnished: ATTY. RALPH LOUISSE D. VENEZUELA BAYANI LEDDA MANAUIS AND ASSOCIATES Units 1107 and 1108, The One Executive Offices Bldg., No. 5 West Avenue, Quezon City, Metro Manila ralphvenezuela@blmandassociates.com
SJORN CUSTER SAGUN SISON Petitioner B5 L12 Pacita Street, Mawing Village, Brgy. Telabastagan, San Fernando City, Pampanga
(From L) Second-placed Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath, winner Switzerland’s Loic Meillard and third-placed Germany’s Linus Strasser celebrate on the podium after the Men’s Slalom event of the Saalbach 2025 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Hinterglemm. DIMITAR DILKOFF
Pragmatic Italy in good place before hosting France: Azzurri great Dominguez
By Illtud DAFYDD
P
aris, France — Former Italy flyhalf Diego Dominguez said the Azzurri are primed to face France in the Six Nations on Sunday thanks to head coach Gonzalo Quesada’s practical gameplan.
Quesada’s men host Les Bleus in Rome this weekend having lost to Scotland and beaten Wales so far in the tournament, while France are reeling after a one-point defeat to England ended their Grand Slam hopes.
The 22-15 victory in Warren Gatland’s final game in charge of Wales came despite incessant rain at the Stadio Olimpico.
Quesada led perennial underachievers Italy to their best-ever Six Nations last season in his first campaign in charge as they notched up two wins over Wales and Scotland, and a draw with France in Paris.
“Italy are trying to move the ball, it’s a gameplan that’s not bad, it puts opponents in difficulty,” Italy’s record points scorer Dominguez told AFP.
“I’m happy that Italy played that game which was not pretty to watch.
“There are times, even if it’s not raining, you have to know how to adapt, vary your game, take measurable risks,” the 58-year-old added.
Argentina-born Dominguez played the last of 76 Italy Tests, during which he racked up 983 points, in 2003 but has remained involved with the sport as a television pundit.
He spent seven campaigns of his club career at Stade Francais, lifting the Brennus Shield for the French champions four times in the City of Lights, where he featured alongside Les Bleus head coach Fabien Galthie.
“I had the best years of my life
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES REGIONAL TRIAL COURT NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION PASIG CITY
OFFICE OF THE CLERK OF COURT AND EX-OFFICIO SHERIFF
RIZAL COMMERCIAL BANKING CORPORATION, represented by Atty. Leonardo A. Yepes, Jr., Mortgagee, -versus-
SPOUSES JOHN ALSON L. ELISEO AND CLARA L. ELISEO, as represented by Atty-in-Fact John Albert L. Eliseo, Respondents/Mortgagors,
FILE NO. F-25-012-REM EXTRA JUDICIAL FORECLOSURE OF REAL ESTATE MORTGAGE UNDER ACT 3135, AS AMENDED BY ACT 4118
NOTICE OF SHERIFF’S SALE
Upon extra-judicial petition for sale under Act 3135 as amended by Act 4118 filed by mortgagee, RIZAL COMMERCIAL BANKING CORPORATION, represented by Atty. Leonardo A. Yepes Jr., with principal office at 28th Floor, AT Yuchengco Centre, 25th & 26th Sts., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, City, against the debtors/mortgagors,
SPOUSES JOHN ALSON L. ELISEO AND CLARA L. ELISEO, as represented by Atty-in-Fact
John Albert L. Eliseo, with given postal address/es at [1] P6-00 3rd corner 14th Street, Villamor Airbase, Pasay City; [2] Unit 28 F-D The Currency F Ortigas Jr. Rd. corner Julia Vargas Ave., Ortigas Center, Pasig City; [3] Unit 403 Benrosi Suites, 1209 P. Ocampo St., Vito Cruz, Malate, Manila, and for the satisfaction of the mortgaged debt which as of January 6, 2025 amounts to TWO MILLION SIX HUNDRED NINETY ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED NINETY FOUR PESOS & 41/100 (P2,691,294.41) exclusive of interest, penalty and other charges, and all legal fees and expenses incidental to this foreclosure and sale, the Clerk of Court and Ex-Officio Sheriff of Pasig City or her duly authorized sheriff, will sell at public auction on 07 May 2025 at 10:00 o’clock in the morning or soon thereafter in-front of the Main Entrance of the Pasig City Hall, Pasig City, to the highest bidder and for CASH or CERTIFIED CHECK, in Philippine Currency, the following described real property with all its improvements existing thereon, to wit: CONDOMINIUM CERTIFICATE OF TITLE NO. 011-2021014508
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that the unit identified and described as:
RESIDENTIAL UNIT D — A RESIDENTIAL STUDIO CONDOMINIUM UNIT LOCATED AT THE TWENTY-EIGHT FLOOR LEVEL OF “THE CURRENCY 01”
WITH AN AREA OF 25.00 SQUARE METERS, MORE OR LESS in the diagrammatic floor plan appended to the enabling or master deed of the condominium project annotated on TRANSFER CERTIFICATE OF TITLE PT-119284 which embraces and describes the land located at JULIA VARGAS AVE., COR. EMERALD AVE., ORTIGAS CENTER, PASIG CITY with an area of TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN (2,015) Square Meter.
Prospective buyers and/or bidders are hereby enjoined to investigate for themselves the title of the real property and the encumbrances thereon, if there be any.
All sealed bids must be submitted to the undersigned on the above-stated time and date.
In the event the public auction should not take place on the said date, it shall be held on 28 May, 2025 at the same time and place without further notice. Pasig City, February 4, 2025.
(sgd.) EDWIN S. CARIÑO Sheriff IV
(sgd.) ATTY. ROSALIE C. AROSA Clerk of Court & Ex-Officio Sheriff
there,” said Dominguez, who is now resident in Milan.
“We won a lot. We created an identity. It was magnificent.”
- ‘Win the Six Nations’Dominguez was part of the first Italy side to feature in the Six Nations in 2000, kicking 29 points in the historic 34-20 victory over Scotland in their maiden game in the competition.
Between 2016-2022 the Azzurri lost a record 36 straight Six Nations games but an improvement has come from grassroots coaching and success for Treviso, one of their two professional clubs along with Zebre, in the United Rugby Championship.
Despite the positive signs, Italy’s domestic Serie A Elite competition finds it hard to produce players ready for the national team and to gain popularity outside the sport’s northern heartlands.
“We need to have a better standard in our club competition,” diminutive figure Dominguez said.
“It’s impossible for it to be as good as the Top 14, the best league in the world.
“But the Italian league needs to get closer to the standard of ProD2 (French second division) to start,” he added.
Quesada’s current crop of players include big names such as fly-half Paolo Garbisi, winger Ange Capuozzo and centres Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello, who was named player of the championship in last year’s Six Nations.
“I hope a new generation of players will come through, even better than us, because if not, we won’t win the Six Nations,” an ambitious Dominguez said.
“We have to fight to win the Six Nations, and to win it, every year we have to produce very good players in every position to have selection
problems across all positions.
“Italy have to win the Six Nations before the 30th anniversary of our participation. They have four years to go,” he added, with their hopes of lifting the title this season slender.
Midfielder Brex, 32, has followed in Dominguez’s footsteps having moved from Argentina to feature for the Azzurri.
“He has a positive influence on the team,” Dominguez said. “Every match is a seven out of 10, never below that, he never makes mistakes.”
This weekend, Garbisi is expected to be wearing Dominguez’s No.10 jersey while full-back Tommaso Allan, who can also slot in at fly-half, has the goal-kicking duties.
“It’s difficult because they’re both good players,” Dominguez said. “Tommaso has much more experience, because he’s played long at the highest level, his kicking is more consistent.
“Paolo, he needs to gain confidence, he needs to know his game for us to see him at his best. He’s got potential,” he added.
Hamilton confident of Ferrari glory after taking wheel of new F1 car
Fiorano Modenese, Italy — Lewis
Hamilton is convinced that this season could be Ferrari’s year after he drove for the first time on Wednesday the Formula One team’s car for the upcoming season, with a record eighth world title in his sights.
Hamilton delighted hopeful fans by putting the new SF-25 car through its paces at Ferrari’s own track in Fiorano Modenese in northern Italy before stopping to salute spectators who are hoping he can end the Italian team’s long world championship drought.
Ferrari haven’t won the constructors title since 2008 and Kimi Raikkonen was the last man to claim the driver’s title with them the year before, but asked whether he thought the ‘Scuderia’ were ready to win the world championship, Hamilton simply said “yes”.
“I’ve worked with two world championship winning teams before, I know what a winning team looks and feels like,” Hamilton told reporters.
“The passion here is like nothing you’ve ever seen. They’ve got absolutely every ingredient they need to win a world championship and it’s just about putting all the pieces together.
at Mercedes.
Since losing the 2021 drivers’ title to Verstappen in controversial circumstances in the final GP, Hamilton has finished sixth, third and then seventh in 2024, some 214 points behind his Dutch rival who has won the last four championships.
- ‘Wave of life’Hamilton said in a video released by Ferrari earlier on Wednesday that he thought “nothing was ever going to be new again” and he is clearly surprised at the new lease of life he is experiencing.
“When I was much younger I definitely didn’t think in my 19th season or 19th year, whatever it is, that I would be this excited,” said Hamilton.
“I never thought at this point in my career I would have so much excitement. Wanting to be at work early, wanting to put in even extra levels of work to achieve the dream... I’ve just felt this new wave of life and energy.
“For me it’s the first. Winning a championship with Ferrari is the first. That’s what I’m working towards. I don’t think about the number eight. I’m thinking about the first championship that the team’s
won for some time.” Hamilton has a lot to prove despite his many achievements as last year he won just two Grands Prix, and his British GP victory in July ended a two-and-a-half year winless streak which stretched back to the now infamous 2021 season. And he admits that he will have to acclimatise to his new surroundings before he can hope to replicate his golden years with Mercedes.
“We know we have a huge amount of work to do; I know that I have a huge amount of work to do,” he said.
“But everyone’s bent over backwards in this team to make me feel welcome and I really feel at home. I know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, it feels natural, it feels right, so I think we’ve just got to continue to put in the time and take it one step at a time.
“I’m doing everything I can to be ready for race one.” Hamilton will have his first serious drive of his new car during next week’s winter testing session in Bahrain before next month’s seasonopening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
PUBLICATION: “THE FOREIGN POST”
DATES: February 20, 27 & March 6, 2025
Copy furnished:
RIZAL COMMERCIAL BANKING CORPORATION, represented by Atty. Leonardo A. Yepes, Jr., 28th Floor, AT Yuchengco Centre, 25th & 26th Sts., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, City
SPOUSES JOHN ALSON L. ELISEO AND CLARA L. ELISEO as represented by Atty-in-Fact
“Everyone just has a really calm and good approach. No one’s like we’re perfect in every single area. Everyone’s like we need to elevate everywhere and they’re leaving no stone unturned to try and do that.”
At 40 years old Hamilton isn’t just F1’s biggest star, he’s also one the sport’s elder statesmen, but he is full of youthful enthusiasm for a new challenge at Ferrari after falling way behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in his final three seasons
France’s scrum-half Antoine Dupont celebrates after winning the Six Nations international rugby union match between Italy and France at the Stadio Olimpico, in Rome. ANDREAS SOLARO
Marmoush’s Man City move sparks excitement in Egypt
By Menna FAROUK
Cairo, Egypt — In a packed cafe in Cairo, all eyes were glued to a flickering flat-screen TV, waiting for Omar Marmoush, now donning Manchester City’s sky-blue jersey, to step onto the pitch.
In the 84th minute, the Egyptian forward finally jogged to the sideline, ready to make his UEFA Champions League debut against Real Madrid.
The cafe erupted with cheers and hands banging on tables, and even longtime Madrid fans joined in to celebrate one of their own.
The Spanish side ended up winning 3-2, but at the Cairo cafe, the result did not diminish the love for Marmoush.
“I came today just to see him,” said Abdel Rahman Tarek, a 25-yearold fan.
“Marmoush playing in Manchester City. That is huge,” he told AFP, his face beaming with pride.
While his appearance ended up being just minutes-long, Marmoush’s high-profile move to City has sparked nationwide buzz.
From heated debates in cafes to trending discussions on social media, his name is being celebrated alongside Mohamed Salah’s, Egypt’s football megastar.
- A challenging season -
Manchester City, battling even to qualify for next season’s Champions League, is banking on 26-year-old
PUBLIC NOTICE
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES REGIONAL TRIAL COURT NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION BRANCH 95, QUEZON CITY rtc1qzn095@judiciary.gov.ph Tel No: 83612982
IN RE: PETITION FOR CORRECTION OF ENTRY IN THE CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH OF HIKARI GERVACIO, VERGILIO L. MAURICIO, JANICE S. GERVACIO and HIKARI GERVACIO (minor), Petitioners, -versus- SP PROC NO. R-QZN-25-00209-SP
LOCAL CIVIL REGISTRAR OF QUEZON CITY, THE PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY, AND ALL PERSONS WHO HAVE OR CLAIM ANY INTEREST WHICH WOULD BE AFFECTED THEREBY, Respondents.
Before this Court is a Petition filed by petitioners, through counsel for the Correction of Entries in the Certificate of Live Birth of Hikari Gervacio.
Petitioners pray for the following reliefs:
a. Name of Hikari’s father from “N/A” to “VERGILIO LOZADA MAURICIO”;
b. Citizenship of Hikari’s father from “N/A” to “FILIPINO”;
c. Status of marriage of Hikari’s parents from “NOT MARRIED” to “MARRIED”;
d. Place of Marriage of Hikari’s parents from “NOT MARRIED” to “QUEZON CITY”
Finding the Petition to be sufficient in form and substance, let this case be set for hearing on April 2, 2025 at 8:30 o’clock in the morning, before this Court located at Room 407, 4th Floor, Hall of Justice Building Annex, Quezon City Hall Compound, Quezon City, at which date, time and place all interested parties are required to appear and show cause why the said petition should not be granted.
Further, Let this Order be published in a newspaper of general circulation in Quezon City, once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks before the scheduled hearing while a separate copy of this order be posted at the Bulletin Board in the main entrance of the Hall of Justice, Quezon City Hall Compound, Quezon City at the Civil Registry Office and this Branch of Court at least twenty (20) days prior to date of hearing, and served together with the petition and its annexes upon the petitioner, the Office of the Solicitor General, City Prosecutor of Quezon City, Philippine Statistics Authority, the City Civil Registrar of Quezon City all at the expense of the petitioner.
SO ORDERED
Quezon City, Philippines, January 27, 2025 (sgd.) EDGARDO B. BELLOSILLO Presiding Judge
TFP: February 27, March 6 & 13, 2025
Cc: DE GUZMAN SAN DIEGO MEJIA & HERNANDEZ LAW OFFICES (GSMH Law)
Counsel for the petitioners 16th Floor, Trident Tower, 312 Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Salcedo Village, Makati City 1200
Office of the Solicitor General
134 Amorsolo Street, Legaspi Village, Makati City
Philippine Statistics Office (PSA) Quezon City
Local Civil Registrar Quezon City
Marmoush to inject fresh energy.
Marmoush joined from Eintracht Frankfurt on a four-and-a-half-year deal worth around £59 million ($73 million).
His arrival comes at a testing time for City, who are trailing league leaders Liverpool by 15 points.
Coach Pep Guardiola said following his debut in a 3-1 victory over Chelsea that he was “really pleased” with Marmoush’s performance so far, but the player will need time to settle in.
“His real impact could come next season once he fully integrates into the squad and Guardiola refines his role within the team,” Egyptian sports analyst Khaled Talaat told AFP.
Born to an Egyptian-Canadian couple, Marmoush started out at Cairo’s Wadi Degla club.
Ahmed Hossam, popularly known as “Mido”, a former Egypt and Tottenham Hotspur striker who coached Degla’s first team in 2016, saw the potential.
“Marmoush will be the surprise of Egyptian football,” Mido said in 2016.
The forward moved to Germany at a young age, playing for VfL Wolfsburg and developing his skills in the Bundesliga with Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt before earning his big break with Manchester City.
- The next Salah? -
His blockbuster move has inevitably drawn comparisons to Salah, who is enjoying another stellar season at Liverpool, netting 21 goals in 23 league appearances.
His journey from Nagrig, a village in Egypt’s Nile Delta area of Gharbiya, to global stardom at Anfield has inspired millions.
His rise is a classic underdog story -- he started at Egypt’s El Mokawloon before moving to Switzerland’s Basel.
A tough spell at Chelsea followed before he found his form at Italy’s AS Roma, ultimately becoming one of the greatest players in Premier League history with Liverpool.
Pundits said it would be “unfair to compare” Marmoush to Salah just yet, though he has already shown great promise.
“Salah had to fight for playing time with Chelsea when he first arrived in England whereas Marmoush has already started matches with City, showing that Guardiola sees potential in him,” said Talaat.
But even Salah has urged caution, warning last year that such comparisons could create unnecessary pressure.
“Let him live his own experience and enjoy it,” Salah said at a November book fair in the UAE.
Marmoush agrees.
“Salah is the best player in Egypt’s history,” he said on a TV show last month.
“But I don’t want to be the next Mo Salah. I want to be Omar Marmoush and create my own story.”
- ‘Give him time’ -
Beyond their career trajectories, their playing styles also set them apart.
Salah is renowned for his blistering pace, lethal finishing and ability to turn matches around.
Marmoush is more versatile -- comfortable playing across the forward line and adept at linking up play in midfield.
“The two players are fundamentally different on the pitch,” said Ahmed Owais, a football pundit.
“Salah is a fighter with incredible speed and finishing... Marmoush, on the other hand, is more skilful in tight spaces, has quick feet, and excels in dead-ball situations.”
Salah has set a nearly impossible standard, and pundits believe that once City regains its rhythm, Marmoush could be in a stronger
position to shine. In the Cairo cafe, some fans were ready to anoint Marmoush as Egypt’s next great footballing export, while others insisted there was only one king.
For Yassin Ahmed, 19, support, not comparisons, is what matters now.
“He deserves our backing,” he said. “He is one of us, a special talent and we need to give him time.”
PUBLIC NOTICE
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION REGIONAL TRIAL COURT BRANCH 235, MAKATI CITY rtc1mkt235@judiciary.gov.ph (02) 8637-2284 / 0927-2969843
IN RE IN THE MATTER FOR THE ALLOWANCE OF THE NOTARIAL LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF THE LATE MARIE VERDUYN NORRIS (A.K.A. MIEKE VERDUYN NORRIS) AND FOR LETTERS TESTAMENTARY AND ADMINISTRATION,
VIJAY MULCHAND MIRPURI, Petitioner, x----------------------------------------x
Case No. R-MKT-24-02573-SP: For: Probate of notarial will and issuance of letters testamentary
INITIAL ORDER
Before this Court is a verified Amended Petition for the probate of the notarial last will and testament, dated 06 September 2019, of Marie Verduyn Norris, A.K.A. Mieke Verduyn Norris (“Norris”; “testatrix”). The petition likewise prays for the issuance of letters testamentary to Vijay Mulchand Mirpuri (“Mirpuri”), without payment of a bond.
Petitioner Mirpuri alleges, among others, that testatrix Norris, a Dutch citizen (Netherlands), died on 11 March 2022 at the Makati Medical Center; at the time of her death, she was residing in 325 Lirio Street, Palm Village, Barangay Guadalupe Viejo, Makati City; she was a participant of the retirement program of the Philippine Retirement Authority and a holder of a Special Resident Retiree’s Visa (SRRV) issued on 13 May 1998; she was a resident of the Philippines for twenty-four (24) years; and there are no known creditors at the time of her death.
Moreover, petitioner claims he was given the original copy of the subject notarial will by the testatrix on 06 September 2019; that he has been in possession thereof to date; and that he was appointed to be the sole executor of her estate. Further, as provided for in the will, and considering the testatrix died without compulsory heirs, Chairman of Radha Soami Satsang Beas Philippines, Inc., a corporation duly organized under the laws of the Philippines, of which the testatrix was a member of since 1974, will be the sole beneficiary of her estate.
The testatrix left the following properties:
I. Personal Properties
A. Shares of stock
Type Number of shares Value of Shares (in Php) Maya Maya Cottages, Inc.
B. Bank Accounts
US Dollar account Amount in Php Amount in USD representing testatrix’s deposit for her Special Resident Retiree’s Visa Banco De Oro (time 1,162,000.00 20,000.00 deposit account)
C. Improvements on a lot
Location Area Value in
Nasugbu, Batangas
WHEREFORE, notice is hereby given that the instant petition will be heard by this Court at the 5th floor, Hall of Justice - Makati City, 911 J.P. Rizal St. corner Makati Avenue, Makati City on:
08 MAY 2025 at 8:30 in the morning at which date and time all interested parties are hereby cited to appear and show cause, if any, why said petition should not be granted.
Le a copy of this Order be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation prior to the date of hearing. Petitioner is directed to coordinate with the RTC-OCC of Makati City for publication.
Let a copy of this order be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation to be determined by raffle in accordance with law. Moreover, petitioner is directed to coordinate with the sheriff of this Court, who shall personally serve a copy of this order upon the beneficiary named in the will, Chairman of Radha Soami Satsang Beas Philippines, Inc., within five (5) days from receipt of this Order. The publication and service shall all be at petitioner’s expense. SO ORDERED.
06 February 2025, Makati City.
TFP: February 27, March 6 & 13, 2025
(sgd.) RICARDO A. MOLDEZ II Presiding Judge
Copy furnished: HERRERA TEEHANKEE & CABRERA LAW OFFICES ATTY. JAMIE ROSE M. PALACOL Counsel for petitioner Clerk of Court & Ex-officio Sheriff 5th Floor, SGV II
Brazilian former football international Giovane Elber poses with th European Champion Clubs’ Cup trophy prior to the draw for the round of 16 of the 2024-2025 UEFA Champions League football tournament at the House of European Football in Nyon. VALENTIN FLAURAUD
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WHO’S DOING WHAT, WHERE, WITH WHOM
Linklater, Hawke team up again for musical drama ‘Blue Moon’
By Adam PLOWRIGHT
Berlin, Germany — US director
Richard Linklater and longtime collaborator Ethan Hawke have teamed up again for “one-scene”
musical drama “Blue Moon” which premiered at the Berlin film festival on Tuesday.
Set in 1943, it sees Hawke play love-lorn and troubled Broadway writer Lorenz Hart, whose credits include “The Lady Is a Tramp” and the song that gives the film its title.
The dense, lyrical script sees Hawke take centre stage for almost
the entire 100-minute movie, which unfolds like a theatre production inside a hotel and bar on the opening night of the musical “Oklahoma!”.
“It’s basically filmed as one scene. It starts and all the dominoes fall in one gesture,” Hawke told journalists in Berlin on Tuesday
alongside on-screen love interest Margaret Qualley (“Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood”).
Linklater said he had “always loved this period so much -- the 1930s and 40s musical theatre, the craftsmanship of it”.
The aim had been to produce a film that echoed the songs written by Hart and his composer partner Richard Rodgers, played in the film by Irish actor Andrew Scott (“Fleabag”, “All of Us Strangers”).
“Our goal with this movie was if it could be like a Rodgers and Hart song too. If it could be beautiful and kind of sad and funny, all at the same time,” Linklater said.
The 64-year-old director is back at the Berlinale festival 11 years after winning the silver bear award for Best Director, the second-top prize, for his epic “Boyhood” film, which also featured Hawke.
- Politics -
The duo shot to fame with their work together on the 1995 romantic drama “Before Sunrise”, the first instalment of their “Before” triology.
“Blue Moon” is one of the most star-heavy contenders in the main competition at this year’s Berlin film festival, which showcases independent arthouse movies and
documentaries from across the world.
Last year’s event was overshadowed by a political row in Germany caused by criticism from actors and directors of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
The festival’s new director, Tricia Tuttle, vowed beforehand that the Berlinale would not “shy away” from current events but she hoped t he news agenda would not eclipse the on-screen stories.
The jury, helmed by US director Todd Haynes, is set to hand out its awards on Saturday evening.
The day after, Germany goes to the polls for a national election, with the far-right AfD surging in the polls and earning enthusiastic backing from Donald Trump’s US administration.
In an interview with AFP this week, Haynes urged Hollywood to resist Trump and warned about the danger of being “contaminated” by the radical changes underway in the United States.
“It is an appalling moment that we’re in right now, that will take every bit of energy to resist and revert back to a system that, flawed as it is, is something that we’ve taken for granted as Americans,” he said.
US director Richard Linklater, Irish actor Andrew Scott, US actress Margaret Qualley and US actor Ethan Hawke pose for photographers on the red carpet for the film “Blue Moon” presented in competition of the 75th Berlinale, Europe’s first major film festival of the year in Berlin.
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