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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2018 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com
IN BRIEF Australia swelters in record heat
SAHARA FESTIVAL. A camel is led past the setting sun during the Sahara Festival on December 22, 2018, in Douz, Tunisia. The Sahara Festival, in its 51st year, brings together nomadic peoples of this Sahara region and celebrates their culture in a four day event showcasing music, racing and performances. AFP
Wild animals find home in private shelter in Russian city RAPPOLOVO, Russia―A lion that escaped from an airport, a crocodile found at a rubbish dump and an elk attacked by stray dogs—all these animals have found refuge in an unusual private shelter in Russia. Dozens of bears have also passed through the Veles center, just outside Saint Petersburg, since it was opened in 2009 by businessman Alexander Fyodorov, who says he spent more than $1 million on the project. “Our aim is to treat wild animals and get them back on their legs again in order to release them if that’s possible,” he said of the center in Rappolovo, 20 kilometers out of Russia’s second city. “Some of the animals were found after accidents, others were abandoned. Sometimes their stories are like the plot of a film,” said Fyodorov. One particularly dramatic story is that of a lioness called Elza, who escaped in Saint Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport in December last year. “Elza was sent from Grozny [the capital of Chechnya] by a Chechen businessman to his friend in Saint Petersburg as a New Year’s gift,” Fyodorov said. “But the sleeping pills given to the lioness before the trip stopped acting too early. In the airport, the lion broke her cage open and made a run for it.” The lion was soon captured and later taken to her new owner, but he quickly realized that “it was impossible for him to keep a lion” and brought her to the shelter. At the time, keeping wild animals at home was not illegal, but a law was recently enacted that bans the practice from next year. Less is known about the background of the crocodile named Gena who was found at a rubbish dump north of the city. Keeping exotic wild animals as pets has long been fashionable among certain rich or novelty-seeking Russians but often ends unhappily with animals mistreated or escaping. Other animals come to the shelter after incidents in the wild. Two years ago, while still a foal, an elk called Alyuminka was badly hurt by stray dogs attacking her. Elks are still common in European Russia, living in forests. She now paces the enclosure in Rappolovo. “Those animals that could not survive in the wild stay here,” said Alexander Teplyakov, a 45-year-old volunteer at the center. Four staff and around 10 volunteers work in Rappolovo, where the animals are kept in huge cages or enclosures around a large stone building housing a medical facility. Despite Russia’s huge size, human activity is increasingly encroaching on the animals’ natural habitat and making it harder for them to survive in the wild. AFP
Saudi reshuffle ordered after Khashoggi fallout R IYADH―Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ordered a sweeping government reshuffle Thursday, replacing key security and political figures including the foreign minister, as the kingdom grapples with the international fallout over critic Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
The surprise shake-up saw the appointment of new ministers of the powerful National Guard, information and education, as well as the head of a new space agency, but the energy and finance ministries were unaffected despite an economic downturn. The revamp left untouched the authority of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler facing intense international scrutiny over the October 2 murder of journalist Khashoggi, which tipped the kingdom into one of its worst crises. Ibrahim al-Assaf, a former finance minister who was detained last year in an anti-corruption sweep, will replace
Adel al-Jubeir as foreign minister, a royal decree said. Jubeir, who sought to defend the tainted government internationally after Khashoggi’s murder, was effectively demoted to minister of state for foreign affairs, the decree added without explaining the change. In other significant appointments, Prince Abdullah bin Bandar was named chief of the powerful National Guard, and Musaed al-Aiban, a Harvard graduate, was appointed the new national security adviser. The reshuffle would help the crown prince further “consolidate power” as many of those promoted were his “key allies”, tweeted Ali Shihabi, head of the pro-Saudi think tank The Arabia Foundation. In other changes, Turki al-Shabanah, an executive at broadcaster Rotana, was appointed as the new information minister, replacing Awwad al-Awwad -- who was named as an advisor to the royal court. Turki al-Sheikh, a close aide to the crown prince, was removed as the head of the kingdom’s sports commission and appointed entertainment authority chief, while Ahmed al-Khatib was named tourism authority chief. The king also ordered the creation of a national space agency to be led by one of his other sons, Prince Sultan bin
Salman, a former astronaut. The energy, economy and finance ministries were left untouched even as the petro-state faces a sharp fall in crude prices that has generated renewed uncertainty over Prince Mohammed’s Vision 2030 reform program for a post-oil era. But the appointment as foreign minister of Assaf, who holds a seat on the boards of state oil giant Aramco and the vast Public Investment Fund, indicates an emphasis on “economic diplomacy” as the kingdom seeks to reassure foreign investors rattled by the Khashoggi crisis, analysts say. Assaf was held in Riyadh’s RitzCarlton hotel last year along with hundreds of elite princes and businessmen, in what the government called an anticorruption crackdown. The reshuffle comes as Saudi Arabia seeks to repair its tarnished image after Khashoggi’s murder, widely seen as its worst diplomatic crisis since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, in which most of the hijackers were identified as Saudi nationals. “You cannot delink Khashoggi from any developments, though government reshuffles are customary every four years,” said Mohammed Alyahya, a senior fellow at the Gulf Research Center. AFP
large scale crime that comes with such stupidity!” “Need to stop Drugs, Human Trafficking, Gang Members & Criminals from coming into our Country,” he said in another tweet, also lambasting “Democrat obstruction of the needed Wall.” Opponents, including some in his Republican party, accuse the president of exaggerating the danger from illegal immigration for his own political gain. “No end in sight to the President’s government shutdown,” Dick Durbin, a senior Democratic senator, tweeted. “He’s taken our government hostage over his outrageous demand for a $5 billion border wall that would be both wasteful and ineffective.” Partial government shutdowns are not an unusual weapon in Washington budget negotiations, where party divides make cooperation a rarity. But the rancor has spiraled under Trump’s abrasive administration and is set to go even higher after January 3 when the Democrats take over the House of Representatives, following their midterm election victory. The mess has contributed to worries over the outlook for the US economy in 2019, following a surging 2018 performance. The stock market has plummeted in recent days, before a record recovery on Wednesday, under a variety of factors including Trump’s barrage of criticism against the independent Federal Reserve. AFP
Defectors’ details leaked in hacking
SEOUL―The personal details of nearly 1,000 North Korean defectors living in the South have been leaked in a hacking case, officials said Friday, exposing them to potential threats from the North. This is the first time that personal details including names and addresses of North Korean defectors have been stolen on such a large scale, the Unification Ministry said. The hack was made at a center which is tasked with helping North Korean defectors settle in South Korea and get accustomed to its capitalist society. The classified data was leaked through a personal computer. It was infected with a malicious code when an unsuspecting staff member opened a mail at the Hana Center in the North Gyeongsang Province. There are 25 such centers across the country which provide support for the roughly 30,000 North Korean defectors who live in the country. After confirming the hack last week, authorities conducted an emergency inspection of all computers at Hana Centers but no other leaks were found. “We apologize to defectors from the North. We will make utmost efforts to protect their personal information and prevent any recurrence of such an incident”, the ministry said in a statement. North Korea’s state media have threatened to silence defectors who actively engage in anti-Pyongyang activities such as launching leaflets to the North by balloons. Yi Han-yong, a nephew of Song Hye Rim -- the first wife of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il -- was shot to death outside his house in Bundang, south of Seoul, in 1997. His assassination by two attackers, who were never caught, followed the publication of his tell-all book about the private life of the Kims. AFP
Republic of the Philippines Department of Finance Securities and Exchange Commission
US govt shutdown extends to next week WASHINGTON―The US government partial shutdown was set to stretch deep into next week after legislators failed Thursday to make a breakthrough in the row over President Donald Trump’s demand for a US-Mexico border wall. After convening for just a few minutes following the official Christmas break, a still nearly empty Senate adjourned, deciding to renew budget deliberations only next Wednesday, the last day of the current Republican-controlled Congress. That would take the government shutdown, already on its sixth day, into 12. Both sides have dug in, with Democrats refusing to provide $5 billion for Trump’s border wall project and the president insisting he will not fully fund the government unless he gets the money. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders accused Democrats of “openly choosing to keep our government closed to protect illegal immigrants rather than the American people.” She said Trump “will not sign a proposal that does not first prioritize our country’s safety and security.” As long as the wall debate holds up approval of a wider spending bill, about 800,000 federal employees are not getting salaries and non-essential parts of the government are unable to function. Trump made clear he does not intend to give way first. In a tweet Thursday, he once more accused Democrats of wanting to encourage illegal immigrants, “an Open Southern Border and the
SYDNEY―Australia’s vast continent is sizzling through extreme heatwave conditions this week, with temperatures reaching record highs and emergency services on high alert for bush fires. The mercury is up to 16 degree Celsius (29 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than usual for this time of the year for southern Australia, with numerous towns setting new December records, the Bureau of Meteorology said Friday. “Heatwave conditions are being experienced across large parts of the country,” the weather bureau said, adding that the sizzling temperatures spanned the southern parts of four states and the Northern Territory. Tiny Marble Bar in Western Australia state, which bills itself as the nation’s hottest town, recorded a peak of 49.3 degree Celsius (121 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday, it added. Major cities across the country are also affected, with the thermometer pushing towards 40 degree Celsius and the heat set to linger into the new year. In Sydney, thousands of people flocked to beaches to cool down, while the state’s health service issued a warning for poor quality air as ozone levels rise with the hot weather. “This is all because of a high-pressure system coming off the Tasman sea that is slow moving and has set up a pattern over several days,” Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Nick Neynens told Fairfax Media. “It’s a very stable situation with not a lot changing, meaning everywhere is pretty much going to be hot and we don’t see a strong change coming yet.” Emergency services have issued fire bans and warnings and called on people to stay out of the extreme heat. AFP
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE DEPARTMENT Registration of Securities In the matter of : OCEANA BAY RESORT VACATION : AND LEISURE CLUB, INC. : x-----------------------------------------------x
SEC-CGFD No. 319 Series of 2018
ORDER Upon consideration of the Registration Statement and other papers and documents attached thereto which were filed by OCEANA BAY RESORT VACATION AND LEISURE CLUB, INC., the Commission, in its meeting on December 20, 2018 resolved to render effective the same covering the registration of Eight Hundred Fifty (850) Non-Proprietary Timeshares at the following Class and Offer Prices: Class 20 year Straight, Studio Premiere 20 year Straight, Studio Regular 20 year Straight, 1 Bedroom Premiere 20 year Straight, 1 Bedroom Regular 20 year Straight, 2 Bedroom 10 year Straight, Studio Regular
Number of Shares 50 50 50 50 50 50
Price Per Share P750,000 602,500 1,112,500 890,000 1,250,000 385,600
20 year Alternate, Studio Premiere 20 year Alternate, Studio Regular 20 year Alternate, 1 Bedroom Premiere 20 year Alternate, 1 Bedroom Regular 20 year Alternate, 2 Bedroom 10 year Straight, 1 Bedroom Regular Total
100 100 100 100 100 50 850 timeshares
405,000 325,000 575,000 460,000 650,00 482,000
A Certificate of Permit to Offer Securities for Sale authorizing the sale of said securities is issued with this ORDER. Let a copy of this ORDER be published at the expense of the corporation in a national newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines within two (2) business days from receipt of this ORDER. The subject company is hereby directed to furnish the Commission with a copy of the affidavit of publication of this ORDER within five (5) business days after the publication of the Order. Further, the company is directed to upload this Order and its final prospectus on its website: www.oceanabayresort.com. SO ORDERED. Pasay City, December 21, 2018 RACHEL ESTHER J. GUMTANG-REMALANTE Officer-In-Charge (MS-DEC. 29, 2018)
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