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SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2017 Adelle Chua, Editor
Opinion
Joyce Pangco Pañares, Issue Editor
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
IS FACEBOOK BEATING TWITTER? ASK THE BOTS
EDITORIAL
By Leonid Bershidsky JUDGING from reported growth in user numbers, one could conclude that Facebook is beating Twitter in the battle of social networks. Problem is, it’s hard to know how real all those users are. Twitter reported this week that it had 328 million monthly active users at the end of June, the same as at the end of March. Facebook reported 2.01 billion monthly active users, up from 1.94 billion in March. Another measure that the companies now like to stress—the average number of users per day—also showed Facebook ahead. Twitter said its daily active users were up 12 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, without naming an absolute number (Re/Code calculates it’s some 157 million). Facebook said it was up 17 percent to 1.32 billion. On the face of it, Twitter—the purveyor of news about what’s going on in the world right now—appears to have lost out to Facebook’s concept of community-building. Forcing people to be concise and letting them see posts in chronological order proved less attractive than Facebook’s embrace of all kinds of content and insistence on using a non-transparent algorithm to form the news feed. This could prompt me—as someone who has quit Facebook and stuck with Twitter—to complain that people don’t want control over their information consumption, to mock them for being apathetic in the face of the intrusively irrelevant self-launching videos that have made Facebook such an uncomfortable place for me, to ask how they tolerate the proliferation of ads, mindless clickbait and fakes. But I’m not going to do that. Why? Because I don’t trust either company’s numbers. And unlike in the old days of newspapers, when circulations were audited, there’s no way for an outsider to verify them. To understand my skepticism, consider a new report from the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab on the Twitter commentary surrounding a New York Times column headlined “Trump Is His Own Worst Enemy.” It features news bots, pro-Trump bots, anti-Trump bots, a commercial botnet and an online service that allowed users to automate their posts with an “if...then” routine—for example, retweeting posts that contain a certain word or phrase. If any real people were involved in the discussion, they appear to have been heavily out-tweeted. A lot of the discussion on Twitter is exactly as described in the Digital Forensic Lab’s report. It’s close to impossible to determine with any accuracy how much traffic comes from fake accounts. One recent study, using a behavior-based model, estimated that nine percent to 15 percent of active accounts were bots (a lot more than Twitter has reported). That’s still a big range: Based on the company’s latest estimate of monthly active users, it adds up to anywhere between 29.5 million and 49.2 million bots. I assume good faith on Twitter’s part; it just can’t know what’s really going on. Botnet owners are smart. They’re constantly perfecting their techniques for imitating human behavior, staying a step ahead of efforts to detect them. So if, say, Twitter is seeing more growth in average daily users than in end-of month users, it could simply mean that the bots are being used more intensively and efficiently. The trend doesn’t necessarily reflect any change in human usage. The same is true of Facebook. For all the academic interest in catching fake activity, for all the company’s own efforts to remove fake accounts, comprehensive policing is extremely difficult. “Our results indicate that many fake users are classified as real suggesting clearly that fake accounts are mimicking real user behavior
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STOP TALKING ALREADY
W
HEN President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office more than a year ago, one of his first acts was to reach out to the Left in the hopes of ending decades of insurgency.
He appointed known communist figures to his Cabinet and said he would resume talking to the Left, saying that he held its leader, Jose Maria Sison, in high esteem especially since the latter was his teacher at university. In fact, the government freed at least 11 political prisoners before the 2016 peace talks—amid the communists’ demand for the release of some 400 —to show it was going into the peace talks in earnest. For the first time, there was real hope that the communist insurgency would be quelled and lasting peace with the Reds would ensue. The hope was short-lived. Soon the New People’s Army began
attacks in various places in the country, violating the ceasefire that would have otherwise indicated good faith. The negotiations were halted, there was an exchange of bitter words from both sides, compromising the backchannel talks earlier scheduled to save what was left of the peace process. It soon surfaced that the Europebased leaders talking with the government did not have much of an ascendancy over their younger, more combative members on the ground. Mr. Duterte should have paid more attention to this red flag. The last straw was the attack on President Duterte’s security detail in North Cotabato this month. Five soldiers were wounded, and while the President was not there, he took offense at the gall of the rebels to attack the Presidential Security Group. He called off the informal talks right away. He was so incensed that in his State of the Nation Address on Monday, he revealed Sison was suffering from colon cancer and advised him to commit suicide to save money for the Norwegian government. In response, the communist leader said: “I pity him and I am tempted just
to let him go because what he says against me is patently baseless and comes obviously from a sick mind.” “But I still have to answer him to prevent him from misleading the public and rousing them the wrong way. At any rate, he has to look after his mental health and consult with a professional psychiatrist.” Duterte then dared Sison to leave his comfortable life in exile in The Netherlands, return to the Philippines and fight his war here. “What kind of leader is he?” he said, to which Sison said he did not have to prove himself to anybody. These are men we expect to be steeped in ideology, however different these might be. Unfortunately, the only thing they have been able to prove is that nobody is beyond vulnerability to petty and childish tirades. This does not buy them any more credibility. The decision to stop the peace talks is a good one at this point. There has been too much animosity and bad faith. Now, if the leaders of both parties can just stop talking, perhaps there could be a way to pause and think exactly why none of the confidencebuilding measures all these years have so far worked.
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POOLING AROUND LONG STORY SHORT ADELLE CHUA
LIKE most Metro Manila commuters, I happily discovered the wonders of app-based ride-hailing around two years ago. I felt I had no more energy to subject myself daily to the indignities of commuting via train or bus from Quezon City to Makati every day. I also felt I
had had enough of the greedy, choosy, boorish taxi drivers who do their better behaved colleagues a disservice by acting the way they do. Whatever extra money I could earn, I figured, should go to traveling decently. I worked hard. I at least deserved it. I do
not mind scrimping on other things, like food. It is infinitely better to get to the workplace and back home with your sanity intact. If you’re lucky, you would have had enough rest to have quality time with loved ones or do more work when you do get to your destination.
I am sure many others made the same decision based on the above justification. This is why there is widespread anger: How dare the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board threaten to disallow the operation of Transport Network Turn to B2
Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher ManilaStandard
Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Telephone numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments), (Editorial) 832-5554, (Advertising) 832-5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www.thestandard. com.ph; e-mail: contact@thestandard.com.ph
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Opinion
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SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com
POOLING...
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Vehicles when urban dwellers are evidently benefitting from the services. Sure, the surges can be unbearable—on rainy days or nights, on payday Fridays, toward Christmas. You wonder what the factors are in the algorithm. Sometimes you are desperate to get home or go meet a friend that you book anyway, notwithstanding the high price. But sometimes you decide to stay an extra hour or two at the office to wait for the prices to go down. Sometimes you have a friend heading in the same direction and you split the fare so it does not hurt as much. Sometimes there’s a promo code you need to key in. The important thing is that as a consumer, you have the choice. You get to decide which arrangements are negotiable and non-negotiable for you. If the LTFRB is wondering why people are angry, it is this: Now that we have found ourselves able to make a choice—an ability that was in no way aided by the government—they threaten to take that choice away. This will again consign us to the despicable options the government has for us. *** But here’s another choice, we can make, in the meantime that our officials try to come up with a brilliant solution to this debacle: Pooling. Uberpool or Grabshare is a cross between taking public transportation like the abominable MRT and being cocooned in a nice, comfortable vehicle you hire to take you to your destination. The compromise goes beyond comfort; it’s about price, too. The difference between a standard ride and a pooled one, in my experience, does not go below P80. It works the same way as a regular ride, but the system matches you up with another rider with pretty much along the same route. Again, it’s a question of what you can and cannot live with. Certainly I can live with a lower price. I can live with staying inside a vehicle for a few more minutes, picking up and dropping off others first, so long as I am not rushing to a meeting or dinner with a friend. I can tolerate another person, or two, inside the vehicle so long as they observe the basic standards of decency and hygiene. If it gets too much I can always have my earphones ready for my playlist or a movie or show saved in my computer. If I feel up to it I can get some reading or writing done. Or catch up on sleep. I can shed paranoia and not mind having the other passengers know where I ride and get off—there is an even chance, after all, that I would get to see where they ride and get off— and usually I would not care. If I am really lucky, sometimes the system does not assign anybody else to the ride, and I get to my destination just as comfortably and as exclusively for a much lower price. A bonus: I don’t have to feel guilty about contributing to the traffic or emitting carbon and other pollutants into the air. Of course, if I am in a hurry, or need to be at a certain place at a certain time, or if I anticipate that I would need my privacy, I can always choose to leave my house earlier than usual take the standard ride. And again that is the greatest thing about this entire set-up—options. And again this is why I join the chorus of angry voices—a minority, the LTFRB says dismissively. We are incredulous at its inefficiency (did we hear they lost some papers?) and callousness (doing nothing about taxi drivers’ uncouth behavior). Perhaps because our government officials drive their own cars, or better yet get driven around in official vehicles maintained by taxpayers’ money, they really could not care less. So woe to us who do not own a vehicle, we who must eke out a living anyway, and desire just a glimpse of comfort while keeping our sanity intact. adellechua@gmail.com.
IS FACEBOOK...
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to evade detection mechanisms,” Aditi Gupta and Rishabh Kaushal wrote in a recent report. One medium-sized botnet would be enough to account for all the 70,000 monthly active users that the company added in the last quarter. Nonetheless, advertisers and investors remain obsessed with user data. Facebook’s shares jumped and Twitter’s tanked after the companies announced their numbers. Billions of dollars in market value were gained and lost. It’s time to establish mechanisms for verifying social networks’ user data. As with TV ratings or circulation audit systems, external researchers should be able to check the companies’ claims and have a crack at working out the number of fake and duplicate accounts. They may never be perfect, but with a consistent and transparent methodology they could at least be comparable. Although investors and advertisers could be in for some surprises, they’d get a better sense of what’s really going on. Bloomberg
WHAT IS LIFE? By Pecier Decierdo WHAT is life? The question sounds simple and clear. It seems that we all understand what the question means. It also seems that we should know what the answer should be. A second glance at the question reveals that it is a tricky question. For example, one natural follow-up question is: “What do you mean by life?” You can now start to see why we’re in trouble. The two questions, the original and the follow-up, seem to circle back on each other. For many scientists, one approach that has served useful is to come up with this follow-up question: What set of observable properties should we use to distinguish life from nonlife? After looking at the many properties of living things that make them special, scientists have come up with a few that seem to be unique to living things. First, all living things seem to be made of one or more cells. That is, life seems to come in tiny bundles or packages. We haven’t yet found any living thing that is a hazy cloud or a soupy mixture. Even the ones that look like goop eventually reveal themselves to be made up of cellular bundles with clear distinction be-
tween ‘inside’ and ‘outside.’ Second, all living things seem to use energy for their maintenance and growth. Plants, for example, use the sun’s energy to make their food, while herbivores eat plants to gain the plants’ stored energy. This property can run into a few problems. After all, many non-living things use energy. For example, our gadgets use energy to operate. They also require energy to maintain. What about growth? Well, crystals can grow. For example, the ice crystals in many of our freezers grow over time. These questions are answered by pointing out that the use of energy for maintenance and growth is a necessary condition for life, but it is not a sufficient one. In other words, a living thing must use energy, but not all things that use energy are alive. The same can be said of growth. The third property of all living things, one that is perhaps the most common sensensical, is the property of responding to stimuli. In other words, living things react to stimuli such as changes in temperature or the absence or presence of light. For example, plant roots dig into the soil, responding to both the pull of gravity and the presence of water, while fungi produce chemical defenses that can kill bacterial invaders.
The fourth property relates to the third. Living things respond to their external environment in a way that allows them to have an internal environment, one that is very different from their surroundings. This circles back to the first characteristic, reminding us that cells aren’t just any old packets of things. They are packets that close off an ‘inside’ that has its own environment different from the ‘outside.’ Scientists call this property homeostasis. Fifth, living things reproduce. They can do this sexually, where the genes from a male and a female mix to form the genes of the offspring, or asexually, where all the genes come from the same individual. Speaking of genes, the sixth property of living things is heredity. This means that information is passed, through genes, from parent (or parents) to offspring. In all living things that we’ve found here on Earth, genetic information is always encoded in the same molecule: DNA. The genetic information in DNA is then translated, using a related molecule called RNA, to the traits of a living thing. The astounding fact that the genetic information in a narra tree, E. coli bacterium, earthworm, maya bird, button mushroom, or a human
being are all encoded in the same molecule, is almost a dead giveaway pointing to the fact that all life on Earth are related. The amazing variety of life on Earth, which seem to come from the same source, points to the final two properties of life. Sixth, life adapts and evolves. And seventh, life is organized into various levels. Aside from being organized into individuals, populations, and communities, living things are also organized into species, genera (plural for genus), orders, and so on. These seven properties, taken together, are what can be seen as common and unique to all life on Earth. But the question now arises: will it hold for life in general? That is, how about life in other worlds, like Mars or one of the moons of Jupiter, or planets circling other stars? What about life that we make in the laboratory? In computer simulations? The word life will certainly be pushed to the limits by further discoveries and adventures in science. And so, even with the seven properties laid out here, the question will persist: What is life? Pecier Decierdo is resident physicist and astronomer of The Mind Museum.
A SWEET JOURNEY
EVERYMAN By Clement Dionglay IT’S ONE of those mornings again. The house was quiet and still and the sun has just come up. Half asleep, I went to the bathroom sink and silently counted to 30 while I washed my hands. On the dining table, I took the glucometer from its case, got a test strip from the tube, pricked the side of my left hand’s middle finger, massaged it lightly to draw blood, inserted the strip in the glucometer, and dropped the tiny bit of blood on the strip. Easy peasy. Five seconds later, the glucometer flashed 95. Oh, great. I gave myself a pat on the back. At 43, I am one of the world’s 422 million adults living with diabetes, and the scene that I described is a common practice for people like me— it has become a part of our day-to-day existence. On some days it feels alright to do it, but there are days when I feel like crying when I have to prick a finger. I received a full diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes mellitus in 2012 when I was only 38 years old. While I am genetically predisposed to the condition, I fell apart when my physician broke the news to me. I felt as if life was being taken away from me, and I was very, very scared. What am I going to do? How am I going to cope? It didn’t take long for the answers to come. At the time of diagnosis, I was attending law school classes, and despite medication, the stress and lack of sleep took their toll on me. My blood glucose shot up, I lost weight tremendously, and my blood pressure got erratic. I was depressed and irritable. Working became too difficult. It was a tough decision to make, but I chose to continue living. Weak, stressed, and broken-hearted, I left my first love behind. Life with diabetes became a huge struggle. It’s a constant struggle to achieve balance, to avoid the bad things, and to do the good things. I have been a witness all my life to the struggles of many people living with diabetes, including friends, rel-
atives, and most of all, my parents and my grandparents. Yes, I have known diabetes all my life, yet I feel that I’m still new to it. I met the biggest struggle for balance in two of diabetes’ major risk factors: food and physical activity. I have a sweet tooth, and I love white rice, sweet breads, and beer, but my sedentary lifestyle meant that I never came close to burning the calories from all the food that I eat. Inactivity and my efforts in carefully choosing food seemed futile, so I gave up. Diabetes, I realized, is a cunning thief who attacks its victims stealthily. Looking back, it seemed that I was destined to develop diabetes in my adult life. I was born into a big family whose love for one another translates into cooking and food. Small and big family events are always planned ahead with plenty of food enough to feed all of us for three days: the day before the event, day of the event, and the day after. Growing up, I remember that something was always cooking on the wood-burning stove in my father’s kitchen. We did not experience fast food then—my father is an excellent cook who never runs out of unique recipes to delight us. His braised pork ribs are legendary, and the leche flan he prepares is simply to die for. When I moved to a place of my own, weekend visits to my parents are always filled with stories, food, and even more food. I’m not sure if it was a stroke of luck, but the sudden change in my life came in April when I got admitted to a three-month diabetes program. When I got in, I was full of questions, but stoked nonetheless that I will be joining an activity with many people like myself. As if awakened by a strong jolt, I decided to do a couple of tweaks in my lifestyle while I was in the program. I took out sugar-laden food items off my diet: white bread, biscuits and crackers, chips, yogurt, bottled fruit juices, iced tea, and candies. I cleaned out the fridge and got rid of everything that must go. With a cold turkey approach, I stopped eating white rice during dinner and feasted on fresh vegetables and lean
protein. It felt strange at first, but with the strong goal in mind to get fit, I carried on. To complement that, I took out my still-new-but-gatheringdust walking/running shoes out of the box and challenged myself into walking 10,000 steps 4-5 times in a week. During the first two weeks, I had a number of hard starts, but I held on to my goal and followed the program’s recommendations. No pain, no gain, right? Right. Three months later, my blood glucose levels are near the normal values, my blood pressure has gone down, and I went from 66.8kgs to 60.5kgs! The program, together with my own personal goals, allowed me to understand myself and my condition better. I realized in the previous three months that there is so much to discover about diabetes, and its management needs constant education—each day is a new opportunity to learn something. Managing diabetes is not about going hungry, but is anchored on proper food types and the correct serving size. Regular blood glucose monitoring helped me greatly in listening to my body’s response to food, medication, and physical activity. The greatest lesson here is that diabetes is a highly manageable condition. It’s not like the flu that can be treated with antibiotics and a couple of days’ rest, but it’s definitely unlike cancer that has no known cure. Diabetes is highly manageable, and its management needs frequent, continuous, and dedicated effort not only from the person with the condition, but also from the people around him/her. Above all these, it is important to keep in mind that there is no single treatment plan that works for all people living with diabetes. Each one of us is unique, each person’s diabetes is different, and only our doctors can create the best treatment plan that will work for each one of us. Clement Dionglay writes science articles and designs publications most days of the week. He has been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in 2012.
ANCIENT ‘HUDUD’ WORSE THAN WAR-TIME MARTIAL LAW By Nash B. Maulana PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte sought the extension of martial law from Congress to five more months to quell the rebellion (if not outright conquest) by the Daesh- or Islamic State-inspired Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups in Marawi City. But the ancient “hudud” of the Arabic Jahiliya (Desert Dark Age), which these groups are trying to restore in a contemporary kilafa (caliphate), could be several times more threatening to human security and civil liberty than the modern-day martial law declarations of Presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Duterte combined. It promotes mass killings without trial in times they unilaterally declare a state of war. Indeed, the IS in one post has claimed to have reimposed crucifixion as punishment for apostasy. It takes factual basis of rebellion or invasion to declare martial law, subject to scrutiny for either extension or rejection by Congress. But for the kilafa to revive the Dark Age hudud, it only takes a state of war to justify attacks in “jihad al-qital” (armed jihad or struggle). For mere presumption, a Muslim adjudged as “munafiq” (hypocrite) could be meted the “death penalty” without trial in periods the Daesh may deem a “state of war.” Or a Christian believed to be the nth generation descendant of Muslim ancestors could be executed
for “apostasy.. in times of war.” Professor Julkipli Wadi of the University of the Philippines Institute of Islamic Studies says the beginnings of extremism took stand on the Muslims’ view of “One Ummah” (i.e. worldwide community of followers), “as opposed to the western concept of nationstates,” separating the believers of Islam by borders of national territories and tribal identities. To Wadi, such contention on the Muslim ummah would lead to “movements against the status quo” of established Muslim governments bound by the Pan-Arabism of the 1950s through the 1960s. In those decades, Egyptian poet Sayid Qut’b, a political activist and staunch critic of the status quo of Muslim governments, founded the Iquanun Muslimun (Muslim Brotherhood fraternity in Al-Azhar University in Cairo). Qut’b wrote radical materials in Arabic, including his famous books, “The Milestone,” and he even attempted to annotate the Qur’an in his book “In the Shadow of the Qur’an.” But Qut’b himself admitted that “The Shadow of the Qur’an” was not the exact meaning of the Muslim Holy Book, and thus, the use of the word “shadow” in it. Qut’b, as a literary giant, tried both to de-contextualize and re-contextualize the meaning of the Book in view of the political realities obtaining in his time. In fact, Qut’b, whose books abound in Arabic version in many local
madaris, is considered as the “father of modern-day jihad.” Incidentally, one of Qutb’s Arab students would later become a close adviser or even a political mentor of Osama Bin Laden in the Afghanistan wars. Interestingly, too, the late Ustaz Salamat Hashim, chairman emeritus of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and former President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia, were classmates and both became moderate members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Al-Azhar University in the 1950’s. In 1966, President Gamal Abdelnasser ordered Qut’b hanged to death. The Egyptian high tribunal had sentenced to death Qut’b and a number of his companions. One of them, the blind Sheikh Omar Abdulraman, was able to escape Egypt—but would much later be sentenced to life term for plotting the first World Trade Center Bombing in 1993. Two years ago, more than 200 Islamic muftis from different parts of the world wrote IS leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi, protesting a number of fatwa (opinions) that he had issued. They said those fatwa revived the ancient Arab tradition of slavery and even promoted sex off-wedlock with women he considered “slaves” (Islam prohibits illicit sex). They said fatwa is not ordinarily issued without proper and appropriate learning and understanding of the Qur’an and the Hadith (written deeds and rulings of the Prophet).
Baghdadi’s fatwa, Muslim scholars noted, apparently twists the verse by applying it to present-day Christians, even if it was not intended for Christians, as there were, in fact, no Christians residing in Makkah ever since, unlike in Madina. Young learners would have no other way of checking interpretations that were either twisted to suit a modernday situation, or are lacking of their original contexts. Two weeks before the Marawi Siege, hundreds of Ulama gathered at a scholarly Summit in Cotabato City in which they drew a common position on the advent of “Violent Extremism.” The local Muslim scholars have since ruled in one voice that acts of senseless killings of innocent people, such as bombings and beheading, which local extremist groups have virtually admitted on social media posts, violated the teachings of Islam, and thus, must be condemned by all sectors of the Muslim society. The local muftis have also ruled that extremism should be fought both in terms of military power even on the part of the MILF, as well as through continuing education program (Pagtatarbiyya) for the young generation of Muslims on the part of the government, according to summaries of the rulings released recently by the Dharul Ifta (House of Opinion) of the Bangsamoro, and the Dharul Ifta of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
World CHINA BLASTS NORTH KOREA MISSILE LAUNCH BEIJING—China Saturday condemned North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile and urged restraint by all sides after the US and South Korea held a military exercise in response to the test. “China opposes North Korea’s violations of UN Security Council resolutions and (its actions) contrary to the general aspirations of the international community,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. Beijing “urged North Korea to abide by UN resolutions and stop taking actions that could worsen the situation,” Geng said in a brief statement on the ministry’s website. “At the same time, (China) hopes that all parties concerned will exercise caution and avoid aggravating tensions and act together to preserve peace and stability on the peninsula,” he said. Washington, Tokyo, Seoul and the European Union all swiftly condemned Friday’s missile test, which North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said brought the whole of the US mainland within striking range. US President Donald Trump vowed to take “all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region.” AFP
STAFF OF TURK NEWSPAPER WALK FREE ISTANBUL, Turkey—Seven staff from the Turkish opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet walked free from jail early Saturday after over eight months behind bars, expressing hope four colleagues still in prison would be released soon. An Istanbul court had Friday ordered the release of the seven people in the trial -- seen as a test for press freedom under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- but kept the most prominent journalists in jail. The staff from the newspaper, one of the few voices in the media in Turkey to oppose Erdogan, had been charged with aiding terror groups in accusations denounced as absurd by supporters. Those freed have been released under judicial control, meaning they will have to report regularly to the authorities and remain charged. The seven, including the paper’s respected cartoonist Musa Kart, were freed from Silviri jail on the outskirts of Istanbul in the early hours of Saturday following the court decision. “We were taken away from the people we love, our relatives, our work,” said Kart after his release. But he added: “Believe me, during this period in jail we have felt no hatred, no rancor, we could not live with such thoughts.” AFP
RUSSIA ORDERS US TO SLASH DIPLOMAT CORPS MOSCOW—Moscow on Friday ordered the United States to slash its number of diplomats in Russia and froze two embassy compounds in a pre-emptive strike against tough new sanctions being readied in Washington. On Thursday, the US Senate passed new bipartisan sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea, sending the package to President Donald Trump. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump will sign the bill into law, ending speculation over whether he would veto the measure. But the president only did so after negotiating “critical elements” of the bill, the spokeswoman added, without specifying what those elements were. “He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it.” The move was a further blow to hopes in Moscow that Trump’s election might help improve ties that slumped to their lowest point since the Cold War over the Kremlin’s meddling in Ukraine and alleged interference in the US election. It has also upset some European nations fearful that it could hit their businesses. Germany warned it would not accept sanctions that targeted companies involved with Russia’s energy sector. AFP
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SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com
WEST HARDENS TONE ON IRAN OVER TESTS W
ASHINGTON—The United States and European allies sharpened their tone on Iran on Friday, demanding that it immediately halt ballistic missile tests, a day after it tested a rocket carrying a satellite. With relations with Iran already tense, the US Treasury imposed fresh sanctions, singling out six companies owned or controlled by Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), which it said was central to the Islamic republic’s missile program, freezing their US assets and barring US citizens from dealing with them. Foreign financial institutions could face punitive measures if they deal with the blacklisted firms, it added. SHIG was already under United Nations, US and European Union sanctions. The White House also indicated that President Donald Trump would sign into law a bill passed by both
houses of Congress endorsing sanctions on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. In a joint statement, Britain, France, Germany and the US condemned Tehran’s “provocative” and “destabilizing” action, saying the test was in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231. “We call on Iran not to conduct any further ballistic missile launches and related activities,” they added. Resolution 2231 was passed two years ago to endorse a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. It lifted economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.
The resolution called on Iran not to test ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and an arms embargo remained in place. All four Western governments have written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres about their “concerns”, according to the joint statement. It said the British, French and German governments are discussing the issues in talks with Iran. The United States has had no diplomatic ties with the Islamic republic since 1980, and Trump has halted the direct contacts with Tehran initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama. Iran denied all accusations against it and said it has “proven its compliance with the nuclear deal” as repeatedly confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. “Iran does not recognize any limits to its scientific and technological progress and will not wait for the approval or permission of any country regarding the activities of its scientists and experts,” for-
eign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said. “Tests regarding the launch of satellite-carrier rockets are Iran’s definitive right and in full compliance with our country’s international commitments.” At UN headquarters in New York, US envoy Nikki Haley expressed mistrust of Iran. “Iran’s widespread support for terrorists tells us we can’t trust them. Iran’s breaking its obligation on missile testing tells us we can’t trust them. Yesterday’s launch proves that yet again,” she said. Despite his electoral promise to tear apart what he once called “the worst deal ever,” Trump has so far respected the nuclear agreement, a diplomatic success for his predecessor that advanced multilateralism and non-proliferation. It is unclear whether his administration will continue to certify every three months that Iran is respecting the deal, or keep off economic sanctions linked to Iran’s nuclear program. AFP
MOSQUE RALLY. Palestinian Hamas movement supporters, including a young boy carrying a replica rifle, march in the city of Hebron in the Israelioccupied West Bank on Friday, as protests erupt in support of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound after Israeli police barred men under 50 from Friday prayers in the Old City of Jerusalem. Despite fears of violent clashes around the Haram al-Sharif compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the area was largely calm following Friday’s midday prayers. AFP
DOES SHARIF’S OUSTER MEAN CHAOS FOR PAKISTAN?
MISSILE WATCH. People watch as coverage of an intercontinental ballistic missile test is displayed on a screen in a public square in Pyongyang on Saturday. Kim Jong-Un boasted of North Korea’s ability to strike any target in the United States after a second ICBM test that weapons experts said could even bring New York into range – in a potent challenge to President Donald Trump. AFP
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The ousting of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has left a power vacuum at the top of the nuclear-armed country, yet experts say that in the long run it is unlikely to be destabilizing. Sharif’s disqualification Friday by the Supreme Court over corruption allegations denies him the chance of becoming the country’s first prime minister to complete a full five-year term. Yet despite the country’s history of military rule, power will likely remain within the hands of a civilian government -- and probably that of Sharif’s eponymous Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz Party, analysts say. “In a country as volatile as Pakistan, there’s good reason to be concerned whenever a prime minister is dismissed,” said Michael Kugelman of the DC-based Wilson Centre. “But my sense is that everything will eventually fall into place -- a successor will be chosen and the current government will serve out its term.” Pakistan has been roiled by military coups and instability for much of its 70-year history.
But recently there has been a surge of optimism in the militancy-plagued developing country, which has seen a dramatic improvement in security and positive economic growth in recent years. While the 2013 election that brought Sharif to power for a third time was also a powerful symbol of stability, representing Pakistan’s first democratic transition from one elected government to another. Sharif was disqualified from the prime minister’s office but remains the head of the PMLN party which holds a majority in parliament, meaning the next prime minister will likely emerge from its ranks. Political analyst Hasan Askari said that Pakistan’s parliamentary system of government remains unshaken despite the Supreme Court’s ousting of a democratically-elected premier. “Sharif will bring forward some person from the party. Obviously, his personality will not carry as much weight (as Sharif) ... But at the moment we can say, the first impact of the judgement has not proved to be destabilizing,” he said. AFP
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SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2017 Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor / Jimbo Gulle, Issue Editor
World
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
UK PAPERS PAY TRIBUTE TO BABY GARD
A poster set up by supporters of the family of British baby Charlie Gard is displayed outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London ahead of a hearing in the case brought by Charlie’s parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates (inset), who asked to take their son from hospital to the US for a possible treatment. Charlie Gard, the terminally-ill baby whose plight drew sympathy from Pope Francis and US President Donald Trump, died on Friday a week short of his first birthday, a family spokeswoman said. AFP
EMBATTLED TRUMP FIRES CHIEF OF STAFF
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ASHINGTON—US President Donald Trump ousted his beleaguered chief of staff Reince Priebus on Friday, replacing him with Homeland Security Secretary and former general John Kelly after vicious White House infighting spilled into the open.
US Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly (left) will replace Reince Priebus (right) as US President Donald Trump’s White House Chief of Staff. AFP
Only hours after a humiliating defeat on health care reform had underlined his tenuous control over his party in Congress, Trump announced a second shakeup of his inner circle in barely a week. Since entering the White House six months ago, Trump has parted company with his national security advisor, deputy national security advisor, FBI director, press secretary, communications director, acting attorney general, deputy chief of staff and now chief of staff, a turnover of top officials that is unparalleled in US political history. Priebus has been under fire for months, seeing one White House ally after another resign or leave, culminating in the departure of press secretary Sean Spicer a week ago. His exit appeared inevitable when Trump did not intervene as his new communications director Anthony Scaramucci publicly described Priebus as a “paranoid schizophrenic” in a foul-mouthed tirade that also saw him savage another top Trump aide. Trump announced the switch on Twitter as he landed in Wash-
ington after a day trip, on which he was accompanied by both Priebus and Scaramucci. “I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff,” Trump tweeted. “He is a Great American... and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration.” As the tweet began to reverberate around Washington, Priebus exited Air Force One into the pouring rain and loaded into a black suburban with senior White House aides Steven Miller and Dan Scavino. Moments later, Miller and Scavino got out and entered another van. Priebus’s vehicle then left the presidential motorcade. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said discussions about Priebus’s departure had been taking place for weeks. Priebus later said he resigned on Thursday, but referring to his departure admitted that he and Trump “talked all the time about this subject.” AFP
TESLA BEGINS TO DELIVER ‘MODEL 3’ FOR THE MASSES FREMONT, California—Tesla began delivering on a dream to make an electric car for the masses, rolling out the first of its keenly-awaited “Model 3” cars, aiming to disrupt a world accustomed to automobiles powered by pollutionspewing fossil fuel. An initial batch of the ‘Model 3’ cars that rolled out of the Tesla plant in Fremont, California late Friday were given to customers, most of whom were employees of the company. Tesla founder and chief Elon Musk proclaimed it a great day for the company, saying the goal was to make a terrific electric car “that everyone can buy.” Musk starred in a ceremony at the plant delivering the first batch to their owners. “It’s the best car for its cost, either electric or gasoline,” he said. Production of the electric car aimed at the broader market—with a starting price of $35,000—will ramp up quickly, according to Musk, with 100 in August and 1,500 or more in September. Tesla aims to produce 5,000 units of the Model 3 a week this year, and 10,000 units a week in 2018. Tesla already sells “S” and “X” model electric cars, but with a starting price of $80,000 they
have been seen as wheels for the wealthy. The Model 3 silhouette resembles that of the Model S, but the new electric ride is smaller with a simpler design. The vehicle’s battery was designed to keep it going for “at least 215 miles” (345 kilometers) before needing to be recharged, according to Tesla. A battery with a longer range is available for more money. Musk has mentioned in Tesla earnings calls that while early models were packed with innovative engineering, they caused vexation on the assembly line. The Model 3, he said, was designed from the outset with mass production in mind to push down cost and crank cars out quickly. More than a half-million customers have placed deposits to get on the waiting list for the Model 3, and anyone wanting one will have to wait at least until 2018. “Demand is not a challenge there,” Musk said, noting that most of the orders have been in the US. A big question for Tesla is whether it can ramp up production to meet demand and whether rivals will cut into the electric vehicle market. AFP
ETHNIC OPERA. An ethnic Malaysian-Chinese Cantonese opera actress (left) from the ‘Sound of Tai Hei’ group prepares backstage before an opera performance in Kuala Lumpur. Cantonese opera—where actors wear elaborate costumes and make-up, and must be adept at elaborately choreographed martial arts as well as singing -- was recognized as ‘intangible cultural heritage’ by the UN cultural agency UNESCO in 2009. AFP
LONDON—Photographs of baby Charlie Gard dominated the front-pages of Britain’s Saturday newspapers, which paid tribute to a “beautiful little boy” who had raised tough ethical questions for Western societies. The Daily Mail ran with the headline “Rest in Peace Charlie”, with the center-right publication saying the 11-month-old baby had “captured hearts around the world”. Gard died of a rare genetic condition on Friday after parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates failed in a lengthy legal battle to take him to the United States for therapy. The case attracted the attention of Pope Francis and US President Donald Trump, who both offered to support the baby. The Mail said the case has “raised so many questions about our age”, with campaigners angry that Gard’s parents did not have the final say over their child’s fate, while others argued that the baby should not be made to suffer unnecessarily. AFP
CLOONEY TO SUE MAG OVER PICS LOS ANGELES—Hollywood Alister George Clooney is fuming mad at Voici for publishing images of his twins and will sue the French entertainment magazine. “Over the last week, photographers from Voici magazine scaled our fence, climbed our tree and illegally took pictures of our infants inside our home,” Clooney said in a statement. “Make no mistake, the photographers, the agency and the magazine will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The safety of our children demands it.” Paparazzi photos of the babies on the cover of the latest Voici issue show one with each parent apparently at their home in Italy. The twins, Ella and Alexander, were born in London in June. The actor-director, 56, and wife Amal Clooney, a human rights attorney, 29, wed in 2014. AFP
HAMBURG KNIFE ATTACK STOKES DEBATE HAMBURG, Germany—A volatile asylum debate looked set to reopen in Germany Saturday weeks ahead of parliamentary elections, after a failed asylum seeker killed one person and wounded five with a knife in the northern city of Hamburg. Police are expected to offer further details about the incident at a midday press conference Saturday. The 26-year-old born in the United Arab Emirates shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greatest”) as he fled the scene of the crime in a neighborhood supermarket before being overpowered by passers-by, witnesses recounted. The attack had been motivated by “hate,” mayor Olaf Scholz said, although he stopped short of declaring it a terrorist incident. “These criminals want to poison our free society with fear, but they will not succeed,” he added. If confirmed as an Islamist attack, it would be the first in Germany since Tunisian Anis Amri drove a truck into crowds at a Berlin Christmas market on December 19, killing 12 and injuring 48. But police were unable to immediately confirm the suspect’s nationality or identify the motive behind the violence. They have also been unable to confirm the accounts that the man shouted “Allahu Akhbar.” AFP. AFP