US ENVOY APOLOGIZES FOR SEX TOURISM STORY

US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. has apologized for his remarks that 40 percent of male tourists visiting the Philippines come only for sex tourism, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said yesterday.

Del Rosario said he received a text message from Thomas who expressed regret over his statement at a forum last month that should not have been made without supporting data.

“I am sending you a response expressing regret for my comments. I should not have used the 40 percent statistics without the ability to back it up,” Thomas said. “I regret any harm that I may have caused.”

Del Rosario received the message in Hanoi while attending the 7th Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation between the Philippines and Vietnam.

He said Thomas has been working closely with the Philippine government in addressing the challenge of human trafficking in the country.

Lawmakers challenged the data on sex tourism cited by Thomas and said the American envoy should back up his statement with solid proof.

Continue reading at The Philippine Star

US Medicare Portability to PH Targeted for December 2012

Filipino-American group US Medicare PH, Inc. is optimistic that its drive to make US Medicare services portable in the Philippines for Filipinos will see fulfillment by December next year.

Eric Lachica, organizer of US Medicare PH, revealed to Asian Journal during the Global Summit of Filipinos in Diaspora in Pasay City that his group is targeting to have US Congress’ approval by December of 2012.

Last May, Asian Journal reported that the group met with US representatives Steve Austria and Jim McDermotta, member of the House Ways & Means Health subcommittee. The former was “very interested in the proposal because of the cost savings.”

Lachica said this is why it is important that major hospitals in the country adjust their capabilities and level of services a notch higher to be acceptable in the standards of US Medicare.

“This means training among the hospitals in the Philippines is a must. The hospital quality is very vital to get US’s “yes,”” he said.

The main factor, which US Medicare PH, Inc. is emphasizing to US Congress, is the hefty cut on costs for the US Government, especially now that President Barack Obama declared the need to save trillion dollars.

Continue reading at Asian Journal

Steve Jobs’ impact will last for generations: Bill Gates

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has had an impact on the world which will last for generations, Microsoft boss Bill Gates said Wednesday, adding that it had been "an insanely great honor" to know him.

"Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives," he said, adding that he was "truly saddened" to learn of his death.

"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come," he said in statement received by AFP.

"For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely," he added.

Jobs and Gates had famously testy relations over the years, as Microsoft went from strength to strength, while Jobs' Apple fortunes faltered before he came back to take crown with iconic products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

In a 1994 Rolling Stone interview, Jobs said: "If you say, well, how do you feel about Bill Gates getting rich off some of the ideas that we had . . . well, you know, the goal is not to be the richest man in the cemetery.

"It's not my goal anyway," he said.
© Copyright (c) AFP

Michael Jackson killed himself, doctor's lawyer claims

This image, taken from the prosecution courtroom evidence screen, purports to show Michael Jackson lying on a hospital gurney during opening arguments in Dr. Conrad Murray's trial in the death of pop star Michael Jackson in Los Angeles Tuesday.
Photograph by: CNN/Pool, Reuters

LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson's doctor was guilty of "gross negligence" which led to the pop icon's death, a prosecutor said Tuesday — but the medic's lawyer countered bluntly that the star killed himself.

At the start of Conrad Murray's long-awaited manslaughter trial, his lawyer said the King of Pop took two different drugs while the doctor was out of the room at the star's rented Holmby Hills mansion, on June 25, 2009.

"He did an act without his doctor's knowledge, without his doctor's permission, against his orders, he did an act that caused his own death," said lawyer Ed Chernoff.

Specifically he said Jackson swallowed eight two-milligram lorazepam pills, pushing his blood concentration of lorazepam to 0.169 micrograms per milliliter, enough to put six people to sleep.

Jackson "did this when Dr. Murray was not around," Chernoff said, claiming the 50-year-old singer also gave himself an extra dose of powerful sedative propofol, which he was using to help him get to sleep.

"The scientific evidence will show you that when Dr. Murray left the room, Michael Jackson self-administered a dose of propofol that, with the lorazepam, created a perfect storm in his body."

The combination "killed him instantly . . . He died so rapidly, so instantly, he didn't even have time to close his eyes," he said.

Murray, 58, faces up to four years in jail if convicted by a jury of seven men and five women of involuntary manslaughter for Jackson's death, as the star was preparing for a series of comeback concerts.

Specifically he allegedly gave Jackson an overdose of the powerful sedative propofol — which Jackson himself referred to as "milk" — to help alleviate his insomnia at a rented estate in the posh Holmby Hills neighborhood of LA.

Murray, trained as a cardiologist, has never denied giving Jackson propofol, which typically is used as an anesthetic during surgery, but he denies having "abandoned his patient" at a critical, and ultimately fatal, moment.

In the prosecution's opening statement, deputy district attorney David Walgren said: "The evidence . . . will show that Michael Jackson literally put his life in the hands of Conrad Murray.

"That misplaced trust . . . cost Michael Jackson his life," he added, claiming Murray was motivated more by his $150,000 contract with Jackson than by his duty of care to the singer.

The doctor made a series of phone calls — and even emailed an insurance agent dismissing media reports that Jackson was too sick to play the London concerts — while Jackson lay dying, he said.

Walgren also played an audio recording of an apparently heavily-drugged Jackson talking in a slurred voice to Murray, a month and a half before his death — suggesting this showed the doctor was well aware of how ill Jackson was.

Jackson's mother Katherine and father Joe were in court, along with his siblings Jermaine, Janet, LaToya, Randy, Tito and Rebbie.

At least 300 fans and others lined up outside the court, some chanting "murderer" at Murray, At one point before the trial started a woman tried to attack the doctor, but was stopped by security guards, reports said.

The first witness expected to be called was Kenny Ortega, the producer of Jackson's "This Is It" shows — clips of which may also be played in court during the trial.

The panel to decide Murray's fate includes six white jurors, five Hispanics and one African American. They include high school graduates, some jurors with a college education, and one with a masters in business degree.

Half of the panel's members are Jackson fans — a 54-year-old juror wrote that she "loved his music as a very young girl, as an adult not so much" — while one juror, a cartoon animator, once met Jackson.

Even before the trial started, some Jackson fans were saying Murray should face a more serious charge.

"He should have been charged with second degree murder," said Erin Jacobs, head of the organization "Justice4mj," 10 of whose members were outside court in black T-shirts bearing their group's name.

© Copyright (c) AFP

Irene moves to Canada, U.S. damage estimated at $7 billion

A local resident walks along the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights overlooking the East River park as the eye of the storm passes over the region August 28, 2011 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Photograph by: Robert Nickelsberg, Getty Images

NEW YORK — The remnants of Irene reached Canada Monday after barreling through the northeastern United States where the storm claimed at least 18 lives and caused estimated economic damage of up to $7 billion.

Millions of people were without power along the East Coast after the huge storm — now downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone — passed over the Big Apple and headed for Canada.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center warned late Sunday of "major river flooding occurring in parts of the northeast," after President Barack Obama cautioned that recovery efforts would last for "weeks or longer."

"I want people to understand that this is not over," Obama said in a short statement in the White House Rose Garden.

"I do want to underscore that the impacts of this storm will be felt for some time . . . Power may be out for days in some areas."

The governor of Vermont, Peter Shumlin, said his state was in "tough shape" while New York state's Andrew Cuomo warned of "tremendous flooding" in the Catskill Mountain area north of Manhattan.

In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie said roads and rails were "impassable" in some areas, and much of the state had seen "significant flooding."

Localized flooding occurred in the south and east of Manhattan, with more serious incidents in Brooklyn, where the famed Coney Island amusement park took a battering and outlying beaches were swamped.

There was heavy flooding along the low-lying south shore of Long Island where high tides, rain and ocean surge drove waves right up against expensive beach houses. Floods were also reported far inland after torrential rain.

At least 18 deaths were blamed on the storm, which first slammed into North Carolina on Saturday as a Category One hurricane, before turning north up the coast and weakening.

Initial property damage estimates ranged up to $7 billion.

The youngest victim, an 11-year-old boy, died when a tree crashed through his apartment building in Newport News, Virginia.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced that New York area airports — John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia and Newark — would reopen on Monday. More than 10,000 flights were cancelled across the eastern United States.

The New York Stock Exchange said it was set to reopen as normal Monday morning.

"The good news is the worst is over and we will soon return to restore and return mode," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, announcing that 370,000 people ordered to evacuate could now go back home.

More than a million evacuees in New Jersey were also headed home, Christie said.

City officials however warned that commuting into New York could be a nightmare this week with no firm indication of when public transport would be back on track following an unprecedented shut-down just ahead of the hurricane.

"You're going to have a tough commute in the morning," mass transit chairman Jay Walder said.

Walder said buses could start running soon, but subway trains needed extensive testing of lines and equipment.

Irene also left swaths of territory without power, including one million in New York state, most of them on Long Island, according to Cuomo.

In New Jersey, 650,000 people had lost power supplies, while in the greater Washington area, nearly two million people lost electricity. In Massachusetts, 500,000 customers were without power.

Virginia's Governor Bob McDonnell told MSNBC his state had seen the second biggest power outage in its history.

"It's going to be days, perhaps a week, before all the power's restored. We just ask people to be patient," he said.

About 200,000 households have lost power in Canada, officials said.

Some 65 million people live in the urban corridor from Washington north to Boston. More than 4.5 million customers lost power in that area and well inland.

In Atlantic City, a gambling resort on the New Jersey shore, locals started to put their lives back together, while counting the costs of a weekend shutdown during the high season.

"We were expecting to make good money, but you cannot fight with Mother Nature," said Riaz Rajput as he removed plywood storm screens from the windows of his shop.

On Cape Cod in Massachusetts, waves of up to six feet (1.8 meters) crashed over some coastal roads, but most residents and tourists let out a collective sigh of relief.

"We're having a little bit of a hurricane party," said T.J. Wolnar, who was confident his beachfront home could withstand the high winds.

"It's good the storm isn't as strong as it was going to be."

Hurricanes are rare in the northeastern United States — the last major hurricane to hit New York was Gloria in 1985.

Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center reported that a new tropical storm, Jose, had formed and was approaching Bermuda.

© Copyright (c) Reuters