Category: General

LABUAN, The festive spirit of Hari Raya is abound in Labuan, as the tradition of hosting open houses thrives on the island Federal Territory.

Labuan MP Datuk Dr Suhaili Abdul Rahman also upheld his annual custom of warmly welcoming local guests as well as those from Sabah, Sarawak, and the Peninsula.

Today, Dr Suhaili hosted the family of Sabah State Secretary Datuk Seri Safar Untong, at his residence on Jalan Jumidar Buyong.

“I extend my heartfelt thanks to all guests, both local and from afar, for joining us in the festivities.

‘Special appreciation goes to Datuk Seri Safar Untong and his family for gracing our celebration today,” he said to Bernama.

The inclusive nature of the celebration was evident as a diverse group of local media representatives, comprising various ethnicities and religious backgrounds, also participated in the festivities at Dr Suhaili’s residence.

Meanwhile, Dr Suhaili said his annual Hari Raya Open House at the Financial Park Convention Hall was scheduled for April 26.

Minis
ter in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa is expected to attend the event, adding to the communal joy and camaraderie of the occasion.

The open house tradition extends across all 27 villages, with village heads and corporate players alike opening their doors to share the joy of Hari Raya.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

LEGAZPI: The Department of Health-Center for Health Development in Bicol (DOH-CHD-5) said Friday it is continuously monitoring pertussis cases in the region and providing prophylaxis for the close contacts.

The health office reported 21 cases of pertussis or whooping cough from Jan. 1 to April 7 this year, of which six were laboratory-confirmed and 15 were clinical cases.

Based on the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU), the recorded cases are from Albay -six; Camarines Sur -nine; Masbate -one; and Sorsogon -five. The provinces of Camarines Norte and Canduanes recorded zero cases.

In an interview on Friday, Jan Edmund Dominic Bailon, chief of Albay-Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (PESU), said the six cases in Albay are children and now on recovery stage.

‘Mostly, the laboratory-confirmed cases are now in (the) recovering stage while two of them are for discharge already. The six cases in Albay are 2 months old -three; 9 years old -one; 5 years old -one and 5 months old -one,’
Bailon said.

He said clinical cases are patients whose symptoms are within the case definitions while laboratory-confirmed cases are those with confirmatory results from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).

Bailon advised the public to report possible cases and to seek treatment at the nearest rural health units and hospitals.

An advisory from DOH-Bicol said the disease spreads through droplets from the cough or sneeze of an infected person. Symptoms include cold, fever and cough that lasts for one to two weeks.

‘This whooping cough can be followed by vomiting, blacking out or the patient turning blue due to difficulty breathing. When you feel any of the symptoms of pertussis, immediately consult the nearest health center to prevent and provide appropriate medical attention,’ it added.

Source: Philippines News agency

MANILA: Immigration authorities arrested a South Korean national wanted in his home country for a string of criminal cases due to alleged involvement in counterfeit currency trading worth over 30 million Korean won (around PHP1.2 billion).

In a statement Friday, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said 26-year-old Jang Junseok was intercepted by officers from the border control and intelligence unit (BCIU) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 after attempting to board a Philippine Airlines flight to Busan on April 7.

The foreigner was arrested after his name prompted a hit on the BI’s derogatory list indicating that he is subject of a watchlist order from the bureau, as well as of a red notice issued by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

BI-Interpol Unit acting chief Jaime Bustamante said Jang has a warrant of arrest issued by the Daegu District Court in South Korea on Feb. 28, in relation to a counterfeit currency possession and trading case was filed against him.

South Korean authorities said Jang is a professional counterfeit currency user who forged local bank notes, used them at will and engaged in acts that disrupted social order.

Jang reportedly has six prior convictions for the same criminal offense but was released on parole in 2023.

While on parole, the suspect allegedly continued to forge bank notes and used a pseudonym to cheat his victims who were offered the fake bank notes at lower prices compared to the genuine notes.

The foreigner was brought to the BI warden facility at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending deportation proceedings

Source: Philippines News agency

Hanoi: The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a conference in Hanoi on April 11 to popularise new contents in regulations on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing prevention and combat prescribed in newly-issued legal documents.

According to the Directorate of Fisheries, the Prime Minister has recently issued Decree No. 37/2024/NQ-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 26/2017/NQ-CP of the Government detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Fisheries Law, along with Decree No. 38/2024/ND-CP regulating sanctions on administrative violations in the field of fisheries, and Decree No. 38/2024/ND-CP replacing Decree No. 42/2019/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violations in the fisheries sector.

Director of the directorate Tran Dinh Luan said that major new contents of Decree No. 37/2024/NQ-CP include more flexible administrative procedures in case of natural disasters or epidemics where it is impossible to organise on-site inspection
s and assessments serving the issuance of licences, certificates and approval of documents, reality assessments and supervision. In those cases, evaluation activities will be conducted online, along with the procedures for registration of aquaculture farming, and the announcement of the closure and opening of fishing ports, he said.

Regarding fishing boat monitoring, the decree clarifies the responsibility of central and local agencies in managing and use of the vessel monitoring system (VMS), as well as the responsibility of VMS suppliers.

The decree has an additional regulation on observers on Vietnamese fishing vessels operating in Vietnam’s territorial waters to create a legal framework to maintain and promote Vietnam’s seafood exports to the US.

It adjusts and supplements a number of regulations on controlling foreign vessels’ activities of exploiting and transporting aquatic products originating from Vietnamese ports, and controlling seafood and aquatic products imported into Vietnam.

Regarding new
regulations prescribed in Decree No. 38/2024/ND-CP, Luan said that the decree increases the prescription for sanctioning administrative violations in the fisheries sector to two years, along with stricter punishments on repeated violations, and the power of rangers on posing punishments on violations of regulations on the protection of aquatic resources in national parks and conservation areas.

Heads of the Departments of Fisheries, Chairpersons of People’s Committees of provinces, districts and communes, police, border guards, coast guards, customs, market management, fisheries inspection forces, forestry rangers, inspection and agencies assigned to perform specialised inspections are also permitted to handle such violations, according to the decree.

Addressing the conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said that with increasingly effective legal tools, all localities should work hard to join hands with central agencies in seeking the European Commission (EC)’s remo
val of the ‘yellow card’ against Vietnam’s seafood exports.

The official noted that progress has been seen in IUU fishing prevention and combat, but there is still much work to do.

Localities should continue to focus on supervising their fleets, trace the origin of seafood products and strictly handle violations according to the new regulations, he underlined./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: The Su That (Truth) National Political Publishing House recently released a book called ‘Dien Bien Phu – History and memories’ on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu victory.

Compiled by the Party Committee of Dien Bien province, the Vietnam Association of History Science and the Su That publishing house, the book contains writings and evaluations on the Dien Bien Phu campaign by generals directly participating in the campaign, as well as domestic and foreign scientists, military analysts, and reporters. They were previously published on the Xua and Nay (Past and Present) Magazine, the Military History Magazine and the Political Theory Magazine.

Divided into three parts, the book provides readers an insight into the historical values and significance of the campaign from different perspectives, and sheds light on the glorious strategic battle of the Vietnamese Party, people and army that crushed the French colonists.

It also pays tribute to the soldiers, frontier workers, and
youth volunteers who laid down their lives for the victory.

The book is also considered a valuable document for historical and military researchers, museums and students./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

KUCHING, A man died while another is still missing following a water surge incident at the waterfall in Kampung Sebat, Sematan, about 100 km from here, this afternoon.

The Sarawak Fire and Rescue Operations Centre in a statement said it received a call about the incident at 4.55 pm, and a fire engine from the Lundu Fire and Rescue Station was mobilised to the scene.

It said the incident involved four male victims, two of whom were rescued by villagers and were safe.

“Another victim was also pulled out of the river by the villagers but was confirmed dead at the scene while another victim is still missing.

“Efforts to search and rescue the remaining victim were suspended at 7 pm, and will continue tomorrow,” read the statement.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

TACLOBAN: Eastern Visayas recorded a 3.4 percent inflation rate in March, the region’s slowest in six months and sixth among all regions, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Friday.

The previous slowest rate of price increase in the region was 4.9 percent in September 2023, while the February level was at 3.7 percent.

In a press briefing, PSA Eastern Visayas Director Wilma Perante traced the downward trend to the faster annual decrease in the housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels index at 3.2 percent in March 2024 from an annual decrease of 1.6 percent in February.

“The slower inflation rate in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 6.5 percent this month from 6.7 percent in February, and alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 6.7 percent from eight percent last month also contributed to this downtrend,” she added.

Among the region’s six provinces, Samar posted the highest inflation in March at 4.3 percent, followed by Leyte, 3.7 percent; Biliran and Southern Leyte, both
at 3.5 percent; Northern Samar, 2.5 percent; and Eastern Samar, 2.2 percent.

Contrary to common knowledge, Perante said low inflation does not necessarily mean that prices of commodities are decreasing.

Instead, it means that prices continue to increase but at a slower rate.

Data collection for the consumer price index is done by the PSA provincial twice monthly, except for petroleum products which they monitor every Friday.

Source: Philippines News agency