The Philippines yesterday said it had banned certain foreign journalists from the nation over an incident last year, when Philippine President Benigno Aquino III was taunted by a group of Hong Kong reporters during a visit to Indonesia.
The immigration bureau said the journalists, whom it did not name, were blacklisted on the recommendation of the intelligence services over “acts committed against the president during a summit in Bali, Indonesia.”
“The rationale is that the subject is a threat to public safety and blacklisting minimizes that risk,” immigration bureau spokeswoman Elaine Tan said in a statement.
Hong Kong newspapers reported that nine journalists from the Chinese territory have been banned ahead of the APEC summit to be hosted by the Philippines next year.
In October last year APEC summit host Indonesia withdrew the credentials of nine Hong Kong journalists for shouting questions at the Philippine leader, insisting they had posed a security threat.
An Aquino spokesman at the time said the journalists had “crossed the line” by aggressively questioning Aquino about a hostage siege in Manila that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead in 2010.
When an individual “shows disrespect or makes offensive utterances to symbols of Philippine authority,” it is sufficient ground to ban him or her from the nation, immigration spokeswoman Tan said yesterday.
“If he [or she] submits sufficient proof to reverse the blacklist, it might be lifted accordingly,” she said.
An Aquino spokesperson said that it had not specifically prevented anyone from covering the APEC summit in the Philippines in November next year.
Herminio Coloma said the presidential office, which is in charge of accrediting journalists who plan to cover the summit, “has not started the accreditation process for journalists.”
Relations between Hong Kong and the Philippines were strained for years following a botched rescue attempt by Manila in 2010 when Hong Kong tourists were taken hostage inside a bus by a disgraced ex-Manila police officer.
In April the two governments said they had resolved the row.
The Manila city government issued a formal apology while the Philippines expressed “its most sorrowful regret and profound sympathy.”
The Philippine government also provided undisclosed financial compensation to victims and their relatives from money donated by private individuals.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of