One dead in quake, Phivolcs lifts tsunami warning

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said a high-magnitude quake has left at least one dead and several structures partially damaged, as Phivolcs lifts its local tsunami alert. In its update 3, NDRRMC reports that a landslide that ensued after the quake in Cagayan de Oro left at least one dead and one injured. It identified the fatality as Emilita Ubalde, 50 years old. Five-year-old Adrian Ubalde was meanwhile injured. At least five houses were partially damaged due to a flashflood in Barangay Tablon, Cagayan de Oro city, NDRRMC added. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has also lifted as of 12:10 am, Saturday, an earlier announced Tsunami Warning 3 over some provinces after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake was detected off Eastern Samar 8:47 pm Friday. The government however advises the public to stay on alert for aftershocks. Earlier, the tsunami warning ordered families along the coasts of Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur to leave their homes and seek higher ground. NDRRMC executive director Benito Ramos said on radio DZMM that residents on Siargao and the Dinagat Islands have also been earlier told to leave their homes. As of 11:15 pm, all tsunami warnings from U.S.-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had also been lifted. Local data from the NDRMMC show the earthquake was measured at Intensity 7 in Giuan, Oras, and Borongan City in Eastern Samar. Intensity 6 was reported in Siargao, Surigao del Norte, Tacloban City, Palo town in Leyte, and St. Bernard in Southern Leyte. Intensity 5 was reported in Mati City, Compostela, Legaspi City, Iloilo City, Bislig City, and Iligan City. Intensity 4 was reported in Butuan City, Catbalogan City, and Cagayan de Oro City. The quake had an intensity of III in Cotabato, Mambajao, Camiguin, and General Santo City. The cities of Marawi and Sipalay, meanwhile, reported the earthquake at Intensity 2.

Nepali man bites snake to death in revenge attack

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A Nepali man who was bitten by a cobra snake bit it back and killed the reptile in a tit-for-tat attack, a newspaper said on Thursday. Nepali daily Annapurna Post said Mohamed Salmo Miya chased the snake, which bit him in his rice paddy on Tuesday, caught it and bit it until it died. "I could have killed it with a stick but bit it with my teeth instead because I was angry," the 55year-old Miya, who lives in a village some 200 km (125 miles) southeast of the Nepali capital of Kathmandu, was quoted by the daily as saying. The snake, called "goman" in Nepal, is also known as the Common Cobra. Police official Niraj Shahi said the man, who was being treated at a village health post and was not in danger of dying, would not be charged with killing the snake because the reptile was not among snake species listed as endangered in Nepal.

Police: Reggae singer McAnuff killed in Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) Authorities say reggae musician Matthew McAnuff has been stabbed to death in Jamaica. Police said late Thursday that McAnuff was attacked during a dispute with another man in Montego Bay. No one has been charged yet. The 25-year-old musician is the son of Winston McAnuff, a well-known reggae singer in Jamaica who later became popular in Europe, especially France. Police said Matthew McAnuff died at a hospital on Wednesday.

Preserving a family legacy: sukang Iloko

Catherine Pascual Abadilla, 66, exactly knows what she wants and she does it perfectly to preserve her family legacy of producing a stimulating aroma and a very strong taste of a dark liquid Ilocanos are known for agesSukang Iloko. Cormel Foods, derived from the combined names of Abadilla's father Cornelio and grandfather Melchor, has evolved as a home-based leading producer and distributor of a chemical-free organic vinegar popularly known as the Ilocandia's original sukang Iloko. It is now also a multiawarded family-owned company, commercializing tropical fruit wines and distilled spirits here and abroad. Disturbed by the selling of adulterated vinegar in the local market (that is, adding chemicals and food coloring which are not good for the health), she said this triggered her desire to preserve the unique taste and quality of Sukang Iloko labored by her old family back in the rural village of Araniw, Laoag City. As a food technologist, Abadilla was concerned about the safety of consumers. Adulterated vinegar is not accepted by the Department of Health standards. Through continued research and technology development, she perfected the traditional vinegarmaking formula she inherited from her elders who used to own a small holdings of vinegarmaking in a sugar cane-producing rural village in the city. She said the process of fermentation was one of her favorite subjects at the University of the Philippines where she took BS in Food Technology. This inspired her to pursue her study when she took a master's degree in Food Science in the same university. Her graduate level dissertation entitled "Physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of Basi during fermentation" was all worth it when she tried her developed technology to their home-grown vinegar-making venture. "At first, my aim is to improve vinegar and basi which are being sold at the public market using recycled plastic containers without any label," Abadilla said. Abadilla couple and staffBut things changed in 1996 or about 16 years ago when Dr. Saturnino Ocampo, then the regional director of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in Region 1, motivated her to commercialize her developed technology instead. That time, the DOST started its aggressive promotion of ripe technologies beneficial to local communities and she was then teaching at the Mariano Marcos State University-Home Technology Department in Batac, Ilocos Norte until she retired. Together with her husband Camilo, 67, and their two children, the Abadilla family decided to put up a 100-sqm. processing building beside their ancestral home located at the heart of the city to start up the project.

From an additional 50 earthen jars the DOST provided them to increase their production, they were able to create a product following by word of mouth. Raw materials (sugarcane and tropical fruits) were initially sourced out from their small farm but with increased demand, they trained several farmers to deliver them the needed supply. She takes pride in keeping the original Sukang Iloko, a chemical-free organic vinegar derived from naturally fermented sugarcane juice and plant extracts locally known as samak that turns the liquid color into black. The popular Sukang Iloko comes with a unique product label consisting of a heritage house like those preserved in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, a kalesa (horse-drawn carrier), earthen jars and samak leaves to indicate that the product was processed in the century-old tradition of fermenting sugarcane juice and samak in earthenware jars. It also maintains a standard 4.5 acidity level, obtaining a quality seal approved by the Bureau of Foods and Drugs (BFAD). From their original product Sukang Iloko, Cormel Foods has develop additional product lines such as basi and other tropical wines from duhat (java plum), mango and bugnay (wild berries). Their latest baby product is the duhat juice now being tested in the local market during trade fairs and exhibits organized by government agencies. Since its conception, the DOST has assisted Cormel Foods to develop and improve its products. The DOST gave them a zero-interest loan worth P500,000 payable in three years to cater their customers' growing demand for Sukang Iloko. After graduating from the first Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SET-UP I), the DOST gave them another P800,000 soft loan (SET-UP II) payable in three years without interest. This time, said amount was used in their tropical fruit wine-making business that evolved through time. But their Sukang Iloko remains as their prime commodity. To date, Cormel Foods is producing at least 500 gallons every month to meet their product demand. A number of hotels, supermarkets and distributors from Metro Manila and the neighboring provinces of Cagayan, Ilocos Sur and Abra directly buy from them. "This is why Ilocandia's Sukang Iloko is not readily available in groceries unlike other commercial vinegars," their son Anthony, who supervises the marketing and distribution of their products, said.

Egypt condemns 14 to death for 2011 Sinai attack

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - An Egyptian court sentenced to death on Tuesday 14 people it said were Islamist militants for a deadly attack on a police station in North Sinai last year, a court official said. The ruling may add to tension in the volatile region bordering Israel, where fighting between security forces and militants has intensified since August 5 when 16 border guards were killed in an attack blamed on Islamist groups. The condemned men were convicted for attacking a police station in north Sinai's main town of al-Arish in July 2011, killing an army officer, five policemen and a civilian, the court said. Footage from inside the court showed bearded defendants, wearing the white overalls issued to detainees, standing or sitting in a metal cage. One was brought into court in a wheelchair. Six of the condemned men were present in court, others convicted in absentia. They were all accused of being members of Al-Tawhid Wal Jihad, one of the banned groups being targeted in a security crackdown on militants in the desert peninsula. The same court, in the city of Ismailia, on the west bank of the Suez Canal, will rule on September 24 on another 11 defendants, also accused of being part of the group that was blamed for bombing tourist resorts in Sinai in 2004 and 2005. Thirteen of the 25 defendants in the two cases were tried in absentia as they are not in Egyptian custody. Three bombings, targeting Israeli tourists at an Egyptian Red Sea hotel, killed 34 people in October 2004. More than 80 people were killed and 200 injured when suspected car bombs rocked the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in July 2005. The group kept a low profile after its founders were killed by police following those bombings but had a resurgence after a popular uprising overthrew President Hosni Mubarak 18 months ago and members of the group fled prison and began to regroup, security experts and residents in Sinai say.

Grenade kills policeman, wounds dozens as Kenya riots rage

Angry youths killed a Kenyan policeman and wounded over a dozen others in a grenade attack Tuesday, as riots rocked the city of Mombasa for a second day after the killing of a radical Islamist cleric. The attack on a police truck came as officers tried to contain protests by hundreds of angry youths who threw stones, damaged cars and chanted slogans in support of slain preacher Aboud Rogo Mohammed. Foreign embassies -- including those of Australia, Britain and France -- issued travel warnings for Mombasa, a key tourist hub and Kenya's main port. The cleric -- popularly known as Rogo -- was on US and UN sanctions lists for allegedly supporting Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militants. He was killed Monday in Mombasa when unidentified gunmen opened fire on his vehicle as he was driving with his wife and children, leaving it riddled with bullets. Images released by his supporters showed his bloody corpse slumped behind the wheel. His wife and children reportedly survived the attack. Furious protests erupted after his death, with one person hacked to death, cars torched, businesses attacked and five churches looted or set on fire. As the rioting stretched into a second day Tuesday, the Shebab called on Kenyan Muslims to "take all necessary measures" to defend their religion. "Muslims must take the matter into their own hands, stand united against the kuffar (unbelievers) and take all necessary measures to protect their religion, their honour, their property and their lives from the enemies of Islam," the Islamist group said in a statement. Staff in Mombasa's main hospital reported Tuesday that at least 14 people had been injured in the clashes, while two anti-riot police were also wounded apart from those hit by the grenade attack, police said. The Supreme Council of Muslims in Kenya condemned the violence, especially the targeting of churches. "This kind of violence goes against our faith. The protesters shouldn't hide behind Islam or any of its teachings," said the council's secretary general, Adan Wachu. "These are criminals and should be treated as such."

Rogo was the spiritual leader of the Muslim Youth Center (MYC), a group viewed as a close ally of the extremist Shebab. The Islamist MYC blamed the authorities for what they called a "targeted assassination", but police have dismissed the claim and say they are hunting the killers. "Our beloved Sheikh Aboud Rogo... was murdered by the (unbelievers) as part of Kenya's policy of extra-judicial killings against prominent Muslim activists," the MYC said Tuesday in a statement. Police in turn blamed the killing on the Shebab, with police spokesman Charles Owino saying the group had sought "to galvanise support among the youth". "Rogo's murder was a well-planned attack by members of Al-Shebab to gain sympathisers.... The Shebab have failed to get followers," Owino told AFP. The preacher was placed on a US sanctions list in July for "engaging in acts that directly or indirectly threaten the peace, security or stability of Somalia", specifically for recruiting and fundraising for the Shebab. The United Nations Security Council placed a travel ban and asset freeze on him in July, saying he had provided "financial, material, logistical or technical support to Al-Shebab". Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Monday condemned Rogo's "horrific" murder, adding the government was "committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice". Rogo had been accused by the UN of using the MYC group as "a pathway for radicalisation and recruitment of principally Swahili-speaking Africans for carrying out violent militant activity in Somalia." The cleric is also alleged to have introduced Fazul Abdullah Mohammed -- the late head of AlQaeda's east Africa cell, shot dead last year in Somalia's war-torn capital Mogadishu -- to at least one of the men who helped him carry out the twin US embassy bombings in 1998. The bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam killed 224 people.

Mar, Abaya expected to breeze through CA

MANILA, Philippines - Former senator Manuel Roxas II and Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya are expected to breeze through the Commission on Appointments (CA) for their new roles as Interior and Local Government secretary and Transportation and Communications secretary, respectively. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile urged President Aquino to immediately transmit Roxas and Abayas appointment papers to the CA to allow their confirmation as required by the Constitution. I trust that the Palace will immediately transmit his appointment papers to the Commission on Appointments so that we can confirm Secretary Roxas as soon as possible, said Enrile, chairman of the CA. Sen. Franklin Drilon, who is also a member of the CA, said the appointments of Roxas and Abaya will be taken up right away. We in the Commission on Appointments assure immediate facilitation of their appointments, he said. Drilon is vice chairman of the Liberal Party where Roxas serves as president and Abaya as secretary general. If Roxas experience at the CA would serve as the basis for what would happen during his next appearance there, then he should have no problems at all. Roxas confirmation for his previous appointment as Transportation and Communications Secretary was a walk in the park and came with the blessings of all his former colleagues in Congress.