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CATHOLIC parishes that allow cross-dressing homosexuals to play female saints in the Santacruzan or Santa Cruz de Mayo procession do not honor but instead insult the Blessed Virgin Mary and will be punished, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, Archbishop of Manila, warned on Monday. The punishment is the removal of the faculty for Holy Masses in those parishes. In the Catholic Church, the month of May is devoted to Mary, who is revered as the Mother of God since her son Jesus is God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Pious Catholics go on pilgrimages to shrines dedicated to the Blessed...

Muslim rebels have forced hundreds of mainly Christian families off their farms in the southern Philippines, escalating tensions in the region ahead of the withdrawal of Malaysian peace monitors next week. Rolando Garcia, mayor of Kalamansig town on the troubled southern island of Mindanao, said that heavily-armed members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) claimed the farmers' land belonged to the Muslim minority. "We have about 1,200 people in our temporary shelter areas...afraid to return to their farms," Garcia told reporters, adding rice was about to be harvested when the rebels came late on Wednesday. The 11,000-strong MILF is...

WASHINGTON, April 22, 2008 – Army Spc. Pastor Paul Durano, originally from the Philippines, joined the ranks of his comrades and became an American citizen during a naturalization ceremony here earlier this month. Army Spc. Pastor Paul Durano became an American Citizen in Baghdad’s Al Faw Palace on April 12, 2008. Durano, a native of Cubu City, Philippines, assigned to the 10th Mountain Division, participated in a naturalization ceremony for 259 deployed soldiers. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Durano, a member of 10th Mountain Division’s Headquarters and Headquarter Battery, 5th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment, participated...

The day after Pope Benedict XVI departed the U.S..., Blaine Harden of the Washington Post lamented the Catholic Church’s influence in the Philippines, specifically, the government of Philippines "acceding to Catholic doctrine" by "supporting only what it calls ‘natural’ family planning," rejecting "modern contraception" as part of family planning." Throughout his article, titled "Birthrates Help Keep Filipinos in Poverty," Harden painted a bleak picture of "the fastest-growing segment of the Philippine population," which is "very poor people with large families," and sought to blame their poverty and backwardness on their following Catholic teaching, brushing aside corruption and other factors that...

An ancient burial cave was discovered in the Philippine island of Mindanao, south of Manila, and officials have sealed the site to prevent looting of artifacts, many of them jars made from clay. It was not immediately known whether there are other treasures in the cave which was accidentally discovered by quarry diggers yesterday in Maitum town in Sarangani province. The latest discovery in the village of Pinol was near another ancient burial site discovered in 1991 where burial jars, shaped in different human forms, had been recovered inside Ayub cave. Lingling Jabel, owner of the quarry site, informed local...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Police seized hundreds of components for making bombs in a raid on a suspected terrorist hide-out in the northern Philippines, officials said Wednesday. The target of Tuesday's raid in Laguna province's Alaminos town was Khalid Pagayao, a Filipino allegedly tied to the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah network and a plot to bomb Western embassies in the Philippines. However, he was not in the house at the time of the raid, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said.

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) - Philippine police have mounted a search for six people abducted by Al-Qaeda-linked Muslim militants from a minibus in the south of the country, police said Wednesday. The six, all local Muslim residents, were passengers on the bus in Maimbung town on the island of Jolo when the militants seized them on Monday, said provincial police chief, Superintendent Julasirim Kasim. "We still don't know the motive for the kidnapping. It could be a personal grudge or anything," Kasim said. Last week, Abu Sayyaf gunmen seized a Muslim schoolteacher, then released her a few hours later. Kasim said...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Traders found hoarding rice while the country struggles to maintain sufficient stocks of its staple grain could be charged with economic sabotage, a crime that carries a life sentence, the justice secretary said Thursday. Government agents have been raiding warehouses in a hunt for unscrupulous traders and warehouse owners holding on to rice stocks amid spiraling prices and fears of a shortage, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said. The amount of rice hoarded and the resulting effect on the country's economy would determine whether economic sabotage charges could be filed, Gonzalez told The Associated Press. He said...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

March 24, 2008, 5:00 a.m. Chilling ConfirmationYes, Saddam Hussein was an Islamofascist threat. By Deroy Murdock As Operation Iraqi Freedom is now five years old, a new study confirms that ousting Saddam Hussein was justified and vital to U.S. national security. Though war critics hate to admit it, the Baathist dictator was up to his mustache in aid for Islamofascist terrorism. As a report from the Institute for Defense Analyses explains, “captured Iraqi documents uncovered strong evidence that links the regime of Saddam Hussein to regional and global terrorism.� IDA’s review of some 600,000 documents discovered in Iraq since...

Many people in the Philippines consider crucifixion and self flagellation good for the soul, but it is bad for your health according to new government advice for penitents. This Holy Week, the thousands of guilt stricken or pious worshippers who will flay the skin off their backs, and the handful who will crucify themselves, are encouraged to get a tetanus shot first and be sure to use a clean whip or nails. The Catholic church frowns upon the crucifixions "We are not trying to go against the Lenten tradition here because whipping has somewhat already become some form of ’atonement...

Three “Middle Eastern militants” are in custody in the Philippines for plotting to attack the US embassy in Manila, as well as three other embassies in the capital. Authorities suspect them of belonging to either Jemaah Islamiyah or Abu Sayyaf, both terrorist groups affiliated with al-Qaeda. They describe the plot as at an “advanced” stage, indicating an attack had been imminent: Three suspected Middle Eastern militants have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to bomb the U.S. and three other foreign embassies in the Philippines, officials said Thursday.“There is a high probability that they are involved in some...

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

Is the U.S. Failing in Afghanistan? It was malice in wonderland at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday as Bush Administration envoys insisted things are getting better in Afghanistan, while angry lawmakers from both parties cited facts and figures showing just the opposite. Even the senior Republican on the panel, Senator Richard Lugar, found the Administration's claims wanting. "I'm not sure that we have a plan for Afghanistan," he said. Long seen as the "forgotten war" eclipsed by Iraq in U.S. priorities, Afghanistan is in the Washington spotlight this week with the release of three independent reports concluding...

MANILA (Reuters) - The U.S. ambassador to the Philippines met the leader of the country's largest Muslim rebel group on Tuesday in an effort to defuse tensions over U.S. soldiers entering Muslim areas in the south. Earlier this week, thousands of people protested against the U.S. military's plans to hold humanitarian missions in areas controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as part of annual training exercises with Philippine troops. "The U.S. ambassador assured us the U.S. soldiers would not be involved in any combat activities," Mohaqher Iqbal, head of the MILF peace panel with the government, told Reuters....

(Updated 8:30 a.m.) A body believed to be that of Indonesian terrorist leader Dulmatin, wanted for the October 2002 Bali bombings, was recovered Monday afternoon by a joint military team in Tawi-Tawi province. Intelligence reports said the body was found 1:30 p.m. at the vicinity of Sitio Salisit in Balimbing village, Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi. "(The) said corpse was jointly identified by informants with notable wounds in the head, chest and right foot to include clothing in physical characteristics matched with previous revelations," the report said. The body was exhumed for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing for confirmation. Reached for...

The Great Raid. Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Connie Nielsen, Marton Csokas and Joseph Fiennes. Miramax. W- Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro. D-John Dahl. Opens 8/12/05. The title threw me. I thought it was a western, maybe something about Jesse James or George Custer. I don’t know why; no one makes westerns anymore. Well, it’s not a western. And it’s not a great title. What it is, however, is the best film I’ve seen so far this year. What’s more, it will be difficult to top. Quite simply, it is amazing. Director John Dahl recreates the gritty reality-based story of one of...

MANILA, Philippines — Militants linked to Al Qaeda plotted to assassinate the Philippines president and bomb foreign embassies, officials said Thursday. Military chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said the assassination plot allegedly was hatched by the extremist Abu Sayyaf group and its Indonesia-based ally, Jemaah Islamiyah. Opposition groups dismissed the allegation as government scare tactics to prevent people from joining protests Friday to demand President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's resignation. Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza, head of the Presidential Security Group, said police uncovered the plot last week. "It's not only the president who is the target, but also other people...

MANILA, Philippines - Authorities have uncovered alleged plots by al-Qaida-linked militants to assassinate the Philippine president and bomb foreign embassies, officials said Thursday. Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza, head of the Presidential Security Group, said police uncovered the plot last week. "It's not only the president who is the target, but also other people ... and embassies," he said without offering specifics. The officials did not specify when the attacks were expected to occur. But Prestoza said Arroyo's attendance at an alumni homecoming of the Philippine Military Academy on Saturday in northern Baguio city has been canceled and the rest of...

Manila, 16 Jan. (AKI) – In the Philippines, they have been labelled "sexy bombers" and they are believed to be the latest weapon from the Islamic terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah. Police from the volatile southern province of Mindanao are taking seriously the possibility that women have been trained and are ready to blow themselves up in the name of Islam. According to information given to intelligence services, there are at least 10 potential female suicide bombers ready to carry out attacks. Several cities in Mindanao, the southernmost island of the archipelago which is home to 4.5 million Muslims, would be...

MANILA, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Hooded gunmen killed a Catholic priest in the restive south of the Philippines in a botched kidnapping attempt, officials said on Wednesday. The men took away a local teacher seized along with Father Rey Roda, a parish priest on Tawi-tawi, a remote Muslim island in the southernmost tip of the archipelago, late on Tuesday. "The reports indicated that Fr. Roda resisted and he was gunned down and killed," chief superintendent Joel Goltiao said. "There are pursuit operations going on." Muslim militants use Tawi-tawi and nearby Jolo as bases and banditry and kidnap-for-ransom are common on...

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) - Philippine troops have arrested a senior Islamic militant over the kidnap and killing of a group of tourists, including two Americans, in 2001, a military statement said Friday. Soldiers backed by police raided a hideout of the Al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf group in southern Margosatubig island on Thursday, the statement said. Troops arrested Abu Sayyaf commander Tuatin Anahaly and seized a cache of weapons including a pistol that he was carrying, near the city of Zamboanga. Anahaly has been on the run since a two-million-peso (48,700-dollar) bounty was placed on this head over his role in...

MANILA, Philippines -- He could not believe his healing power. He wanted to run away from it.A Canadian woman declared dead eight hours earlier, her organs ready to be harvested and donated, suddenly opened her eyes after Filipino priest Fr. Fernando Suarez prayed over her.Suarez, who was then a seminarian, was stunned. “Let me out of here,” was all he could say, ready to flee.He was supposed to go and see the woman earlier but he was not able to make it in time. When he arrived at the Ottawa Civic Hospital in Canada, it seemed too late. But Suarez...

MANILA, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- An animal rights group on Thursday blamed the Philippine customs for ruining their protest by confiscating inflatable sex dolls they planned to use for a global campaign against fowl cruelty. "The dolls were seized by customs officials when they arrived in the Philippines via U.S.-based package carrier UPS," the Hong Kong-based group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said in a statement released by its Manila office. PETA said it was hoping to use the sex dolls in its campaign against Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) for abuses of chickens. "The sex dolls would...

Calculating the Risks in Pakistan A small group of U.S. military experts and intelligence officials convened in Washington for a classified war game last year, exploring strategies for securing Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if the country's political institutions and military safeguards began to fall apart. The secret exercise — conducted without official sponsorship from any government agency, apparently due to the sensitivity of its subject — was one of several such games the U.S. government has conducted in recent years examining various options and scenarios for Pakistan's nuclear weapons: How many troops might be required for a military intervention in...

Five crop-duster planes have crashed on the terror-plagued island of Mindanao in a short period of time. Annie Jacobsen says that while it may feel like Mindanao is half a world away, the island’s plantations are linked to the international food supply chain. Is it time to start worrying about what’s being sprayed on your bananas? Support Pajamas Media; Visit Our Advertisers by Annie Jacobsen There have been five crop-duster plane crashes on the terrorist-plagued island of Mindanao in the Philippines in a 90-day period. The most recent incident happened on December 6. Three of the five crashes occurred on...

Photo Essay ___ 10,000 Filipino families live in this massive graveyard in Manila. I recently spent five days walking among its residents taking photos and hearing stories of struggle and survival. Some families ended up here almost accidentally. Some inherited the mausoleums that they now live in from their great-grandparents. Others came from the provinces and couldn’t make enough money to live in the big city. In all cases, they’re basically families with nowhere else to go. The people who live here manage to extract livelihoods from the dead. Teenagers carry coffins for 50 Filipino pesos—about 50 American cents. Children...

A senior Islamic militant, wanted by the US government, has been killed in a clash with the Philippine military in the nation's restive south, an official said Sunday. Abdul Mubin Sakandal, a leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, was killed during a joint navy and marine operation on the remote island of Tawi-Tawi, a military official said. Sakandal, also known as Abdurajak Mobin, had allegedly helped carry out a string of high-profile kidnappings of foreigners from resort islands in neighboring Malaysia and from the Philippine isle of Palawan. "Our naval elements neutralized Mobin ... during a dragnet operation at...

About two dozen protesters angry over a rape case involving a Marine stormed the American Embassy on Sunday, hitting a U.S. government seal on the gate with fists and a brick before surprised policemen pushed them away, police and witnesses said. The protesters demanded the transfer to a Philippine jail of Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, who was convicted a year ago of raping a Filipino woman but has remained under U.S. government custody and detained at the heavily fortified embassy. Taking advantage of the absence of policemen, who usually stand guard outside the embassy, the protesters ran toward the...

(UPDATE 11) ‘Our military operation has started’--Barias MANILA, Philippines -- Operations to flush out the group of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV from the Manila Peninsula hotel in Makati City have begun, Police Director Geary Barias of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said. “Our military operation has started; it’s ongoing,” Barias told reporters from his position outside the hotel. He said Marines and Navy troops, as well as police commandos, have entered the hotel from the fountain area at the rear, along Ayala Avenue. A Marines tank is headed for the fountain area of the hotel from the...

U.S. to Offer Turkey Help on PKK The U.S. is to offer Turkey a package of measures to dissuade Ankara from mounting a large-scale military incursion into Iraq to attack PKK Kurdish guerrillas, who have killed scores of Turkish soldiers in recent weeks. Ahead of a meeting in Washington on Monday between President George W. Bush and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, U.S. officials said Ankara would have to get concrete American help to combat the PKK, which has bases in northern Iraq from where it frequently launches attacks into Turkey. “Erdogan has to go back with the...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — The Philippines government and separatist rebels have struck a deal on creating a Muslim homeland in the country's south which is expected to lead to a peace accord next year, officials said Thursday. The agreement on the extent of territory to be handed over had been a major stumbling block in the peace talks that opened when a ceasefire was forged with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2001. The two sides did not disclose the new borders agreed after two days of talks here, but Malaysian officials said the territory would be greater than...

MANILA - A controversial Muslim congressman was the target of a powerful bomb blast outside the Philippine House of Representatives that killed him and two others, police said this morning. Wahab Akbar, one of the most influential figures in the Philippines' restive south, died in hospital last night as doctors fought to save his life. A driver and a congressional aide were also killed. Nine other people were injured in the blast, which hit the south lobby of the sprawling complex in the capital Manila just minutes after most congressmen had left for the evening. Manila police Chief Geary Barias...

A powerful bomb ripped through a section of the Philippine House of Representatives yesterday, killing two people and injuring at least 10, including lawmakers, officials said. Killed in the blast was Wahab Akbar, a congressman representing Basilan island, where troops are hunting down remnants of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf extremist group. Akbar had received death threats in the past. Troops went on heightened alert and security forces set up checkpoints around Manila as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo quickly ordered a national police probe into the blast at the sprawling complex north of the capital in suburban Quezon City. The explosion -...

Kuala Lumpur (dpa) - Philippine and Muslim rebel peace negotiators began peace talks Wednesday in Malaysia's capital city, where Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak voiced hopes for a quick end to conflict in the troubled Philippine region of Mindanao. Najib, who is also Malaysia's defence minister, urged representatives from the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to continue their resolve to end decades of fighting. "It is my hope that the last obstacle can be resolved - that is the handing over of a province to be governed by the MILF," Najib was quoted as saying...

MANILA (AFP) - A girl aged 11 hanged herself in a Philippines shanty after leaving a letter and diary depicting a life in rampant poverty, newspapers here reported Thursday. The case put a human face to poverty blighting the nation, where nearly 14 percent of the 87 million population live on less than a dollar a day even as the government says the economy is on a roll. "I suspect she did it because of our situation," the girl's father, Isabelo Amper, was quoted in the Philippine Daily Inquirer as saying. In a letter found under her pillow after Mariannet...

MANILA, Philippines, Nov. 8, 2007 – Robert Perkowitz stepped up seven concrete stairs to a towering memorial and placed a flowered wreath at its base. Members of the 74th Joint Civilian Orientation Conference participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Manila American Cemetery Memorial Chapel, Philippines, Nov. 8, 2007. Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Michael D. Heckman, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. In his pocket was a military coin given to him by a Special Forces buddy in the hospital recovering from a gun battle in Afghanistan. In his heart swelled a deep appreciation for...

Richmond, Oct 29, 2007 / 10:47 am (CNA).- A retired Roman Catholic priest faces forty years in jail for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from two rural Virginian parishes, the Associated Press reports. On Friday Father Rodney L. Rodis, 51, pled guilty to one count of mail fraud and one of money laundering.  Father Rodis embezzled money from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Bumpass and St. Jude Church in Mineral between 2002 and 2006, prosecutors said.  He wired at least $515,231 to relatives in his native Philippines to purchase property.Authorities said Father Rodis established bank accounts and a post...

This week the Pentagon released official figures on how dramatically the security situation has improved in Iraq. Terrorist attacks, secular violence, road-side bombings, Iraqi civilian deaths and U.S. casualties are all down. The announcement received scant notice from the so-called mainstream media. About the only news from the global war on radical Islamic terror to receive less attention this week was the erroneously headlined story on the Associated Press wire: “Army Captain from Fort Lewis, WA, Drowns in the Philippines.” The item immediately captured my attention for two reasons. First, the struggle against Islamic terror in the Philippines is the...

All God's Children (Mark Walton in Manila, Philipines) Smokey Mountain in Manila, Philipines is a community built on a trash dump where over 25,000 people subsists "among methane fumes scavenging hope and survival from droppings of garbage truck." For many children living in Smokey Mountain, the way out is death. Yet, for most Filipinos in Manila, artificial contraception is not a choice since 80% are Roman Catholic. For the orthodox, users of contraception are considered sinners "if they know it to be wrong, and understand it to be wrong." Natural birth control through the rhythm method (avoiding sex during period...

AN explosion apparently caused by a fuel tank ripped through an upmarket shopping mall in the main Philippine financial district of Makati in the capital Manila today. Panicked shoppers ran out of the Glorietta mall as smoke billowed out of the building and police rushed in to investigate, witnesses said. "Our initial report is that it was an accidental explosion of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). We are still trying to determine if there are any casualties,''.

MANILA, Philippines -- A Catholic priest from Sorsogon was formally excommunicated by the Church for breaking the “seal of confession.” In a decree dated September 21, 2007, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sorsogon declared the penalty of “latae sententiae excommunication” against Father Alejandre V. Galias.Excommunication means the exclusion of a Catholic from the community of the Church for misconduct.Galias is now prohibited from celebrating and attending masses, and is barred from receiving any of the sacraments. Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes was quoted in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website as saying that Galias had violated the Church...

MANILA, Philippines - Scientists exploring a deep ocean basin in search of species isolated for millions of years found marine life believed to be previously undiscovered, including a tentacled orange worm and an unusual black jellyfish. Project leader Dr. Larry Madin said Tuesday that U.S. and Philippine scientists collected about 100 different specimens in a search in the Celebes Sea south of the Philippines. Madin, of the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said the sea is at the heart of the "coral triangle" bordered by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia — a region recognized by scientists as having a high...

A group of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans is preparing a 500 million-dollar class suit against ABC Network in the United States in response to a slur against Philippine medical schools and Filipino medical professionals, aired in the premiere episode of the fourth season of “Desperate Housewives”. In that episode, the character Susan Mayer (played by actress Teri Hatcher) questioned the credentials of her gynecologist over a disputed diagnosis. Mayer said she wanted to check the doctor’s diploma to make sure it didn’t come “from some med school in the Philippines”. The class suit is being filed by the Northern California chapter...

The Manila Melting PotLike many cities in developing nations, Manila is not without its pollution and traffic, nor the conspicuous divide between rich and poor. Nevertheless, this bustling Philippines capital, situated on the west coast of the island of Luzon, is a remarkable melting pot of Asian and Latin cultures, thick with history and flavor. When in Manila, sightseeing is protocol. Many history lessons have been learnt while visiting the oldest part of the city, Intramuros (Latin for “within the walls”), which was founded by the Spanish in 1571 and houses numerous historic buildings and churches. Rizal Park, named after...

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) hailed Sunday the United States Congress's passage of a resolution recognizing the commencement of Ramadan as the holy month of fasting and spiritual renewal. In a statement on its website (www.luwaran.com), the MILF described the US Congress' resolution as an "epoch-making" act that will help stop bigotry and racism against 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide. “This is indeed an epoch-making for the rest of the world to follow suit and recognize this holy month observed by fasting by more than one billion Muslims all over the world," said Sheikh Mohammad Muntassir, chairman of the MILF...

Philippine Population Control Groups Launch Suit Against Pro-Life Manila Former Mayor By Hilary White MANILA, Philippines, October 2, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Lito Atienza, the former mayor of the Philippine capital Manila, who has earned the wrath of abortionists and population control groups for his opposition to the killer abortion drug RU-486, is facing a lawsuit by those same groups. According to Elizabeth Pangalangan, executive director of the Reproductive Health, Rights and Ethics Center at the University of the Philippines, the suit aims to "hold [Atienza] liable for acts which caused injury to women." Atienza, who is now the Environment Secretary...

Manila: The Philippines has put rights activists, including a former US attorney-general and members of church groups on an immigration blacklist, a rights group said on Friday. At least 504 people from 50 countries were included in the blacklist labelled "Al Qaida/Taliban Link" imposed between July and August, Human Rights Watch said. Ramsey Clark, a former US attorney general, is among those banned from entry. The list also includes left-wing activists from Europe, Australia and the United States. A senior immigration official confirmed that the blacklist existed, adding only that most of the names on it were "leftists". Human Rights...

ISABELA, Philippines (Reuters) - Philippine special forces troops on Friday killed 11 members of the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim guerrilla group holding an American couple hostage on a southern island, officials said. Troops from the Light Reaction Company, a crack special forces team trained by the U.S. military, tracked down a band of Abu Sayyaf men on the outskirts of Isabela town and killed 11 of them in a 15-minute gunfight, Lieutenant-General Roy Cimatu told reporters. The bodies of two of the rebels were found while the retreating guerrillas took away the rest of the dead, said Cimatu, the ...

MANILA, Philippines -- As a trial-court judge, Florentino V. Floro Jr. acknowledged that he regularly sought the counsel of three elves only he could see. The Supreme Court deemed him unfit to serve and fired him last year. Case closed? Not in the Philippines, where vampires are said to prey on unwary travelers and wealthy politicians consult fortune tellers and card readers. Mr. Floro, 54 years old, has become a media celebrity. He is now wielding his new clout to campaign for the return of his job -- and exact vengeance on the Supreme Court. Helping him, he says, are...