OFFBEAT MAIL

A CCTV catches footage of a killing in Paris. The discovery by French police of a foreign passport reportedly belonging to a Syrian reinforces notions that the suspects in Friday's killing of at least 120 people, including a CSU student, may have planned it prior to the mass exodus of refugees from Syria, Iraq and Libya. What's my perception on this prior to the killing spree that took place the second time around in France is that the killings were properly planned. After the botched attempt by a lone gunman using an AK47 rifle aboard a train, which led to the suspect being toppled down by three American servicemen, the killing in Paris graced newspaper headlines, thus shocking the international communities. According to an Los Angeles Times report (Nov. 15): "The document raised the possibility that Islamic State militants have made good on their threat to enter and attack Europe from within the wave of Syrian refugees." If they (suspects) indeed had infil...

PH Pres. Benigno Aquino III inspects APEC venue. Photo: Malacanang In one of its front page trivia, the Philippines News Agency came out with a news dispatch which states that the 21 world leaders who are set to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Manila on November 17, 2015, would be using fixed chairs, instead of the normal swivel chairs that allow the leader to have the freedom to turn around whenever he wants to do so during formal sessions. Admittedly, this news story is new. And this is the first time that a host country like the Philippines has used this new strategy to perhaps, curtail the bad mannerism of a particular world leader. To some, this might be misconstrued as an unacceptable imposition of something beyond human rational behavior. If it is, I simply don't agree with this view. What is really the essence why the host country decides to deviate from using the usual swivel chair? In his words, Philippines' Communication Secretar...

Whenever you go on shopping sprees, do you always carry so much cash to pay for the stuffs that you buy in the markets? Well, if that is your choice, so be it. To most shoppers, this kind of practice is nothing new anymore. And it shouldn’t even raise your eyebrows whenever you see some people take out wads of money to pay for the goods that they buy.  They always believe that it doesn't only free them up with the worries of paying for  the increasing interests that their monthly bills could pile up. This, too, means to say that they'll have less to worry about because once they have paid those purchases with cash, they’re done. Mind you, there are people who don't feel secured having wads of cash in their pockets for personal reasons. Instead, some of them prefer to use "plastic money" to buy things that they need. While cash payments are good, using your debit card for your purchases is a much safer alternative. Aside from the convenience that it ma...

It feels so insulting and demeaning that China continues to ignore the pronouncement of the Permanent Court on Arbitration based in The Hague that it has legal jurisdiction over the territorial row between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea. An island reclaimed by China. After reading the news reports, all that China could utter is that it doesn't recognize the arbitral tribunal's declaration concerning its right to hear the complaint filed by the Philippines against China. However, China hasn't mentioned any valid statement that would give any suggestion as to which international body or court should have the right to hear the case? Over and over again, China keeps on repeating like a broken record that it wouldn't abide by the tribunal's decision to recognize the merits of the case on the territorial disputes because it believes that the tribunal has no jurisdiction to hear such complaint. China, for that matter, didn't even offer a sugge...

A Chinese diplomat dies in a shooting in Cebu City. Photo: philstar.com CEBU CITY, Oct. 21 (PNA) -- Two Chinese consular officials in Cebu were killed while the consul general was wounded in a shooting incident inside the Lighthouse Restaurant along General Maxilom, Cebu City at about 1:20 p.m. Wednesday. A Chinese retired consular official and his spouse was taken into police custody immediately after the shooting. The Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 identified the fatalities as Sun Shan, a male deputy consul, and Hui Li, a female finance officer of the Chinese consular office in Cebu. Chinese Consul General Song Ronghua, who was also wounded in the shooting, is now undergoing treatment in a Cebu City private hospital. Police said they have taken into custody as suspects in the shooting Li Qing Liang, 60, identified as a retired consular official and his wife, Gou Jing, 57. Police also recovered one cal. 45 pistol Colt defender, three empty shells, two deformed slugs and ...

High ranking government officials in the Philippines had batted out the idea of sealing an agreement with China to allow a room that will pave the way for an acceptable solution in the form of partnership to further explore oil and gas deposits in the disputed South China Sea territory. A group of disputed islands now being claimed by China. Photo: wikipedia In an informal press briefing hosted by TV5 in Manila, Sen. Gregorio Honasan, now running as one of the six candidates vying for the post of vice president with the opposition's standard bearer Vice President Jejomar Binay, suggested that instead of going into war with China, the Philippines may opt to agree for a 30-70 business partnership in so far as royalties are concerned. China, considered highly equipped with mineral exploration technology, and had already established expansions by building permanent structures which had been misconstrued by political observers as a way to let the world know that it has the legal ...

Rare earth minerals in powder form. Just as big demands for rare earth elements (REES) soared by leaps and bounds over the years, the People’s Republic of China (PROC), which controls about 90 percent of the world’s supply, has slowly tightened its grip on the flow of supply into the open markets. Consequently, this put many high-tech companies worldwide wondering as to whether they could still meet their current production quotas or not? What was the motive behind China’s move? Based on reports, China has stopped further explorations of these metals when it found out that some of its local miners were engaged in illegal mining activities. Consequently, the flow of raw materials to the open markets was affected, thus hindering many hi-tech companies to meet their production targets. And no matter how optimistic they may seem, they felt that import demands may be hampered. Blame it on China’s self-imposed totalitarian rule to restrict the flow of rare earth metals to the in...