Philippines

• KY Workplace Shooting: An employee at a plastics plant in Kentucky opened fire after an argument, leaving six dead including the shooter. The CEO says the killings are just a "total shock." The incident began when an employee began arguing with a supervisor around midnight — he then shot the supervisor before opening fire in a break room. The plant employs around 150 people and makes plastic siding for homes.
  

• Divers Pull Bodies From Typhoon: 100 divers search the wreckage of the capsized Philippine ferry, finding no additional survivors yet. When the seven-story ferry sunk in less than a half-hour during a powerful typhoon, the 800 passengers had little time to prepare, but the transportation undersecretary says she's hoping for "a miraculous air pocket somewhere in the ship." Only 62 of the 800 passengers have been found alive. The shipwreck could raise the typhoon's death toll to more than 1,300, with 329 people confirmed dead from flooding and landslides and more than 200 still missing.
• Mortgage Aid Could Pass: The US Senate could pass a mortgage aid plan as soon as today. The massive foreclosure rescue bill cleared a key Senate test yesterday by an 83-9 margin, with both parties eager to help homeowners. The plan would let the Federal Housing Administration back $300 billion in new, low-cost home loans for about 400,000 distressed borrowers who would be considered too financially risky to qualify for government-insured, fixed-rate loans. Though it could pass vote today, President Bush is threatening a veto and Democrats are still fighting each other over key details, possibly delaying any final deal until mid-July.

• Zimbabwe Election Moves Forward: After withdrawing yesterday from the run-off election in ZImbabwe, Tsvangirai has said today that he will negotiate with his rival, sitting president Robert Mugabe, if the political violence stops. He said, "We are prepared to negotiate with ZANU-PF but of course it is important that certain principles are accepted before the negotiations take place. One of the preconditions is that this violence against the people must be stopped." Though at this point opposition leaders Tsvangirai has pulled out of the election, it will proceed as planned on Sunday. He says party militias have killed 86 of his supporters and more than 60 opposition supporters have been arrested.



• Female Suicide Bomber Attacks: Yesterday, the latest attack in a wave of female suicide bombers killed 15 and wounded more than 40 others in central Baquba. Seven of the dead and 10 of the wounded were Iraqi police officers. The female bombing was the most devastating of four attacks in Diyala Province yesterday that left at least 25 people dead and close to 60 wounded. The bomber who struck the provincial capital was wearing a vest padded with powerful explosives and laced with small projectiles. The magnitude of the blast points to an increased sophistication of the bomb design, which witnesses described as unusually strong.
• Weather Slows Typhoon Rescue: Rescue efforts in the capsized ferry accident in the Philippines yesterday were hampered by heavy wind and rains, leading hundreds of ferry passengers, including as many as 45 children, to be feared dead after the devastating typhoon. Rescuers found only a few survivors. The Red Cross reported that at least 137 people had been killed in the typhoon, not including six confirmed dead from the sinking of the ferry, which had been carrying more than 700 passengers and crew members when it went down on Saturday.

A group of impoverished Filipino citizens have filed a lawsuit in an attempt to gain access to condoms, the pill, and other forms of contraception. The plaintiffs argue that the denial of affordable contraception has resulted in unwanted pregnancies and harmful health effects.

In February 2000, Manila's mayor issued an executive order, branding contraception harmful to Filipino values. Health officials interpreted the order as a prohibition. As a result, previously free condoms and pills disappeared from clinics. Hospitals have since been denying sterilization procedures as well. Any contraception that is available is prohibitively expensive.

The Philippines has no official national policy regarding contraception in the 80 percent Catholic country. But even the president endorses the Church's views that artificial contraception should not be used. In addition, abortion is illegal and efforts to legislate guaranteed funding of AIDS prevention or family planning services have been blocked. It's certainly eye-opening to think about the reproductive rights so many of us take for granted.
Source

Dear Sugar--

I just migrated from the Philippines and I'm homesick all the time. I just graduated from college last March, finishing a Bachelors Degree in Nursing. As the days go by, I feel that I'm kinda lost in some ways, knowing that my friends back home are enjoying a more laid back life (that's how Filipinos are, sometimes).

Right now, I am enrolled at a review center near my apartment and because of that I need to spend most of my time studying. I know that I have to try to like it here but I just have so many ups and downs. I just want to fit in more but I don't know how. Help!

--Missing Home Marielle

To see DEARSUGAR's answer read more

Sure, we've considered how people in countries without widespread electricity and Internet access charge up and get online, but what are other wired nations doing to stay charged? In most of the US you have to fend for yourself. Apparently, not so in the Philippines. Smart PDA website captured this image of a cell phone charging station at a Burger King in the Philippines and used the picture to prove Nokia's dominance in the local market. It's a point I totally get (I mean, there are three Nokia ports on the charger station), but what about the fact that this is a cell phone–charging station in a fast-food restaurant? I've seen charging stations in airports, but not in restaurants. Have you seen one in a fast-food joint before? If so, when and where? I'm flabbergasted.

Source