by Hazel Smith
Dr. Hazel Smith (Hazel.Smith@warwick.ac.uk) is Professor of International Relations at the University of Warwick, UK. She spent nearly two years living in North Korea while working for the UN’s World Food Programme and UNICEF. Currently a Visiting Fellow at the East-West Center in Hawaii, her recent books on North Korea include Hungry [...]

Bangkok/Brussels, 28 August 2008: Despite its political woes, Thailand’s embattled government needs to give more attention to tackling the bloody insurgency in the Muslim-dominated Deep South.
Thailand: Political Turmoil and the Southern Insurgency,* the latest policy briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines recent political developments in Bangkok and their implications for the conflict in the [...]

Health advocates led by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
Alliance Philippines (FCAP) hailed as victory for the health sector
the pull-out of a tobacco company from the much-awaited Eraserheads
reunion concert this weekend.
Amidst this, FCAP lauded the Department of Health for standing firm in
its position against the involvement of Philip Morris Phils.
Manufacturing Inc. (PMPMI) in the concert.
[...]

Bangsamoro Youth Leaders Forum
Press Statement
August 19, 2008
MORO YOUTH LEADERS PUSH FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
The Philippine government is once more trying to dupe the Bangsamoro people in its persistent desire to suppress the Moro’s inherent and legitimate right to govern themselves in accordance with the prescriptions of the Holy Qur’an. Still not contented with giving us [...]

Responsibility for the escalating armed conflict in Mindanao should be laid squarely on the US-backed Arroyo regime. Through its self-serving and deceitful maneuvers, the Arroyo regime has severely damaged the peace process, provoked armed confrontation, and allowed escalating foreign intervention in the country’s internal affairs including armed conflicts.

The “GMO-free rice restaurants” campaign, launched Wednesday at Fish and Co. restaurant in Ortigas Center, aims to gather the commitment of restaurants around the country to serve only GMO-free rice.

Reporters Without Borders called today for more police to investigate the killings of five journalists in the Philippines this year, including the latest victim, former radio presenter Rolando Anjo Julia, in the central province of Camarines Sur.
“Until the motives for these crimes have been discovered and their authors punished, people will continue to doubt the [...]

August 7, 2008

Undersecretary Zenaida Cuison Maglaya
Department of Trade and Industry
Inter-Agency Committee-Tobacco
Makati City
Dear Madame,
Re: An Urgent Call for the IAC-T to Take Appropriate Legal and Enforcement Action regarding Philip Morris’ Sponsorship of the Eraserheads Reunion Concert Set on August 30, 2008, in violation of Sec. 26, RA [...]

“Once again, Philip Morris International has been caught engaging in cigarette marketing that appeals to children in a developing country and that would not be tolerated in the United States and other wealthier nations,” says Matthew L. Myers, president of the US-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Richard Legaspi’s “Ambulancia” and Seymour Barros Sanchez’s “Shorts” were selected for screening in the Bite the Mango Film Festival which will run from September 19 to 25 at the National Media Museum in Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
As part of the official selection, both short films are eligible for the Golden Mango Award which [...]

Olympics Open on Bloody Anniversary
(New York, August 7, 2008) – Twenty years after the uprising in Burma, the military government continues to sharply restrict fundamental rights and violently suppress dissent, Human Rights Watch said today. The anniversary falls as the Olympic Games open in Beijing, while the Chinese government gives crucial support to Burma’s repressive [...]

The murder in broad daylight of Capiz broadcaster Martin Roxas on Thursday, August 7, mocks government’s claims that it has brought down the incidence of extrajudicial killings, particularly the murder of journalists.
Roxas, 32, is the fourth journalist murdered this year and the 59th since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power in 2001.
The brazenness with which [...]

New York, August 7, 2008—Motorcycle-riding gunmen killed radio commentator Martin Roxas today in the second brutal shooting of a broadcaster in the Philippines this week, according to local and international news reports.
Two men shot Roxas in the back as he drove his motorcycle from DYVR station in Roxas City, on the country’s central Panay island, [...]

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – A radio broadcaster was killed on 7 August 2008 by a gunman riding pillion on a motorcycle in Roxas City, Capiz. Capiz is approximately 411 kms southeast of Manila.
Martin Roxas, program director of dyKR-Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) in Roxas, was shot in the nape. Roxas was himself on a motorcycle. He was pronounced [...]

“Ka Tanny’s name became synonymous with freedom, justice and democracy as he stood at the forefront of the struggle against widespread poverty and inequality, corruption and tyranny…. Present-day politicians should emulate the brilliant example of Ka Tanny and his brand of nationalism and tireless engagement in the people’s anti-fascist and anti-imperialist struggle.”

“Ambulancia,” a short film written, directed, and produced by Richard Legaspi, will compete and have its German premiere at the 32nd Open-Air Film Festival Weiterstadt, which will take place from August 14 to 18 on the arcadian site of the Braunshardter Taennchen.

Radio Mindanao Network talk show host Dennis Cuesta is in a coma after being shot five times at close range Tuesday while walking in a shopping mall in General Santos City.

Tobacco control advocates are asking the Filipino band Eraserheads to be good role models for the youth and reject the sponsorship by a cigarette manufacturer of its much-awaited reunion concert on Aug. 30 in Manila.