Coronavirus the worst global crisis since WWII, says UN chief

UNITED NATIONS, United States - The coronavirus pandemic is the worst global crisis since World War II, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday, expressing concern that it could trigger conflicts around the world.

Guterres said that the scale of the crisis was due to "a disease that represents a threat to everybody in the world and... an economic impact that will bring a recession that probably has no parallel in the recent past."

"The combination of the two facts and the risk that it contributes to enhanced instability, enhanced unrest, and enhanced conflict are things that make us believe that this is the most challenging crisis we have faced since the Second World War," he told reporters.

The New York-based United Nations was founded at the end of the war in 1945 and has 193 member states.

"A stronger and more effective response... is only possible in solidarity if everybody comes together and if we forget political games and understand that it is humankind that is at stake," Guterres added.

More than 40,000 people have been killed so far as the disease spreads across the world, and causes economic devastation.

"We are far from having a global package to help the developing world to create the conditions both to suppress the disease and to address the dramatic consequences," Guterres warned, pointing to unemployment, the collapse of small firms and vulnerable people in the informal economy.

"We are slowly moving in the right direction, but we need to speed up, and we need to do much more if we want to defeat the virus."

The UN on Tuesday created a new fund to help developing countries after last week appealing for donations for poor and conflict-hit nations.

Beyond traditional aid from rich countries "we need to have innovative financial instruments," so that developing nations are able to respond to the crisis, Guterres said.

He warned that the coronavirus outbreak could return from poorer countries, especially in Africa, to hit wealthy countries again, and that millions could die.

Agence France-Presse

Vintage B-17 bomber makes fiery fatal landing in Connecticut

A World War Two-era B-17 bomber trying to make an emergency landing at an airport near Hartford, Connecticut, crashed and burned, killing an undetermined number of people and closing the airport for several hours, authorities said.

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress returned to Bradley International Airport within 10 minutes of takeoff after reporting "some type of problem," but lost control on the runway and struck a maintenance facility and tanks of de-icing fluid, Connecticut Airport Authority Executive Director Kevin Dillon told a news conference.

Rescue crews from numerous emergency response agencies raced to the fiery scene where a plume of thick, black smoke billowed skyward after the crash at the end of the runway shortly before 10 a.m. EDT (10 p.m. Wednesday in Manila).

Officials said the crash of the civilian-registered 4-engine plane killed some of the 10 passengers and 3 crew members aboard, but they declined to say how many, pending identification of the bodies pulled from the smoldering wreckage.

"The victims are very difficult to identify," said Commissioner James Rovella of the state Department of Emergency Service and Public Protection. "We don't want to make a mistake."

A maintenance worker on the ground was also involved in the crash, officials said.

The Hartford Courant newspaper, citing unidentified sources, reported that at least 5 people were killed and 9 were injured.

The airport, located in the town of Windsor Locks, was closed for about 3-1/2 hours after the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to investigate.

US Senator Richard Blumenthal said investigators would very carefully examine the potential causes of the crash of the vintage plane, 1 of only 18 B-17 aircraft in the country.

"There's a real need for scrutiny and oversight if these planes are going to continue flying," the Connecticut Democrat told the news conference.

Bradley Airport said the plane was operated by the Massachusetts-based Collings Foundation, which is dedicated to the preservation and public display of automotive and aviation-related history, according to its website.

The foundation issued a statement immediately after the crash thanking the airport's first responders for their efforts.

"The Collings Foundation flight team is fully cooperating with officials to determine the cause of the crash of the B-17 Flying Fortress and will comment further when details become known," it said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Trump nixes program that allows Pinoy vets to bring families to US

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said Friday the Trump administration is ending the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) program, which allows veterans to bring family members to the US before their green cards are available.

"Under these categorical parole programs, individuals have been able to skip the line and bypass the proper channels established by Congress. With the termination of these programs, these individuals will no longer be permitted to wait in the United States for their family-based green card to become available, consistent with the rules that apply to the rest of the world,” USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli said in a statement.

The (FWVP) program, which took effect in June 2016, allows certain Filipino-American family members awaiting immigrant visa issuance to come to the US and be with their loved ones.

Lawyer Lou Tancinco, president of Bayanihan Equity Center, said the termination of the program is an injustice to the aging Filipino veterans.

"This is a compounding injustice to our aging Filipino veterans and families. This FWVP program is a critical need to our veterans and their spouses. We should as a community do our best to advocate against its termination," she said.

Advocates have lobbied for the program as most veterans are in the twilight of their lives and need the immediate care of their children.

The US Embassy in Manila said in 2016 that there are an estimated 2,000 to 6,000 Filipino-American World War II veterans living in the US.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Hitler's 'destructive' wartime phone up for auction

WASHINGTON, United States - Adolf Hitler's personal telephone, which the Fuehrer used to dictate many of his deadly World War II commands, will hit the auction block this weekend, the US house selling it announced.

Originally a black Bakelite phone that was later painted crimson and engraved with Hitler's name, the relic was found in the Nazi leader's Berlin bunker in 1945 following the regime's defeat.

Auction house Alexander Historical Auctions estimates its worth between $200,000 and $300,000.

On Sunday, the company, located in the eastern US coastal state of Maryland, will auction off more than a thousand items -- including the Siemens rotary telephone embossed with a swastika and the eagle symbolic of the Third Reich.

Alexander House dubbed the phone -- which Hitler received from the Wehrmacht, Nazi Germany's armed forces -- as "arguably the most destructive 'weapon' of all time, which sent millions to their deaths."

It said Hitler used it to give most of his orders during the last two years of World War II.

Russian officers gifted the device to British Brigadier Sir Ralph Rayner during a tour of the bunker shortly after Germany's surrender.

Rayner's son inherited the phone and is selling it, its paint now peeling to reveal its original synthetic black resin surface.

Andreas Kornfeld of Alexander House told AFP estimates are set based on a number of factors, including "rarity and uniqueness," with the expectation that sale prices will exceed opening bids.

"It would be impossible to find a more impactful relic than the primary tool used by the most evil man in history," the auction house said in a statement. "This was not a staid office telephone."

"This was Hitler's mobile device of destruction."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US warns China over Bashir trip

WASHINGTON - The United States expressed concern Monday that Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir plans to visit China, despite his International Criminal Court indictment for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

The Sudanese foreign ministry said Sunday that Bashir would travel to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and attend September 3 celebrations marking Japan's defeat in World War II.

Speaking in Washington, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters the United States continues to believe Bashir should not be welcome to travel until he faces justice.

"As you know, he's been charged by the ICC -- the International Criminal Court -- with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide," he said.

"Warrants for his arrest remain outstanding and we strongly support the ICC's efforts to hold accountable those responsible for those acts," Toner added.

"We oppose invitations, facilitation or support for travel by persons subject to outstanding ICC warrants."

The International Criminal Court indicted Bashir over war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2009 and on genocide charges in 2010, all relating to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

He has since regularly travelled to Sudan's neighbors but rarely makes long-distance trips that could see him exposed to possible arrest.

He last travelled to China, which has significant interests in Sudan's oil sector and supports his government, in 2011.

China and the United States are not signatories to the ICC but both are permanent members of the UN Security Council, which referred the Darfur case to the court.

The Darfur conflict erupted in 2003 when ethnic insurgents rebelled against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government, complaining of marginalization.

It has left 300,000 dead and some 2.5 million displaced, according to UN figures, and Bashir's forces have been accused of large-scale atrocities against civilians.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Nagasaki marks 70th anniversary of atomic bombing

TOKYO -- Japan on Sunday marked the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki that claimed more than 74,000 lives almost instantly, in one of the final chapters of World War II.

Bells tolled and tens of thousands of people, including ageing survivors and the relatives of victims, observed a minute's silence at 11:02 a.m., the exact moment the blast devastated the port city on August 9, 1945.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid a wreath of flowers, with representatives from 75 countries, including US ambassador Caroline Kennedy, attending the ceremony.

"As the only country attacked with an atomic bomb in war, I am renewing our determination to lead the global effort of nuclear disarmament, to create a world without such weapons," Abe said in his speech.

Abe also said the country would continue to abide by its long-held non-nuclear principles: not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on Japanese territory.

He was criticised for failing to mention the three principles at a ceremony days earlier in Hiroshima, alarming atomic bomb survivors, particularly at a time when the nationalist leader is trying to push through legislation to expand the role of the military.

Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue appeared to implicitly criticize the bills in a speech at the ceremony.

"Worries and anxieties are now spreading among us that this pledge made 70 years ago and the principle for peace in the Japanese constitution may be now undermined," he said to loud applause.

Abe has faced criticism and opposition for his efforts to boost the role of his pacifist country's Self-Defense Forces, changes that open the door to putting troops into combat for the first time since the war.

A constitution imposed by US occupiers after the war prevented Japan's military from engaging in combat except in self defense.

'Fat Man'
In the now bustling port city of Nagasaki, about 74,000 people died in the initial blast near a major arms factory from a plutonium bomb dubbed "Fat Man," or from after-effects in the months and years following the bombing.

The attack on Nagasaki came three days after American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped a bomb, dubbed "Little Boy," on Hiroshima, the first atomic bombing in history.

Nearly everything around it was incinerated by a wall of heat up to 4,000 degrees Celsius -- hot enough to melt steel.

About 140,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the Hiroshima attack, including those who survived the bombing itself but later died from radiation sickness.

Gums bled, teeth fell out, hair came off in clumps; there were cancers, premature births, malformed babies and sudden deaths.

The twin bombings dealt the final blows to imperial Japan, which surrendered on August 15, 1945, bringing an end to World War II.

While some historians say that they prevented many more casualties in a planned land invasion, critics counter that the attacks were not necessary to end the war, arguing that Japan was already heading for imminent defeat.

At memorial ceremonies in Hiroshima on Thursday, Abe said Japan would submit a fresh resolution to abolish nuclear weapons at the UN General Assembly this year.

"We have been tasked with conveying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, across generations and borders," he told the crowd.

This year's memorials come days ahead of the scheduled restart of a nuclear reactor in southern Japan -- the first one to go back on line after a two-year hiatus following the tsunami-sparked disaster at Fukushima in 2011.

While Abe has pushed to switch reactors back on, public opposition remains high after the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Korean 'comfort women' invited to Pope Francis' mass in Seoul

SEOUL - Korean women forced into sex slavery for Japanese troops during World War II have been invited to a mass to be celebrated by Pope Francis in Seoul in August, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The invitation comes at a time when relations between Japan and South Korea are a low ebb over Tokyo's recent allegations that there was no evidence to corroborate the testimony of so-called "comfort women" who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels.

"We've invited the victims to the mass for peace and reconciliation," a spokeswoman for the committee organising the visit, who did not wish to be named, told AFP.

The pope will celebrate mass on August 18 at Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul.

It was not known how many of the women, all of an advanced age, would attend, she said.

The invitation was made soon after the August 14-18 papal visit to South Korea was announced in March.

"We will inform the pope of their participation in the mass," she said.

Pope Francis is expected to deliver a message to the comfort women during the mass but it had not yet been decided whether he would have a chance to talk to them, she added.

South Korea expressed "deep regret" and summoned Japan's ambassador last week to protest at Tokyo's recent review of a landmark 1993 apology for wartime sex slavery.

The review upheld the apology, but angered Seoul by asserting there was no evidence to corroborate the testimony of Korean comfort women that they were forced to serve as sex slaves.

Seoul also rejected the review's finding that Japan's 1993 apology was partly drafted by South Korea.

Around 200,000 women, mainly from Korea but also from China, Taiwan and Indonesia among others, were forced into sexual slavery for imperial troops as Japan stormed across Asia before and during World War II.

While mainstream Japanese opinion holds that the wartime government was culpable, a small but vocal tranche of the political right -- including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- continues to cast doubt, claiming the brothels were staffed by professional prostitutes.

The equivocation is a huge irritation in Tokyo's relations with East Asia, and with South Korea in particular.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Britain pardons gay 'father of computing' Alan Turing

LONDON - Britain on Tuesday granted a posthumous pardon to Alan Turing, the World War II code-breaking hero who committed suicide after he was convicted of the then crime of homosexuality.

Turing is often hailed as a father of modern computing and he played a pivotal role in breaking Germany's "Enigma" code, an effort that some historians say brought an early end to World War II.

He died in 1954 after eating an apple laced with cyanide, two years after he was sentenced to chemical castration for the "gross indecency" of homosexuality. A coroner ruled that Turing committed suicide, though this has since been questioned.

Queen Elizabeth II has now pardoned Turing for "a sentence we would now consider unjust and discriminatory", justice minister Chris Grayling said.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in Britain in 1967.

"A pardon from the queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man," Grayling said.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the code-breaker's work had saved "countless lives".

"Alan Turing was a remarkable man who played a key role in saving this country in World War II by cracking the German Enigma code," Cameron said.

"He also left a remarkable national legacy through his substantial scientific achievements, often being referred to as the father of modern computing."

The Enigma code was used to encrypt communications between German U-boats in the North Atlantic ocean. Turing's efforts to break it were virtually unknown to the public at the time of his death, as his work was kept secret until 1974.

Turing also published pioneering work on early computers, writing in a 1936 paper of a "universal Turing machine".

Having told people he was trying to "build a brain", his theory was the first to consider feeding programmes into a machine as data, allowing a single machine to perform the functions of many -- just like today's computers.

He lost his job at Britain's electronic eavesdropping agency GCHQ after he was convicted and poisoned himself with cyanide at the age of 41.

A GCHQ spokesperson on Tuesday said the agency was "delighted about the pardon".

The pardon is a victory for supporters, including leading scientists such as Britain's Stephen Hawking, who have long campaigned to clear Turing's name.

Britain's prime minister in 2009, Gordon Brown, issued a posthumous apology to the code-breaker, saying he had been treated "terribly".

But the government rejected a call to grant an official pardon last year on the grounds that Turing was properly convicted of what was then a criminal offence.

More than 37,000 people signed an online petition last year calling for a pardon.

Pardons are usually only granted in Britain when the person is innocent of the offence and when it is requested by someone with a vested interest, such as a family member.

Turing's pardon is extremely rare in that it has been granted despite neither of these conditions being met.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

June 6, 1944 - D-Day

Today is the 66th anniversary of D-Day, commonly described as the most complex amphibious assault in history, when 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France.

It is also known as operation Neptune and Operation Overlord during World War II. D-Day is the planning of the actual landing day which came dependent to the final approval.

Millions cried out for freedom. Europe was deprived, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here, in Normandy, the rescue began. Here, the Allies stood and fought against dictatorship, in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history. The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that God would grant them mercy on this beachhead.


There are many websites with good information to tell the tale of that morning of June 6, 1944.