Influential pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the self-proclaimed “owner of the universe” and “appointed son of god” who was wanted in the US for child sex trafficking, was arrested in the Philippines on Sunday.

Over 2,000 police were deployed for more than two weeks to search a 74-acre compound in the southern city of Davao owned by his church – the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) – on suspicion that he was hiding there in a bunker.

Quiboloy’s followers had blocked the gate of the compound to prevent shield-carrying police from enforcing a court order to arrest him. Police also used helicopters to circle over a cathedral, a college, and a stadium with 75,000 seats.

Days before Quiboloy’s arrest, the police reportedly recorded the warmth and heartbeat of a human body, deep in the earth, using thermal imaging and radar technology.

Apollo Quiboloy Is Accused Of Sex Crimes

Apollo Quiboloy, a longtime friend of former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, is wanted on charges of child and sexual abuse and related allegations of human trafficking. He also figures on the FBI’s “most wanted” list on charges of sex trafficking.

Quiboloy was charged by the US Justice Department in 2021 with sex trafficking of girls and women between the ages of 12 and 25 to work as personal assistants, or “pastorals”, who were allegedly required to have sex with him.

He is also sought by authorities for bulk cash smuggling and a scheme that brought church members to the United States using fraudulently obtained visas. They were then forced to solicit donations for a bogus charity, raising funds that were instead used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders.

The evangelist preacher, who is followed by millions of people in the Philippines, has denied wrongdoing.

(With agency inputs)

A disturbing finding has surfaced following Typhoon Gaemi, which was one of the most destructive storms to hit Southeast Asia in recent times. The Philippines was devastated by the strong typhoon that struck in July, leaving behind extensive damage. The storm’s rage left a path of destruction, with tens of thousands being evacuated and many dozen reported dead.

According to The Metro, in the middle of the mayhem, Ashley Fruono, PETA Asia’s director of animal assistance programs, discovered a terrible scene: dogs who had been abandoned and were either held in cages or fastened to lampposts outside the wrecked homes of their owners. These creatures were abandoned and allowed to weather the storm on their own, even in spite of the dire circumstances and the pressing necessity for evacuation.

“I’ll never forget seeing the decomposing bodies of dogs in cages or attached to their chains with a look of horror on their faces. They were subjected to an almost unimaginably horrific death-that was completely preventable,” Ashley told The Metro.

The news portal further reported, citing a report from the worldwide kennel club registry, the Federation Cynologique Internationale, that animal abuse has long been a major concern for animal rights activists in the Philippines, which is home to some 23.29 million dogs. Around 12,000,000 people own a dog. Yet there were at least 3,000 cases of animal maltreatment in 2020 alone, the Philippine animal welfare non-profit, Compassion and Responsibility for Animals (CARA), found.

A resident in Marikina City, Philippines, posted a video on Wednesday showing a dog struggling to reach a safer area through the floodwaters caused by Super Typhoon Gaemi (CarinaPH) pic.twitter.com/fsUEE63JLh

— Volcaholic (@volcaholic1) July 24, 2024

“Cruelty to animals is a huge concern in the Philippines,” Ashley, 38, who is from British Columbia, Canada, but has lived in the Philippines for 17 years, said.

“While we’ve noticed that, thanks to increased social media use, locals are more aware of animal welfare concerns and more caring than a decade or so ago, the problem is still huge, especially in impoverished areas where it may be more difficult to keep dogs inside due to crowded living conditions,” Ashley said.

An asteroid lights up the night sky as it burns up in the atmosphere, as seen from Ballesteros, Philippines, September 5, 2024, in this still image obtained from social media video
| Photo Credit: Via Reuters

A small asteroid discovered on Wednesday (September 4, 2024) harmlessly burned up in Earth’s atmosphere the same day, NASA said.

The asteroid — about 3 feet (1 meter) across — was spotted by astronomers in Arizona and broke apart over the coast of the Philippines hours after the discovery.

This space rock, dubbed 2024 RW1, is only the ninth to have been spotted before its impact. Asteroids around this size hurtle toward Earth about every two weeks without posing any danger.

The asteroid was discovered through the Catalina Sky Survey, which is run by the University of Arizona and funded by NASA.

In this image taken from handout video provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a Chinese Coast Guard ship with bow number 5205, right, collides with Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua near the Sabina Shoal at the disputed South China Sea on August 31, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

China accused a Philippines coast guard ship of deliberately colliding with a Chinese vessel Saturday (August 31, 2024) in the latest flareup of tensions over disputed waters and maritime features in the South China Sea.

In a statement posted on social media, Chinese coast guard spokesperson Liu Dejun was quoted as saying that the Philippine ship with hull number 9701 collided with the Chinese ship 5205 just after 12:06 p.m. (04:06 GMT) Saturday.

Also read | China’s Wang Yi warns U.S. official over Philippines support

As the Philippine ship maneuvered, it “deliberately collided” with the Chinese coast guard ship “in an unprofessional and dangerous manner, resulting in a collision,” Liu was quoted as saying, adding the standard claim that the Chinese ship was operating within regulations, without giving any details.

China is rapidly expanding its military and has become increasingly assertive in pursuing its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea which is crucial to international trade. The tensions have led to more frequent confrontations, primarily with the Philippines, whose security the U.S. is treaty-bound to ensure. The longtime territorial disputes also involve other claimants including Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

China has rejected a ruling by a U.N.-backed arbitration panel that negated almost all of Beijing’s historically-based claims in the South China Sea.

On Tuesday, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the U.S. military is open to consultations about escorting Philippine ships in the disputed waters amid the spike in hostilities. Adm. Samuel Paparo’s remarks provided a glimpse of the mindset of one of the highest American military commanders outside the U.S. mainland on a prospective operation that would risk putting U.S. Navy ships in direct collisions with those of China.

Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships regularly clash with Philippine vessels during attempts to resupply Filipino sailors stationed in parts of the South China Sea claimed by both countries. As these clashes grow increasingly hostile, resulting in injuries to Filipino sailors and damage to their ships, the Philippine government has faced questions about invoking the treaty alliance with Washington.

The latest incident came days after Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships collided near Sabina Shoal, a disputed atoll. At least two vessels were reported to be damaged in Monday’s collision but there were no reports of injuries.

Sabina Shoal lies about 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of the Philippine province of Palawan, in the internationally recognized exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.

The atoll is near Second Thomas Shoal, another flashpoint where China has hampered the resupply of Philippine forces. Both countries reached an agreement last month to prevent further confrontations at the shoal.

Also Saturday, Japan lodged a formal protest via China’s embassy against what it called an incursion by a Chinese survey ship into its territorial waters, the latest incident fueling unease among Japanese defense officials, already concerned about the growing military cooperation between the Chinese and Russian air forces.

On Monday, Tokyo also protested a Chinese military aircraft briefly entering Japan’s southwestern airspace. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Tuesday his country had “no intention” to violate any country’s airspace.

This screengrab from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) handout video taken on August 19, 2024, and received on August 24, 2024, shows a Chinese air force fighter jet deploying flares near a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane that was conducting a maritime domain awareness flight near China-controlled Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Philippines accused China on Saturday (August 24, 2024) of recently firing flares at one of its aircraft as it patrolled over the South China Sea.

Beijing claims most of the strategic waterway and has been involved in tense maritime confrontations with Manila in recent months, sparking fears of armed conflict that could draw in the United States, a Filipino military ally.

A Chinese fighter jet “engaged in irresponsible and dangerous manoeuvres” on August 19 as the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane flew near Scarborough Shoal, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said.

The unprovoked Chinese “harassment” included “deploying flares multiple times at a dangerously close distance of approximately 15 metres from the BFAR Grand Caravan aircraft”, the task force added in a statement accompanied by video clips of the incident.

Flares were also launched near the same plane from the China-held Subi Reef on August 22 as the patrol craft was “monitoring and intercepting poachers encroaching upon the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone and the territorial seas”, it added.

Flares are usually employed by military aircraft as decoys to protect them from missiles, but also for illumination.

The statement said the Chinese actions “demonstrated hazardous intent that jeopardised the safety of the personnel onboard” the Filipino plane.

In a post on X, U.S. Ambassador to Manila MaryKay Carlson said her country “stands firmly with the (Philippines) in condemning the PRC (People’s Republic of China) for launching flares at (Philippine) aircraft operating legally near Scarborough and Subi Reefs”.

The two countries “call on the PRC to cease provocative and dangerous actions that undermine a #FreeAndOpenIndoPacific”.

Sabina Shoal collision

China’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that two Philippine military aircraft flew into its airspace over Subi Reef, which Manila also claims, on August 22.

The Chinese side undertook “necessary countermeasures in accordance with the law, in order to protect its own sovereignty and security”, it said in a statement, without specifying the actions that were taken.

The Chinese statement did not mention any August 19 incident in the airspace of Scarborough, which China seized from the Philippines at the end of a 2012 standoff.

The latest Scarborough incident occurred hours after Philippine and Chinese coast guard vessels collided near Sabina Shoal, with the Filipino side reporting structural damage on both of its patrol ships.

Sabina is located 140 km west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200 km from Hainan island, the nearest Chinese landmass.

The Philippines had earlier accused the Chinese air force of making a “dangerous manoeuvre” and dropping flares in the path of a Filipino plane that was patrolling over Scarborough on August 10.

In June, the Philippine military said one of its sailors lost a thumb in a confrontation off Second Thomas Shoal when the Chinese coast guard, wielding sticks, knives and an axe, also confiscated or destroyed Philippine equipment, including guns.

Beijing has blamed the escalation on Manila and maintains its actions to protect its claims are legal and proportional.

It has continued to press its claims to almost the entire South China Sea despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

Manila on Saturday urged Beijing to “immediately cease all provocative and dangerous actions that threaten the safety of Philippine vessels and aircraft”.

“Such actions undermine regional peace and security, and further erode the image of the PRC with the international community,” its statement said.

MANILA:

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Sunday condemned Chinese air force actions in waters of the South China Sea claimed by both countries, calling the actions “unjustified, illegal and reckless”.

Manila and Beijing accused each other on Saturday of disrupting their militaries’ operations around the Scarborough Shoal in the first incident since Marcos took office in 2022 in which the Philippines has complained of dangerous actions by Chinese aircraft, as opposed to navy or coast guard vessels.

The Philippine military on Saturday condemned “dangerous and provocative actions” when two Chinese aircraft dropped flares in the path of a Philippine aircraft during a routine patrol around the shoal on Thursday.

The Chinese military’s Southern Theatre Command countered that the Philippines had disrupted its training, accusing Manila of “illegally intruding” into Chinese airspace.

On Sunday, Marcos urged China to act responsibly both in the seas and in the skies.

“We have hardly started to calm the waters, and it is already worrying that there could be instability in our airspace,” Marcos said in a statement posted by the Presidential Communications Office on the social media platform X.

The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

The Scarborough Shoal is one of Asia’s most contested maritime features and a flashpoint for flare-ups over sovereignty and fishing rights.

Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

China rejects a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that Beijing’s expansive claims had no basis under international law.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

“We sternly warn the Philippines to immediately stop its infringement, provocation, distortion and hype,” Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army statement said. File
| Photo Credit: AP

The Philippine military on Saturday accused China’s air force of “dangerous and provocative actions” against one of its planes patrolling over a disputed South China Sea reef.

Two China air force aircraft “executed a dangerous manoeuvre at around 9:00 a.m. and dropped flares in the path of our NC-212i,” armed forces chief General Romeo Brawner said in a statement, recounting the alleged incident on Thursday “over” Scarborough Shoal.

He said the Chinese action “endangered the lives of our personnel undertaking maritime security operations,” adding that the pilot and crew were unharmed and “safely returned” to a northern Philippines air base.

China defended its operations on Saturday, saying it had “organised naval and air forces to lawfully… (drive) away” the Philippine plane, following “repeated warnings”, according to a statement by the Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army.

The statement did not say what specific actions China took, describing its operations as “professional, standard, legitimate and legal”.

“We sternly warn the Philippines to immediately stop its infringement, provocation, distortion and hype,” the statement said, adding that “China has indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Island (Scarborough Shoal) and adjacent waters”.

The incident is the latest in an increasingly tense confrontation between Manila and Beijing, which claims most of the South China Sea and seized the shoal after a 2012 standoff with the Philippines.

In June, the Philippine military said one of its sailors lost a thumb in a confrontation off Second Thomas Shoal, in another area of the South China Sea, when the Chinese coastguard also confiscated or destroyed Philippine equipment including guns.

Beijing has blamed the escalation on Manila and maintains its actions to protect its claims are legal and proportional.

Following the Second Thomas Shoal clash, the two countries agreed on a “provisional arrangement” for resupplying Filipino troops based on a decrepit warship grounded atop the reef, and also to increase the number of communication lines to resolve disputes in the waterway.

The Chinese air force action Thursday took place a day after China carried out a combat patrol near the flashpoint reef to test the “strike capabilities” of its troops.

‘Provocative actions’

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims of several Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, and an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

Scarborough Shoal, a triangular chain of reefs and rocks, is 240 kilometres (150 miles) west of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon and nearly 900 kilometres from the nearest major Chinese land mass of Hainan.

Brawner said the Philippine military “strongly condemns the dangerous and provocative actions of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force that endangered the lives of our personnel undertaking maritime security operations recently within Philippine maritime zones”.

“The incident posed a threat to Philippine Air Force aircraft and its crew, interfered with lawful flight operations in airspace within Philippine sovereignty and jurisdiction, and contravened international law and regulations governing safety of aviation,” he added.

A Philippine military spokesman told AFP the Chinese aircraft involved in the incident were “MRF”, an abbreviation for multi-role fighter jets.

The Indonesia-built NC-212i is a multi-role turboprop plane designed for maritime surveillance, troop transport, medical evacuation and “special mission”, according to the manufacturer’s website.

Singapore:

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.

Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year’s most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227 kph (141 mph). On China’s eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.

Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.

Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world’s land area had seen a rise in “precipitation variability” or wider swings between wet and dry weather.

Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.

“(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods,” said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study.

“This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods.”

FEWER, BUT MORE INTENSE, STORMS

Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behaviour of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful.

“I believe higher water vapour in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena,” Sherwood told Reuters.

Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years.

While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan’s Nagoya University.

“In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favourable condition for tropical cyclone development,” she said.

In its “blue paper” on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.

Taiwan also said in its climate change report published in May that climate change was likely to reduce the overall number of typhoons in the region while making each one more intense.

The decrease in the number of typhoons is due to the uneven pattern of ocean warming, with temperatures rising faster in the western Pacific than the east, said Feng Xiangbo, a tropical cyclone research scientist at the University of Reading.

Water vapour capacity in the lower atmosphere is expected to rise by 7% for each 1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures, with tropical cyclone rainfall in the United States surging by as much as 40% for each single degree rise, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
| Photo Credit: AP

The Philippines “cannot yield” in territorial disputes, President Ferdinand Marcos said on Monday, after a series of escalating confrontations with Beijing in the South China Sea.

Manila is locked in a longstanding territorial row with Beijing over parts of the strategic waterway through which trillions of dollars worth of trade passes annually.

Without naming China, Mr. Marcos said the Philippines would continue to “find ways to de-escalate tensions in contested areas… without compromising our position and our principles”. “The Philippines cannot yield. The Philippines cannot waver,” Mr. Marcos said in his annual State of the Nation adddress to Congress.

His remarks came after the Philippines and China agreed to a “provisional arrangement” for resupply missions to Filipino troops stationed at Second Thomas Shoal, which has been the focus of violent clashes in recent months.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea. 

Ties with China

Philippine relations with China have been turbulent since Mr. Marcos took office in 2022 vowing to defend his country’s claims to the South China Sea.

A series of clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels at flashpoint reefs have fuelled fears of a conflict that could drag in the U.S. owing to its mutual defence treaty with Manila.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. looks on as he meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at Malacanang Palace in Manila, Philippines, March 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Philippines has been chosen to host the board of the “Loss and Damage” fund created by U.N. talks, marking another step towards providing financial help for countries to recover and rebuild from the impact of global warming.

Last month, the World Bank’s board approved a plan for the bank to act as interim host of the fund for four years.

Some countries, however, voiced concern that allowing the World Bank to host would give donors, including the United States that appoints the World Bank’s president, too much influence.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr announced his country’s election from a pool of seven contenders in a post on X on Tuesday.

Hosting the board, Marcos said, “reinforces our dedication to inclusivity and our leadership role in ensuring that the voices of those most affected by climate change shape the future of international climate policies”.

The Philippines must enact legislation before it can become host and Marcos did not say when it would take on its role.

An archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, the Philippines, which also has a seat on the fund’s board, is frequently hit by typhoons and other climate-change induced disasters.

As host, Manila could focus attention on the Asia-Pacific region, where many countries struggle with limited resources, hindering their ability to respond to the effects of climate change.

Who pays for loss and damage has been among the most intractable issues at U.N. climate talks, as developed countries blamed for producing the most emissions historically have been nervous about how much of the bill for redressing damage they might face.

COP27 in Egypt in 2022 however managed to establish a U.N. “loss and damage” fund dedicated to addressing irreparable climate-driven damage from drought, floods and rising sea levels, but did not decide on detail.

Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), said it was up to the Philippines to demonstrate political leadership.

They should demand developed countries “fulfil their historical, legal, and moral obligation to provide reparations for climate devastation,” Nacpil said in a statement.