Packed Quezon City Jail in the Philippines

Over 130 inmates shares the same toilet in one of the Philippines’ most overcrowded jails, and conditions are getting worse as police wage an unprecedented war on crime.

Security forces have killed hundreds of people and detained thousands more in just one month as they have followed the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte, who has said the top priority at the start of his six-year term is to eliminate drugs in society.

Those detained appear doomed for lengthy stints in an underfunded and overwhelmed penal system, like in the Quezon City Jail where Dimaculangan has wallowed for 14 years while his trial over murder and robbery charges has dragged on.

“Many go crazy. They cannot think straight. It’s so crowded. Just the slightest of movements and you bump into something or someone,” Dimaculangan told AFP in one of the jail’s packed hallways, which reeked of sweat.

There are 3,800 inmates at the jail, which was built six decades ago to house 800, and they engage in a relentless contest for space.

Men take turns to sleep on the cracked cement floor of an open-air basketball court, the steps of staircases, underneath beds and hammocks made out of old blankets. Even then, bodies are packed like sardines in a can, with inmates unable to fully stretch out.

When it rains, the conditions are even worse as inmates cannot sleep on the basketball court, which is surrounded by the cells in decaying concrete buildings up to four stories high.

The cash-strapped national government has a daily budget of just 50 pesos ($1.10) for food and five pesos (11 cents) for medicine per inmate, although with the bulk buying of supplies, Quezon City Jail detainees have a sustainable diet of soup, vegetables and meat.

More Photos:

Chinese Swimmer Chen Xinyi Tests Positive at Rio Olympics

 A female Chinese swimmer has tested positive for a banned substance at the Rio Olympics, China’s swimming association said Friday — the first competitor in the sport to fail a test at the games.

The Chinese Swimming Association said Chen Xinyi tested positive for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide after she finished fourth in the women’s 100-meter butterfly Sunday, missing a bronze medal by nine-hundredths of a second. Xinhua, China’s official state news agency, reported the story Friday.

The 18-year-old was also scheduled to compete in the 50 meter freestyle beginning Friday.

Chen has applied to the International Olympic Committee to have her B sample tested and to get a hearing on the matter, Xinhua said, citing the swimming association.

“The CSA has taken this matter seriously and demanded full cooperation from Chen in the investigation,” the association said in the statement quoted by Xinhua.

Chen’s result comes as doping has been a major concern in the Rio Games.

Seven Russian swimmers have been allowed to compete in Rio after initially being banned following allegations of a huge, state-sponsored doping operation in their homeland. That decision has sparked vocal complaints from several swimmers, most notably American Lilly King.

No statement about Chen’s reported test was posted to the website of the Chinese Swimming Association, and calls to its offices rang unanswered on Friday. FINA, the international governing body of swimming, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chen’s teammate Wang Shun declined to comment after he won bronze in Thursday’s 200-meter individual medley.

Thai royal resort town shaken by deadly bomb attacks

An elegant resort town with royal heritage, Hua Hin looked more like a war zone than a tourist hotspot Friday, with bodies in the streets and blood on the pavement after a series of deadly attacks.

Forensics teams in protective gear combed through the wreckage left by coordinated bomb blasts that hit late Thursday and early Friday, killing two people and wounding scores more, including foreigners.

"This sort of thing does not happen here in Hua Hin," said Kevin Mcbeath, an Australian retiree who, like many residents of the upmarket town some 200 kilometres south of Bangkok, was shaken by the fatal attacks.

"(It's a) nice quiet place to retire, a lot of expats here," he told AFP, adding the bombings were "not good at all" for the popular holiday destination.

Both local Thais and foreign tourists usually flock to the peaceful town known for its chic hotels and pristine beaches, with the area busier than usual Thursday ahead of a major holiday weekend.

"I was a bit shocked," said Danish tourist Peter Klinge Kryger, 65, who was on holiday in Hua Hin and woken by the blasts.

"It's my holiday, I don't want to stay in my room everyday," he told AFP, adding he did not plan to let the bombings ruin his one-month trip to Thailand.

German, Italian, Dutch and Austrian nationals were among the wounded, according to staff at local hospitals, after the blasts tore through the popular main strip next to the beach.

The town's many bars and restaurants were shuttered Friday, as investigators behind police crime scene tape picked through the detritus for clues.

Some local residents laid floral tributes to the attacks' victims in a small public garden that was gutted by the blasts.

A street vendor's cart, mangled and twisted from the explosions, lay amid the wreckage, covered in soil from the plant pots where the bombs had been hidden.

Source:yahoonews

At least 2 dead after plane crashes in Virginia

A small plane aborted its landing and crashed into trees Friday at the edge of a northern Virginia airport, killing at least two people, state police said.

Shocked witnesses on a train going by the crash site described the plane in flames and said it had been completely destroyed. Police are still working to confirm how many people were on board the aircraft and where it originated. Authorities have not identified the victims.

The plane came to the end of the runway at the Shannon Airport near Fredericksburg and then pulled back up, flying to the end of the airport property, State Police Spokeswoman Corinne Geller said in an email. It struck the tree line, crashed and immediately caught fire.

Tanya Aquino of Washington was on an Amtrak train to Richmond when the train stopped. A conductor first said there was a fire, then said there had been a plane crash.

The train rode past the crash site and Aquino said she saw flames, smoke, several rescue vehicles and the remains of the plane just beyond the tree line.

Louisiana Flooding: 3 Dead, Thousands Rescued

At least three people have died and over a thousand have been rescued from severe flooding across central and southern Louisiana that has led the governor to declare a state of emergency, officials said.

An elderly man drowned after slipping and falling in high waters amid heavy rain in East Baton Rouge Parish. And in St. Helena Parish, a man died when his pickup truck was swept off a flooded highway and submerged underwater, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said at a news conference today. A woman was also recovered from the Tickfaw River earlier today, according to Michael Martin, chief of operations for the St. Helena Sheriff's Office.

Edwards called the floods "unprecedented" and "historic," according to The Associated Press, which also noted that the governor and his family were forced to leave the governor's mansion when chest-high water filled the basement and electricity was shut off.

Crews are working to rescue another person, though they expect this person may have also died in the disaster, according to St. Helena Parish Sheriff's Office chief of operations Michael Martin.

In St. Helena Parish, about 210 people have been rescued from flooding so far, and three people in the community are believed to be missing, Martin said.

In Livingston Parish, which saw more than 17 inches of rain on Friday alone, officials said over a thousand people have been rescued from flooding so far as of Saturday morning, and they’re working to save another 150 in the Watson area. The Louisiana National Guard is sending a helicopter to assist with rescues in the drenched community.

In East Baton Rouge Parish, officials said more than 200 people have been rescued from flooding and 42 roads have been closed. The parish seat, Baton Rouge, had over 8 inches of rain on Friday, its wettest day on record.

The flooding this week also closed many schools in the Baton Rouge area, including Louisiana State University.

Uzamere Dumped PDP For APC

I resigned from PDP since March 2016 and decided to face my business and take care of my family. I did not say I have left politics. All I said was that I was resigning from the PDP. Now that the same leaders who assisted me to run for Senate came to me to say I should come back home, I have no choice than to agree, and today I am a full fledged APC member. I monitored the primaries of the two political parties, I saw the way they were conducted. I saw Obaseki emerged and he deserves it. He may not be a politician but he is a man that has all it takes to move Edo to the next level after Governor Oshiomhole. Power belongs to God. The primaries have come and gone. I urge all APC members to work together to ensure that Obaseki wins at the polls.

 I have known Obaseki for a long time. We were born in the same neighbourhood and we have had contact on several occasions and I have seen his commitment to the welfare of the people of Edo. He is very intelligent, hard working and I know he will win the election so as to take the state to the next level. PDP does not have what it takes to win this state in the next election. Politics is based on issues and you can see what Oshiomhole has done in Edo. Apart from the fact that Oshiomhole has done well, the PDP today is in tatters. 

As things are now, we don’t know who will be the candidate of the PDP in the election in the state. I saw it coming when I resigned from the PDP three months ago and I have been proved right. The PDP has two National Chairmen, two governorship candidates. So how do I convince my people to vote for a party enmeshed in crisis? 

No regret I have no regret leaving the party. From the way things are now, they might not have a candidate. We have Ize-Iyamu and Matthew Iduoriyekemwen as two candidates for the election in one party. And i don’t even see Ize-Iyamu beating Obaseki. Obaseki has an edge. We all know ourselves and even Ize-Iyamu in his closet knows that in this election he stands no chance. But whoever wants to continue to deceive himself should go on.

 I think I am too experienced in politics to be fooled by anyone. So I want to encourage our people to vote enmasse for APC so that we will remain in the mainstream of the nation’s politics. Again, the National Chairman of the APC is a Benin man, so we need to rally round him so he can succeed because we are proud to have him as the National Chairman of a ruling party. You are known to have fought the cause of the Binis all these yea

PDP Convention: Northern leaders set up screening committee

Northern Leaders Forum of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has constituted a 16-member committee to organise a selection process for aspirants from the northern states vying for national offices in the party. Convener of the forum, Prof. Jerry Gana, made this known to newsmen at the end of a meeting of the group on Saturday in Abuja. 

The meeting, according to him, was in preparation for the party’s national convention scheduled for Aug. 17 in Port-Harcourt, Rivers. Gana said the committee members were drawn from all the northern states and that Sen. Ibrahim Mantu was the chairman. “The mandate given to the committee is to screen all the aspirants from the northern states and ensure that credible persons are presented at the convention.