Page 6 - aruba-today-20240723

A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 23 July 2024
Philippine president orders shutdown of Chinese-run online

gambling industry employing thousands.

By JIM GOMEZ ordered the government’s
Associated Press gaming agency to wind
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — down the operations of the
President Ferdinand Marcos so-called Philippine offshore
Jr. on Monday ordered an gaming operators, or PO-
immediate ban on wide- GOs, by yearend, drawing
spread and mostly Chinese- loud applause from legisla-
run online gaming opera- tors and top officials at the
tions in the Philippines, ac- House of Representatives.
cusing them of venturing He asked labor officials to
into crimes, including finan- look for alternative jobs for
cial scams, human traffick- Filipino workers who would
ing, torture, kidnappings be displaced because
and murders. of the shutdown. Setting
His move to ban the Chi- out his vision for the year
nese-run online gambling ahead, Marcos outlined
outfits — estimated to num- moves to address a range
ber more than 400 across of issues, including soaring
the Philippines and employ- costs of food and electric-
ing tens of thousands of Chi- ity, poverty and low wages.
nese and Southeast Asian His administration’s “blood-
nationals— came amid less war” on dangerous
an ongoing government Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his third State of the Nation Address as Senate drugs never aimed at “ex-
crackdown backed by President Francis Escudero, left and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, right, applaud at the House termination,” Marcos said
Beijing. That has led to the of Representatives in Quezon City, Philippines, on Monday, July 22, 2024. Associated Press in an obvious criticism of his
shutdown of several sprawl- predecessor’s brutal anti-
ing complexes with dozens the South China Sea, add- province north of Manila Philippine senators say the drugs crackdown that left
of buildings, where authori- ing that his country would who has failed to appear massive online gambling in- thousands of mostly inno-
ties suspect thousands of only settle disputes through at public hearings where dustry has flourished largely cent suspects killed.
Chinese, Vietnamese and diplomacy. allegations against her due to corruption in regula- The International Criminal
other nationals mostly from The Philippines has a com- were being investigated, tory agencies and payoffs Court has been investigat-
Southeast Asia have been il- plicated relationship with including her alleged links to local officials. ing the widespread drug kill-
legally recruited and forced China, including signifi- to a large online gambling “Disguising as legitimate en- ings under former President
to work in dismal conditions. cant trade engagements complex near her town- tities, their operations have Rodrigo Duterte as a possi-
Marcos announced the and cooperation against hall and suspicions that she ventured into illicit areas fur- ble crime against humanity.
decision during his state-of- crimes. But the neighboring fraudulently hid her Chinese thest from gaming such as Duterte has denied autho-
the-nation address, when Asian countries have also nationality to be able to run financial scamming, money rizing extra-judicial killings.
he also said that the Phil- had longstanding disputes for a public office reserved laundering, prostitution, hu- On Manila’s increasingly
ippines would press efforts in the South China Sea only for Filipinos. man trafficking, kidnap- hostile disputes with Beijing,
to strengthen its defensive which have grown increas- The mayor, Alice Guo, has ping, brutal torture, even Marcos stressed the Philip-
capability by forging secu- ingly hostile since last year. denied any wrongdoing murder,” Marcos said in his pines would not back down
rity alliances with friendly Relatedly, Philippine sena- but has been suspended address. “The grave abuse but would only resort to
countries to counter threats tors ordered the arrest of from her post with her finan- and disrespect to our system peaceful means to resolve
to its territorial interests in a town mayor in Tarlac cial assets ordered frozen. of laws must stop.”Marcos any dispute. q

Cyprus displays once-looted antiquities dating back thousands of years

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — them thousands of years looted them from the ethni- tion of a country’s cultural Iconoclastic period in the
Cyprus on Monday put on old that were returned cally divided island nation heritage as evidenced in 8th and 9th centuries when
display artifacts some of after a Turkish art dealer decades ago. recent conflicts becomes most such works were de-
Aydin Dikmen took the ar- a “deliberate campaign stroyed.
tifacts from the country’s of cultural and religious Cyprus’ authorities and the
breakaway north in the cleansing that aims to elim- country’s Orthodox Church
years after Cyprus’ split in inate identity.” for decades have been
1974, when Turkey invaded Among the 60 most recent- hunting for the island’s loot-
following a coup mounted ly returned artifacts put on ed antiquities and centu-
by supporters of union with display include jewelry from ries-old relics from as many
Greece. The antiquities the Chalcolithic Period be- as 500 churches in open
were kept in Germany af- tween 3500-1500 B.C. and auctions and on the black
ter authorities there seized Bronze Age bird-shaped market.
them in 1997, and protract- idols. The museum’s antiquities
ed legal battles secured Antiquities that Dikmen curator, Eftychia Zacha-
their repatriation in three also looted but were re- riou, told the ceremony
batches, the last one this turned years ago include that Cyprus in recent years
year. 1,500-year-old mosaics of has benefited from a shift in
Cyprus’ President Nikos Christodoulides, right, stands in front Addressing the unveiling Saints Luke, Mark, Matthew thinking among authorities
of an Orthodox Christian icon after the same was repatriated ceremony at Cyprus’ ar- and James. in many countries who now
and displayed at the Archeological museum in capital Nicosia, chaeological museum, They are among the few opt to repatriate antiquities
Cyprus, Monday, July 22, 2024. President Nikos Christo- examples of early Chris- of dubious provenance.q
Associated Press doulides said the destruc- tian works to survive the