Latest news with #House
GMA Network
37 minutes ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
Sara Duterte's confi fund recipients have surnames of senators —Ortega
The recipients of the P500 million worth of confidential funds of the office of Vice President Sara Duterte in 2023 included people bearing surnames similar to the incumbent senators, House Deputy Majority Leader and La Union Representative Paolo Ortega V said Thursday. Ortega said based on the acknowledgement receipts submitted by the OVP to the Commission on Audit on the disbursement of confidential funds, the recipients include Beth Revilla, Janice Marie Revilla, Diane Maple Lapid, John Lapid Jr., Clarisse Hontiveros, Kristine Applegate Estrada, and Denise Tanya Escudero. Incumbent senators include Bong Revilla, Jr., Lito Lapid, Risa Hontiveros, Jinggoy Estrada, and Senate President Francis Escudero. 'These irregularities are too glaring to ignore—these names from the supposed Budol Gang call for a deeper look. Hanggang Senado po, hindi na pinalampas," Ortega said in a statement. Aside from the people with surnames similar to senators, the OVP submissions of confidential fund recipients also included Cannor Adrian Contis which is similar to a cake shop and restaurant. "Kapag ba may confidential funds ang opisina mo, may sweet tooth ka din? When these suspicious names turned out to be fixtures, this is not just a simple malfeasance. It is well-coordinated and well-planned siphoning of public funds," Ortega said. (If your office is a recipient of confidential funds, does that mean you should have a sweet tooth?) 'Hindi nakakatawa ang paulit-ulit na paggamit ng mga pekeng pangalan na parang hinugot mula sa sine at showbiz (The repeated use of fictitious names from the movies and showbiz is not funny). We are talking about public funds here. If they cannot show evidence that these people exist, then these are strong evidence against them in the impeachment trial," Ortega added. Ortega said the recipients of confidential funds bearing surnames of senators are among the over 1,300 names who did not have birth, marriage, or death records from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Other earlier names disclosed by Ortega were from 'Team Grocery" such as Beverly Claire Pampano, Mico Harina, Ralph Josh Bacon, Patty Ting and Sala Casim, as well as Mary Grace Piattos and Xiaome Ocho which are similar to popular junk food, bake shop, and mobile phone brand. The Joint Circular 2015-01 governing the use of confidential and intelligence funds require agencies to maintain sealed and verifiable documentation linking aliases to real identities. The Senate is scheduled to convene as an impeachment court on June 2. Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives on February 5, with over 200 congressmen endorsing the complaint against her. She was accused of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes mainly over alleged misuse of around P612.5 million worth of confidential funds and threatening to kill President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and the President's cousin and Speaker, Leyte First District Rep. Martin Romualdez. The Vice President, for her part, said she is looking forward to her impeachment trial in the upcoming 20th Congress because she 'wants a bloodbath." Under the Constitution, House impeachment prosecutors would need 16 votes or two-thirds of the 24-strong Senate to secure conviction. GMA News Online has reached out to the camp of the Vice President for comment and will publish it as soon as it is available. —AOL, GMA Integrated News
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the US will begin revoking the visas of Chinese students
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday the U.S. will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those studying in "critical fields.' China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the United States, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the United States. 'Under President Trump's leadership, the U.S. State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,' Rubio wrote. The Chinese Embassy in Washington didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment Wednesday night. The action comes at a time of intensifying scrutiny of the ties between U.S. higher education and China. House Republicans this month pressed Duke University to cut its ties with a Chinese university, saying it allowed Chinese students to gain access to federally funded research at Duke. Last year, House Republicans issued a report warning that hundreds of millions of dollars in defense funding was going to research partnerships linked to the Chinese government, providing 'back-door access to the very foreign adversary nation whose aggression these capabilities are necessary to protect against.' The Department of Homeland Security raised similar issues in a letter barring international students at Harvard University last week. Secretary Kristi Noem accused Harvard of 'coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party,' citing research collaborations with Chinese scholars. It also accused Harvard of training members of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a Chinese paramilitary group. The announcement came a day after Rubio halted the scheduling of new visa interviews for international students as the department prepares guidelines for increased vetting of their activity on social media. The crackdown on visas adds to uncertainty for international students Together, the announcements from the State Department added to uncertainty for America's international students, who have faced intensifying scrutiny from President Donald Trump's administration. Earlier this year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested and tried to deport students who had been involved in campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war. And the Trump administration abruptly terminated the legal status of thousands of international students before reversing itself and then expanding the grounds on which students can lose permission to study in the U.S. University of Wisconsin student Vladyslav Plyaka was planning to visit Poland to see his mother and renew his visa, but he doesn't know when that will be possible now that visa appointments are suspended. He also doesn't feel safe leaving the U.S. even when appointments resume. 'I don't think I have enough trust in the system at this point,' said Plyaka, who came to the U.S. from Ukraine as an exchange student in high school and stayed for college. 'I understand it probably is done for security measures, but I would probably just finish my education for the next two or three years and then come back to Ukraine.' The Trump administration last week moved to block Harvard University from enrolling any international students, a decision that has been put on hold by a federal judge, pending a lawsuit. Trump said Wednesday that Harvard, whose current student population is made up of more than a quarter of international students, should limit that percentage to about 15%. 'I want to make sure the foreign students are people that can love our country,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The action on Chinese students renews a priority from Trump's first administration to clamp down on academic ties between the United States and China, which Republicans have called a threat to national security. In April, Trump ordered the Education Department to ramp up enforcement of a federal rule requiring colleges to disclose information about funding from foreign sources. During his first term, the Education Department opened 19 investigations into foreign funding at U.S. universities and found that they underreported money flowing from China, Russia and other countries described as foreign adversaries. Hours before Rubio announced the change, Eastern Michigan University announced it was ending engineering partnerships with two Chinese universities, responding to Republican pressure. Rep. John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, recently urged Eastern Michigan and other universities to end partnerships with Chinese universities. Around 1.1 million international students were in the United States last year — a source of essential revenue for tuition-driven colleges. International students are not eligible for federal financial aid. Often, they pay full price. Northeastern University, which has more than 20,000 international students, has set up 'contingency plans' for those who hit visa delays, said spokesperson Renata Nyul, without elaborating. 'This is a very dynamic situation, and we are closely monitoring the developments in real time to assess any potential impacts,' she said. The US plans more in-depth reviews of visa applicants' social media In his announcement on China, Rubio said the government also will 'revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong.' Visa applicants have been required to provide social media handles to the State Department since 2019. The cable Tuesday did not indicate what kind of additional scrutiny the new guidelines would cover, but suggested the new reviews may be more resource-intensive. The additional vetting will deter students from coming to the U.S., said Jonathan Friedman of PEN America, a literary and free expression organization. 'The details remain vague, but this policy risks upending the long-standing place of the U.S. as a beacon for intellectual and cultural exchange with the world,' Friedman said. The move to cut off international enrollment at Harvard stems from a dispute with the Department of Homeland Security, which has demanded that it provide information about foreign students that might implicate them in violence or protests that could lead to their deportation. Harvard says it complied with the records request, but the agency said its response fell short. On Wednesday, Trump said more scrutiny of Harvard's students is necessary. 'They're taking people from areas of the world that are very radicalized, and we don't want them making trouble in our country,' Trump said. The Trump administration has cut over $2.6 billion in federal grants for Harvard as it presses demands for changes to policies and governance at the Ivy League school, which the president has described as a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism. Harvard has pushed back and filed a lawsuit against the administration. ___ Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington and Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Time of India
an hour ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Judge removal involves several steps. Here's how it proceeds
Judge removal involves several steps. Here's how it proceeds Once a judicial inquiry committee concludes in its report about wrongdoing by a constitutional court judge, the CJI, on being satisfied with the committee's finding, offers an opportunity to the judge concerned to resign. If the judge refuses, then the CJI forwards the inquiry report to the President, who is the appointing authority, and the PM. The PM and the Union Cabinet, after discussing the report, may ask the law ministry/parliamentary affairs ministry to initiate a motion for removal. A notice for motion of removal against the judge can be moved in Rajya Sabha if 50 or more MPs sign the motion, and in Lok Sabha if 100 or more MPs agree to put their signatures to it. Once the motion is placed before the LS Speaker or RS chairman, in either case, he carries out a preliminary review of the report as well as the accompanying motion and has the power to 'admit or refuse to admit' the notice of motion for removal (Section 3 of Judges Inquiry Act, 1968). In the event of admitting the notice of motion for removal, the head of the House concerned will keep the motion pending and constitute a three-member committee for 'the purpose of making an investigation into the grounds on which the removal of a judge is prayed for'. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Đăng ký Undo The committee will comprise either the CJI or a judge of the SC, an HC chief justice and a distinguished jurist. The committee will then frame charges against the judge concerned. 'Such charges, together with a statement of the grounds on which each such charge is based, shall be communicated to the judge and he shall be given a reasonable opportunity of presenting a written statement of defence within such time as may be specified in this behalf by the committee,' the Act provides. Section 4 of the Act provides, 'The committee shall have power to regulate its own procedure in making the investigation and shall give a reasonable opportunity to the judge of cross-examining witnesses, adducing evidence and of being heard in his defence.' The committee, after conclusion of the investigation, will present a report to the head of the House concerned where the motion for removal is pending. If the report finds the judge 'not guilty', then no further steps will be taken, and the motion will be treated as infructuous. If the report finds the judge guilty, then the head of the House will lay the report before the House as soon as possible and the House will take up the motion for removal for debate. The motion will then have to be passed by each House, supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than twothirds of the members of the House present and voting. It will then be presented to the President for removal of the judge. A notice for motion of removal against the judge can be moved in Rajya Sabha if 50 or more MPs sign the motion, and in Lok Sabha if 100 or more MPs agree to put their signatures to it
Yahoo
an hour ago
- General
- Yahoo
Upcoming flag directive in memory of former WA House Speaker Frank Chopp
The Brief Flags at Washington state agency facilities will be lowered to half-staff on June 1 to honor former House Speaker Frank Chopp. Chopp, who served Washington's 43rd district for 30 years, passed away from cardiac arrest at age 71. A memorial service for Chopp is scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. OLYMPIA, Wash. - Governor Bob Ferguson has ordereda flag directive for June 1, following the passing of former Speaker of the Washington House of Representatives, Frank Chopp. All Washington state and U.S. flags at all state agency facilities have been ordered to be lowered to half-staff in Chopp's memory on Sunday, June 1. Flags should remain at half-staff until the close of business or sunset on June 1, or until first thing Monday, June 2. Chopp, 71, represented Washington's 43rd legislative district for three decades. He served as speaker of the state House in 1999, and continued for 20 years before resigning to focus on affordable housing, healthcare for all and social and economic justice before retiring earlier this year. Chopp passed away on the afternoon of March 22, following a cardiac arrest. What's next A memorial service will take place on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. You can sign up online to be notified when Governor Ferguson directs flags. The Source Information in this article is from the Office of the Governor and Frank Chopp's obituary. Sweltering weather in store for Seattle this week Motorcyclist killed, driver arrested after Puyallup crash Mom of slain Idaho victim Xana Kernodle asks for help attending Bryan Kohberger trial Seattle Memorial Day weekend 2025: Your guide to events, traffic, more Tears, heartbreak at Chase Jones sentencing—teen in fatal Renton, WA crash To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter. Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Baldwin visits Hallie farm, hears concerns about tariff policies
TOWN OF HALLIE — Jeff Peck farms about 1,000 acres in the Town of Hallie, and about 80% of what he grows is feed for his 350 cows. The rest of his crops goes to market, and frequently, is sold overseas. 'We are pretty reliant on exports,' Peck told U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin on Wednesday. 'We need to trade those extras. So, we really are a global economy.' Farmer Les Danielson told Baldwin that 30 years ago, only 2% of milk produced was sent overseas. Today, it's 18% that is exported. Danielson noted that many farmers are filling containers with soybeans and also ship those out of the country. 'We're waiting to hear what we're supposed to do with our crops this fall,' Danielson said. Both Peck and Danielson told Baldwin they are fearful of losing access to foreign markets because of a looming trade war over tariffs. 'It takes a long time to build those relationships, but you can break them quickly,' Peck said. He added that signing early contracts hasn't helped. They were told that even if they pre-paid for seeds or other items they've ordered from overseas, any tariff that is in place will be added on to the cost. 'The farmers are on the bottom of the hill,' Peck said. Danielson agreed, saying it has been hard to figure out how to buy the items a working farm needs. 'Our supplier can't tell us the price of fertilizer, because of the tariffs,' Danielson said. Baldwin, a Democrat, spent about an hour touring the Peck family farm on Wednesday. At the conclusion of the event, she told area media it was important to hear directly from farmers about how tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump are impacting them. 'Export markets are in question,' Baldwin said. 'The president campaigned on bringing costs down, on bringing groceries down, and other costs down. And the policies he's put forward have produced the opposite result.' Baldwin noted the U.S. Senate passed a resolution in an attempt to halt the tariff hikes on Canada, but the U.S. House of Representatives didn't take up the measure. 'What you've seen is the president is acting unilaterally and just forgetting Congress,' she said. Baldwin was frustrated over Trump's constantly changing positions on what levels of tariffs will be imposed and when they will go into effect. 'It's just chaotic,' she said. 'It's hard to pin him down.' The Senate will be back in session on Monday, and Baldwin discussed how they will begin deliberating on the budget bill passed by the U.S. House last year. The measure passed by a single vote. Baldwin noted that the Congressional Budget Office has indicated that up to 14 million Americans could lose their access to Medicaid if the bill, as written, becomes law. 'I think it has a tough road ahead of it,' Baldwin said. She noted that some Republican Senators have objected to the deep cuts, while others, including Sen. Ron Johnson, want to see tax cuts paid for. When asked what she does like about the House budget bill, Baldwin said it will give some tax breaks to co-ops and middle-class families.
