DOZENS OF CIVILIANS, 12 US TROOPS KILLED IN KABUL AIRPORT BLASTS

KABUL - Suicide bombers struck the crowded gates of Kabul airport with at least two explosions on Thursday, causing a bloodbath among civilians and US troops, and bringing a catastrophic halt to the airlift of tens of thousands of Afghans desperate to flee.

Two US officials put the US death toll at 12 service members killed, making it one of the deadliest incidents for American troops of the entire 20-year war.

There was no complete toll of Afghan civilians but video images uploaded by Afghan journalists showed dozens of bodies of people killed in packed crowds outside the airport.

A watery ditch by the airport fence was filled with bloodsoaked corpses, some being fished out and laid in heaps on the canal side while wailing civilians searched for loved ones.

A Taliban official said at least 13 people including children had been killed in the attack and 52 were wounded, though it was clear from video footage that those figures were far from complete. One surgical hospital run by an Italian charity said it alone was treating more than 60 wounded.

The explosions took place amid the crowds outside the airport who have been massing for days in hope of escaping in an airlift which the United States says will end by Tuesday, following the swift capture of the country by the Taliban.

"The doors at the airport are now closed and it is no longer possible to get people in," Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said on Thursday.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the deadly attack. The Afghan branch of IS, known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, first gained a foothold in eastern Nangarhar province in 2015, but has come under pressure in recent years from the US-led coalition, the Afghan army and the Taliban itself.

It has retained the ability to carry out devastating attacks in Kabul, however.

A suicide bomber from the Islamist militant group "managed to reach a large gathering of translators and collaborators with the American army at 'Baran Camp' near Kabul Airport and detonated his explosive belt among them, killing about 60 people and wounding more than 100 others, including Taliban fighters," it said.

The bomber "was able today to penetrate all the security fortifications" and get within "five meters (16 feet)" of US forces before detonating his explosives belt, the jihadist group's propaganda arm Amaq said, according to a translation by the SITE monitoring agency.

General Kenneth McKenzie, head of US Central Command, told reporters before the claim of responsibility that once the United States confirmed who was behind the attack "we will go after them.

There were no Filipino casualties in Thursday's suicide bombings at Kabul airport in Afghanistan, according to initial reports from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

DUTERTE VOWS TO 'AUDIT WHOLE GOVERNMENT' IF HE BECOMES VICE PRESIDENT

MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte claimed that he audit the whole government, including the Commission on Audit (COA), if he is elected as vice president.

Duterte, who has been criticizing the COA since it released its 2020 report that drew questions on how the Department of Health used over P67 billion in COVID-19 funds, said the COA should also be audited.

"Somebody should do that. I will do that, if I become vice president. Ako na lang din ang mag-audit sa lahat ng gobyerno. Lahat. Pati 'yung akin, mag-umpisa ako sa akin," he said in a taped public address aired late Thursday.

"Sinong nag-a-audit ng COA? That is my question," he added.

Duterte also reiterated his call on COA to give government agencies elbow room when it comes to the liquidation of funds, especially now that the country is in the middle of a pandemic.

"Ito namang COA, may trabaho siya, patapusin mo muna bago mo i-audit. Kasi kung i-audit mo ngayon, skeletal force, may COVID, walang sakyan, wala lahat. It is not easy, really, to comply," he said.

COA is the supreme auditing arm of the Philippine government, with the 1987 Constitution reiterating its role as the "sole official external auditor" of government agencies as well as government-owned- and-controlled corporations (GOCCs).

Earlier in his speech, Duterte urged the public not to believe the graft allegations against his administration.

DUTERTE CAN'T AUDIT COA AS VP, SAYS BINAY; BACKS CREATION OF INDEPENDENT BODY

MANILA – A senator on Friday said President Rodrigo Duterte cannot audit the Commission on Audit even if he wins the vice-presidency in 2022, saying auditing the COA is not among the powers of the vice president.

“Coming from experience as a daughter of a former vice president, I don’t think function ng vice president, di kasama doon sa powers and function ng vice president yung mag-audit. That power was given specifically to COA, kaya kahit vice president na siya I don’t think he can do that,” Sen. Nancy Binay said on ANC’s Headstart.

Binay’s comments came after Duterte said he would audit the whole government, including the COA, if he is elected vice president.

NOT CASINO-FREE ANYMORE? DUTERTE TO ALLOW GAMBLING IN BORACAY, CITES NEED FOR GOV’T FUNDS

MANILA—President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he will allow a casino to be built in Boracay, reversing his previous stance over the tourist destination because he said the government needed more funds now.

"Kung magsabi kayo, 'Itong si Duterte, akala ko ayaw mong sugal. Tapos ngayon 'yung sa Boracay, 'yung gambling house doon, ine-encourage mong buksan para sa tourists.' Patawarin na po ninyo ako for the contradiction," the President said in a taped briefing.

"Ngayon po wala tayong pera. Kung saan man tayo makakuha ng pera, kukunin ko. Kung diyan sa gambling, so be it."

"Ngayon kung nagkamali ako, tama 'yan nagkamali ako. Kung wala akong isang salita diyan, tama 'yan, wala akong isang salita diyan. Pero kailangan ko ng pera para patakbuhin ang gobyerno kasi marami akong gagastusan," he added.

In 2018, Duterte ordered that Boracay should be casino-free when the island reopened after it was shuttered to tourists to rehabilitate the sewage system and remove allegedly illegal structures.

Duterte also had said that he "hate[s] gambling."

Last year, he rejected suggestions to suspend offshore gambling activities in the country, most of which are Chinese-run, amid allegations of corruption and other crimes hounding the industry.

PH MULLS END TO WIDE LOCKDOWN 'TO ADAPT TO CHANGING TIMES'

MANILA— The Philippines may lift large-scale lockdowns, in a major shift from regional or province-wide COVID-19 restrictions, as the country's vaccination drive is picking up steam, an official said Friday.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the country might instead implement granular lockdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19, but the proposal has yet to be approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.

"Ang mangayayari dito sa shift of policy... hindi na magkakaroon ng malawakang mga lockdown kung hindi granular lockdown," he told Teleradyo.

Granular lockdowns are normally imposed in a particular street or village with high incidence of COVID-19 infection. Imposing such restriction will be left to the decision of the local government unit, Año said.

As for the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine, the country's strictest lockdown level, it would be up to the national government, Año said.

"Ito ang sinasabi nating living with the virus. Hindi rin maaapektuhan ng husto 'yung isang buong probinsiya o buong city na hindi na makagalaw," he said.

"Tamang-tama naman na by that time, mataas na rin ang ating vaccinated population. Naga-aadjust tayo sa changing time."

Metro Manila and the provinces of Laguna and Bataan are still under modified ECQ until the end of August.

Should the policy shift be approved by the President, Año said new quarantine classifications would be implemented by September.

P295M BUDGET FOR GENOME SEQUENCING IN VISAYAS, MINDANAO OKD

MANILA — The Department of Health on Friday said that budget needed for the expansion of the Philippine Genome Center’s capacity in the Visayas and Mindanao has been approved, paving the way for the strengthening of the country’s biosurveillance efforts.

The budget amounting to P295.7 million will allow satellite facilities in the Visayas and Mindanao to conduct whole genome sequencing, which detects the presence of variants.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said health authorities are hoping that the PGC laboratories there will start operations in a month or so.

“This sample will definitely help us sequence more samples in the Visayas and Mindanao area,” Vergeire said in a briefing.

“At the very least, we will be able to detect more variants of concern, if ever, in their localities,” she added in Filipino.

Genomic biosurveillance plays a critical role in the government’s pandemic response as it also tracks how a virus is transmitted as well as determines if COVID-19 variants are causing spikes in cases in certain areas and if there are local transmission of the variants.

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100 PGH WORKERS INFECTED

MANILA — At least 100 medical personnel of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) have been infected with COVID-19 despite being vaccinated, but most of them showed mild symptoms of the disease.

PGH spokesman Dr. Jonas del Rosario said the health care workers’ morale is high despite the surge in COVID-19 cases.

“Ninety percent of frontliners in PGH are vaccinated,” Del Rosario said.

The hospital stopped accepting walk-in patients and closed its emergency room to focus on over 300 COVID-19 patients.

“We’ve been there, we know how to handle this. The issue really is physical exhaustion, and then you reboot and go back to work,” Del Rosario said.

Around 20 health care workers protested in front of the PGH yesterday to call for the release of their special risk allowance and hazard pay.

In an interview with “The Chiefs” on One News/TV-5 on Wednesday, Del Rosario said these benefits had been released to the PGH frontliners.

DOLE URGED TO INVESTIGATE 'INTENSIFIED' LABOR VIOLATIONS AMID LOCKDOWN

MANILA — Labor group Kilosang Mayo Uno on Thursday called on the Department of Labor and Employment to act on and investigate what it called the intensified violation of workers' rights across the country amid the COVID-19 crisis.

KMU, in a statement, said DOLE's compliance orders affirming that salaries must be paid even when workers are unable to work during the lockdown are insufficient, citing continued reports of alleged violations of workers' rights.

"DOLE needs immediate action and political will to protect the workers. The compliance papers are not enough," KMU secretary general Jerome Adonis is quoted as saying in Filipino, adding that workers are "hungry and helpless" amid the lockdown.

Among the incidents cited by KMU was Chinese tech firm Vivo's firing of 689 of its employees.

DOLE on August 24 said it was probing the incident after more than 200 of the former employees trooped to its Intramuros office to protest their termination and to seek help.

The group also raised the plight of 26 workers infected with COVID-19 and another 200 of their co-workers who are under lockdown at a construction project in Barangay E. Rodriguez where a "no work, no pay" policy is being implemented, according to an ABS-CBN News report.

WHAT IS THE AXIE INFINITY GAME? HOW DO YOU EARN FROM PLAYING IT?

MANILA - Leah Tinoco used to run an online business selling plants and decorated pots to help her family pay the bills. But the frequent lockdowns imposed due to the pandemic made sustaining her business too difficult.

In June, she started playing the Axie Infinity game.

“Na-recommend lang ito sa amin ng aming close friends. Nung umpisa, medyo skeptical pa kaming aralin, dahil meron pa kaming ibang focus na ginagawa noong time na iyon,” Tinoco said.

But Tinoco was convinced after seeing her friends start to earn money, with even their family members also earning while playing Axie.

Tinoco wasn’t the only one convinced of Axie’s potential for income. The country’s main tax collection agency also saw Axie Infinity players as a possible source of revenues.

Axie Infinity reportedly exploded in popularity in the Philippines this year, with many Filipinos looking for alternative ways to earn after businesses were shut and jobs lost due to the pandemic.

Now, the government wants its share of that income.

Earlier this week, an official of the Bureau of Internal Revenue said players of the game are also covered by a BIR memorandum on income from online activities.

“At the end of the day may flow of income na pumasok sa ating players, so income din po ‘yan na pu-pwede pong maging taxable,” said BIR Deputy Commissioner Marissa Cabreros during Tuesday’s Laging Handa briefing.

Axie Infinity is an online game you can play online. it isn't available yet on the app stores of Apple or Google. you have to go to the company website to actually get the game. It was developed by a Vietnamese company called Sky Mavis, which has won the backing of big names like gaming company Ubisoft and cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

It’s a game that lets players earn cryptocurrencies, which can then be exchanged for real-world money like Philippine pesos or US dollars.

But before you can start playing, you first need to pay. Players need to get a team of 3 Pokemon-looking monsters called Axies that have various skills. Axie monsters can cost P30,000 for a team of 3, although the monsters are usually priced using the cryptocurrency Ethereum.

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

AJ RAVAL, SEAN DE GUZMAN GET STEAMY IN 'TAYA'

Newbie talents AJ Raval and Sean De Guzman are already becoming household names as they lead the pack of a new generation of sexy actors in showbiz today.

Now known as the "Bagong Pantasya ng Bayan," Raval gets bolder and bolder in every film she starred in. Coming from two Vivamax hit movies, "Paglaki Ko Gusto Kong Maging Pornstar" and "Death of a Girlfriend," she takes on another daring role in psychedelic-erotic-thriller movie "Taya."

"Sunod-sunod yung ganitong genre sa akin but hindi po madaling mag-daring kasi syempre kailangan comfortable ka sa mga kasama mo, alam mo kung paano ka ba dapat i-treat. When it comes to acting, I'm not saying na magaling ako, but alam ko po na may improvements ako ngayon. Especially here kasi sobrang comfortable namin dito sa set at naging all out kami, wala nang hiyaan," the 25-year-old alluring actress said.

"With this film, I came prepared kasi nag-workshop kami at the same time, magaan katrabaho yung mga cast and crew especially with direk [Roman Perez Jr.], hindi ka niya pipilitin sa bagay na ayaw mo basta lang okay yung acting mo," she added.

Meanwhile, from "Anak ng Macho Dancer," De Guzman gets another lead role in "Taya."

"Hindi niyo po makikilala dito si Sean. Kumbaga nandoon talaga ako sa character ko - sobrang dumi, sobrang baho, lahat ng pwedeng niyo makita sa isang character makikita niyo doon. When it comes naman to the cast members' connection, sobrang solid," De Guzman mentioned.

In the movie, De Guzman plays a journalism student named Sixto who discovered that the woman in his countless wet dreams is one of the prizes of an online "ending" game. He did not hesitate to compete for her and eventually won. But because of his own gambling error, he found out that he actually won another woman named Nanette (Raval). After a series of sexual encounters, Sixto becomes addicted to Nanette and promised to take her away from the syndicate that condemned her as an online ending prize.

Despite the streamy scenes that the film demands, Raval and De Guzman have nothing but good words for each other and even hoped they can be on-screen partners once more in the future.

"Kami ni Sean, wala namang problema. Sobrang okay sa amin kung magkakaroon pa kami ng susunod na mga projects. Sobrang comfortable namin sa isa't isa. Si Sean parang maituturing ko na isa sa mga solid friends ko," Raval said.

De Guzman, in turn, seconded, "Naging matatag ang pagiging magkaibigan namin. Kahit ganoon mga nagiging eksena namin, yung mga tambalan namin, nandoon pa rin yung limitation namin sa isa't isa. And sobrang saya ko dahil nakatrabaho ko siya at na-execute naman namin yung mga scenes ng maayos."

Completing the cast are sultry actresses Jela Cuenca and Angeli Khang; Soliman Cruz, Mon Confiado, Pio Balbuena and Raul Morit. "Taya" is directed by Roman Perez Jr. - who also directed the erotic-thriller "Adan" - and written by 2018 Cinemalaya Best Screenwriter John Carlo Pacala.

"Taya" streams on August 27 via ktx.ph, iWantTFC, TFC IPTV and on Vivamax.

SPORTS

14-YEAR-OLD FILIPINA GOLF PRODIGY COMPLETES SUCCESSFUL U.S. STINT

14-year-old Rianne Malixi capped off a strong two-month run in the U.S., with stops throughout California to New York, Maryland, and Kentucky.

The Filipina bagged first place at the Se Ri Pak tournament last June. It was her first action in 18 months as the pandemic lockdowns in Manila prevented her from hitting the links.

"It was very fulfilling. It hit differently because the nerves and the pressure in the tournament were different. You haven't felt that in a long time and it felt good heading into that tournament," Malixi said.

The win propelled her to several top 5 finishes in different competitions, eventually leading to her top 16 finish at the U.S. Golf Association Girls' Junior Amateurs tournament in Maryland. Malixi said she learned a lot from that tournament.

"It was quite an achievement for me because the tournament is really huge. They made a record 1,560 players to qualify for that event and only 156 are allowed to that tournament... I was lucky enough to qualify and it felt really good placing with top players around the world."

Throughout her travels, U.S. colleges also came out to get a glimpse of the Manila-based golf prodigy. Malixi revealed that "if I do well, I might turn pro, but college golf is still a good option if I'm not ready for the bigger stage."

"Really depends on my performance in the next three to four years," she added.

Her tour came as Filipina golfers like 2021 U.S. Women's Open Champion Yuka Saso and Olympian Bianca Pagdanganan are climbing through the world rankings.

"I know Ate Yuka and Ate Bianca. I have socialized with them before when I was 11 or 12. I was very proud watching them winning, being able to make it on the LPGA and it inspires Filipinos, especially the girls. They inspired a lot of Filipino girls to play better in the sport," Malixi shared.

For now, she and her dad Roy are back in the Philippines, planning out their next steps for her fast rising amateur career. They hope to be back in the U.S. later this year to compete in big tournaments.

INDICATORS

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true.  It is the chief occupation of mankind. - H.L. Mencken