
TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — A U.S. senator has called for mysterious drones spotted flying at night over sensitive areas in New Jersey and other parts of the Mid-Atlantic region to be “shot down, if necessary,” even as it remains unclear who owns the unmanned aircraft. “We should be doing some very urgent intelligence analysis and take them out of the skies, especially if they’re flying over airports or military bases,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said Thursday, as concerns about the drones spread across Capitol Hill. People in the New York region are also concerned that the drones may be sharing airspace with commercial airlines, he said, demanding more transparency from the Biden administration. The White House said Thursday that a review of the reported sightings shows that many of them are actually manned aircraft being flown lawfully. White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said there were no reported sightings in any restricted airspace. He said the U.S. Coast Guard has not uncovered any foreign involvement from coastal vessels. “We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus,” Kirby said, echoing statements from the Pentagon and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh has said they are not U.S. military drones. In a joint statement issued Thursday afternoon, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said they and their federal partners, in close coordination with the New Jersey State Police, “continue to deploy personnel and technology to investigate this situation and confirm whether the reported drone flights are actually drones or are instead manned aircraft or otherwise inaccurate sightings.” The agencies said they have not corroborated any of the reported sightings with electronic detection, and that reviews of available images appear to show many of the reported drones are actually manned aircraft. “There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space,” according to the statement. The drones appear to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopter and radio, according to a state lawmaker briefed Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security. The number of sightings has increased in recent days, though officials say many of the objects seen may have been planes rather than drones. It’s also possible that a single drone has been reported more than once. The worry stems partly from the flying objects initially being spotted near the Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military research and manufacturing facility, and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster. In a post on the social media platform X, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia described the drones as up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) in diameter and sometimes traveling with their lights switched off. Drones are legal in New Jersey for recreational and commercial use but are subject to local and Federal Aviation Administration regulations and flight restrictions. Operators must be FAA certified. Most, but not all, of the drones spotted in New Jersey appeared to be larger than those typically used by hobbyists. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said he was frustrated by the lack of transparency, saying it could help spread fear and misinformation. “We should know what’s going on over our skies,” he said Thursday. John Duesler, president of the Pennsylvania Drone Association, said witnesses may be confused about what they are seeing, especially in the dark, and noted it’s hard to know the size of the drones or how close they might be. “There are certainly big drones, such as agricultural drones, but typically they are not the type you see flying around in urban or suburban spaces,” Duesler said Thursday. Duesler said the drones — and those flying them — likely cannot evade detection. “They will leave a radio frequency footprint, they all leave a signature," he said. "We will find out what kind of drones they were, who was flying them and where they were flying them.” Fantasia, a Morris County Republican, was among several lawmakers who met with state police and Homeland Security officials to discuss the sightings from the New York City area across New Jersey and westward into parts of Pennsylvania, including over Philadelphia. It is unknown at this time whether the sightings are related. Duesler said the public wants to know what's going on. “I hope (the government agencies) will come out with more information about this to ease our fears. But this could just be the acts of rogue drone operators, it’s not an ‘invasion’ as some reports have called it,” Duesler said. “I am concerned about this it but not alarmed by it.” Associated Press reporters Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and reporter Darlene Superville and videojournalists Serkan Gurbuz and Nathan Ellgren in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.None
Review: Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip6 smartphone more than passes the gimmick testMaryland men’s basketball’s lets opportunity slip away in 83-78 loss at No. 8 Purdue | TAKEAWAYSA proposed deal that would see three tobacco giants pay out billions to provinces and territories, as well as smokers across Canada, has been approved by the companies' creditors, a lawyer representing some of the creditors said Thursday, calling it an important milestone in a lengthy legal saga. The proposed $32.5-billion global settlement between the companies — JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. — and their creditors was announced in October after more than five years of negotiations. Representatives for the creditors, which include provincial governments seeking to recover smoking-related health-care costs as well as plaintiffs in two Quebec class-action lawsuits, voted on the plan in a virtual meeting Thursday afternoon. André Lespérance, who represents plaintiffs in one of the Quebec lawsuits, said creditors overwhelmingly supported the proposal. "We're not surprised, but we're glad the creditors are united right now to see this plan approved," he said in French. Before the plan can be implemented, it must obtain the approval of the court. A hearing has been scheduled for the end of January, and Lespérance said he's optimistic the proposed deal will clear that hurdle as well. "I think we're really close to the end," he said. Dominique Claveau, executive director of the Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health, which is part of the lawsuit, said they look forward to having the court "bring this long-fought battle for justice and truth to its conclusion." At least one of the companies has said it opposes the plan in its current form. The proposed deal includes $24 billion for provinces and territories, $4 billion for tens of thousands of Quebec smokers and their heirs, and more than $2.5 billion for smokers in other provinces and territories. It also includes more than $1 billion for a foundation to help those affected by tobacco-related diseases. The Canadian Cancer Society, which is a social stakeholder in the case, said Thursday it hopes the proposal will be amended before it's approved by the court. Rob Cunningham, the organization's lawyer, said the plan should include smoking-reduction measures and the release of confidential industry documents, similar to what was achieved in the United States decades ago. "There's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to better control the tobacco industry and to reduce tobacco use. We're never going to get this chance again," he said. The foundation funded through the proposed deal should also have its mandate expanded to include prevention of tobacco-related disease and public awareness efforts to help people quit smoking, said Manuel Arango, vice-president of policy and advocacy for Heart & Stroke. "We already have a lot of studies and a lot of knowledge about the treatment of tobacco-related disease," he said. "So it's really about looking forward and helping prevent tobacco-related disease in the future." The proposal is the culmination of a corporate restructuring process set off by a decades-long legal battle over the health effects of smoking. In 2015, a Quebec court ordered the three companies to pay about $15 billion in two class-action lawsuits involving smokers in the province who took up the habit between 1950 and 1998 and either fell ill or were addicted, or their heirs. Four years later, the landmark ruling was upheld by the province's Appeal Court. The companies then sought creditor protection in Ontario in order to negotiate a global settlement with their creditors. All of the legal proceedings against them were put on hold during the talks. That order has now been extended until Jan. 31, 2025. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2024. Paola Loriggio, The Canadian PressEEPC India proposes faceless GST audit system
Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen returns to a tournament after a dispute over jeans is resolvedWILTON, Iowa — Every year the U.S. egg industry kills about 350 million male chicks because, while the fuzzy little animals are incredibly cute, they will never lay eggs, so have little monetary value. That longtime practice is changing, thanks to new technology that enables hatcheries to quickly peer into millions of fertilized eggs and spot male embryos, then grind them up for other uses before they mature into chicks. The system began operating this month in Iowa at the nation’s largest chick hatchery, which handles about 387,000 eggs each day. “We now have ethically produced eggs we can really feel good about,” said Jörg Hurlin, managing director of Agri Advanced Technologies, the German company that spent more than a decade developing the SUV-sized machine that can separate eggs by sex. Even Americans who are careful to buy cage free or free range eggs typically aren’t aware that hundreds of millions of male chicks are killed each year, usually when they are only a day old. Most of the animals are culled through a process called maceration that uses whirling blades to nearly instantly kill the baby birds — something that seems horrifying but that the industry has long claimed is the most humane alternative. “Does the animal suffer? No because it’s instantaneous death. But it’s not pretty because it’s a series of rotating blades,” said Suzanne Millman, a professor at Iowa State University who focuses on animal welfare. Chick culling is an outgrowth of a poultry industry that for decades has raised one kind of chicken for eggs and another for meat. Egg-laying chickens are too scrawny to profitably be sold for meat, so the male chicks are ground up and used as additives for other products. It wasn’t until European governments began passing laws that outlawed maceration that companies started puzzling out how to determine chicken sex before the chicks can hatch. Several companies can now do that, but unlike most competitors, AAT’s machine doesn’t need to pierce the shell and instead uses a bright light and sensitive cameras to detect an embryo’s sex by noting feather shading. Males are white, and females are dark. The machine, called Cheggy, can process up to 25,000 eggs an hour, a pace that can accommodate the massive volume seen at hatcheries in the U.S. Besides the Cheggy machine in the small eastern Iowa city of Wilton, an identical system has been installed in Texas, both at hatcheries owned by Hy-Line North America. The process has one key limitation: It works only on brown eggs because male and female chicks in white eggs have similar-colored feathers. That’s not a huge hindrance in Europe, where most eggs sold at groceries are brown. But in the U.S., white shell eggs make up about 81% of sales, according to the American Egg Board. Brown shell eggs are especially sought by people who buy cage-free, free-range and organic varieties. Hurlin said he thinks his company will develop a system to tell the sex of embryos in white eggs within five years, and other companies also are working to meet what’s expected to be a growing demand. Eggs from hens that were screened through the new system will supply NestFresh Eggs, a Southern California-based business that distributes organic eggs produced by small operations across the country. The eggs will begin showing up on store shelves in mid-July and NestFresh executive vice president Jasen Urena said his company will begin touting the new chick-friendly process on cartons and with a larger marketing effort. “It’s a huge jump in animal welfare,” Urena said. “We’ve done so much work over the years on the farms. How do we make the lives of these chickens better? Now we’re able to step back and go into the hatching phase.” Urena said the new system was more expensive but any price increase on store shelves would be minimal. The animal welfare group Mercy for Animals has tried to draw attention to chick culling for more than a decade in hopes of ending the practice. Walter Sanchez-Suarez, the group’s animal behavior and welfare scientist, said laws in Europe outlawing chick culling and new efforts to change the practice in the U.S. are wonderful developments. However, Sanchez-Suarez sees them as a small step toward a larger goal of ending large-scale animal agriculture and offering alternatives to meat, eggs and dairy. “Mercy for Animals thinks this is an important step, but poultry producers shouldn’t stop there and should try to see all the additional problems that are associated to this type of practice in egg production,” he said. “Look for alternatives that are better for animals themselves and human consumers.”
TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — A U.S. senator has called for mysterious drones spotted flying at night over sensitive areas in New Jersey and other parts of the Mid-Atlantic region to be “shot down, if necessary,” even as it remains unclear who owns the unmanned aircraft. “We should be doing some very urgent intelligence analysis and take them out of the skies, especially if they’re flying over airports or military bases,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said Thursday, as concerns about the drones spread across Capitol Hill. People in the New York region are also concerned that the drones may be sharing airspace with commercial airlines, he said, demanding more transparency from the Biden administration. The White House said Thursday that a review of the reported sightings shows that many of them are actually manned aircraft being flown lawfully. White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said there were no reported sightings in any restricted airspace. He said the U.S. Coast Guard has not uncovered any foreign involvement from coastal vessels. “We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus,” Kirby said, echoing statements from the Pentagon and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh has said they are not U.S. military drones. In a joint statement issued Thursday afternoon, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said they and their federal partners, in close coordination with the New Jersey State Police, “continue to deploy personnel and technology to investigate this situation and confirm whether the reported drone flights are actually drones or are instead manned aircraft or otherwise inaccurate sightings.” The agencies said they have not corroborated any of the reported sightings with electronic detection, and that reviews of available images appear to show many of the reported drones are actually manned aircraft. “There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space,” according to the statement. The drones appear to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopter and radio, according to a state lawmaker briefed Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security. The number of sightings has increased in recent days, though officials say many of the objects seen may have been planes rather than drones. It’s also possible that a single drone has been reported more than once. The worry stems partly from the flying objects initially being spotted near the Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military research and manufacturing facility, and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster. In a post on the social media platform X, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia described the drones as up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) in diameter and sometimes traveling with their lights switched off. Drones are legal in New Jersey for recreational and commercial use but are subject to local and Federal Aviation Administration regulations and flight restrictions. Operators must be FAA certified. Most, but not all, of the drones spotted in New Jersey appeared to be larger than those typically used by hobbyists. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said he was frustrated by the lack of transparency, saying it could help spread fear and misinformation. “We should know what’s going on over our skies,” he said Thursday. John Duesler, president of the Pennsylvania Drone Association, said witnesses may be confused about what they are seeing, especially in the dark, and noted it’s hard to know the size of the drones or how close they might be. “There are certainly big drones, such as agricultural drones, but typically they are not the type you see flying around in urban or suburban spaces,” Duesler said Thursday. Duesler said the drones — and those flying them — likely cannot evade detection. “They will leave a radio frequency footprint, they all leave a signature," he said. "We will find out what kind of drones they were, who was flying them and where they were flying them.” Fantasia, a Morris County Republican, was among several lawmakers who met with state police and Homeland Security officials to discuss the sightings from the New York City area across New Jersey and westward into parts of Pennsylvania, including over Philadelphia. It is unknown at this time whether the sightings are related. Duesler said the public wants to know what's going on. “I hope (the government agencies) will come out with more information about this to ease our fears. But this could just be the acts of rogue drone operators, it’s not an ‘invasion’ as some reports have called it,” Duesler said. “I am concerned about this it but not alarmed by it.” Associated Press reporters Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and reporter Darlene Superville and videojournalists Serkan Gurbuz and Nathan Ellgren in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.The cryptocurrency market has seen unprecedented growth over the last few years, and while Bitcoin and Ethereum dominate the headlines, small-cap altcoins often deliver the most explosive returns. With 2025 approaching, investors are looking for the next big opportunities. Here’s a breakdown of five small-cap altcoins analysts believe could achieve 20x gains. >>>JOIN FXGUYS HERE>>JOIN FXGUYS HERE Financial advice: What to ask and how much it might cost > Are you retirement ready? Take our quiz and get financial planning help > Inheritance tax planning - what you need to know to protect your wealth Europe Summoning enthusiasm for Continental Europe will be hard in the months ahead. Germany, formerly the EU powerhouse, has been in recession in all but name, while France is politically gridlocked and facing fiscal problems of such magnitude that Abrdn argues it should be seen 'as a peripheral market, rather than a core one'. This sounds unappetising but contrarian investors may think differently. Jules Bloch, co-portfolio manager of the JPMorgan European Discovery trust, says the valuations of European smaller companies are 'at some of their most attractive since 2012 - interest rates have peaked, real wages are growing, and consumer sentiment is improving'. Bloch argues these companies include the next winners from AI and drug-assisted weight loss. This month the heady rise of Novo Nordisk, maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, was halted by poor results for its new Cagrisema drug. But a more obscure Danish firm is waiting in the wing: Zealand Pharma, whose products also include a weight-loss treatment. The woes of France and Germany have overshadowed the bounceback in Spain, whose Ibex index is up by 13pc this year, and in Italy where the Borsa Italiana has increased by 10pc. The European Smaller Companies trust is a way to take a stake in the recovery of the beautiful south - and a bounceback elsewhere. China China will be the primary target of Trump's tariffs. But there are indications that Beijing is readying itself for a trade war, preparing to vigorously boost consumption, improve investment efficiency and expand domestic demand. The world's second largest economy will be endeavouring to arrest its decline with a three trillion yuan (£327bn) bond issue to finance innovation. But betting on a successful outcome will require strong nerves, in light of this year's failed stimulus packages. Nevertheless, as John Citron of the JP Morgan Emerging Markets investment trust says, China's advanced manufacturing and electric vehicle sectors are thriving, thanks to government policies that do seem effective. BYD, the electric vehicle maker, is on track to sell more cars in 2024 than Ford or Honda. Its shares have soared by 634pc since 2019. But analysts still rate the shares a 'buy'. Can the combative Trump (pictured) block BYD's progress? Or will the company continue to move faster than the European car makers in 2025? That is one of the things that investors will be watching in 2025 - in a year when no one can assume that they have all the answers. 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Jaipur, Dec 28 (PTI) The BJP government of Rajasthan has decided to dissolve nine districts formed by the previous Congress dispensation, saying they were neither "practical" nor in "public interest". Three new divisions were also dissolved in a state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma on Saturday. The state will now only have seven divisions and 41 districts, Parliamentary Affairs Minister and Law Minister Jogaram Patel said. Also Read | IndiGo Mumbai-Istanbul Flight 6E17 Cancelled Due To Technical Glitch, Airline Provides Alternative Aircraft to Stranded Passengers. In another decision taken in the cabinet meeting, CET scores would be valid for three years in Rajasthan, instead of one year. The state Congress leadership has condemned the decision and said that it will move court if needed. Also Read | Dr Manmohan Singh's Cremation at Nigambodh Ghat: Govt Allocated Space for Former PM's Memorial, Congress Playing 'Cheap Politics', Says BJP Chief JP Nadda. The previous Ashok Gehlot government had formed 17 new districts and three new divisions. It had also issued a notification for three new districts, which is also being cancelled by the Bhajan Lal Sharma government. Minister Jogaram Patel said that decisions were taken on the basis of a report by a cabinet sub-committee and an expert committee set up for the purpose. He said, "The committee found that these newly formed districts are not practical, these districts are not in the public interest. These districts are putting an unnecessary burden on the Rajasthan government. These districts have no utility at all." Patel said that the Congress government formed the new districts and divisions solely for political gains. Availability of financial resources, administrative requirements, law and order, cultural harmony etc. was not taken into consideration, he said. The minister said the previous government neither created necessary posts in the offices for the new districts nor constructed office buildings. He said that the government has decided to retain Balotra, Beawar, Deeg, Didwana-Kuchaman, Kotputli-Behror, Khairthal-Tijara, Phalodi and Salumbhar from among the districts created by the Congress. The cabinet has decided not to retain nine newly created districts -- Anupgarh, Dudu, Gangapur City, Jaipur Rural, Jodhpur Rural, Kekri, Neem Ka Thana, Sanchore and Shahpura. Banswara, Pali and Sikar divisions were dissolved by the state cabinet. It has also decided to cancel three new districts -- Malpura, Sujangarh and Kuchaman City, which were announced just before the elections. Patel said that the government has taken the decision after considering all aspects of administration. Condemning the BJP government's decision, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot said, "The decision of the BJP government to cancel nine out of the new districts created by our government is an example of indiscretion and mere political vengeance." Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra and Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully also slammed the decision. "We strongly condemn this decision and the Congress party and the common people of Rajasthan will protest against this decision. There are winter holidays in the court. Such a decision was taken hastily so that no one could go to the court and could not even file a PIL. If required, we will also approach the court," Dotasra told reporters at a press conference. Jully said that the Congress will start a mass movement to get the government to revert the decision. "We will raise voices against the decision in the assembly. From the road to the assembly, we will not let BJP sit in peace. This decision is anti-people. They have killed the rights of the people." Patel said that other important decisions regarding the development of the state were also taken at the meeting at Chief Minister's Office. There was no discussion, he said, on cancelling the Police Sub Inspector (SI) recruitment exam in the cabinet meeting. The minister added that the cabinet has decided to reorganise the panchayat, panchayat samitis and district councils in the state. Meanwhile, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sumit Godara said in a press conference that Schedule-1 of Rule 14 of Rajasthan Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2017, were amended to make the validity of Common Eligibility Test scores valid for three years in Rajasthan. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
The Nobel Peace Prize Forum with leading experts on global nuclear politics, including three former Nobel laureates, convened to discuss the continued risk of nuclear weapons. Credit: Soka Gakkai mInternational. At this year's Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Oslo, Norway, leading experts on global nuclear politics, including three former Nobel laureates, convened to discuss the risk of growing nuclear arsenals and what must be done to mitigate these risks. The forum 'NUKES: How to Counter the Threat' was hosted on December 11 at University Aula with the support of the city of Oslo, the International Forum for Understanding, and Soka Gakkai International. The Nobel Institute has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 13 occasions to individuals and groups whose work was in service to the argument for the prohibition of nuclear weapons. This was seen up to the present day with Japanese grassroots organization Nihon Hidankyo, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10. When accepting the award, co-chair Terumi Tanaka called for the world to listen to the testimonies of A-bomb survivors and to feel the "deep inhumanity of nuclear weapons." The forum began with the testimonies from two Hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Keiko Ogura was eight years old in Hiroshima. She recalled the trauma she carried with her in the aftermath of the bombing, as she saw people die around her, not yet knowing that they were suffering due to radiation. She and other Hibakusha came forward years later to share their experiences and the direct costs of deploying nuclear weapons. "Before I die, we want to see this planet free of nuclear weapons," said Ogura. "For us, discounting the number of nuclear weapons is nonsense. A single nuclear weapon means destruction of this world." Masao Tomonaga was two years old when Nagasaki was bombed, and his memories of that time are based on his mother's recollections of that day. He followed in... Naureen Hossain
Nearly half of US teens are online 'constantly,' Pew report findsASIAN EXEMPLARS Often called Asia’s Nobel Prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Awards honors individuals or organizations embodying greatness of spirit, transformative leadership and selfless service, attributes that also define the legacy of the seventh Philippine president. Photo shows the 2024 awardees in rites held on Nov. 16 at the Manila Metropolitan Theater. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO On Nov. 16, the Ramon Magsaysay Awards marked its 66th anniversary. For the first time, I was tasked with handing out the awards, as representative of the late president’s family. It was an honor for me, the grandson of the seventh president of the Philippines, to join five distinguished Asians who received the award established to perpetuate the values my lolo believed in. When I watched my father, his namesake and only son, hand out awards last year, I did not realize that he would ask me to do it for him this year. He decided it was time for the younger generation to do the honors of handing out the awards that have become Asia’s most prestigious. My dad simply said that he would rather I give out the awards this year, as he felt it was time for me to take over that duty. He has been telling me this day was going to come sooner than later since about three years ago. I have been to the Magsaysay awarding ceremonies since I returned from the United States in 1993 when I was 25 years old. But I was always just a spectator, watching my dad on stage with the Magsaysay laureates. The event was always amazing and inspiring and made me take stock of what I was doing in my own life and start thinking about doing my share to help those in need. I am used to being on stage as a speaker, so that part of the ceremonies was not new to me. What was different was participating in handing out the medals and citations. The people receiving the Magsaysay Awards had shown greatness of spirit in service to the peoples of Asia regardless of race, gender, or religion—an expanded version of my lolo’s commitment to serve the Filipinos. Being on stage gave me a very different perspective on the ceremony. For one, I got to see the reaction of the crowd to the introduction of the awardees and their acceptance speeches. The awe and inspiration were evident. Talking to the awardees, it was remarkable how simple they were and yet had the courage and fortitude to take on Herculean challenges to do what was right. It was inspiring to know that the values and virtues of my Lolo Monching are lived by the Magsaysay awardees. As the son of a former senator and the grandson of a former president, my relatives and I have always been exposed to these ideals from a very young age, and we have all tried to practice it in our daily lives, no matter where our paths took us. From a very young age, we were always told to keep the Magsaysay name “clean” and to live with the virtues of hard work, honesty and integrity. I did not get to meet my grandfather. When he died on March 17, 1957, my dad was only 18 years old. Admittedly, it was not easy having Ramon Magsaysay as a role model, even if I did not get to meet him personally. Even without the awards named after him, his shoes were already too big to fill—heroic World War II guerilla fighter, congressman, secretary of defense, and president. But we have always lived the way he would have wanted us to, so I do not know how difficult it must be for others as this is all we know. Fortunately, although I was told about the legacy of my Lolo Monching, I was not nagged about it. It was mentioned every once in a while. I only remember being told often to keep the name “clean.” Despite being the grandson of a president and the son of a senator, I was never pressured to join politics, nor was I inclined to. My father believed that one way to serve was to do well in one’s calling. Later, I would realize that, for me, that calling would be ice cream, Carmen’s Best. My dad told me that if I wanted to help people, I could help without being in politics or government. There are many credible foundations that are run very well and are transparent in doing their work. We were encouraged to help through them. This I have always tried to do when I took over the family business after my dad returned to politics as a senator in 1995. I did consider running for office in 2013, but after my cancer diagnosis I dropped the idea. And, by then, I had decided politics was really not for me. I wanted to create a name on my own and have my own identity. In our first year of operations in 2011, we started helping the PGH (Philippine General Hospital) Medical Foundation Inc. In 2018, we started to help the Good Shepherd Foundation in Baguio City. The business was really never about just making money. It was a passion project that just grew as people supported it. While I was the one tasked this year to represent the family in the annual Magsaysay Awards ceremonies, it does not mean I am the only one honoring my lolo’s legacy. I have cousins who have done more to help other people. Dr. Ralph Valenzuela, who teaches at the UERM (University of the East Ramon Magsaysay) Medical Center, has dedicated his life to healing the sick. His brother Mike is an educator and a La Salle Brother. I am now making sure to instill in my children the values that my grandfather stood for: integrity, hard work and honesty. There will come a time, hopefully in the far future, when I will have to pass the torch to the next generation as well. I want to make sure that my children are worthy of the legacy their great grandfather left, not just on the family, country and region, but also on the world. I tell them the same thing my father told me—how we have kept the name of the Magsaysay family clean and that we should continue doing so. That the Rockefeller family had such admiration for lolo and the ideals and values he lived by, that they initiated the establishment of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . Former President Ramon Magsaysay may have left this world too soon, but in his short life, he managed to leave an enduring legacy that brings pride not just to us his family, but to all Filipinos. INQ
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black has been hospitalized after suffering a bleed on his brain and is expected to have a “smooth recovery,” his office said. Black, 76, suffered a subdural hematoma earlier this week and is at a local hospital and under the care of the Capitol’s physician, said Rev. Lisa Schultz, Black’s chief of staff. A subdural hematoma is when blood builds up between the skull and the surface of the brain, increasing pressure on the brain. A familiar bow-tied presence in the hallways of the Senate, Black has been the chaplain since 2003. He opens the proceedings each day with a prayer and counsels senators and staff through prayer groups and one-on-one meetings. He was previously the chief of the Navy’s chaplains. Black is well known for his booming voice and his often prescient and timely opening prayers in times of political tension. During an extended government shutdown in 2013, he prayed to “deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable.” During former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment in 2019, he asked in a prayer that “our senators not permit fatigue or cynicism to jeopardize friendships that have existed for years.” In the early morning of Jan. 7, 2021, after supporters of Trump had attacked the Capitol and Congress had certified Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, he closed a joint session in the middle of the night with a call for unity. “We deplore the desecration of the United States Capitol building, the shedding of innocent blood, the loss of life, and the quagmire of dysfunction that threaten our democracy,” he prayed. Associated Press medical writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.