The Wutz Up in the Philippines!

BEIJING—Police in central China have shut down a hacker training company that taught thousands of people how to launch cyberattacks and provided them with spy software, media reports said Monday.

The reports come amid growing accusations of organized computer hacking originating from China that has chilled ties with the United States, and follow Google’s threat last month to quit the Chinese market over cyberattacks.

Police in Hubei province shut down Black Hawk Safety Net and arrested three people, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, calling the operation China’s “biggest hacker training website.”

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Ricardo Diaz, deputy director of the National Bureau of Investigation, said agents were following leads the senator was in Taiwan, where he is said to have connections in high places, but “initial verification yielded negative results.”

“We are looking at mainland China, not Taiwan. I cannot give you details but we are verifying our leads that the senator may be in mainland China,” Diaz said.

The senator, who is wanted in connection with the Dacer-Corbito double murder case, flew to Hong Kong in early January then disappeared

NBI Director Nestor Mantaring said Monday he had opened communication lines with Lacson’s lawyers in a bid to convince the fugitive senator to give himself up.

He also disclosed that he was coordinating with the Philippine National Police to put a price on Lacson’s head.

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CEBU CITY Aug. 10 — The Department of Tourism (DOT) is pushing for more flights between China and the Philippines, underscoring China as an important source of tourists for the Philippines amid the global financial crisis.

The DOT is also embarking on multiple promotional approaches to lure more Chinese visitors to the country.

The DOT expects more Chinese visitors to the Philippines in the coming months with the recent addition of flights between mainland China and Taiwan and Cebu and Kalibo, Aklan.

These flights include the five-weekly Kaohsiung-Cebu chartered flights of China Airlines, the twice-weekly Gungzhou-Cebu chartered flights of China Southern Airlines, the twice-weekly Shanghai-Kalibo chartered flights of Shanghai Airlines and the thrice-weekly Hangzhou-Kalibo flight of Philippine Airlines.

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MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is confident that China will still observe the code of conduct in the South China Sea as it insisted that it does not feel threatened by China’s recent show of strength as a sea power.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde on Saturday said that the dispute over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea comes at a time of civilized and diplomatic way of resolving conflicts.

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MANILA, March 23 (Xinhua) — China is committed to settling international disputes through peaceful means and preserving regional security, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao said Monday, referring to the recent tension in the region after a Philippine law extends the archipelago’s territorial claim over China’s islands in the South China Sea.

Liu, addressing nearly 1,000 guests at the reception of his assumption of the top envoy post in Manila, called for parties concerned “to engage in cooperation rather than confrontation” in the South China Sea.

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China on Wednesday immediately protested President Gloria Arroyo signing into law a controversial bill defining the Philippines’ maritime boundaries.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the “baselines law,” or Republic Act 9522 made the country’s territorial claims compliant with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and was signed by President Arroyo on Tuesday.

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BEIJING — China said Thursday that no other cases of bird flu have been detected in Beijing and neighboring provinces after a woman died from the avian influenza in the capital.

The Agricultural Ministry said in a notice on its Web site that authorities had investigated poultry in Beijing, the port city of Tianjin and neighboring Hebei province, but no other cases have been found.

“Bird flu epidemic was not found in any of these three provinces and cities,” it said.

Inspectors have stepped up checks of poultry markets and slaughterhouses and have banned live poultry from entering the capital after China’s first bird flu death since February of last year.

Medical professionals are also visiting families in all districts in Beijing to look out for bird flu symptoms, the China Daily newspaper said.

The World Health Organization said the case did not appear to signal a new public health threat.

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The Philippines has landed on the list of top 10 most-searched travel destinations among Shanghai online users of China’s leading search engine Baidu, according to a research done by Darwin Marketing.

Baidu comprises 72 percent of the Chinese online market, and is the third largest search engine in the world in December last year.

Google posted a 19 percent share in the same market, placing it at a distant second to Baidu

The Philippines is 8th among the top travel destinations, with Japan placing 1st; South Korea, 2nd; Thailand, 3rd; Singapore, 4th; Australia, 5th; Bali, 6th; Malaysia, 7th; North Korea, 9th; and France, 10th.

Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano acknowledged the good news, saying, “On top of this report, we have several other developments in progress for China. It is a strong market which will augment the slowdown in other regions.”[Continue Reading...]