The Philippine Online Chronicles

Suicide bomber kills 40 in Afghanistan

A suicide attack in a wedding ceremony in Nandahar, Afghanistan killed forty people and injured many others on Thursday, the Associated Press reported. NATO and the Afghan government blamed the Taliban for the attack, which came in the wake of an impending major NATO military operation in Kandahar, a known bailiwick of the extremist group. The Taliban has denied involvement in the attack, but suspicions were raised because one of the relatives of the groom, who was also injured in the attack, was a police officer of the US-backed government.

The attack led to the postponement of visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron's scheduled stop in a military base in Helmand province. NATO forces commanding general Stanley McChrystal, however, has stated that the planned NATO operations will push through.

US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan has been trying hard to establish stability in the volatile nation amidst continued threat from the Taliban, who was ousted in a UN-backed invasion right after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. 

Pope begs forgiveness for sex abuse by priests.

Pope Benedict XVI delivered his clearest statement of apology yet during the concluding ceremony of the Year For Priests at the Vatican on Friday, pledging to "do everything possible" to put an end to sexual abuses by Roman Catholic priests. The event was attended by over 1,500 priests, the Agence France Presse reported.

"In admitting men to priestly ministry and in their formation we will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey," the 83-year-old pontiff, himself accused of helping to cover-up some of the abuses in the past, said.

Earlier in the day, the Pope had defended celibacy in Catholic priesthood, saying that it has nothing to do with the sexual abuses committed by clerics.

A US-based advocacy group composed of victims of the abuses and their supporters, however, have dismissed the apology as a vague statement does not address the root cause of the problem. "Any Church promises of action on abuse and cover-up are inherently problematic because of the Church's ancient, unhealthy monarchical structure," Barbara Blaine , president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said in a statement:

Taiwan's Chen receives commutation of sentence

A High Court Taiwan upheld the conviction of former president Chen Shui-ban on Friday, but commuted his life sentence to 20 years, according to the Huffington Post. His lawyers said they will file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

Chen, who has been held in a jail in Taipei for the past seventeen months, was convicted by a Taipei court of amassing $12.15 million through bribery and embezzlement of the special presidential fund. His wife, Wu Shu-chen, was also sentenced to twenty years in prison on similar charges. 

If his appeal in the Supreme Court fails, he can file further appeals in the Council of Grand Justices, Taiwan's court of last resort. The incumbent president may pardon him, but only after all his legal options have been exhausted. As president, Chen was known as an advocate of Taiwanese independence.

Israel to set up panel on flotilla raid.

Israel is expected to set up an investigative panel today to pursue an inquiry on its attack of a Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla on international waters last week. The said attack, which killed nine pro-Palestinian activists, including a 19-year-old peace worker, was carried out on the pretext of blocking supposed smuggling of arms to the Gaza-based Hamas militant group. 

The panel, a response to international outrage over the flotilla incident, will include a retired Israeli Supreme Court judge and observers from the United States and the European Union, according to a report by the Christian Science Monitor.

Israel, with the support of ally Egypt, has been imposing a blockade on Gaza after it came under the control of the militant group Hamas in 2007. Hamas, one of the two main Palestinian group (the other being the more moderate Fatah), has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel and launched several artillery attacks against Israeli settlements near the border with Gaza. 

New Japanese PM warns of Greece-level economic collapse

In his first policy speech before the Japanese parliament on Thursday, newly-elected Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned that Japan might be headed for economic meltdown similar to the fate of Greece if the ballooning debt is not addressed through tough measures. Japan's debt, at 200 percent of its GDP, dwarfs that of Greece.

Kan, who was elected after his predecessor, Yukio Hatoyama, resigned for failing to fulfill his campaign promise of moving an American base out of Okinawa, said his new government will lay the groundwork for addressing the country's economic woes. Among his steps to achieve this is to raise the consumption tax, a thorny issue for the Japanese electorate.

These policies is a deviation from the previous government's populist approach to governance. Kan has hinted that his government might have to abandon the campaign populist promises of Hatoyama last year-- free tuition for all high schools, toll-free expressways and monthly allowances for all Japanese children-- in favor of fiscal conservatism.