Malacañang said September 7 will be observed as a “national day of mourning” in honor of Iglesia ni Cristo’s executive minister Eraño Manalo, who passed away last Monday due to cardiopulmonary arrest.

Mrs. Arroyo said flags in government offices will be flown at half-mast for the spiritual leader’s burial.

The declaration of September 21 is in observance of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Both Sept. 7 and 21 are Mondays. - Aie Balagtas See, GMANews.TV

The King of Pop was mourned by celebrities including Elizabeth Taylor, Barry Bonds and Macaulay Culkin at a private service outside the elaborate Forest Lawn Glendale mausoleum where Jackson was to be entombed.

As the hour-and-a-half service ended, Jackson’s mother appeared extremely weary and had to be helped to her car, according to one guest at the service. The person, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the day, said the service was simple but touching and emotional.

Gladys Knight sang a gospel song and a minister spoke briefly, although there was no reading of Scripture. Friends of the Jackson family were invited to speak and several did, telling of their admiration of the Jacksons, who raised themselves up from poverty.

They recalled Michael Jackson’s sense of humor — if he were here today, they said, he would be laughing and smiling.

Afterward, the mourners stood and followed the crowned, lushly flower-draped casket as his five brothers carried it into the mausoleum. Each wore a bright red tie and a single crystal-studded glove.

Inside, Knight performed the hymn “Our Father,” which moved many to tears. The guest said Katherine Jackson had a difficult time going into the mausoleum; she was overcome, turned back, and it wasn’t clear if she went in at all.

Jackson’s daughter Paris, 10, cried as the group entered the mausoleum, but she and brothers Prince Michael, 12, and Prince Michael II, 7, known as Blanket, were composed through most of the service.

There were two oversized portraits of a youthful, vibrant Jackson mounted next to the casket amid displays of white lilies and roses. At Jackson’s lavish public memorial, red roses covered his casket.

No explanation was given to mourners for the service’s delay. The 77-year-old Taylor and others were left waiting in the late summer heat, with the temperature stuck at 90 degrees just before sunset. Some mourners fanned themselves with programs for the service.

Police had escorted the family’s motorcade of 31 cars, including Rolls-Royces and Cadillacs, from Encino to Forest Lawn, about a 20-minute journey, with the hearse bearing Jackson’s body at the end.

The invitation notice indicated the service would begin promptly at 7 p.m.; it began closer to 8:30.

About 250 seats were arranged for mourners over artificial turf laid roadside at the mausoleum, and a vivid orange moon, a mark of the devastating wildfire about 10 miles distant, hung over the cemetery.

A large, blimp-like inflated light, the type used in film and television production, and a boom camera hovered over the seating area placed in front of the elaborate marble mausoleum. The equipment raised the possibility that the footage would be used for the Jackson concert documentary “This Is It,” or perhaps the Jackson brothers’ upcoming reality show.

Nearly double the number of media credentials, 440, were issued to reporters and film crews who remained at a distance from the service and behind barricades.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who gave a rousing eulogy at Jackson’s public memorial two months ago, posted on his Twitter account — while the service was still under way — that he made a repeat performance Thursday night.

“I just spoke at the conclusion of tributes,” Sharpton wrote. “Gladys Knight sang her heart out. Now we prepare to lay him to rest.”

The few clusters of fans who gathered around the secure perimeter that encircled the cemetery entrance struggled to see much. Maria Martinez, 25, a fan from Riverside, Calif., who was joined by a dozen other Jackson admirers at a gas station near the security perimeter, gave a handful of pink flowers to a man with an invitation driving into the funeral.

“Can you please put these flowers on his grave?” she told him. Martinez said she picked them from a nearby park.

“They were small and ugly, but I did that with my heart,” she said. “I’m not going to be able to get close, so this is as close as I could get to him.”

The man consented, adding, “God bless.”

Glendale police said all was going smoothly early in the evening and there were no arrests.

Jackson will share eternity at Forest Lawn with the likes of Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and W.C. Fields, entombed alongside them in the mausoleum that will be all but off-limits to adoring fans who might otherwise turn the pop star’s grave into a shrine.

The closest the public will be able to get to Jackson’s vault is a portion of the mausoleum that displays “The Last Supper Window,” a life-size stained-glass re-creation of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece. Several 10-minute presentations about the window are held regularly 365 days a year, but most of the building is restricted.

Lisa Burk, who blogs about celebrity graves at www.gravehunting.com, said the Jackson family chose well for his final resting place if it was privacy they were after.

“It’s impossible to get in there,” Burk said. “It was before, and it will be worse now.”

The Jackson family had booked an Italian restaurant in Pasadena for a gathering Thursday night, said Alex Carr, assistant operations manager at Villa Sorriso, in the city’s Old Town district. She wouldn’t specify the menu or number of people, but said the entire restaurant, which can accommodate 200 guests, had been reserved for the event and that security would be present.

The ceremony ends months of speculation that the singer’s body would be buried at Neverland Ranch, in part to make the property a Graceland-style attraction. An amended copy of Jackson’s death certificate was filed Thursday in Los Angeles County to reflect Forest Lawn as his final resting place.

In court on Wednesday, it was disclosed that 12 burial spaces were being purchased by Jackson’s estate at Forest Lawn Glendale, about eight miles north of downtown Los Angeles, but no details were offered on how they would be used.

The King of Pop died a drug-induced death June 25 at age 50 as he was about to embark on a comeback attempt. The coroner’s office has labeled the death a homicide, and Jackson’s death certificate lists “injection by another” as the cause.

Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson’s personal physician, told detectives he gave the singer a series of sedatives and the powerful anesthetic propofol to help him sleep. But prosecutors are still investigating, and no charges have been filed. - AP ]]> http://www.fhay1980.com/?feed=rss2&p=83 5 http://www.fhay1980.com/?p=80 http://www.fhay1980.com/?p=80#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:52:14 +0000 admin http://www.fhay1980.com/?p=80 After he passed on the torch to Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III as the Liberal Party’s standard bearer in the 2010 elections, Sen. Manuel Roxas II on Wednesday said that he is open to becoming Aquino’s running mate or to just seek reelection in next year’s polls.

A day after he “sacrificed” his shot at the presidency, Roxas said that he sees no reason why he should not continue serving the public. Roxas’ term as a senator expires in 2010.

“Walang dahilan kung bakit ‘di ko iko-continue. Bukas ako diyan (vice presidency or senatorial bid), pero hindi akin ang desisyon, kasi kusang-loob kong sinabi kay Noynoy na (siya) ang magiging torchbearer ng forces of reform,” Roxas said in an interview on GMA News’ Unang Hirit.

(I do not see any reason why I should not continue. I am open to seeking the vice presidency or reelection, but the decision is not mine because I wholeheartedly told Noynoy that he will be the torchbearer of the forces of reform.)

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Nonoy has yet to announce whether he would indeed seek the presidency following Roxas’ decision. The only son of former President Corazon Aquino and the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. will reportedly make an announcement later in the day.

Roxas likewise stressed that his giving way to Aquino came with no strings attached. He added that he and Aquino made no “transaction” that he would slide down as Noynoy’s running mate.

“Hindi ako pumasok sa public service para sa ibang dahilan kundi magsilbi. ‘Wag nating bahiran ito ng horse-trading (I entered public service for the sole purpose of being of service. Let us not taint it with horse-trading),” Roxas said.

In a separate interview on dzBB radio, Roxas said that in elections, some politicians eyeing the presidency make “deals” with their possible running mates. “Usually, sa pulitiko, sasabihin, mag-slide ka na. Mag-vice ka na lang sa akin (Usually, some politicians tell other aspirants, slide down and become my vice president).”

‘Hardest sacrifice’

While he reiterated that giving up his presidential bid was the hardest sacrifice he had to make in his life, Roxas said he felt at peace because he was confident that he knew he did the right thing even if his decision saddened his loved ones.

In the television interview, Roxas said that when he got off the stage after making his announcement Tuesday night, his mother, Judy Araneta-Roxas, told him she was “proud” of him.

“Sinabi niya, ‘I’m proud of you.’ ‘Di mo maitatanggal yung may emotion, may lungkot, may disappointment. Pero yung pinakamabigat ay nung bumababa ako sa stage, at sinabi niya, ‘I’m proud of you.’”

(My mother told me she was proud of me. Of course, there were the emotions, the sadness, and disappointment. But what’s important is she told me she was proud of me.)

Roxas also said that his fiancée, broadcaster Korina Sanchez, assured him that she has her continued support.

“She (Sanchez) said, ‘I love you no matter what,’” Roxas said.

Roxas also said that Liberal Party chairman emeritus and former Senate President Jovito Salonga told him that when his “compass” is pointing to the nation’s welfare, he could not go wrong.

“Hindi ka magkakamali basta para sa bansa ang direksyon mo (You cannot go wrong when you’re directed to helping the country),” Roxas quoted Salong as saying.

SAN FRANCISCO – Google Inc.’s Gmail service was knocked offline Tuesday in a severe outage that the company said affected a “majority” of users.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the disruption, which led Gmail users to get an “Unable to reach Gmail” error message as their computers tried repeatedly to reconnect to the service.

Google representatives did not immediately return messages left by The Associated Press.

Mountain View-based Google notified users in a posting on the company’s Web site that problems with Gmail surfaced Monday, wiping out e-mail to a “small subset” of users. On Tuesday afternoon the company said an outage affecting “a majority of users” had hit Gmail. Google didn’t say whether the outages were related.

Google said Tuesday afternoon that it fixed the problem.

Though occasional disruptions are common, widespread outages involving Google’s services are rare. They are becoming a bigger threat to Google as it tries to sell more of its services to businesses.

Saying that somebody “has to make a sacrifice,” Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas III has given way to his party-mate Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino Jr. as the standard bearer of the Liberal Party in the 2010 presidential elections.

Roxas announced in an early evening press conference Tuesday at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City that he wanted to unite his party by letting former president Corazon Aquino’s son run in next year’s polls.

“Noynoy Aquino and I share the outrage in the mess we are all in… I want to make a difference…I am the president of the Liberal party. It is within my power…to make the power for the forces to unite,” Roxas said. -GMANews.TV

The NBA announced today that J.R. Smith of the Denver Nuggets has been suspended without pay for seven games for pleading guilty to reckless driving and Jason Richardson of the Phoenix Suns has been suspended without pay for two games for pleading guilty to driving under the influence.

Smith’s violation came in connection with a 2007 accident resulting in the death of a passenger in Smith’s car, and for prior and subsequent motor vehicle offenses. Smith’s suspension will commence with the first game of the 2009-10 NBA regular season for which he is eligible and physically able to play.

Richardson will be suspended for the first two games of the 2009-10 NBA regular season for which he is eligible and physically able to play.

NEW YORK (CNN)  — Nearly a year after surviving a plane crash in South Carolina, disc jockey Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein was found dead in his New York apartment Friday afternoon, his publicist said. He was 36.
Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein was one of two people who survived a 2008 plane crash in South Carolina.

Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein was one of two people who survived a 2008 plane crash in South Carolina.

“The circumstances surrounding his death are unclear,” his publicist, Jenni Weinman, said in a statement confirming the performer’s death. “Out of respect for his family and loved ones, please respect their privacy at this time.”

Goldstein was found unconscious and unresponsive in his lower Manhattan apartment Friday afternoon, New York police said. The cause of death would be determined by medical examiners, but “there is no criminality suspected at this time,” a police statement reported.

Goldstein and Travis Barker, the former drummer for rock band Blink-182, were the only survivors of a September plane crash in South Carolina that left both critically injured. Four others aboard the plane were killed when the Learjet skidded off a runway during takeoff from Columbia.

“Daily I live with the guilt and grief of what happened that night, what I saw, who was lost and why I was spared,” he wrote in a December post on his Web site. “I have no words to express the pain that comes with knowing four people died, while I lived.”

In addition to spinning beats at clubs and festivals, Goldstein was known for dating reality-TV star Nicole Richie and singer-actress Mandy Moore.
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“I am absolutely heartbroken,” Moore said in a statement. “For those of us lucky enough to have known him, Adam radiated a contagious exuberance for life and also personified the very definition of a true friend. To say that he will be missed beyond words is an understatement. My heart goes out to his loved ones.”

At the time of his death, he had been working on an MTV show about drug addiction that had been scheduled to debut in October. Goldstein himself had been a crack cocaine addict who said he wanted the show to help others recover.

In an unprecedented group pledge Sunday morning, the country’s presidential and vice presidential aspirants sought to inject hope in an election process marked by an untested automated system and widespread fears of cheating.

Thirteen hopefuls for the 2010 elections pledged to ensure clean and honest polls and vowed never to use public office for personal gain if they are elected.

They took the oath during GMA-7’s “Eleksyon 2010: Tatakbo Ka Ba?” fun run for a clean and honest elections held at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, which was broadcast live on television and via livestream on GMANews.TV.

Those who took the oath before Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair Jose Melo were former President Joseph Estrada, Senators Manuel Roxas II, Manuel Villar Jr., Francis Pangilinan, Francis Escudero, Loren Legarda, Richard Gordon, and Jamby Madrigal.

Also taking their oaths were Jesus is Lord Movement leader Bro. Eddie Villanueva, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chair Bayani Fernando, Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, environmentalist Nicanor Perlas, and Ang Kapatiran party’s JC delos Reyes.

Writings on the Wall
Before they took their oaths, the presidential and vice presidential hopefuls wrote messages on a “Unity Wall.” Here’s what they wrote:

Binay: Ipagmalaki mo ikaw ay Pilipino
Delos Reyes: For hope and a new beginning
Escudero: Para sa kabataang Pilipino
Estrada: Walang tutulong sa Pilipino kundi kapwa Pilipino
Fernando: Let’s get it done
Gordon: For a change in me.
Madrigal: For God and country
Pangilinan: Rock the Vote!
Perlas: Tayong lahat ang magbabago ng Pilipinas
Roxas: Para sa bansa
Villanueva: Ang tunay na pagbabago
Villar: Para sa malinis na halalan
“Hindi ako gagamit ng salapi sa maling paraan o ng armas at anumang uri ng dahas para masiguro and pagkapanalo ko sa eleksyon (I will not use funds in the wrong way nor use firearms or any other form of violence to ensure victory in the elections),” read part of the prepared oath, which the 13 signed before Melo, National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) and Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) head Henrietta de Villa, and Philippine Bar Association chair Federico Agcaoili.

The oath also read, “Hindi ko gagamitin ang kaban ng bayan o anumang pag-aari ng Pilipinas para sa aking personal na interes (I will not use public funds or any other property of the Philippines for my personal interest).”

Those “perceived candidates” who did not attend the event were Vice President Noli de Castro, who was on an official trip to China; Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., who relayed that they were both ill; Pampanga governor Ed Panlilio, who informed the network that he was preoccupied with the vote recount in his province; Isabela Governor Grace Padaca, who was in Belgium; and Senator Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III, who said he is “still undecided” on whether to run in next year’s elections.

We hope to awaken the consciousness of our people on how important electing the right people to public offices is,” said Felipe L. Gozon, president, chairman, and chief executive officer of GMA Network. “Elections are a very serious matter.”

Gozon added that he was “more than satisfied” with the turnout of the event.

After taking their oath before Comelec chair Melo, representatives of some of the country’s leading civic groups, media and election watchdogs, and a live television audience of millions, the hopefuls affixed their signatures to their written pledges.

“Puwede nating singilin ang mga tatakbo sa kanilang sinumpaan. This is our collective challenge to aspirants to do what’s right,” said Marissa Flores, GMA Network’s senior vice president for news and public affairs.

Aside from the political personalities’ oath-taking, 5,000 people participated in the fun run that took place beforehand.

Dubbed “Eleksyon 2010 na, Tatakbo Ka Ba? – Hamon Para sa Kaayusan ng Pilipinas,” the one-day fun run kicked off GMA Network’s awareness campaign to promote clean and honest polls in 2010. with reports from Sophia Dedace and Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV

Click here to view a large image of pledge signed by 2010 hopefuls.

Couture-Nogueira a match worth the wait

By Dave Meltzer,

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Randy Couture, who meet in Saturday night’s UFC 102 main event, are two of the three (with Fedor Emelianenko) most decorated and accomplished heavyweights in mixed martial arts history.

Couture, the former UFC heavyweight champion, and Nogueira, the former PRIDE champ, nearly met on several occasions. Then as now, a straight scouting report would look something like this:

Both have decent technical boxing and footwork. Couture’s head movement is superior. Historically, Nogueira has the better chin and probably quicker hand speed, although that may not be the case today. Neither has strong one-punch knockout power. Couture has excellent clinch work and dirty boxing, using his skills garnered in international Greco-Roman wrestling competition as his base and using it to fire off shots from close range. Couture’s wrestling is superior and he is great at keeping top position and punching from that position, but he is not a strong submission finisher. But if the fight goes to the ground, Couture has to watch out for Nogueira’s great submission game, perhaps the best of any heavyweight in history.

But most likely, for both men, their biggest challenge on Saturday night won’t be the skills of their opponent. It’ll be the realities of themselves.

Couture is 46. Sure, those who cite his age as the reason to expect his physical decline have been wrong for a decade now. People scoffed at his age and wrote him off from the early stages of his career in 1997. One day, they’ll be correct.

Nogueira is 33, a year younger than Couture was when he debuted. But Nogueira has been in more wars along the way.

If you watched both men’s most recent fight, even though both lost, Couture put up a competitive showing in losing the UFC heavyweight title to Brock Lesnar on Nov. 15. Lesnar was also 60 pounds heavier going into the cage. Lesnar’s strength, wrestling, was the same as Couture, only Lesnar is younger and stronger.

Nogueira, on the other hand, was not competitive with Frank Mir in his last fight on Dec. 27, when he was stopped for the first time in his career, on a second-round TKO. Granted, he was nowhere near 100 percent, coming off a staph infection and a knee injury that would have led most sane men to cancel the fight.

His movement wasn’t there, his reactions were slow, and the chin that withstood ridiculous punishment in the past was no longer there as he was dropped three times by Mir. But even in his prior fight with Tim Sylvia, which he won via submission, he was knocked down and was slower to recover than he had been in the past.

The key to Nogueira’s success is his ability to survive major beatings, wait for the opponent to either tire or make a mistake, then capitalize with a quick submission. That happened with Sylvia, Mirko Cro Cop and Bob Sapp in three of his most memorable wins.

Nogueira was run over by a truck at the age of 11 and was not expected to survive. He spent four days in a coma and was hospitalized for nearly a year. Nogueira has noted that, after going through that ordeal, being knocked around by big punchers is not as traumatic to him as to most people.

“I’m 33 years old and I have a lot to do in my career still,” said Nogueira. “I know I’m still young and feel healthy,” he said. “I still feel my body when I fight, I’m very competitive. You know I love the sport. You know I think the sport is just getting that right now the UFC is growing very much and I’m very happy to be part of that. And for sure I want to have a couple of more fights and show a lot of good skills for the fans for sure.”

Even after comparing skills and wills, which both men have displayed in abundance their entire career, the key to this fight may be simply who has the most left physically.

“You know, bad fights happen,” said Nogueira [31-5-1, 1 no-contest], who was the first PRIDE heavyweight champion. “You know it’s not every fight you’re going to be 100 percent.”

“In the last fight I had a bad injury in my left knee,” he said. “And you know, I couldn’t feel like I could train for the fight. Three weeks before the fight I was in the hospital [with the staph infection]. And that’s a low point for sure in my career.”

Nogueira claims he’s rejuvenated and feels the best that he has in the past four years. Couture (16-9, but that is a misleading record for a man who has been in a record 16 championship fights during his career) looks in incredible condition for any age, and claims he’s still improving as a fighter.

“I have to perform way better then the last match,” said Nogueira. “We feel like I worked [trained] way better than I worked in my last match, too. You know, I feel like I had to work more. I took the fight very seriously. You know my opponent is very good, very sharp. So, for sure, I feel like I have to do way better than I did in the last match. That’s how I’m feeling for this match. I worked very hard. I worked maybe two or three times more than I worked in my last match.”

If that’s the case, this will be a heavyweight showdown that could put the winner in line for a championship match. This fight never took place previously because during what most would consider each man’s peak, they fought for different organizations. Couture was a three-time heavyweight champion in UFC, and Nogueira was champion, and then the longtime top heavyweight contender, in PRIDE.

However, at three points they came close. On February 24, 2001, when both men were in an eight-man one-night tournament with the RINGS organization in Japan, they were on opposite sides of the bracketing and seemingly on a collision course to meet for the championship. But Couture was upset in the semifinals by Valentijn Overeem, the older brother of Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem. Nogueira then beat Overeem to win the tournament.

In late 2007, they were on target to meet for the UFC heavyweight title Couture held, but Couture quit the organization before the fight was signed over problems not related to facing Nogueira. Nogueira won the interim title in Couture’s absence, beating Sylvia.

When Couture and UFC settled their differences, many expected the two to meet again as UFC devised a four-man tournament, with Mir and Lesnar, to unify the titles, but instead Couture and Nogueira both lost.

Advance ticket sales for Saturday’s match were disappointing, with a little more than 10,000 sold as of early in the week in a nearly 20,000-seat arena. But sales picked up after discount offers this week. The gate should still be in the $2 million range, which will be a combat sports record for the Northwest.

It’s a lock Couture will be the overwhelming crowd favorite even though Nogueira came off as nothing but likeable to the UFC audience during a season as a coach on “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show.

Couture grew up in Everett, Wash., and lived 13 years of his adult life in the Portland area where he coached wrestling at Oregon State and had a long run as one of the best Greco-Roman wrestlers in the country. He established the original Team Quest with fellow national champion wrestlers Matt Lindland and Dan Henderson in nearby Gresham, Ore., before leaving for Las Vegas a few years back.