WHEN people are going through financial difficulty and are unable to pay their bills, their first reaction is often to ignore their debts and avoid contact with creditors. They think that by doing this, somehow the creditors will simply give up and go away. Then one day the problem blows up in their face. Then…
SINCE the enactment of Section 204(l) in 2009, USCIS has issued official guidance to implement the provisions of the “Surviving Relatives Law.” USCIS has amended the USCIS’ Adjudicators’ Field Manual (AFM) to provide consistency in adjudications under the Surviving Relatives Law at USCIS offices throughout the Country. USCIS has been taking immediate action on many…
AT THE center of crime is a brotherhood of hard men, who fight for whatever justice is possible on this deadly world. They’re called cops, whose battle for a little law and order is joined by a vivid cast of supporting players—biased prosecutors, prejudiced judges, vicious bureaucracy, meddlesome politicians, hapless victims. reluctant accusers, the bungling…
LOS ANGELES — A year after Typhoon Haiyan slammed the Tacloban shoreline, the Philippines and other worldwide organizations have been working vigorously to continue rebuilding and recovering the land from the disastrous event. In an effort to raise awareness and to encourage ongoing typhoon relief support still needed, Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell from…
LOS ANGELES —Mayor Eric Garcetti will leave the country this weekend for a trade mission in Asia, with stops in China, South Korea and Japan. The countries, respectively, are the city’s top three trading partners. The goal of the visit is to increase tourism and encourage companies in the countries to invest in Los Angeles….
On Thursday, Nov. 13, Honda said that a Malaysian driver died after her airbag exploded in a July accident, marking the fifth fatality related to faulty equipment and the first outside the United States. After the incident, the automaker announced a recall of 170,000 vehicles worldwide due to potentially defective airbags. No cars sold in…
Every year, Americans throw away tons of plastic. In 2012, Americans dumped 32 million tons of plastic into the trash, according to an Environmental Protection Agency report. While many plastic products are recyclable—and a percentage of what was disposed in 2012 was recycled—there are also many items, such as flower pots and styrofoam containers, that…
Art authorities hold firm in their pronouncement that a person’s truest expression is through her dance and music…and ‘though the voice may imitate sounds but body language never lies… for dancing is the hidden language of the soul in either joy or pain.’ Then came Virginia Favila Alvarez… born to dance and raised to propagate…
The December 2014 Visa Bulletin provides more great news for Filipinos, as the priority dates in the various family and employment categories continue to move forward. Each month, the Visa Office of the State Department publishes, in the Visa Bulletin, the priority dates for that particular month, for the various family and employment based categories….
LOS ANGELES —Mayor Eric Garcetti will leave the country this weekend for a trade mission in Asia, with stops in China, South Korea and Japan. The countries, respectively, are the city’s top three trading partners. The goal of the visit is to increase tourism and encourage companies in the countries to invest in Los Angeles….
LOS ANGELES — A year after Typhoon Haiyan slammed the Tacloban shoreline, the Philippines and other worldwide organizations have been working vigorously to continue rebuilding and recovering the land from the disastrous event. In an effort to raise awareness and to encourage ongoing typhoon relief support still needed, Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell from…
UP to 5 million undocumented immigrants could soon be granted amnesty through an executive order President Barack Obama is expected to announce when he returns to the United States from Asia. When the President will reveal his plan remains unknown, but reports say it could be as early as next Friday, November 21. The protection…
A LANDMARK new ruling on Nov. 12 by a federal appeals panel could change California’s laws for the right to bear arms. The Second Amendment case decision by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals would bar advocacy groups and even law enforcement officials from gaining “intervener status” to continue challenging the gun ruling, which could…
WITH the consecutive wins in beauty pageants, Filipinos have put our beauty queens in tremendous pressure to bring home the crown. Unfortunately, that is not the case for this year’s representative to the Miss International pageant, Bianca Guidotti. Instead, it was Puerto Rico’s Valerie Hernandez who was declared as winner during the pageant’s coronation held…
Since Sir Alexander Fleming, a Scottish biologist, pharmacologist, and botanist (a 1945 Nobel laureate), first discovered penicillin in 1923, hundreds of more potent wider spectrum antibiotics have been added to the medical armamentarium. These life-saving drugs have been a boon to medical care and benefited hundreds of million patients around the globe. However, like many…
YouTube announced on Wednesday, Nov. 12 that it will launch a paid service called “Music Key” that will allow customers to stream millions of high quality songs, ad-free starting at a promotional rate of $7.99 per month. “You’ve watched, shared, remixed, invented, parodied and whatevered your favorite songs, making YouTube the ultimate place for artists…
A LANDMARK new ruling on Nov. 12 by a federal appeals panel could change California’s laws for the right to bear arms. The Second Amendment case decision by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals would bar advocacy groups and even law enforcement officials from gaining “intervener status” to continue challenging the gun ruling, which could…
When California voters approved Proposition 47 on Nov. 4, California became the first state in the country to reduce drug possession offenses to misdemeanors. Advocates of the legislation say the measure reduces the state’s overpopulated prisons and support schools, while opponents say it could lead to serious crime. But just days after the passage of…
Ceasar’s Palace announced its proposal to build a $1 billion, fully integrated resort in Manila, at the side of idle government property next to Ninoy Aquino’s International Airport (NAIA)’s Terminal 2. Steve Tight, Caesar’s president for international development, said that the American casino giant—made bigger through a merger with the legendary Harrah’s hotel on the…
Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama reached a deal on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the next several years. “As the world’s two largest economies, energy consumers and emitters of greenhouse gases, we have a special responsibility to lead the global effort against…
DURING World War II, more than 250,000 Filipinos signed up to fight alongside the United States of America. Nearly 70 years later, many remain unsatisfied with the lack of formal recognition of Filipinos who volunteered for the war. “It’s very painful for us,” said Arturo Garcia, national coordinator of Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV)….
Have you ever felt so lifeless, as if each waking day is a struggle to put on different kinds of emotions? Your muscles, nerves, and sinew are so unmotivated and uninspired—the best they can produce for you is a poker face. Maybe, it is because things have become routinary that you have long forgotten where…
US officials planned to unveil an improved healthcare insurance website over the weekend, hoping for a smoother second enrollment period under President Obama’s health reform plan. The reconfigured, improved insurance marketplace website went live on Sunday night before the three-month open enrollment period begins on Nov. 15, allowing existing policyholders to change their coverage. The HealthCare.gov website is…
CIVILIZATION is most apparent when people recognize that the world is ruled by principle and not by force. Today’s challenges give an opening to effective means of resolving crises and creating an avenue of working towards a common goal. International relations are regulated by universally accepted and legal norms concerning people’s welfare, security, trade, finance,…
WHEN will President Barack Obama fulfill his promise as a presidential candidate that he would reform America’s broken immigration system? This is the question many kababayans ask, along with the rest of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Many of them continue to be in hiding, fearful of being deported, hoping against…
Beneficiary spouse of marriage based immigrant petition’s where the marriage was less than 2 years old at the time of the immigrant visa or status was approved are issued a 2 year conditional green card. In order for these immigrants to obtain their permanent green card, the immigrant has to either file a joint petition…
WHEN it rains, it pours. When push comes to shove, and your back is up against the wall, you may think of many desperate things that you can do to relieve the enormous emotional and mental stress that you are going through. But I can tell for certain as I have seen literally thousands of…
When California voters approved Proposition 47 on Nov. 4, California became the first state in the country to reduce drug possession offenses to misdemeanors. Advocates of the legislation say the measure reduces the state’s overpopulated prisons and support schools, while opponents say it could lead to serious crime. But just days after the passage of…
Everywhere people are talking about themselves, discussing their doings, their loves, their fighting, their poems, their goals, their music, their meeting their movies, their millions, their misfortunes—their celebrity (or notoriety) is so vast, so clamorous, so exasperating…it suffocates, obsesses us in a way. I am a bore when I report what bores others—as some interviews…
Fil-Am leaders renew call for TPS WHEN super typhoon Haiyan—or locally known as Yolanda—struck the Philippines on Nov. 8, 2013, it left devastating consequences that continue to plague the country even after a year had passed. More than 6,000 people were killed, about 30,000 were injured and more than 4 million were displaced in Tacloban…
