Philippines & China Send Warship to Disputed Seas

The tensions is fueled again for China vs. Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam and ASEAN Nation

Breaking News: The Philippines has relaunched an U.S. Coast Guard Hamilton Cutter Class as its biggest and most modern warship to guard potentially oil-rich waters that are at the center of a dispute with China.

President Benigno Aquino III witnessed the commissioning of the 3,390-ton Philippine navy frigate BRP Gregorio del Pilar in an austere ceremony Wednesday (December 14, 2011)  that he said symbolized his country's struggle to modernize its underfunded military despite many obstacles.

Aquino said the Philippines cannot guard its territorial waters and islands "with dilapidated vessels and old and faulty equipment."

The newly repainted warship can carry a surveillance helicopter and is mounted with anti-aircraft guns. The navy says it will be deployed near contested waters in the South China Sea.

China sends patrol ship to disputed waters

China has sent its largest patrol ship to the East China Sea to guard the country's territorial rights, state media said Wednesday (December 14, 2011), in a move likely to fuel tensions over the disputed waters.

China has repeatedly locked horns with its neighbors Japan and Taiwan over a group of uninhabited islands -- called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in Chinese -- which Beijing claims are in its territorial waters.

Japan and Taiwan also claim sovereignty over the area, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas.

The 3,000-tonne Haijian 50 began its maiden voyage on Tuesday, the Global Times reported, citing the head of the East China Sea branch of the country's marine law enforcement agency.

The vessel will visit Rixiang Rock, Suyan Rock and the offshore oil and gas fields of Chunxiao and Pinghu, as well as China-Japan joint development zones, Liu Zhendong was quoted saying.

The Chinese-made vessel is equipped with the country's "most advanced marine technology and is capable of accommodating China's Z9A helicopters", the report said.

It will conduct joint patrols with the Haijian 66, a 1,350-tonne ship deployed in March.

Disputes over the East China Sea and South China Sea have intensified recently, with Chinese President Hu Jintao earlier this month urging the navy to prepare for military combat and a US campaign to assert itself as a Pacific power.

Several Asian nations have competing claims over parts of the South China Sea, believed to encompass huge oil and gas reserves, while China claims it all.

Separately, Beijing and Seoul are involved in a dispute over the Yellow Sea, where a South Korean coastguard was stabbed to death by a Chinese fisherman this week.

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‘God particle’: Scientists close in on evidence How God Created the Universe

Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research have narrowed the range where the hypothetical "God particle" created at the beginning of the universe may be found, closing in on evidence of its existence.

The particle, also known as Higgs boson, most likely has a mass in the region between 116 and 130 gigaelectronvolts of energy being studied by one research team and between 115 and 127 gigaelectronvolts under observation by another team, according to data presented today by the Geneva-based research institute. Independent measurements point to a range of 124 to 126 gigaelectronvolts, researchers said.

The Higgs boson, named after U.K. physicist Peter Higgs, in theory allows other particles to have mass. Finding the Higgs boson could be a gateway to discovering new physics, such as superparticles or dark matter, part of the universe's building material that went missing at the beginning of time. While the scientists found "tantalizing hints" of the particle, it's too early to say whether it exists, the scientists said.

No Conclusions

"We cannot conclude anything at this stage," said Fabiola Gianotti, a spokeswoman for the institute's ATLAS experiment, one of the two research teams. "We need more study and more data. We will not need to wait long for enough data and can look forward to resolving this puzzle in 2012."

Scientists at the research institute, also known as CERN, are using the Large Hadron Collider, a 27-kilometer (17-mile) circuit of magnets running under the French-Swiss border, to smash beams of atomic particles and record the resulting collisions. The researchers have been creating conditions as close as possible to the so-called Big Bang that formed the universe 13.7 billion years ago in their search for the Higgs boson.

"Higgs bosons, if they exist, are very short-lived and can decay in many different ways," CERN said in a statement. "Discovery relies on observing the particles they decay into, rather than the Higgs itself."

Both groups exclude a broad range of possible Higgs masses, from 115 to 600 times the weight of a proton, Lawrence Sulak, chairman emeritus of Boston University's physics department, said via e-mail.

Significant Hints

"The significance of the hints reported today could turn into proof beyond a doubt come next October," Sulak said.

If the researchers don't find the particle by the end of next year, they will exclude its existence, Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director-general of CERN, told reporters in Geneva in October. Failing to find the Higgs boson would lend credibility to alternate theories that explain the mechanism that allows particles to have mass.

The results of further experiments will have implications for theories on dark matter, which makes up about 23 percent of the universe. Such research could help scientists gain a better understanding of the universe and how galaxies hold together, according to CERN.

CERN said in September that an experiment showed a neutrino beam appears to have moved faster than the speed of light. The finding, if confirmed, would contradict Albert Einstein, who said nothing can exceed light speed.

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Comelec Chair - Abalos Jailed for Electoral Fraud - ordered by Gloria Arroyo

Former Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos, center, walks out of a regional trial court after surrendering with his lawyers Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011 in suburban Pasay City, south of Manila, Philippines. Police arrested Abalos who has been charged with elections fraud with already-detained former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. (Pat Roque / AP)

(AP)  MANILA, Philippines — Police arrested the Philippines' former elections chairman Tuesday on charges he aided the vote fraud allegedly ordered by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Former Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos surrendered to a Manila regional trial court in suburban Pasay city and was placed under arrest, police Supt. Samuel Turla said. He will be held in a police detention facility, unlike Arroyo, who is under arrest in a government hospital.

Police took his fingerprints and mugshots before detaining Abalos at a regional police headquarters in the capital, Turla said.

Abalos said he surrendered to underscore his innocence to charges that he played a role in rigging 2007 senatorial elections to ensure the victory of Arroyo's candidates in a Muslim autonomous region then governed by her political ally.

President Benigno Aquino III succeeded Arroyo last year after a landslide election victory due in part to his promise to fight corruption and crushing poverty. He has blamed Arroyo for a decade of scandals that eroded public trust in government and held back foreign investment.

Arroyo, 64, has denied any wrongdoing and accused her successor of using "black propaganda" to damage her image. She was arrested last month at a private hospital and later was moved to a public veterans' hospital amid calls for her to be treated like other crime suspects.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who arrived in Manila Tuesday for talks with Aquino and his counterpart, Albert del Rosario, said that by strongly dealing with past cases of corruption, countries like the Philippines would discourage future cases of graft.

"You can only deter future possible acts of corruption if you're seen to be robust in dealing with the past," Natalegawa said in a news conference, adding he was glad that the Philippines, like his country, was taking steps to root out graft.

On Monday, Aquino's allies in the House of Representatives impeached Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona on eight complaints of alleged corruption and that court he led improperly favored Arroyo. She appointed him chief justice shortly before her presidential term ended last year.

Corona vowed to fight back. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said Corona is likely to face trial there in January after Congress returns from a monthlong Christmas break.

Aquino thanked lawmakers Tuesday for impeaching Corona.

"We are now going through a process to stop the continued destruction by a wayward magistrate of the sacred institution that is the Supreme Court," Aquino said.

But Supreme Court spokesman Midas Marquez called Corona's impeachment "an assault on all the rights, power and privilege of the entire judiciary," which he said was being "forced to surrender its constitutionally mandated powers and functions to the whim and caprice of political machinations."

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Associated Press writers Teresa Cerojano and Oliver Teves contributed to this report.

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