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Manny Pacquiao put on a brave fight against Cuban Yordenis Ugas, however the Cuban managed after twelve rounds to kept his WBA welterweight championship belt after all three judges voted him the winner against the Filipino southpaw at the end of 12 rounds. Although the Cuban came in a short notice when IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence, Jr. had to withdraw, Ugas had the advantage of reach, weight, height and at 35 was seven years younger than the Packman. Ugas was announced as Pacquiao's new opponent, and the Cuban had beaten American Abel Ramos for the vacant WBA regular welterweight title last September and was elevated to WBA super champion. This was after Pacquiao was stripped of the belt because of inactivity given he had not fought since July 2019. Ugas was originally set to make his first title defense against Fabian Maidana on the Aug. 21 undercard but the Argentine also withdrew through injury, which opened the door for Ugas to be promoted from the undercard to the main event. Afterwards at the T Mobil Arena in Las Vegas, Pacquiao was asked if his next fight might be to stand for President of the Philippines, and his answer was that an announcement would be made next month. One thing they will never be able to take away from this boxing legend from the Philippines is over 20 magnificent years at the top.

The Biden administration is belatedly taking action to evacuate Afghans who helped the U.S. military. But it’s far short of what America has done in the past. US Embassy in Saigon and Kabul Memories of the chaos back in Saigon in 1978 echo today as people fight to leave Afghanistan in fear of their lives. It is not known how many SE Asian people, including Vietnamese are stuck in Afghanistan today, but all countries are struggling to evacuate their citizens leading to more chaos. It is hard not to see the similarities in these photos, as people try to get into the airport to escape. The difference is the first photo was taken in Saigon years ago while the second photo was taken this week in Kabul. Despite President Joe Biden’s public optimism on Afghanistan’s stability in the aftermath of the full U.S. troop withdrawal early this year, the prognosis isn’t looking great as Afghanistan has collapsed like a pack of cards. The US and British forces left thinking the Afgan miltary would keep order, and their intelligence was completly wrong. Not only is there chaos in the streets, as even the Taliban seem uninterested in keeping controlling of the panicked citizens, but with the airport shut down it is very difficult to see how the thousands of immigrants can be evacuated safely. People cling to plane at Kabul Airport The initial effort now is being focused on those who had direct ties to the U.S. war effort and were at the greatest risk but quickly pivoted to anyone under threat of persecution. Similar problems Existed in 1978 During the end of the Vietnam war, at the forefront of those initiatives was James Purcell, who helped create the State Department’s Bureau of Refugee Programs. He was quoted back then saying, “Our job was to help save what we thought would be millions after the war,” Purcell added, “We didn’t have time to look at individual cases.” The Vietnam experience highlights one of the main logistical hurdles for a potential wide-ranging Afghan refugee program, which is that there’s a pretty narrow window of time to process refugees on the ground there before that becomes largely untenable, and there isn’t a wealth of obvious regional allies to lean on. In a press briefing about the Priority 2 program this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken all but said that that would be it, and other would-be refugees would just have to go through the standard, long-winded refugee program, starting with a referral from the United Nations. Ultimately, the administration seems hesitant to even consider something of similar ambition to the Vietnam resettlement for the same reason that it’s gone all in on a “root causes” strategy of preventing humanitarian migration from Central America—it sees its preeminent responsibility as helping from afar and the calamities the U.S. set in motion as fundamentally other people’s problem now. It is doubtful that there would be as great an interest in a large-scale program for Afghans as there was for Indochina. James Purcell was quoted as saying, "America had lost the war in Indochina, in Vietnam, and we had a quite special responsibility to see to its end.” We’re arguably leaving Afghanistan even worse off and less stable than Vietnam, but it’s the sense of duty that’s changed. While the political fallout for President Gerald Ford was limited back in 1975, it's unclear what impact will be felt by President Biden, despite the war's unpopularity at home. "I have little doubt that it's going to hurt Biden," says Christopher Phelps, an associate professor of American Studies at the University of Nottingham. "It's going to be viewed as a loss, and possibly as a disgrace - it really was his call, fairly or not."

MANILA – Despite cases of the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus, President Rodrigo Duterte has not changed his stance about allowing Filipinos to return home. Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Duterte continues to push for the unimpeded return of all Filipinos. The Department of Foreign Affairs, through the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs, facilitates the repatriation of 150 distressed Filipinos from Bangladesh on July 15, 2021. The returnees received USD200 reintegration assistance on top of free plane fares, quarantine facility stay, and Covid-19 testing. (Photo courtesy of DFA) “For President Duterte, they are our fellow Filipinos. If they want to return home, it is their right. We cannot stop our fellowmen from returning. That’s unfair to them,” Nograles said in a radio interview on Sunday July 25th, 2021. The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed 55 new cases of the Delta variant also on Sunday, bringing to 119 the total cases in the country. The cases were from the latest batch of samples sequenced by the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center. Nograles assured the national government has set in place testing and quarantine protocols. “We have protocols in place. These include a 10-day quarantine from those coming from non-green countries or non-green jurisdictions. And then they get swabbed on the seventh day,” he added. Green countries and jurisdictions are those classified by the DOH as “low risk” based on disease incidence rate. Fully vaccinated travelers from green countries and jurisdictions must carry their official documentation of full vaccination. Nograles said current testing and quarantine protocols are “effective” in preventing further transmission of the new variant. Earlier, Duterte said he is eyeing stricter health measures against the Delta variant. "The reported local cases in the country is a cause for serious alarm and concern. Again, it's redundant but it's good as any warning that can be given to people. We may need to impose stricter restrictions to avoid mass gathering and prevent super spreader events," he said in his July 19 public address. Of the new Delta variant infections, 37 are local cases and 17 are returning overseas Filipinos. The Delta coronavirus variant was first detected in India and found to be 60 percent more infectious than the Alpha (United Kingdom) variant. Delta caused the surge in Covid-19 cases in other countries, according to reports. (PNA)

Surprise surprise a popular Vietnamese raw pork snack apparently contains a natural bacteria, and according to Scientists it can kill other bacteria, which could help reduce global food waste and protect lives. The fermented pork snack, Nem Chua, although eaten raw but does not cause food poisoning when prepared correctly. Apparently it is because friendly bacteria that thrives in the fermented meat, makes a special compound that destroys more dangerous bacteria.. Bacteriocins form holes in the membranes of target bacteria. During a trip to Vietnam, researchers from RMIT Melbourne, started to grow curious when they heard that some locals could eat nem chua, a raw pork item, without getting sick. And this was also despite eating it in hot, humid conditions. They were naturally curious, so when they started to study similar food, the Australian scientists discovered it contained Lactiplantibacillus plantarum B21AG, a lactic acid bacterium that can produce bacteriocins, a class of compound synthesized by bacteria that can kill other bacteria. The scientists subsequently sequenced the genome of the bacteriocin-producing bacterium and published it. According to Saigoneer, the newly discovered bateriocin is called plantacyclin B21AG, and if used as a food preservative, it could have profound effects on limiting global food waste, as food could be kept longer and in less-stable conditions. Food Waste Can Cost Millions Food waste costs industrialized economies approximately US$680 billion per year, while consuming almost a quarter of agricultural water and producing 8% of global greenhouse emissions. Meanwhile, food-borne diseases such as listeria and salmonella infections put millions of lives at risk. Nem chua is a traditional snack made from pulverized raw pork that's fermented. The pork paste is mixed with spices, including thính, a powder made of roasted rice; and then wrapped in fruit leaves before being tightly covered in banana leaves. Bacteriocins are nothing new to scientists. Professor Oliver Jones, Associate Dean of Biosciences and Food Technology at RMIT, explains: “Scientists have known about these bacteria-killing compounds for many years but the challenge is to produce them in large enough quantities to be used by the food industry." Until now, the bacteriocins that have been discovered are fragile and can often only combat one or two types of harmful bacteria. Plantacyclin B21AG, by contrast, can withstand all extremes found in food processing environments. It can survive both high and low pH levels and even be heated to 90°C for 20 minutes. Moreover, they are able to kill a wide range of harmful bacteria. More study is needed to determine if the compound could be used as a natural preservative to prevent food spoilage and illness. "Through this new research, we’ve identified the right growth conditions that would enable us to make it in large amounts, potentially at industrial scales. With further development, we hope this could be an effective, safe and all-natural solution for both food waste and food-borne disease," says Jones from RMIT Melbourne.