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Philippine authorities detain more than 160 people over suspected cybercrime operation

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine authorities raided a suspected illegal online gaming and cyberscam complex in a central province and took into custody more than 160 people — mostly Chinese and Indonesians — who were committing internet-based crimes, officials said Sunday.

The raid on Saturday by more than 100 government agents, backed by military intelligence, on a resort compound in Lapu-Lapu city was part of an ongoing crackdown after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a ban in July on widespread — and mostly Chinese-run — online gaming operations that cater mostly to clients in China, where illegal gambling is banned.

Marcos said then that the massive illegal gambling operations have ignored Philippine laws with largescale violations of regulations and also committed other crimes, including financial scams, human trafficking, torture, kidnappings and murder.

The raid at the Tourist Garden Resort, which has 10 buildings with swimming pools, karaoke bars and restaurants, came after the Indonesian Embassy in Manila requested the rescue of eight Indonesians who were reportedly forced to work in the online gaming hub, according to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.

At least 162 foreign nationals “were found working in three separate scam farms within the compound,” the commission said without elaborating. Such crimes include fraudulent love, gaming and investment schemes online that have defrauded victims of large amounts of money, according to Philippine officials.

The 83 Chinese, 70 Indonesians, 6 Myanmar nationals, 2 Taiwanese and a Malaysian will be flown to Manila to face an investigation by the Bureau of Immigration and possible deportation, it added.

The owner of the hotel compound was arrested and could face criminal complaints, including for harboring illegally staying foreigners, the commission and immigration officials said.

“We will suggest to the authorities to file cases against resort owners who allow their properties to be used by illegal aliens in their covert operations,” Tansingco said. “This will serve as a warning to those who might attempt to start illegal online gambling operations.”

Marcos’s move to ban the Chinese-run online gambling outfits — estimated to number more than 400 across the Philippines and believed to be employing tens of thousands of Chinese and Southeast Asian nationals — was welcomed by Beijing.

It has led to the shutdown of several sprawling complexes where authorities suspect thousands of Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesians and others mostly from Southeast Asia have been illegally recruited and forced to work in oppressive conditions.

Philippine authorities have also been tracking down a dismissed mayor of a small town in Tarlac province north of Manila, Alice Guo, who apparently left the country in July after the Philippine Senate ordered her arrest after she failed to appear at public hearings where allegations against her were being investigated, including her alleged links to a large online gambling complex near the town hall.

She has also been accused of fraudulently hiding her Chinese nationality to be able to run for a public office that is reserved for Filipino citizens.

Guo, who is believed to be hiding in Indonesia, has denied any wrongdoing but has been dismissed from her post for grave misconduct by the Ombudsman, an agency that investigates and prosecutes government officials accused of crimes, including graft and corruption.

Philippine senators say the massive online gambling industry has flourished across the country largely due to corruption in government regulatory agencies and big payoffs to officials.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Alberta unveils new municipal election and political party rules |

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Alberta’s Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver has unveiled new municipal election and political party rules. The rules make sweeping changes, including regulations new municipal political parties in Edmonton and Calgary will have to follow ahead of next year’s municipal election. The government says these rules will make local elections more transparent. (Oct. 18, 2024)



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One Direction was the internet’s first boy band, and Liam Payne its grounding force

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Liam Payne’s voice is the first one heard in the culture-shifting boy band One Direction’s debut single: “What Makes You Beautiful” launches into a bouncy guitar riff, a cheeky and borderline gratuitous cowbell and then, Payne.

“You’re insecure, don’t know what for / You’re turning heads when you walk through the door,” he sings, in a few words assuring a cross-section of generations that he’s got your back, girl, and you should like yourself a little bit more.

Payne, who died Wednesday after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at just 31, was also the last solo voice on the band’s final single, “History” — effectively opening and closing the monolithic run of one of the biggest boy bands of all time.

While the exact circumstances of his death remain unclear — Buenos Aires police said in a statement that Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room,” although they didn’t offer details on how they established that or whether it was intentional — in life, Payne was a critical part of the internet’s first boy band, one that secured an indelible place in the hearts of millennial and Gen Z fans.

How One Direction became the internet’s first boy band

Before One Direction became One Direction, its members auditioned for the U.K.’s “The X Factor” separately. The judges decided to put five promising, but not yet excellent, boys into a group. They were Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Payne, who together finished third in the 2010 competition.

As Rolling Stone contributing editor Rob Sheffield points out, it was an “unprecedented” way for a boy band to get their start.

“They were sort of assigned to be together. And you don’t expect longevity out of that situation. Honestly, you don’t even expect one good pop record to come out of that situation,” he says. And yet, not only did it work, but One Direction essentially created “a new template for pop stardom, really.”

The show allowed Day 1 fans to follow their career before their official 2011 launch with “What Makes You Beautiful.” Nascent fans could use rising social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr to find community, draw attention to the group and, in the earliest days, speak directly to the members.

“I honestly made a Twitter so that I could keep up with One Direction, and that’s how I made so many different friends,” says Gabrielle Kopera, 28, a fan from California who remembers the band hosting livestreams and chats. “Sometimes they would say something back and it was so much fun. I feel like that fan interaction doesn’t even happen anymore.”

That feeling of accessibility reinforced the group’s personality and relationship with fans, says Maura Johnston, a freelance music writer and Boston College adjunct instructor.

“The fact that they came up on this British TV show and they became this worldwide phenomenon, I don’t think that would have happened as acutely and as quickly and as immersive without social media, without Twitter or without people being able to mobilize around the globe,” she says.

One Direction and their fans

Millennial and Gen Z audiences practically grew up with One Direction, but the band was truly ubiquitous. That, Johnston says, is at least partially attributable to arriving in a very different media environment from today’s.

“It was a lot more focused,” she says of the early 2010s. “Algorithmic sorting of stuff hadn’t really taken hold. So, there was this broader, mass approach. … They were one of the last gasps of that mass phenomenon, that anyone of any age, even if they weren’t a fan, had to take notice to.”

But it takes more than omnipresence to cultivate a loyal fanbase. And there were myriad reasons why listeners were attracted to One Direction.

“They were five very different musical personalities, along with five very different personalities,” says Sheffield.

They broke the rules associated with traditional boy bands, too: “They co-wrote many of their songs. They didn’t do, you know, corny, choreographed steps on stage,” he said.

After the news of Payne’s death, Kopera says she “got so many messages from people I haven’t talked to in years reaching out because I think everyone kind of realized that it does feel like we just lost a family member.”

That sentiment was mirrored in the masses of fans who gathered Wednesday outside Buenos Aires’ Casa Sur Hotel, feeding a burgeoning makeshift memorial of flowers, candles and notes as police stood guard.

“I’ve always loved One Direction since I was little,” said Juana Relh, 18, outside Payne’s hotel. “To see that he died and that there will never be another reunion of the boys is unbelievable, it kills me.”

Liam Payne’s place in the band, and its legacy

Payne was a “brooding” older brother-type in One Direction, says Johnston. He also co-wrote many songs, especially in their later career — like the Fleetwood Mac-channeling “What A Feeling” and “Fireproof.”

“He was this grounding force in the band,” Johnston says.

In an Instagram tribute, Tomlinson called Payne “the most vital part of One Direction.”

“His experience from a young age, his perfect pitch, his stage presence, his gift for writing. The list goes on. Thank you for shaping us Liam,” he wrote.

“I always remember that he was the responsible and the sensible one of the group, and I feel like he wore his heart on his sleeve,” Kopera says.

Payne had recently been vocal about struggling with alcoholism, posting a YouTube video in July 2023 where he said he had been sober for six months after receiving treatment. Buenos Aires police said they found clonazepam — a central nervous system depressant — and other over-the-counter drugs in Payne’s hotel room, along with a whiskey bottle in the courtyard where he was found.

“Looking at what happened to Liam, it just makes you feel even more sad, that it just feels like he needed help,” Kopera says. “And it’s so scary to think about how the entertainment industry can just, like, eat up artists.”

After One Direction disbanded in 2016, Payne’s solo career — a single R&B-pop album in 2019, “LP1,” and a number of singles here and there — never took off the same way as some of his bandmates. He was “the least successful,” Sheffield says. “It’s safe to say that on the terms that he was going for, he didn’t really find what he wanted to do.”

“It’s hard, transitioning from being a boy bander to be a pop star,” Johnston says.

At Payne’s solo shows, Sheffield explains, “He would show a little montage of One Direction performing, which is the kind of thing you don’t do when you’re starting out as a solo artist. But fans took that in the spirit it was offered, which is a very generous statement that he’s like, ‘Yep, you’re here because of this history that we share, and I’m here because of that same history.’”

Despite Payne’s struggles and the tragedy of his death, Kopera is confident “his legacy is going to always point back to One Direction.”

For fans, the same is true.

“When I look back on One Direction, I’m like, that was my girlhood. One Direction was the soundtrack to growing up, and I’m so thankful for it,” she says. “They really were just a group of normal boys.”

____

AP journalist Brooke Lefferts contributed to this report.



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Fledgling Northern Soccer League expected to announce first player signings soon

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The Northern Super League will likely start rolling out player signing announcements next week but its full schedule isn’t expected until early next year, according to co-founder Diana Matheson.

The former Canadian international said the fledgling six-team women’s pro league, which is scheduled to kick off in April, is having to wait on others for the full schedule although an update on the start and end of the season plus transfer window information is expected soon.

“The reality is we share venues with other teams. We’re either second, third or fourth tenant in some places,” Matheson explained.

The new league has to wait for the CFL to sort out its schedule and broadcast information, so the full NSL schedule likely won’t come out until late January or early February.

“It’s a starting point. We’ll get better,” said Matheson,

In some cases, as in the PWHL, teams may also play several games outside their primary venue, which adds to the complexity.

Matheson said teams have already started signing players, with news to follow.

“Player announcements will just keep coming until February-March,” she said. “We operate, as you know, in a global market. All the players out there are under contract right now so there’ll probably be some incredible Canadian stories signed early that you’ll start to learn about.

“And then the reality is the clubs actually get more leverage over players and agents the closer we get to the season so there’ll be some patience of clubs to sign players too, to sign the strongest possible rosters across the league from Day 1, the kickoff in April. And then we’re in market and we’re competing against the rest of the world.”

Matheson said there will be no requirement in the new league to play a certain number of young players, at least in its early stages. The 20- to 25-woman team rosters will be limited to seven internationals.

Matheson is headed to Spain next to help with the Canadian women’s team.

Sixth-ranked Canada will be coached by committee for the Oct. 25 friendly with No. 3 Spain in Almendralejo, Spain. With coach Bev Priestman suspended for a year in the wake of the Olympic drone-spying scandal, the coaching will be handled by returning assistant coaches Andy Spence, Jen Herst and Neil Wood.

Katie Collar, head coach of Whitecap FC Girls Elite, will serve as interim technical assistant and Maryse Bard-Martel as interim performance analyst.

The 40-year-old Matheson, who won 206 caps for Canada in a senior career that stretched from 2003 to 2020, is serving in an interim team support role, “providing leadership and serving as a resource for both staff and players.”

Matheson said it is likely a “one-off … as someone who has lived the program on the players’ side.”

But she said it was “an honour” to be part of the Canadian setup — and also a chance to answer any questions from players about the new league.

The NSL league will kick off with teams in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal. Ottawa and Halifax.

Matheson hopes veteran midfielder Desiree Scott, who is returning at the end of the NWSL season, can play a role with the new Canadian women’s league — hopefully when her native Winnipeg joins the circuit.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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