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Friday, August 28, 2026
Memorial of Saint Augustine of Hippo!
“FAITH IS TO BELIEVE WHAT YOU DO NOT SEE; THE REWARD OF THIS FAITH IS TO SEE WHAT YOU BELIEVE.”
- Saint Augustine of Hippo
Saint Augustine reminds us that true faith means trusting God even when we cannot see the outcome. Faith is choosing to believe in His promises, knowing that His plans are always greater than our understanding. When we remain faithful, God reveals His goodness in ways we never imagined.
Saint Augustine of Hippo,
Pray for us
A woman's guide to perimenopause
The transition to menopause can bring a range of physical and emotional changes
By Cheshire Que
(Photo: Shashwat Goyar/Pexels)
Are you in your 40s? You are now entering a crucial stage in a woman’s reproductive cycle: perimenopause. This is a period of transition from a woman’s reproductive years to menopause—a season of change that usually begins four years before the total cessation of a woman’s menstrual periods but could also begin as early as eight to 10 years before menopause.
During this period, the body undergoes significant changes due to hormonal imbalances, thus causing a myriad of emotions that may render a woman anxious or, worse, fearful.
A woman may begin to experience mood swings, anxiety, and even depression. There are also sleep disturbances brought about by night sweats and hot flashes, as well as palpitations, unexplained weight gain, especially in the belly area, irregular menses, and very heavy menstrual flow that could last longer than the usual number of days.
The interval between menstrual periods can also become as short as 21 days. Headaches and other aches and pains are also commonly experienced. Furthermore, as the production of the hormone estrogen declines, a woman’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, insulin resistance, and osteoporosis is higher.
Decreased metabolism occurs, which alters a woman’s efficiency in burning calories and fat. These changes favor visceral or abdominal fat deposition. Visceral fat causes low-grade systemic inflammation in the body, which increases damage to the heart and blood vessels, as well as targets other cells and organs in the body.
Decreased estrogen production also impacts a woman’s appetite. Estrogen helps suppress cravings. Therefore, a woman may experience food cravings during perimenopause. Left unmanaged, this could lead to weight gain and increased body fat, especially visceral fat. We all know the health implications of having excess weight.
In 2023, Hungarian Dietetic Association Secretary General Aliz Erdelyi and colleagues conducted a review on the importance of nutrition during menopause and perimenopause.
“Menopause is associated with an increased prevalence of obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, and osteoporosis. These diseases and unfavorable laboratory values, which are characteristic of this period in women, can be significantly improved by eliminating and reducing dietary risk factors,” their study states. “Changing dietary habits during perimenopause is most effectively achieved through nutrition counseling and intervention. To reduce the risk factors of all these diseases, and in the case of an already existing disease, dietary therapy led by a dietitian should be an integral part of the treatment.”
Moreover, Aliz and her colleagues emphasized that lifestyle modification greatly influences the strength, frequency, and tolerability of symptoms brought about by the hormonal changes during perimenopause and menopause.
Here are some tips on what to do to manage symptoms of perimenopause:
Find joy in soy
Soy in the form of edamame, soybeans, tofu, freeze-dried soy, and soymilk contains plant hormones, or phytoestrogens, known as isoflavones. It’s a myth that soy causes breast cancer. On the contrary, soy prevents cancer. It also alleviates symptoms of perimenopause, such as hot flashes and night sweats. Soy provides complete protein that is equal to the protein contained in animal products but without the pro-inflammatory side effects.
Therefore, soy will not cause an increase in uric acid levels. In fact, it is meat consumption, excess fat, and sugar intake that not only increase uric acid production but also prevent its proper excretion. Soy has omega-3s, which help with heart and immune health.
Eat wholesome plant foods
Consuming unhealthy fats and refined sugars from processed and ultra-processed foods worsens symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. They contribute to weight and fat gain, as well as increase the risk of developing chronic diseases.
Eating vegetables at every meal and having fruits for a snack or dessert will help quell inflammation in the body that is related to symptoms and disease conditions. Aim to eat at least one and a half to three cups of cooked vegetables (double the amount for raw leafy vegetables) and about two to three servings of fresh fruits daily. You can also consume fruits and vegetables in the form of smoothies without added sugars. For convenience, some may opt to consume freeze-dried fruits and vegetables if the availability of fresh produce is a challenge.
Move regularly and lift weights
Exercising and being physically active throughout the day is not an option. It must be scheduled and formed into a habit. Exercise is medicine. It helps build muscle mass to prevent slow metabolism, thus helping burn more fat.
Being physically active aids in the production of the mood-stabilizing hormone serotonin, which is also a precursor for the sleep hormone melatonin. Aim to have at least two and a half hours of moderate-intensity exercise per week and twice a week of strength training. You can also incorporate 10 to 15 minutes of walking two to three times a day. Stand up as much as you can. Pace even when talking on the phone. You can lift stuff, but be mindful of observing proper posture.
Practice mindful breathing and other relaxation techniques
Anxiety, palpitations, and other symptoms worsen when we forget to breathe properly. Before anxiety hits you, mindfully practice deep breathing upon waking up, before going to bed, in between work, and anytime when you feel tired or when negative emotions start to creep in.
A full inhale and full exhale done a few times will definitely help manage your symptoms. Other relaxation techniques include prayer and meditation, guided imagery, coloring and painting, basking in nature, taking walks, listening to classical music and worship songs, yoga, tai chi, singing, and more.
Practice sleep hygiene
Have a bedtime routine at least an hour before your sleeping time. Take a warm bath, wear comfortable sleepwear, ensure a cool room temperature, avoid gadgets, and avoid fighting sleepiness. Wear a sleep mask or earplugs if light and noise prevent you from getting good-quality sleep. Lastly, pray and meditate as you do deep breathing right before snoozing.
Perimenopause can be a better life journey for a woman who is willing and able to adopt positive lifestyle changes. Choose to be positively better during perimenopause.
cheshireque@gmail.com
Katrina Llegado comes home a winner after years of chasing the crown
Katrina Llegado returns to the Philippines as Miss Supranational 2026 after winning the international crown in Poland on July 31.
By Neil Ramos
Published Aug 28, 2026 06:54 pm
The newly crowned Miss Supranational 2026 arrived in Manila on August 27 and was welcomed by supporters and representatives of the Miss Philippines Organization.
Llegado’s Miss Supranational victory was her first major international pageant win.
She represented the Philippines at Reina Hispanoamericana 2019 in Bolivia, where she finished as Quinta Finalista, or fifth runner-up.
She later returned to national competition and placed in the Top 6 of Miss Universe Philippines 2025.
Llegado became only the second Filipina to win the Miss Supranational title, following Mutya Datul, who captured the crown in 2013.
During her arrival in Manila, Llegado thanked Filipino supporters who followed the competition and stayed up to watch her.
“Sa lahat ng sumuporta po, maraming maraming salamat! I wouldn’t be here without you guys. Maraming maraming salamat sa pagpupuyat at walang sawang suporta. Finally, nakamit na po natin ang korona,” she said.
“This is all for you and I’m so, so happy to celebrate this with you,” she added.
Llegado said she was still adjusting to the reality of winning the international title.
“It feels surreal. Hindi pa din po ako makapaniwala, and it’s a dream come true. And now it’s a reality, and now I’m so happy. Thank you so much,” she said.
Her homecoming activities will include various appearances and celebrations until September 7.
A homecoming parade is also expected to be held for the beauty queen.
DFA monitors Nepal flash floods as more than 1,300 reported missing including a Filipino traveler
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The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday, August 27, that Philippine officials are actively monitoring massive flash floods in northern Nepal as authorities work to determine whether Filipino nationals were affected, including reports of a Filipino traveler missing in the disaster. Read more | |
Meanwhile, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority in Nepal said 826 people were missing and the death toll from the country’s flash floods rose to 165 on Thursday. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV separately reported that 260 of the 558 missing people in Tibet were foreigners and two villagers were rescued. Read more |
Wetter-Knall steht bevor: „Unwetter durch schwere Gewitter“ donnern auf Bayern zu
München – Sommerwetter in Bayern – und das mit zwei Extrem-Facetten. Am Donnerstag, 27. August, wird es nochmal richtig heiß, die Temperaturen knacken vielerorts die 30-Grad-Marke. Am Freitag, 28. August, droht dann ein gänzlich anderes Bild: Laut Deutschem Wetterdienst (DWD) ziehen dann schwere Gewitter über den Freistaat hinweg.
„Sturmböen, Starkregen“ in Bayern, auch Hagel möglich – Wetter-Knall am Freitag
Laut Wetterbericht des DWD kommt am Freitag „mit Passage einer Kaltfront kühlere Atlantikluft“ nach Bayern. Und diese bringt Gewitter mit, die es wohl in sich haben. So warnen die Meteorologen vom DWD: „Am Freitag im Tagesverlauf von Westen her durchziehende Gewitter mit Sturmböen bis 80 km/h aus Nordwest und Starkregen bis 20 Liter pro Quadratmeter in einer Stunde.“ Stellenweise kommt es demnach aber auch zu „Unwettern durch schwere Gewitter mit orkanartigen Böen bis 110 km/h, Hagel bis 2 cm und heftigem Starkregen bis 30 L/qm in kurzer Zeit“.
Kleiner Lichtblick: Zwar sollen auch in der Nacht auf Samstag, 29. August, „starke Gewitter“ nachfolgen, Unwetter seien dann aber laut DWD „nahezu ausgeschlossen“. Heißt: Die stärkste Unwetterphase soll sich am Freitag tagsüber ereignen.
„Wiederholt starke Gewitter“ auch im Norden des Freistaats
Laut Warnlagebericht zu Nordbayern gibt es dort sogar schon früher erste Gewitter: „In der Nacht zum Freitag im westlichen Franken erste, meist leichte Gewitterschauer. Starkregen bis 20 Liter pro Quadratmeter in einer Stunde und starke bis stürmische Böen zwischen 50 und 70 km/h nur wenig wahrscheinlich.“
Thursday, August 27, 2026
FAITH CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS
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By Mindanao Daily News -August 27, 2026059
A person is said to buy in good faith when he or she holds an honest belief in his or her right or title to the property and has no knowledge or reason to know of any defect in the title.
Trust or reliance? What is faith for you? To say it clearly: without faith we are really nothing. Faith is belief; believe in us, beliefs in our works, talents and personalities.
We also should believe in our parents or better, in the whole family including the black sheep, who can be found everywhere. We should also believe in our friends, even sometimes it seems to become a very difficult task. A friend? A real friend? An expatriate friend…?
Without faith, we will be reaching the rock bottom. Please don’t say, it’s a likely story. The German poet Johann Christian Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1815) mentioned in his drama “Maria Stuart”: “Even the word might be dead, but faith keeps it alive.” Yes, I can live with this.
Faith and hope belong together. In his book “Through the Valley of the Kwai”, Scottish officer Ernest Gordon wrote of his years as a prisoner of World War II. The 6’2” man suffered from malaria, diphtheria, typhoid, beriberi and jungle ulcers. Many circumstances quickly plunged his weight to less than 100 pounds. Lying in the dirt of the death house, he waited to die. But every day, a fellow prisoner came to wash his wounds and to encourage him to eat parts of his own rations. As this fellow prisoner nursed Ernest back to health, he talked with the agnostic Scotsman of his own strong faith in God and showed him that, even in the midst of suffering – there is hope – and faith!
Faith is indeed tantamount to convincing and conviction. Richard Wagner, a German classical composer and poet found the following lyric: “Blessed are those people, who know how to live their life in humility and faith!”
Well, let’s even continue believing in our government. Faithful hope is loyal, reliable, exact and honorable.
Faith looks beyond the transient life with hope for all eternity. The hope we read in scripture is not a wishy-washy optimism. First and second Chapter of Thessalonians, for example, give encouragement to all Christians, who have been undergoing persecution for their faith. And, Corinthians 13:2 says: “If I have faith it can move mountains!”
"Lawless quest’
ICC PHOTO
When United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last week that the US was imposing sanctions against the president and a senior lawyer of the International Criminal Court (ICC), he had choice words for The Hague-based tribunal. It was, Rubio said, “a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate.”
That description is rich. Strip away “supranational court” and those words may very well describe not the ICC, but the regime of US President Donald Trump in Washington that is now bent on “dismantling” the tribunal, despite America not even being a member of it.
The latest White House assault against the court involves barring ICC president Tomoko Akane of Japan and trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal from entering the US and carrying out transactions in the US financial system.
Previous to this, in August 2025, other ICC personnel had also been targeted with sanctions, such as ICC Judge Kimberly Prost (Canada), Judge Nicolas Guillou (France), Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan (Fiji), and Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang (Senegal). All in all, 13 jurists have now been subjected to the US’ unprecedented campaign of intimidation and aggression against the court.
Israeli war criminals
The ICC had earlier protested the US’ actions as “a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 States Parties from all regions.”
“They constitute also an affront against the Court’s States Parties, the rules-based international order and, above all, millions of innocent victims across the world,” the court warned.
The reminder that 125 countries had signed on to the Rome Statute creating the ICC underlines the collective international resolve empowering the tribunal to investigate and prosecute war crimes and other atrocities against humanity. But why is the US so intensely hostile at a body to which it is a proud nonparty, along with the likes of Russia, Israel, China, and India?
American lawyer and human rights activist Kenneth Roth, writing in The Guardian, says that’s because “Donald Trump and his henchman, Marco Rubio, want to make the world safe for US and Israeli war criminals. No one should let them.”
Specifically, Roth pointed out that Trump became apoplectic at the court when it charged “Benjamin Netanyahu and the former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant with deliberately starving and depriving Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Israel is not a member of the ICC, but Palestine, where the alleged crimes took place, is.”
Delicate position
The ICC can hardly be accused of being one-sided against Israel, because along with the indictments against Netanyahu and Gallant in 2024, the court also issued arrest warrants for their arch enemies—top Hamas leaders Mohammed Deif, Ismail Haniyeh, and Yahya Sinwar, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Previous to this, in 2023, the ICC had also put out an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of responsibility for the unlawful deportation and transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
Based on these actions, the ICC is fulfilling its mandate of prosecuting individuals for the world’s most heinous crimes. But because Trump is ideologically allied with Netanyahu and Putin, he has deployed the formidable might of the US to what Roth calls his “lawless quest” of attempting to destroy what more than a hundred countries deem a necessary, last-resort platform for international justice and accountability.
The global community, including the Philippines, should resist this campaign. The Philippines is in a particularly delicate position in this regard, being a longtime security ally of the US. But as an earlier Inquirer editorial pointed out, “Philippine policy toward the ICC must be determined by Philippine law and Philippine interests, rather than the erratic preferences of any foreign government, however friendly or powerful.”
Pursuit of justice
And while the Philippines withdrew its membership during the Duterte administration, it must remain engaged in the pursuit of justice before the ICC by thousands of Filipino victims of the Duterte war on drugs.
Japan, another staunch US ally, has pushed back by declaring that it has consistently supported the ICC and would now provide support to Akane, a Japanese citizen. A group of Japanese parliamentarians has also urged Tokyo to protest, in the strongest terms, the US sanctions.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade also said the country “does not support sanctioning the ICC or its officials,” and reiterated that it respects “the court’s independence and the important role it plays in upholding international law.”
That is the only measure countries big and small should consider in their respective engagements with the ICC. The rest is just more capricious, increasingly authoritarian overreach by the current White House occupant.
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