00:00Good Tuesday afternoon, I am William Theo here for PTV News Now.
00:08Tops on our stories for this afternoon.
00:12Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, through his legal counsel, asked the House Quad Committee
00:18to take a rain check on his no-show today for the panel's hearing on the thousands
00:22of alleged extrajudicial killings during his war on illegal drugs.
00:28The former President, through his lawyer Martin Delgra, III, cited poor health for his decision
00:34to skip today's hearing, even though he made it clear since last week of his intent
00:39to attend and testify under oath.
00:41Duterte has been cited by former PCSO Chairman and ex-Davao City Police Chief Rohingya Garma
00:48of putting up a reward system for the capture or neutralization of illegal drug pushers
00:54or personalities.
00:56A claim retired Lt. Col. Jovi Espinido insisted in on his testimony in August when the panel
01:03began its work.
01:05Still, Duterte's counsel Martin Delgra III assured everyone of Duterte's intent to
01:10attend the session, preferably after the days of the dead holidays.
01:17It was an unannounced trip he made yesterday, but U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin flew
01:22to Kyiv to personally assure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the Biden administration
01:29will get Ukraine what it needs to sustain its 32-month resistance against Russia's
01:34invasive designs.
01:36But Austin stopped short of guaranteeing or granting Zelensky's fervent wish for long-range
01:42U.S.-made missiles that could strike military targets way deep inside Russian cities and
01:47towns or bringing up Zelensky's victory plan that calls for Ukraine's outright membership
01:53into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO.
01:57And although Austin brought with him the latest trench in military aid worth 400 million dollars
02:04to include armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons, ammunitions for rockets and artillery fire
02:10and mortar systems and rounds, no new weaponry, particularly the ones in Kyiv's wish list,
02:16was provided.
02:18By not acceding to Kyiv or Zelensky's wishes for long-range missiles and weaponry, Washington
02:23is tacitly making it clear it wants no war with Russia and will not risk supplying ballistic
02:30missiles to Ukraine that Russia will surely respond to.
02:36Their group or demographic represents less than a tenth of America's electorate, but
02:41most of them are registered voters who go out to cast their votes.
02:45Pence presidential candidates have always sought and wooed them during the stomp, but
02:51this year the Teamsters did not endorse the Democratic Party's bet and other workers'
02:56unions have been shifting towards former President Donald Trump.
03:00One such, the casino workers' union in Sin City, who have warmed up to Trump's promise
03:05not to tax their gratuities or tips as they make, as VOA's Katherine Gibson reports.
03:14At a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris, excitement among union workers for her plan
03:23to end taxes on tips or gratuities that workers receive.
03:32I know that Vice President Kamala Harris has a plan, a clear plan to end federal taxes
03:37on tips for us service workers here in Nevada.
03:41That's right, that's right.
03:47And that Donald Trump pretending he is the tipped worker's savior is a dangerous lie.
03:55Former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump has also visited the city that
04:01relies on the service industry to promote his plan of no taxes on tips for casino dealers,
04:09waitresses and housekeepers.
04:12That is going to be adored by the employees, by all of the employees, particularly that
04:19don't have salaries and that they work on tips, that's going to be loved by them.
04:25Trump has also earned the support of the Las Vegas Police Department.
04:29The majority of our citizens trust law enforcement and so if law enforcement says, hey, we believe
04:35this person has our best interests at heart, that they're going to keep you safe, that
04:38they're going to try and make our economy thrive, that people trust what we say.
04:42Gramas has spoken about Trump's support for law enforcement at numerous rallies.
04:48A man like Donald Trump and his campaign has always stood by us and said, no, I'm not going
04:52to bend to the winds of politics.
04:57The endorsement of the tens of thousands of union workers employed in Nevada is eagerly
05:02sought by presidential candidates.
05:05Gramas also earned the endorsement of the local Teamsters Union, but the National Association
05:11of Freight Drivers and Warehouse Workers declined to endorse either presidential candidate.
05:19Some voters here in Nevada see that as an important sign.
05:23Well, they always, always went Democratic.
05:28So now if they're not doing Democratic, that means they must be leaning towards who?
05:34Trump.
05:36But the Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas did endorse Harris.
05:41Working class voters are, are smart.
05:43They're not dumb and they, they are a little skeptical, but the problem with President
05:47Trump is that he lies and he lies a lot.
05:51However, Vice President Harris, this is part of an overall program to tackle the cost of
05:56living.
05:59And they're knocking on doors to let voters know.
06:03We're just conversing for Kamala Harris.
06:05We're all voting for her.
06:06Big corporations coming in and price gouging us on food, gas, you know, rent.
06:13So having, you know, the right candidate in office, you know, telling them the correct
06:18information, what I know as facts that, you know, Kamala is going to be there for us,
06:23the middle class, the union members.
06:25Union members here in Nevada, one of just a handful of swing states that decide the
06:30presidential election could end up casting the deciding vote.
06:36Catherine Gipson in Las Vegas, Nevada, FOA News.
06:43And that is a wrap for this afternoon's program.
06:46Join us anew later for tonight's late breaking stories and our Baggio City news on the Cordilleras.
06:52Always stay connected by catching the news right here.
06:55I am William Theo and thank you for watching PTV News Now.
07:00See you next time.
07:01Bye.
