Timeline: DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo’s day in Cebu

Saturday, 11:45 a.m. - DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo arrived in Cebu on board Cebu Pacific Air for the ground-breaking of the new PNP Regional Training Center in Consolacion

1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. - Robredo dropped by CICC in Mandaue City to deliver a keynote speech at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Community Investigative Support national summit

Bieber, Gaga, Obama join Beyonce for campaign

NEW YORK -- Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Michelle Obama are giving a helping hand to Beyonce.

Obama and the pop stars have signed on to support the global campaign for World Humanitarian Day, which Beyonce marked Sunday with the release of a new video for her song "I Was Here," filmed at the United Nations in New York last week.

Madonna sued in Russia for supporting gays

MOSCOW -- Some Russian activists have sued Madonna for millions of dollars, claiming they were offended by her support for gay rights during a recent concert in St. Petersburg.

Anti-gay sentiment is strong in Russia. In St. Petersburg, a law passed in February makes it illegal to promote homosexuality to minors, and the author of that law has pointed to the presence of children as young as 12 at Madonna's concert on August 9.

Assange makes 1st public appearance in 2 months

LONDON -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange called on President Barack Obama to end a so-called "witch hunt" against his secret-spilling website, appearing in public Sunday for the first time since he took refuge two months ago inside Ecuador's Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex crimes allegations.

Police arrest 5 Taiwanese in drug lab

MANILA -- Philippine police said they have arrested five Taiwanese men who allegedly operated a clandestine laboratory that produced illegal methamphethamine hydrochloride.

Senior Superintendent Prudencio Tom Banas said about 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of suspected methamphethamine was found in a house where the Taiwanese were arrested Sunday in Paranaque city in the capital region.

Dive operations for missing Robredo, 2 others suspended

MANILA (Updated 7:37 p.m.) -- Authorities suspended Sunday night the dive operations off Masbate for Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and two others who remained missing more than 24 hours after their plane crashed Saturday.

Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas assured, however, that while scuba divers pulled out Sunday evening due to visibility problems and strong current, “surface search and rescue will continue all night.”

Sudan plane crash kills a minister, others

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Sudan's state news agency said a plane carrying government officials has crashed in the country's south, killing the minister of endowment and several other people on board.

SUNA said the plane crashed "due to harsh weather conditions" on Sunday and that the minister of endowment, Ghazi al-Sadeq, was among those killed. He was heading to the volatile South Kordofan state, which lies along the border with newly independent South Sudan, to attend a religious holiday.

'Igme' now a tropical storm

MANILA (2nd Update, 5:30 p.m.) -- The weather disturbance east of Northern Luzon intensified further Sunday afternoon but remained almost stationary for the past six hours, forecasters said.

“Igme,” which was spotted at 315 kilometers east northeast of Aparri, Cagayan as of 4 p.m. Sunday, is now a tropical storm, packing maximum winds of 65 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 80 kph.

Bomb hidden in cemetery kills 2 in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A bomb hidden in a cemetery in a southern Afghan city exploded Sunday, killing a police official and his brother as they were visiting the grave of a relative, police said.

Seven other family members were wounded in the blast in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.

More plane debris recovered; DILG chief remain missing

MANILA (Updated 2:13 p.m.) -- More debris of the twin-engine Piper Seneca aircraft carrying Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo were recovered Sunday morning off Masbate where the plane crashed Saturday.

Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Mar Roxas said that as of 9 a.m. Sunday, a wing of the aircraft with number "431" was recovered.