September 24, 2014 Edition

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday, September 23, dismissed Sandiganbayan Justice Gregory Ong after finding him guilty of gross misconduct, dishonesty, and impropriety. The High Court voted 8-5 with two abstentions. The ruling also forfeits all his retirement benefits. Rappler first linked Ong to Napoles in August 2013 at the height of the pork barrel scandal. Ong initially denied knowing Napoles, who was a respondent in a Kevlar helmet case filed before Ong’s fourth division at the Sandiganbayan. Ong’s name was subsequently mentioned in various affidavits submitted to the Senate by pork barrel scam whistleblowers Benhur Luy and Marina Sula. Ong was reported to have bargained with the Justices the Supreme Court for a “graceful exit.”

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A US court sentenced Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law and former Al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith to life in prison on Tuesday, September 23 for plotting to kill Americans and providing support to terrorists. Before the sentence was handed down in a US federal courtroom, Abu Ghaith spoke in Arabic through a translator to say the only judgment he would accept was that of God. Ghaith is the highest ranking Al-Qaeda leader ever held in a prison on US soil. On September 11, 2001, four hijacked planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed in the deadliest attack on US soil.

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon opened the world’s largest gathering on climate change by calling on 120 world leaders to go beyond rhetoric, and commit to a “meaningful” climate agreement in 2015. The UN chief said the delegates of the UN Climate Summit that he convened must “set the world on a new course” to respond to “the defining issue of our age.” “I am asking you to lead. We must cut emissions. Science says they must peak by 2020, and decline sharply thereafter. By the end of this century we must be carbon neutral. We must not emit more carbon than our planet can absorb,” Ban said in New York City on Tuesday, September 23. World leaders, minus China and India, are at the United Nations to discuss the steps the world needs to take to mitigate the impact of climate change on developed and developing economies.

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President Benigno Aquino III outlined the country’s vision for sourcing energy needs from renewable energy at the UN Climate Summit on Tuesday, September 23. Aquino said the Philippines aims to transition to renewable energy but needs funds and technology from the international community. Aquino also said the Philippines is address climate change “to the maximum” with limited resources. Critics of Aquino however say the government is not doing enough to address climate change, citing the continued reliance on coal power plants and other non-clean energy sources. The Philippines passed the Renewable Energy Act in 2008 to spur investment in renewable energy.

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Iran on Tuesday, September 23 unveiled a new missile-equipped drone to boost its military arsenal, as part of events marking the end of its 1980-1988 war against Iraq. “These new drones are capable of destroying different types of aircraft, including fighters, drones and helicopters,” he added, without giving technical specifications. Apart from a fast-moving ballistic weapons program, Iran has since 2010 been producing drones which the defense ministry says are capable of firing missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometers (more than 600 miles).

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Liberal Party president and Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emillio Abaya on Tuesday, September 23, dismissed the possibility of the administration party fielding a presidential candidate other than Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II in the 2016 polls. “No, honestly we do not even talk about it. We’re just dead set that Secretary Mar will be our flag bearer. No alternatives or anything,” reports quoted Abaya telling Senate reporters after a budget hearing in the Senate on Tuesday, September 23.

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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that up to 1.4 million people in Liberia and Sierra Leone could become infected with Ebola by January 2015. The estimate is based on the assumption that Ebola cases in the world’s largest outbreak to date are being underreported by a factor of 2.5. The CDC cautioned that the report was based on data in August and does not reflect current conditions. The World Health Organization (WHO) has made similar projections.

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A T-shirt bearing a slogan promoting rape drew the ire of the public on Tuesday, September 24, prompting the department store that sold them to pull them from the racks. Netizens were first alerted to the shirt by Facebook user Karen Kunawicz, which had the slogan, “It’s not rape; it’s a snuggle with a struggle.” The shirt was being sold at SM department stores. SM pulled out the shirt and issued a public apology via its social media account.

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At the Milan fashion week, the world of high fashion remains convinced it can persuade style-conscious women across the world that nipples are the new cleavage. A preponderance of sheer fabrics was one of the batons Milan picked up from New York and London as the cream of Italian creativity unveiled their womenswear collections for the spring and summer of 2015. As catwalk tendencies go, it seems safe to assume this is not one that is ripe for a transfer to the high street. Breasts, in the real world, are being driven back under cover by the ubiquity of smartphone cameras and the infinite memory of the Internet. And as one Spanish style editor confided to AFP: “It’s okay if you are as flat as a pancake like the models and no one’s even going to notice. No real woman wants everything wibbling (sic) about on public display.”

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Retail mega-brand Bench issued an apology on Tuesday, September 23, for “offensive elements” in its ‘The Naked Truth’ fashion show on Saturday. The company made the apology after a public backlash against features in the show that critics said demeaned the dignity of women. Among other elements, the show featured actor Coco Martin holding a rope wrapped around a woman standing on all four limbs. Bench said the criticism will serve as a lesson for their next show.

Read the full story on Rappler.