Rappler Newscast | September 12, 2012

Today on Rappler.

• Senate President Enrile says investigating Puno may be beyond the Senate’s mandate.
• President Aquino says resigned Interior Undersecretary Puno may still be given a government position.
• The US ambassador to Libya is killed in a mob attack.

Story 1: IS PUNO PROBE BEYOND SENATE MANDATE?
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile orders the Committee on Rules to study a Senate probe on resigned Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno.
Enrile says a hearing to evaluate an office is normally a function of the Executive Department.
He says, -quote- “We might be going beyond our mandate because we will be treading in the domain of the presidency.”
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago wants Puno investigated about his alleged ties to illegal numbers game jueteng, illegal logging, and his alleged attempt to retrieve documents from the condominium of late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.
Puno resigned on September 11, but Santiago says the probe will push through on September 14.

Story 2: AQUINO STILL INCLINED TO RE-ASSIGN PUNO?
President Benigno Aquino says he is still considering giving his friend, resigned Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno, a government position.
In a chance interview with reporters, Aquino says Puno’s new job is under consideration, but it will not be in the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Senator Santiago promises to “rake Puno over the coals” if he attends a Senate probe on his alleged attempt to get documents from Robredo’s condominium.
The documents include an anomalous arms deal linked to Puno.
Aquino says he wants to continue the probe on the overpriced rifles deal.

Story 3: PUNO DAUGHTER BLOGS ABOUT HER FATHER’S PREDICAMENT
Inna Puno, daughter of resigned local and interior government undersecretary Puno, writes about the issues surrounding her father in a blog.
Inna says their family never took advantage of the so called “power” or “unique relationship with President Aquino.
She points out their family lives a simple life and will continue with the same standard of living.
She says “We still live in the same house, we have the same crew, the same cars, and the same standard of living.”
She adds, “My father is not a politician and we are not a political family.”
“We serve the Filipino people because like the President, we believe in his ‘Daang Matuwid’ or the straight road.”

Story 4: ROBREDO RECEIVES CONGRESSIONAL AWARD
The House of Representatives awards the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo the Congressional Medal of Achievement.
The House cites the late secretary for his “immeasurable contributions in promoting good governance and practicing the tents of a real democratic and participatory government.
Robredo’s widow, Leni, receives the award.
Robredo died in a plane crash off Masbate last August 18.

Story 5: LOREN IN TALKS WITH UNA’S ‘3 KINGS,’ NOT LP
Senator Loren Legarda says she will soon announce which coalition she will join when she runs for reelection.
Legarda says several have invited her.
But she says she has only talked directly with the leaders of UNA: Vice President Jejomar Binay, former President Joseph Estrada and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
Legarda says she will still run as a member of her party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

LOREN LEGARDA, PHILIPPINE SENATOR: There is no invitation from the Liberal, however, there are party-to-party talks between the NPC and the Liberal Party and I must confirm that yes there is an invitation from the UNA to be a guest candidate because they respect my being NPC.

Story 6: TROPICAL STORM SANBA STRENGTHENS
Tropical storm Karen — international codename Sanba — continues to strengthen as it moves towards the northwest.
It is last spotted 640 km east of Virac, Catanduanes.
State weather bureau Pagasa says it is not likely to move near land.
Metro Manila will have partly cloudy skies with isolated rain or thunderstorms in the evening.
Ilocos region, Mindoro, and Western Visayas will experience occasional moderate to heavy rain.

Story 7: PH TO HOST 2015 APEC SUMMIT
The Philippines will host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit scheduled in 2015.
Bali, Indonesia will be the venue for next year’s meeting, while China will host the 2014 summit.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Laura del Rosario says the government has no venue yet, adding they would need a place with at least 63 presidential suites to accommodate the dignitaries.
Boracay and Amanpulo have been suggested as possible venues.
The last time the country hosted the APEC summit was in 1996 under then President Fidel Ramos.
It was held in Subic, where the world leaders were billeted in specially-constructed villas.

Story 8: OBAMA CALLS NETANYAHU TO HEAR EXPLANATION ON IRAN WARNING
President Barack Obama calls Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he said Washington had no moral right to stop Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear program.
A US statement says the call lasted an hour, with the two leaders committed to preventing Iran from gaining nuclear capability.
It also says that contrary to reports, there was no request for Netanyahu to meet Obama.
Israeli officials say Obama snubbed Netanyahu’s request for talks on US soil.
Netanyahu criticized Washington’s refusal to set “red lines” for action on Iran’s nuclear program.
The White House says there is still time for diplomacy to change Iranian behavior, though it warns Obama is prepared to use force to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

Story 9: US ENVOY TO LIBYA KILLED IN MOB ATTACK
The Libyan interior ministry says United States ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens and 3 officials were killed when a mob attacked the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi.
Stevens, a career officer with the US foreign service, has been in Libya less than four months.
The ambassador was killed when an armed mob protesting a film deemed offensive to Islam attacks the embassy.
The film at the centre of the anti-US protests was made by an Israeli-American who describes Islam as a “cancer” and shows the Prophet Mohammed sleeping with women.
A spokesman for the Libyan interior ministry says grenades were fired at the building.
This happens hours after Islamists also storm Washington’s embassy in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney calls the Obama administration’s response to violent protests in Egypt and Libya “disgraceful”.
Romney accuses the administration of sympathizing with the Islamist demonstrators.
The US embassy in Cairo condemns “continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.”
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says “we are heartbroken by this terrible loss.”

Story 10: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 4, more young people in rich countries are unemployed.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says unemployment rate in advanced countries rose from 7.9% in June to 8% in July.
Close to 50 million were ranked unemployed, of which about 12 million were classified as youths.
The highest unemployment rate was recorded in Spain at 25.1%, followed by Portugal at 15.7%, and Ireland at 14.9%.
The rates in Australia, Austria, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico and the Netherlands were at 5.5%.

At number 6, after acknowledging that Facebook had a “disappointing” stock market launch, its founder Mark Zuckerberg says mobile devices “are the future”.
He says “it is really clear from the stats and his own personal intuition that a lot of energy in the ecosystem is going to mobile, not desktop computers.”
After Zuckerberg’s remarks, after-hours trading gained 3.14% to rise at a little over $20.

At number 7, UN goodwill ambassador and actress Angelina Jolie visits a refugee tent camp in Jordan near the Syrian border and spoke about the horrors that children have seen in Syria.
Hoping to call attention to the Syrian crisis, Jolie went to the border escorted by the Jordanian military.
Jolie talks about the number of innocent children she met at the border who are wounded and unaccompanied – because their parents, being killed, left them on their own.
Syria’s 18-month crisis has killed more than 20,000 people.

At number 9, There are now only two countries in the world where Coca-Cola, cannot be bought or sold officially: Cuba and North Korea because of a US trade embargo.
Coke moved out of Cuba in the 1960s after Fidel Castro’s government started seizing private assets.
Recently, reports say Coke has started selling in Burma after US trade sanctions imposed in 1962 were lifted.
Historian Tom Standage says “Coca-Cola is the nearest thing to capitalism in a bottle.”
Coke rival PepsiCo has also disclosed plans of selling its products in Burma.

– Rappler.com