Daily News Highlights – July 12, 2016 Edition

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, is set to announce an arbitral tribunal’s ruling on the case at 5 pm on Tuesday, Philippine time. For the Philippines, the core issue involves its exclusive economic zone. At stake is the right to fish – and to explore and exploit oil and other resources – in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). As then Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario put it, “It is about defending what is legitimately ours. It is about securing our children’s future.” 

Read about what’s stake in this case on Rappler.

To help you navigate the issues better, here’s a compilation of key stories revolving around the Philippines’ case against China.

The United States government has sent its former ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney to a 4-day visit to, in her own words, “start the conversation with the new Filipino government.” The US and the Duterte government started off on an awkward note after then presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte said he didn’t mind cutting off diplomatic ties with the US, to stress the point that he didn’t like the superpower meddling in Philippine affairs. As President, he’s said that it was the US that exported terrorism, not Saudi Arabia. Kenney, now counselor of the US State Department, says she will point out to officials that both countries have “a long partnership, a long friendship,” and that Washington is “ready to work together” with Manila.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Former Department of Health Secretary Enrique Ona, former Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa, and former Health Assistant Secretary Nicolas Lutero III are facing charges before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan in connection with a P392-million hospital modernization project. They are also perpetually disqualified from holding public office, with forfeiture of retirement benefits, according to the Office of the Ombudsman, which indicted them for “giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage, or preference.” 

Read the full story on Rappler.

The word war between the executive branch and and opposition Senator Leila de Lima intensified over the increase in the number of drug-related killings since the start of the Duterte administration. De Lima, as chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights had been the nemesis of then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte over alleged extrajudicial killings in the war against illegal drugs. The President urged Congress to restore the death penalty; De Lima initiates a probe into the alleged EJKs. The chief of the national police said the senator is harassing the cops, and the Solicitor General gets back of De Lima: what did you do with illegal drugs when you were justice secretary? The senator quips: why is the police reacting this way if they’re not guilty?

The proposals for changing provisions of the 1987 Constitution to shift the Philippines from to a federal system are coming in one by one. Rappler first asked you how you want to elect the delegates to the constitutional convention that will draft the new Constitution. (You can still post your comments here.) Now we ask what you think of the proposed number of autonomous states. So far, the two proposals put forward want 11 states – fewer than the Philippines’ current 18 regions.

Read the full story on Newsbreak, and engage us.
http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/139345-philippines-states-federalism

Theresa May on July 13 will become the prime minister who leads Britain into talks to quit the European Union, after her last rival in the bid to succeed David Cameron pulled out. May became the only contender after Andrea Leadsom – who had stirred a storm for suggesting she was more qualified to be premier because she had children – abruptly quit the race on July 11. Cameron later announced May would take over from him on Wednesday, when he will to go to Queen Elizabeth II and tender his resignation after one final Prime Minister’s Questions session in parliament.

Read the full story on Rappler World.

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter arrived in Baghdad on July 11 for talks with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) group and plans to recapture Mosul from the group. Carter’s unannounced visit – his 4th to Iraq since beginning his job in February 2015 – comes two days after Iraqi forces captured an airbase to the south of Mosul that is seen as an important step toward the eventual battle for the country’s second city, which has been under ISIS control since June 2014. More than two years after ISIS overran large parts of Iraq as well as territory in neighbouring Syria, Carter wants to highlight successes, even as the jihadists have fought back with devastating attacks in Iraq and abroad.

Read the full story on Rappler World.

Pope Francis named a former Fox News correspondent to head up the Vatican press office and appointed the tiny state’s first-ever female deputy spokesperson. American Greg Burke, 56, brought in by the Vatican in 2013 to overhaul its public-relations operation, will take up the post on August 1, when outgoing chief spokesman Federico Lombardi steps down. His deputy will be Spanish journalist Paloma Garcia Overo, 40, previously the Rome and Vatican correspondent for the Spanish broadcaster COPE.

Read more about Burke on Rappler World.

Japan-based messaging app Line said it could raise more than $1.0 billion in one of the year’s biggest share sales, as it makes its market debut this week. The company, looking to expand on booming popularity among smartphone users in Asia, priced its shares at a top-of-the-range 3,300 yen ($32), suggesting strong demand for the sale. Based on that price, the initial public offering will raise 115.5 billion ($1.14 billion) through the sale of 35 million shares. An option to sell more shares could put the IPO on course to raise a total of $1.3 billion.

Read the full story on Rappler Technology.

Freddie Aguilar, the internationally known Filipino folk singer who composed one of President Duterte’s campaign songs, said he has been offered by the Palace to chair the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Citing a phone call from the President’s long-time executive assistant Bong Go, Aguilar said he was asked to serve in the agency while the administration is working on his proposal for the President to create a separate Department of Culture and the Arts. He said in Filipino: “I really want us to have a cultural revolution. This is the only revolution where no one will die. What I mean by cultural revolution is that I dream that our Filipino customs and our art – which were taken away by foreigners – would be returned.”

Read the full story on Rappler Entertainment.