July 16, 2012 Edition

The Philippines is not lodging a diplomatic protest against China after one of its frigates was stranded and later rescued by Chinese vessels on Half Moon Shoal in the West Philippine Sea, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said on Sunday, July 15. The government, however, will probe what events led to the incident. The frigate was said to be on “routine patrol” when it got stranded within Philippine territory on Wednesday, July 11. Del Rosario however said the incident was “likely an accident,” adding that, “We don’t believe that there were ill intentions that accompanied the presence of that ship in our EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone).”

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The United Nationalist Alliance of Vice President Jejomar Binay is set to finalize its 2013 senatorial lineup which could include common candidates with the administration. UNA will hold a national executive committee meeting on Thursday, July 19, at Binay’s Coconut Palace office precisely to complete its senatorial slate. UNA is a coalition between Binay’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) and the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino of former President Joseph Estrada and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. Caught off guard by the alliance between the administration Liberal Party, the Nacionalista Party of former presidential candidate Manuel Villar Jr, and businessman Eduardo Cojuangco’s Nationalist People’s Coalition, UNA nevertheless will require shared candidates to campaign only with UNA. “The better rule would be for them not to climb on the same stage as the other political alliance or party,” UNA spokesperson JV Bautista explained.

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The “most intense” fighting broke out in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Sunday, July 15, following an army offensive aimed at driving out rebels belonging to the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army fired “mortar rounds into several suburbs” where the rebels are entrenched. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Observatory, told Agence France-Presse, “[It has] never been this intense.” Earlier, the Observatory reported that the violence had killed at least 55 people, while human rights activists said more than 150 were massacred by Syrian troops in the village of Treimsa on Thursday, July 12. Syrian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Jihad Makdissi however denied the allegations, saying, “This is absolutely not true. Only troops and light weapons were used, the most powerful of weapons being RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades).”

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The earlier denial by the Syrian regime of the Treimsa ‘massacre’ is available here.

Ateneo began its “Drive for Five” campaign with a 73-57 victory over Adamson University on Sunday, July 15. Arch-rival La Salle meanwhile survived a late run from the University of the Philippines to win 73-68. In the final 10 minutes of the game, the UP Fighting Maroons snatched the lead with an Alvin Padilla fadeaway jumper, resulting in a 68-67 score. But La Salle rookie Jeron Teng converted a crucial 3-point play with 27.3 seconds left. In the Ateneo-Adamson match, 7-foot center Greg Slaughter was the go-to man, while Adamson’s Alex Nuyles and John Brondial led the Falcons. The Blue Eagles had much to work on turnover-wise as coach Norman Black, who is on his last year as mentor, would close his eyes and shake his head each time his players failed to box out or catch a pass. The Ateneo lead was never in question save for a short stretch of 3 consecutive missed lay-ins.

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Read more on the La Salle victory on Rappler.

US State Secretary Hillary Clinton urged Egyptian top military leaders in Cairo to support a transition to civilian rule, after which she was taunted by chants of “Monica, Monica” by tomato-throwing demonstrators in the port city Alexandria. Clinton met with newly-elected president Mohamed Morsi on Saturday, July 14, then spent more than an hour in talks with Egypt’s interim military leader, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi on Sunday, July 15. The State Department said they discussed “the political transition and the SCAF’s ongoing dialogue with President Morsi.” SCAF refers to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Clinton later went to Alexandria to visit a reopened US consulate there and was greeted by demonstrators. “I want to be clear the United States is not in the business, in Egypt, of choosing winners and losers, even if we could, which, of course, we cannot,” she said at the opening of the consulate.

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More details are available on CNN.

Valerie Trierweiler, the French First Lady, said she will count to 10 before tweeting. Earlier on Saturday, July 14, French President Francois Hollande said, “Private affairs are resolved in private. And I have told this to those close to me so they can scrupulously accept this principle.” There has been speculation of intense rivalry between Trierweiler, who has acquired the nickname “Tweetveiler,” and Segolene Royal, Hollande’s ex-partner and mother of their 4 children. Trierweiler tweeted “good luck” to Royal’s opponent in the June legislative election, Olivier Falorni. He won over Royal with 63% of the vote. The Trierweiler tweet attracted media coverage with the French press calling it an embarrassment to Hollande, shortly after his own victory in the presidential race.

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An earlier story on Hollande’s reaction to Trierweiler’s tweet is available on Rappler.

Specialists in Madagascar, the only place where lemurs are found in the wild, say that 91% of all lemurs are under threat of extinction. 23 lemurs, according to the Primate Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, are critically endangered, 52 are in endangered, and 19 are vulnerable to extinction. Being critically endangered means the population numbers less than 50 mature adults, or that it has shrunk by 80% over 10 years. Christoph Schwitzer, research head at the United Kingdom’s Bristol Zoo, said, “I used to be very optimistic, I thought the [conservation] project was really going somewhere and the local communities were on our side. But from 2009 onwards, it just deteriorated markedly. Now we see local people hunting lemurs, even blue-eyed black and sportive lemurs which we never saw before.” The blue-eyed black lemur is believed to be the only primate with blue eyes, except humans.

Read the full story on BBCNews.

Pop star Madonna faces a suit by the far-right French National Front after showing party leader Marine Le Pen with a swastika on her forehead during a concert in France. The video which flashed an image of Le Pen’s forehead with a swastika served as a backdrop for Madonna’s performance of the song, “Nobody Knows Me.” It was followed by an image that resembled Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. National Front vice-president Florian Philippot said, “We cannot accept such an odious comparison,” adding that the legal suit will be filed this week. Philippot said, “This is just another provocation in Madonna’s world tour so that people will talk about her.”

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Additional details are available on BBCNews.

Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo faces a P366-million plunder suit in connection with the alleged misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) funds under her administration. In 2011, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee probed allegations that Malacañang diverted PCSO funds for election purposes. In January 2012, it recommended the filing of plunder and technical malversation charges against the former president and former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte in connection with the distribution of P325-M in confidential intelligence funds from 2008 until the lead up to the 2010 elections. The Senate committee found that Uriarte was unable to produce receipts and other liquidation documents to justify the use of at least P244-M of funds released to her. The plunder case was filed with the Sandiganbayan after it was approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on Friday, July 13. Besides Arroyo, nine other PCSO and Commission on Audit officials were also charged, including Uriarte; former PCSO chair Sergio Valencia; former PCSO board members Manuel Morato, Jose Taruc V, Raymundo Roquero and Ma Fatima Valdes; and former Commission on Audit (COA) chair Reynaldo Villar and former COA officer Nilda Plaras. This is the first plunder case filed against Arroyo.

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A fleet of 30 Chinese fishing vessels arrived on Sunday, July 15, at the disputed Spratlys in the South China Sea, the state news agency Xinhua reported. It also said that the fleet of vessels is the largest ever to be deployed from the province of Hainan. It includes a 3,000-ton supply ship and a patrol vessel to provide protection. The deployment coincided with the rescue of a naval frigate stranded on Half Moon Shoal near Palawan in the western side of the Philippines. The Philippine government said it was not lodging a diplomatic protest over the incident which, it said, was most likely an accident. The Philippines and Vietnam have complained that China has become increasingly aggressive in the disputed area. It has claimed sovereign rights over the entire South China Sea which sits vast oil and mineral deposits.

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