Malacañang said on Saturday, September 5, that the government is not eyeing new or higher taxes, and income tax cuts. Palace Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr made the statement in an interview on state-run Radyo ng Bayan, when asked about proposed tax measures.

“According to [Bureau of Internal Revenue] Commissioner [Kim] Henares, the government is not proposing higher VAT rates. We’re for status quo: no change in tax rates and no new or higher taxes, and also no income tax cuts,” Coloma said.

Read more on Rappler.

Thousands of exhausted migrants streamed into Austria from Hungary on Saturday, after Vienna and Berlin agreed to take in thousands of refugees desperate to start new lives in Western Europe.

Buses and trains were to whisk the refugees to Vienna and towards Germany, he added, with one train having left the town of Nickelsdorf, carrying 400 people.

Read Agence France-Presse’s dispatch from Austria.

Five projects in transportation and energy worth P131.4 billion ($2.80 billion) were approved Friday, September 4 by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Board chaired by President Benigno S. Aquino III.

The projects include the LRT line 4; LRT line 6; the new passenger terminal building for the Clark International Airport; the Naga Airport development project; and the Department of Energy’s Access to Sustainable Energy Program.

Read more about these major government projects on Rappler.

Vulnerable Pacific island nations this week will send the world an urgent plea for action on climate change at crunch talks in Paris later this year.

Palau President Tommy Remengesau said the Pacific’s plight should prick the conscience of delegates from 195 nations who will meet in Paris in December seeking a breakthrough climate deal.

Some Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) countries lie barely a meter (three feet) above sea level and fear they will disappear beneath the waves without drastic intervention from major polluters.

Read more on Rappler.

A bullet train in Indonesia? Not anymore. Indonesia has unexpectedly dumped much-vaunted plans for its first high-speed railway in favor of a slower and cheaper rail option, in a blow to Japan and China who have been fiercely competing to win the construction job.

President Joko Widodo was expected to award either China or Japan the multi-billion contract this week but instead, the government announced Friday, September 4, the project had been shelved, citing cost and feasibility concerns.

Agence France-Presse reports from Jakarta. 

The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday, September 5, confirmed that monkeys held captive in an unnamed facility in the country have the Ebola Reston Virus (ERV).

In a press statement, Health Secretary Janette Garin said the virus can be transmitted by the monkeys to humans “without resulting in illness.” The threat posed to healthy adults ranges from “low to none”.

Read more on Rappler.

Working needlessly on a weekend? Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle is urging the workaholic: “Rest.”

“Part of spirituality is rest, and as we rest, we don’t only allow our body to recuperate. We allow the earth to also rest,” Tagle said on Tuesday, September 1, as the Archdiocese of Manila opened its annual Season of Creation.

Read more on Rappler.

To many fans’ disappointment, AlDub almost met each other on Eat Bulaga’s “Bulaga Pa More” on Saturday, September 5, but it seems there are just too many obstacles in the way of the lovers. 

The AlDub fever is still high two months after Alden Richards and Yaya Dub first waved at each other on Eat Bulaga’s “Juan for All, All for Juan” segment. 

Read more on Rappler.

Reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry is only 27 years old with his entire career still ahead of him, but the Golden State Warriors star point guard is already thinking about his legacy.

“I wanna be a Hall of Famer and be somebody that people remember for a very, very long time and to inspire the next generation to keep building the game of basketball like it was built before me,” the 6-foot-3 NBA champion admitted during a press conference for the Under Armour Road Show Manila leg on Saturday, September 5 at the Raffles Hotel in Makati.

Read more on Rappler.

The UP Fighting Maroons and the UST Growling Tigers opened their UAAP Season 78 campaigns with victories on Saturday, September 5. The Fighting Maroons defeated University of the East, 62-55, while the Growling Tigers won over the Falcons 70-64.

The last time that UP was successful in its season-opening game was in July 2011 when the Diliman-based brigade also thumped the Red Warriors, 69-61, under the tutelage of Ricky Dandan.

Read more on UP’s and UST’s wins on Rappler.