Daily News Highlights – September 10, 2015 Edition

The Philippine Supreme Court ordered the government to pay the consortium Philippine International Air Terminals Company or Piatco a total of $510.3 million in just compensation for the takeover of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3). Manila’s largest air terminal had been the subject of a legal dispute since the Philippine government seized it in 2004, citing breach of contract and failure to conform with safety standards. The amount includes $327 million in replacement cost, plus $243 million in interest until December 2014, the court said. It also deducted $59.4 million that the government had already paid to Piatco in September 2006.

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A plant owned by Solid Cement Corporation in Antipolo City, east of Metro Manila, experienced a leak in its fuel storage tank, releasing an estimated 2,000 liters of bunker fuel into a river system in Rizal province, raising concerns that it may reach Laguna Lake, where many fishermen and fish pen owners depend on clean waters for their catch. Residents of surrounding villages, however, have complained of dizziness from the foul odor from the contaminated stream, while children complained of stomach aches when the smell from the spill was strongest. The cement company and members of the Coast Guard are doing cleaning-up operations to contain the spill.

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Philippine President Benigno Aquino III ordered the abolition of yet another government-owned and -controlled corporation that had been linked to the multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam. He issued Memorandum Order 85 abolishing the National Livelihood Development Corporation or NLDC, a government financial institution (that provides “wholesale lending and technical assistance to microfinance institutions (MFIs) that extend microfinance services to qualified households.” The Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations said that the NLDC had overlapping functions with other GFIs, such as the Philippine Postal Savings Bank and the Small Business Corporation. All assets and liabilities of NLDC shall be transferred to the Land Bank of the Philippines, while the functions and portfolios shall be absorbed by LBP and SBC.

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More than 10 million people from the Philippines work overseas, most of them serving as maids, sailors and laborers. In recent years, however, cooks, bakers, and pastry chefs are becoming the most sought-after professions, with ships, hotels, restaurants and casinos the main employers. Between 2010 and 2014, nearly 180,000 Filipinos went to work in ship galleys abroad. They included nearly 72,000 head chefs, with the rest made up of kitchen assistants, waiters and waitresses, according to labor department data. Over the same period, about 65,000 Filipinos went to work in similar catering jobs in hotels and restaurants in foreign countries. Filipinos are big assets in the global catering industry because of their English proficiency, the ease with which they adapt to the host countries, and a resilience that belies their easy-going nature.

Read the full story on Rappler Balikbyan.

The EU unveiled plans Wednesday, September 9, to take 160,000 refugees from overstretched border states, as the United States said it would accept more Syrians to ease the pressure from the worst migration crisis since World War II. Germany pushed Europe to go further and agree to long-term binding quotas with no limits on actual numbers to deal with a surge of asylum-seekers. With Greece, Hungary and Italy struggling to cope, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker urged the continent to look to its history, ignore populist parties and take decisive action. “Now is not the time to take fright, it is time for bold, determined action for the European Union,” Juncker said.

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Nigeria’s army said on Wednesday, September 9, it had released 128 detainees held on suspicion of being Boko Haram militants, two months after nearly 200 others were freed after security screening. Human rights groups have repeatedly accused the military of arbitrary detention of civilians in the country’s northeast, which has been wracked by Islamist violence in the last 6 years. A batch of 182 detainees was released in early July and on Wednesday 128 more – 109 men, 7 women and 12 boys – were handed over to the Borno state governor Kashim Shettima in Maiduguri. All had been arrested across the state as part of counter-insurgency operations, said Nigeria’s highest-ranking army officer, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, who was at the ceremony.

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The number of deaths among children under 5 has halved globally since 1990 – well short of the UN goal of slashing infant mortality by two-thirds in 25 years, said data released Wednesday, September 9. Only 62 of 195 countries met targets they adopted 15 years ago, said a study which measured the world’s performance in one of the 8 so-called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for a healthier, more prosperous world. The mortality rate among children younger than 5 fell globally from 91 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990, to 43 per 1,000 in 2015, said the review published in The Lancet medical journal. Translated into hard numbers, the death toll of newborns, infants and small children – mainly from preventable causes – shrank from 12.7 million in 1990 to an estimated 5.9 million this year.

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At its September 9 event in San Francisco, Apple showcased a number of new upgrades to Apple’s extensive product lineup. The company not only introduced a new 12.9-inch tablet in the iPad Pro, but also came out with the latest in the iPhone line, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. Also announced at the event was a significant upgrade to the Apple TV, as well as the release date for iOS9. New Apple Watch bands, a team-up with Hermes, and an upgrade to WatchOS – WatchOS 2.0 was also shown at the event. 

Read the full story on the iPad Pro, iPhone 6S line, iOS9, and Apple TV on Rappler.

Britain celebrated Queen Elizabeth II becoming the country’s longest-serving monarch on Wednesday, September 9, with a flotilla down the River Thames, a gun salute and the peal of Westminster Abbey’s bells. The queen herself opened a railway line in Scotland and was to host a private dinner at Balmoral Castle to mark the day she overtakes her great-great grandmother queen Victoria’s record. Dressed in a turquoise coat and hat and clutching a black handbag — one of her famously colourful outfits – the queen wore a diamond-studded brooch that belonged to Victoria in homage to her ancestor.

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Stars led by Paul McCartney have released a song to push for strong action on climate change, in the latest effort by artists after plans for global concerts fell through. “Love Song to the Earth,” unveiled on Wednesday, September 9, comes less than 3 months before highly anticipated UN-led talks open in Paris with the aim of reaching a long-term agreement to control rising temperatures and their destructive impact on the planet. Over a melody typical of mainstream Western pop, a succession of stars sing verses about the Earth that include, “Looking down from up on the moon / It’s a tiny blue marble / Who’d have thought the ground we stand on could be so fragile?”

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