Gilas Pilipinas fell versus the giant China, 78-67, to settle for silver in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship on Saturday, October 3 in Changsha, Hunan, China. The Philippines missed the outright berth to the 2016 Summer Olympics and will instead be relegated to the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament happening in 2016 from July 5 to 16.

Read more on Rappler.

The Department of Health on Saturday, October 3, announced the death of a Saudi national apparently due to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus (MERS-CoV).

Health Secretary Janette Garin said in a news conference that the 63-year-old Saudi man arrived in the country on September 17 but only showed symptoms on September 26. The foreigner was admitted to a private hospital on September 28 but his situation deteriorated, and was pronounced dead on September 29.

The health chief sought to ease expected public anxiety over the latest development saying, “It is a contained situation.”

Read more on Rappler.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, whose term is ending in 2019, formally announced his bid for the vice presidency in the 2016 national polls.

Several months after he first confirmed his plans for the elections, Trillanes officially declared his candidacy in a brief speech before 2,000 members of the Magdalo group who attended the meeting on Saturday, October 3.

Read more on Rappler.

Filipino activists, experts, and government officials welcomed the “ambitious” contribution of the Philippine government to the global campaign to fight and prepare for climate change.

Called the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), the pledge was submitted by the Philippine government to the United Nations on Thursday, October 1. In it, the Southeast Asian country said it would reduce carbon emissions by 70% by 2030, and would prioritize adaptation measures to protect citizens from impacts of climate change.

Read more on Rappler.

Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) is in talks with rival Globe Telecom, Incorporated for an Internet protocol (IP) peering arrangement that is seen to improve local Internet linkages and raise the quality of Internet in the country.

This was after Globe issued a statement last month, calling on rival PLDT for an “all-inclusive IP peering arrangement.”

Read more on Rappler.

Investigators on Saturday, October 3, pieced together evidence on why a student at a college in Oregon went on a rampage that left nine people dead before committing suicide as police cornered him.

Officials said the gunman, identified as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, was enrolled at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg and opened fire in his English writing class.

Read Agence France-Presse’s dispatch.

A swimming event in Singapore did not push through on Saturday, October 3, while a Sunday marathon in Malaysia was likewise cancelled due to haze from agricultural fires on a nearby Indonesian island.

Malaysia, Singapore, and large expanses of Indonesia have suffered for weeks from acrid smoke billowing from fires on plantations and peatlands that are being illegally cleared by burning on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Agence France-Presse reports.

A suspected US air strike on a hospital killed 19 people on Saturday, October 3, in the Afghan city of Kunduz, medical charity MSF said, a bombardment that the UN condemned as “inexcusable, and possibly even criminal”.

Dozens more were seriously wounded at the facility, a key lifeline that has been running “beyond capacity” during fighting that saw the Taliban seize control of the northern provincial capital for several days.

More in this report from Agence France-Presse.

“The Martian,” the latest sci-fi epic to hit theaters, is based on the best-selling web fiction series-turned-novel by Andy Weir, adapted by screenwriter Drew Goddard and helmed by director Ridley Scott, the man behind Blade Runner and Aliens.

In this interview provided to Rappler by 20th Century Fox, he talks about what made him sign on for the project and about working closely with NASA’s astronomers and engineers to help make The Martian the entertaining ride that it is.

Read more on Rappler.

The NU Pep Squad was crowned the champion of the 2015 UAAP Cheerdancing Competition held on Saturday, October 3, at the Mall of Asia Arena.

NU was awarded first overall of the competition for the third time in UAAP history and for the third straight year. Coming in second was the UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe who had 651.5 points, while the UP pep squad came in third place after garnering 610.5 points.

Read more about the results, and the online reaction, on Rappler.