SUMMARY
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Hello, Rappler readers!
Two quakes struck different countries – killing more than a hundred in one, and damaging world-famous temples in another. In the Philippines, the President creates his own tremor of sorts, naming a former long-time provincial govern, now a congressman, as part of the illegal drug operations in the national penitentiary.
Here are the big stories you shouldn’t miss this Thursday:
As rescue efforts continued, the death toll from the earthquake that hit central Italy on Wednesday had gone up to 247, with hundreds more injured, and half of a town feared wiped out. The toll in this quake-prone region is still expected to rise. A day after, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit by Myanmar, damaging the famed Bagan temples.
After teasing the public for a couple of days about a governor he was friends with but turned out to be into the illegal drugs trade in New Bilibid Prison, President Rodrigo named former Pangasinan Governor and now congressman Amado Espino Jr. He also accused the latter’s former provincial administrator Raffy Baraan and General Franklin Bucayo. Describing Espino as the “richest politician in Northern Luzon” who has “amassed unexplained wealth,” he also linked him to black sand mining, quarrying, and the illegal numbers game jueteng.
Despite the presentation of 25 witnesses and 400 documentary exhibits, the government failed to prove that the properties sequestered from the brothers of former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos were ill-gotten wealth. This led the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan to dismiss the forfeiture cases that it had been hearing for 29 years.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr on Wednesday, August 24, urged China to stop its reclamation activities in the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). He also revealed in a briefing at the Senate that China is possibly using “black sand” from the Philippines to build its artificial islands, citing findings of the intelligence community, the government’s security cluster, and the West Philippine Sea Task Force. Also on Wednesday, President Rodrigo Duterte warned that if Beijing continues to avoid the Hague ruling respecting the Philippines exclusive economic zone, then the Philippine military has not choice but to defend the country’s sovereignty.
After nearly 4 years of negotiations held in Cuba, the government of Colombia and FARC rebels reached a historic peace deal to end their half-century civil war – the last major armed conflict in the Americas which cost hundreds of thousands of lives. President Juan Manuel Santos said this would be put to a decisive referendum on October 2.
With more than 600,000 drug personalities surrendering for reformation and rehabilitation, and with only 50 treatment facilities across the country to accommodate them, how does the administration address this “happy problem”? The government plans to tap communities and the private sector to help in the rehabilitation process, while the Dangerous Drugs Board proposes that rehab centers also be built in jails.
Authorities have arrested a driver who hit and killed a woman in Japan because he was allegedly playing Pokemon Go while behind the wheel. The media said that it was Japan’s first fatal vehicle accident involving the popular gaming app, although there had been nearly 80 accidents in the country involving modes of transportation since the app was introduced in July. In Taiwan, police are struggling to control crowds at a hot springs park that has become a hub for Pokemon Go players after gaining a reputation as a spot to catch rare creatures.
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