#ThewRap: Things you need to know, July 25, 2017

Good day, Rappler reader!

President Duterte’s second State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 24, was billed as a speech that will outline a “comfortable life for all.” Instead, it became a long and winding off-script talk from the Chief Executive – interspersed with curses, a number of false claims, and public criticisms, leaving out a lot of important policies and details. 

The proposed 2018 national budget is also out, submitted by the President to Congress right after his SONA, and his centerpiece “Build, Build, Build” program gets the biggest chunk of the pie.

In other news, Jared Kushner denies colluding with the Russians to help his father-in-law Donald Trump; a top China Politburo official becomes the focus of an anti-graft probe; and say goodbye to the legendary Microsoft Paint soon.

‘Build, build, build’ gets a third of proposed 2018 national budget

President Rodrigo Duterte submitted the P3.77-trillion proposed 2018 national budget to Congress after delivering his second State of the Nation Address. The proposed 2018 programmed expenditures is 12.4% higher than last year. It represents 21.6% of the projected gross domestic product (GDP) for 2018.

FULL TEXT: President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address 2017

Read the wide range of policy issues that President Rodrigo Duterte covers in both his prepared speech and his off-script comments.

Kushner says he met Russians 4 times, denies collusion

Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said he had 4 contacts with Russian officials but denied any collusion to help his father-in-law Donald Trump win the presidency, US media said.

China anti-graft watchdog probes Politburo member

The Chinese Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog has launched an investigation into a Politburo member who was once seen as a contender for a top leadership post, state media reported Monday. July 24. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection is investigating Sun Zhengcai, who until a week ago was party chief in the major city of Chongqing, for “serious discipline violation”, Xinhua news agency said.

Microsoft’s old Paint program is saying goodbye

Following the arrival of Paint 3D for Windows 10 users, Microsoft said it was going to eliminate Microsoft Paint, its longstanding graphics editor application, from its roster of apps once the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update arrives.