December 16, 2013 Edition

At least 21 people are dead after a bus and a van figured in an accident along the Metro Manila Skyway early Monday, December 16. Twenty others were injured. A Don Mariano Transit bus fell off the southbound lane of the elevated highway and fell on top of a van plying the West Service Road of the South Luzon Expressway below, in an area part of Parañaque City. The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has suspended the bus company’s 78 units from operating today, pending an investigation into the accident.


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Newly appointed rehabilitation czar Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said “unscrupulous lower-ranking officials” have begun to take advantage of the daunting task ahead. Lacson said he received reports on these local officials two days ago, when he toured areas devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). He has asked government agencies to investigate. Lacson said he is bent not only on making corrupt officials explain, but on filing cases against them.

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Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, was laid to rest December 15, after a state funeral filled with tearful eulogies and strident vows to pursue his ideals of equality and justice. The interment followed a ceremonial state funeral that ran well over its allotted two hours, as speaker after speaker paid emotional tribute to the man who led South Africa out of the apartheid era. His flag-draped casket was placed on cow skins, surrounded by 95 candles – each signifying a year of his extraordinary life.

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Japan and Southeast Asian countries December 15 pledged to boost economic and security ties, a day after they agreed on the importance of ensuring freedom of the skies after China declared a controversial air defense zone. Tokyo pledged $20 billion in aid and loans to Southeast Asia at the summit with leaders of the ASEAN regional bloc, the latest step in its bid to woo global public opinion in its territorial dispute with China. Earlier, China denounced as “slanderous” remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the summit calling for Beijing to rescind its air zone, which was widely criticized as increasing regional tensions.

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Chevron and Shell are in the top 10 list of corporations responsible for more than 60% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since the Industrial Revolution. This was one of the major findings of a “groundbreaking” study by independent climate change scientist Richard Heede published last month in the scientific journal Climactic Change. The accumulation of GHG in the atmosphere causes global warming and climate change. Scientists have reached an overwhelming consensus that it is human (anthropogenic) activities like fossil fuel burning that have driven climate change.

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Socialist Michelle Bachelet was swept back into office Sunday, December 15, as Chile’s next president, on a platform of narrowing the gap between rich and poor. Bachelet, 62, takes office March 11 to succeed conservative billionaire President Sebastian Piñera for a term running through 2018. She served as Chile’s first woman president in 2006, leaving a lot undone which most Chilean want: mainly dismantling more of the political and social legacy of the Pinochet era. Bachelet’s contest with Matthei marked the first time in Latin America that a presidential runoff was held between two women.

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China’s Jade Rabbit rover vehicle sent back photos from the moon Sunday, December 15, after the first lunar soft landing in nearly four decades marked a huge advance in the country’s ambitious space program. The Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, was deployed at 4:35 am (2035 GMT Saturday, December 14), several hours after the Chang’e-3 probe landed on the moon, said the official news agency Xinhua. The rover and lander began taking photos of each other late Sunday, including one that showed the bright red and yellow stars of the Chinese flag on the Jade Rabbit as it stands on the moon’s surface. The color images were transmitted live to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, where Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang watched the broadcast.

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Brazil was rocked Saturday, December 14, by a fourth fatal World Cup stadium accident as a young construction worker fell to his death, heightening safety worries barely 6 months from kick-off. The latest fatality, at the Manaus Arena in the northern Amazonia region, will add scrutiny to the host nation’s preparations, with some stadiums behind schedule and extra shifts being worked in a push to be ready for the football extravaganza. Marcleudo de Melo Ferreira plunged 35 meters (115 feet) in the early hours while working on the roof of the $200 million, 42,000-seat capacity arena. He was taken to hospital but died before dawn. Brazilian media reported that the 22-year-old fell after a cable broke as he prepared to finish a night shift. The venue is currently 93% complete and has around 1,900 people working around the clock to finish its construction.

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Irish actor Peter O’Toole, the star of the 1962 Oscar-winning epic “Lawrence of Arabia,” has died aged 81, his agent Steve Kenis said Sunday, December 15. The hell-raising icon of stage and screen died on Saturday, December 14, at London’s Wellington hospital after a long illness, Kenis explained. Irish President Michael D Higgins said it was “with great sadness” that he heard of O’Toole’s death. “Ireland, and the world, has lost one of the giants of film and theatre,” he said in a statement. O’Toole was nominated for eight Best Actor Oscars and received an honorary award in 2003.

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Studio giant Sony revealed an expansion of its “Spider-Man” franchise Friday to include spinoffs and sequels, in a move to rival Disney’s Marvel film world centered on “The Avengers” characters. Sony Pictures Entertainment named a five-strong team of writers to form a “franchise brain trust to expand the universe for the brand and to develop a continuous tone and thread throughout the films.” The five writers are Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, Ed Solomon, and Drew Goddard. They will work with producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, and Marc Webb, who directed 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” and the sequel out next year. On Friday, they announced two spinoff films, “Venom” and “The Sinister Six,” focusing on villains in the franchise.

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