September 25, 2014 Edition

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon announced on September 24 that the UN will revisit peacekeeping operations as multiple crises put military, police and civilian personnel in increasingly challenging environments. Ban did not elaborate on the nature and scope of the review but noted in his speech the problems that the UN as a whole dealt with this year. Ban’s announcement comes after the controversy surrounding the standoff between Filipino troops in the Golan Heights and Syrian rebels in late August, where the peacekeepers defied the orders of their UN commander to surrender their weapons to armed groups. There are 97,947 UN peacekeepers as of August.

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The United States bombed Islamic State-controlled oil refineries in Syria on September 24, as President Barack Obama recruited more allies to fight the jihadist “network of death.” The strikes came as the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to stop the flow of foreign terrorist fighters. Belgium and the Netherlands committed warplanes to Iraq and Britain said its parliament would vote Friday on following suit. US, Saudi and Emirati warplanes broadened their bombardment to target the oil installations in eastern Syria that have helped fund the jihadist group’s brutal rise from rebel faction to alleged global threat.

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Read the full story on the UN resolution and Obama’s speech on Rappler.

Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima should take a leave pending the investigation of graft, plunder, and indirect bribery complaints against him, said Senator Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs. But Purisima’s boss and commander in chief, President Benigno Aquino III came to his defense, insisting to reporters covering his visit to New York that Purisima is neither greedy nor luxurious in his lifestyle. The general served as a security aide of Aquino under the regime of his mother Cory Aquino. He’s now accused of unexplained wealth and impropriety for renovating his official residence at Camp Crame through “donations” from fellow Masons. Some sectors have called for his resignation.

Read two related stories on this on Rappler here and here.

Read the story on the ties that bind Aquino and Purisima on Rappler.

Caught in a corruption scandal involving him and his family, Vice President Jejomar Binay mobilized his allies and supporters to formally turn the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) into a political party for his 2016 presidential bid. Binay met with about 300 local and national leaders on September 24 to elect new officers of the party. The meeting came on the eve of a Senate probe to which he has been invited, where he’s supposed to explain allegations that a building that the Makati local government built is overpriced. Makati has been ruled by the Binays for nearly 3 decades. Instead of facing the Senate, however, Binay released to the media a copy of his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, which showed him to be worth P60 million.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Germany said it would not withdraw support for US action against jihadists in Iraq and Syria following a reported ultimatum from Philippine Islamist militants reportedly threatening to kill a German hostage. A terrorism monitoring group reported that the Abu Sayyaf said they would kill one of two German hostages unless a 250 million pesos ($5.62 million, 4.4 million euros) ransom is paid and Berlin stops supporting the US-led campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. US-based SITE released a picture attributed to the Abu Sayyaf group showing a masked militant with a machete beside a grey-haired white man. “There will be no change to our Syria and Iraq policy,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

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A former top Chinese economic planning official went on trial September 24 for taking bribes worth nearly $6 million, the latest episode in the country’s much-publicized anti-corruption campaign. Liu Tienan, the former deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, was indicted for taking $5.8 million in bribes in the form of cash, and gifts for his son – including a villa in Beijing and a Porsche. In return, Liu granted businessmen and companies project approvals and help in securing car dealerships.

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Citizens and volunteers once more made good use of social media when it helped Project Agos – Rappler’s disaster information system – map people who needed help during Tropical Storm Mario (Fung-Wong) and connect them with responders. The result: a trapped family, a woman in labor, and a patient with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), among many other flood victims, were rescued. The combined effect of the tropical storm and the southwest monsoon caused extensive flooding across Metro Manila on Septemer 19, prompting netizens to inundate online platforms with posts calling for help. More than 180 rescue, relief, and other critical information were plotted on Project Agos’ Alert Map by netizens, including volunteers from BlogWatch, the National Youth Commission, and Yes Pinoy Foundation.

Read the full story on Rappler.

India won Asia’s race to Mars on September 24, when its unmanned Mangalyaan spacecraft successfully entered the Red Planet’s orbit after a 10-month journey on a tiny budget. The success of the mission, which is designed to search for evidence of life on the Red Planet, is a huge source of national pride for India as it competes with its Asian rivals for success in space. Indians from ministers to students and office workers took to Twitter to express pride, with the Hindi slogan “JaiHind” or “Hail India” trending on the microblogging site. At just $74 million, the mission cost represents just a fraction of the cost of NASA’s $671 million MAVEN spacecraft, which successfully began orbiting the fourth planet from the sun on Sunday.

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Swedish retail brand H&M will open doors to Filipino shoppers on October 17, 2014 at 9 am until midnight, at its first branch in Mega Fashion Hall, the newest addition to SM Megamall. The first 200 customers in line will receive gift cards valued as high as P6,000 each, and opening offers that are up to 50% off. Regular store hours will be from 10am to 10pm and will begin October 20 onwards. The store spans 3 floors and over 3,000 square meters, and will carry clothes for a wider demographic, from newborns to new moms, from little boys to menswear.

Read the full story on Rappler.

American R&B singer John Legend arrived in Manila on September 24 to continue the Asian leg of his All of Me Tour. His concert is scheduled at the Araneta Coliseum at 8 pm on Friday, September 26. Legend grew up in Ohio and worked as a music director to pay his way through college. After working behind the scenes with many popular R&B and pop artists like Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, Legend’s popularity soared after his collaboration with rapper Kanye West, where he sang the hooks on many of his songs. His popular single, “All of Me,” from his latest album Love in the Future, is currently at number 23 on the Billboard charts.

Read the full story on Rappler.