November 5, 2014 Edition

Survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda who are residing in temporary bunkhouses are asking the government for cash assistance, even if the local government has promised to relocate them to permanent shelters. Luzviminda Secuya, 60, a widow with a family of 8 children said she wants a ‘little help’ from the government because they she is poor. But Palo, Leyte Mayor Remedies Petilla said the government will not give cash to survivors who are already in bunk houses in order “to be fair to everyone.” Up to 420 families are still living in bunkhouses in Palo, according to Petilla.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Teofisto Guingona III will convene a senate probe next week to look into allegations of overpricing for the construction of the Iloilo Convention Center (ICC). Senate President and Liberal Party (LP) stalwart Franklin Drilon is facing corruption allegations for the P679.8 million ($15.20 million) infrastructure project in his home province. The LP dismissed the allegations against Drilon as a diversionary tactic by the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay. Both Guingona and Drilon are Liberal Party members.

Read the full story on Rappler.

US Republicans in the Senate increased their numbers after winning three seats in midterm elections on Tuesday, November 4, according to media projections. This boosts the party’s chances of a shift in the majority of the 100-member chamber. Republican candidates defeated Democrats in Arkansas, South Dakota, and West Virginia – 3 of the 6 seats the party needs to gain control in the upper chamber. Forecasts also show that Republicans would keep control of the lower house.

Read the full story on Rappler.

A senior Vatican official called the assisted suicide of an American woman as “wicked” but refrained from casting any judgement on her. Brittany Maynard, 29, died in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, November 1, after she self-administered a cocktail of fatal drugs legally provided by her doctors. Maynard was suffering from terminal brain cancer and doctors only gave her 6 months to live in January. The head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Life, bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, maintained that suicide in any form is a sin.  “We do not judge the individuals but the act itself is to be condemned,” said de Paula.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Spain’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday, November 4, blocked a symbolic independence referendum planned by the wealthy northeastern region of Catalonia for this weekend, at the request of the nation’s central government. The court “unanimously” agreed with the government’s request to suspend the symbolic referendum. Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said the symbolic referendum represents a “legal fraud” and a “perversion” of democracy. Catalonia’s 7.5 million residents have been demanding greater autonomy from Spain’s central government over recent years.

Read the full story on Rappler.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said on Tuesday, November 4 it is monitoring the Senate probe into allegations against Vice President Jejomar Binay and the controversial farm land he allegedly owns in Batangas. The PSE said it is monitoring the listed companies involved in the Senate probe, including those reportedly owned by businessman Antonio Tiu – Greenergy Holdings Inc. and AgriNurture, Inc.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Will Cornick, 16, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday, November 3, for stabbing his teacher to death in front of her class in a murder that has shocked Britain. Cornick, who was 15 at the time of the murder, will spend at least 20 years in prison for stabbing teacher Ann Maguire 7 times with a kitchen knife in Leeds, northern England. The teenager pleaded guilty to murder and spoke of wanting to attack other teachers including a pregnant woman. He was an academic high achiever from a middle-class family and a quiet loner.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Japanese sushi maestro Jiro Ono, whose creations were recently enjoyed by US President Barack Obama and are reputedly the best in the world, warned Tuesday, November 4, of a sea change in ingredients due to overfishing. “I can’t imagine at all that sushi in the future will be made of the same materials we use today,” the 89-year-old master told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. Ono owns the three Michelin-starred Sukiyabashi Jiro restaurant, dubbed the world’s best sushi restaurant. He said it is now hard to find high-quality domestic tuna and shellfish. A global demand for tuna is leading the Japanese tuna industry to depend more and more on farmed fish and Atlantic bluefin varieties. Ono, together with his eldest son, has run the small sushi restaurant in the Ginza district since 1965.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Mexican police on Tuesday, November 4, arrested a fugitive ex-mayor accused of ordering a deadly police attack that left 43 students missing, raising hopes of a break in a case bedeviling the nation. Jose Luis Abarca, the former mayor of Iguala, and his wife, were captured by federal officers in Mexico City. The couple lived in a small, cement-colored house far from their opulent life in Iguala where they owned jewelry stores and allegedly ran local operations for a drug gang. The students vanished on September 26 after municipal police shot at their buses in Iguaal and handed them to a drug cartel. Abarca, his wife, and the police chief fled Iguana two days after the police attack.

Read the full story on Rappler.

For Joe-Anna Belinde, forgetting a traumatic experience was necessary in order to succeed in her profession as a social worker. But a story about a malnourished child, ‘Frederico’, at a Manila center for street children refreshed old memories. She wrote an open letter to the manager of the Manila Rescue and Action Center (RAC) where she interned in 2004. She writes that the conditions described by the non-profit Bahay Tuluyan Foundation where the same conditions she encountered a decade ago. The lack of proper hygiene, trained professionals and a genuine concern for the ‘inmates’ at the center shocked her to the core. She appeals for the Manila City government to do more than just hide behind excuses and mediocrity.

Read her full open letter on Rappler and take action here.