November 12, 2014 Edition

President Benigno Aquino III told reporters on Tuesday, November 11 that the Senate should wrap up soon its months-long investigation into corruption allegations by Vice President Jejomar Binay, saying it was a distracting the Senate from tackling other issues. The President added, however, that he was expressing his personal opinion and does not want to interfere in the Senate’s independence. The Senate probe, led by Senators Antonio Trillanes IV, Alan Peter Cayetano and Aquilino Pimentel III, is looking into allegations of overpricing and rigged bidding in Makati City Hall under the terms of Vice President Binay and his son, incumbent Mayor Junjun Binay. Aquino added that charges should be filed against the two if there is evidence to prove the allegations.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Leaders of the ten Southeast Asian countries, together with other world leaders, are in Myanmar for the 25th ASEAN Summit where discussions on economic integration and the threat of Ebola are on the agenda. Aside from the 10 ASEAN leaders, US President Barack Obama, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are also at the summit. The US and Japan have prodded the government of Myanmar to reform its democratic space in recent years. But, according to Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the reforms have stalled in the country.

Watch the VLOG of reporter Natashya Gutierrez on Rappler.

And check out what you need to know about ASEAN here.

Government officials from the top down to the bottom say that following legal procedures has been in a challenge in delivering speedy assistance for post Yolanda rehabilitation programs in Eastern Visayas. Local mayors in numerous forums have lamented that they have yet to receive any money from the national government to fund their local rehabilitation programs due to the voluminous document they need to submit. Even budget secretary Florencio Abad says that he is constrained from releasing funds directly to the local governments due to bureaucratic procedures that need to be followed. At least 10 documents need to be submitted when requesting for the Calamity Fund Assistance, including a program of work and a financial plan required by the Commission on Audit (COA). The budget secretary said the government will review existing processes for dealing with calamities and provisions of relief and rehabilitation. But he conceded that, for now, it has to follow the law no matter how slow.

Read the full story on Rappler.

President Benigno Aquino III signed a new law on November 5, granting health benefits to all senior citizens in the country. The law, RA 10645 amends RA 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens’ Act of 2010, and is expected to benefit over 6 million senior citizens. The health benefits are the same enjoyed by members of PhilHealth or the government’s mandated health insurance for all public and private employees. The funds for the amended law ill be sourced from National Health Insurance Fund of PhilHealth, which in turn is sourced from taxes on alcohol and tobacco.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Tennis great Roger Federer is setting his sight on the 1,000th win of his illustrious career at the ATP Tour Finals in England. The 17-time Grand Slam champion beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-2 at the Finals on Tuesday, November 11. The 33-year-old can add three more wins at the Tour Finals if he goes all the way to take the title for the 7th time. That would leave him needing only four more victories to join Jimmy Connors, who had 1,253, and Ivan Lendl, with 1,071, as the only men to have broken the 1,000 barrier.

Read the full story on Rappler.

One of India’s oldest universities has drawn flak for its policy to discourage women from entering its main library, ostensibly due to fears they would distract male students. At the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), women students are told not to enter the library for various reasons such as the unsafe road leading to the library or that “4 times more boys” will enter the library if girls are present. The policy, instituted by the Vice Chancellor of the University, has drawn widespread condemnation and national attention. But a spokesman said the Vice Chancellor’s instruction had been “misinterpreted.” The library only wanted to avoid overcrowding, according to officials, who added that the women have their own nice library to use.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Philippine merchandise exports grew by 15.7% in September, surpassing China’s 15.3%, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) reported on Tuesday, November 11. Despite the slower pace of recovery in the global economy, the country’s September 2014 merchandise exports performance hints at a positive mood across some markets, at least for the country’s top trading partners such as China, Singapore, Germany, South Korea, Thailand, and The Netherlands. The Philippines’ export performance for the last two quarters of 2014 registered remarkably despite slower growth in July at 12.4% and 10.5% in August. Total exports is expected to continue its positive gains for the rest of 2014 owing to the holiday season.

Read the full story on Rappler.

The captain of the South Korean ferry that sank in April with the loss of more than 300 lives was jailed for 36 years Tuesday, November 11, but acquitted of murdering those who died in the disaster. The court said prosecutors failed to prove Captain Lee Jun-Seok, 69, acted with an intention to kill. However, he was convicted of gross negligence and dereliction of duty, including abandoning his vessel while hundreds of passengers remained trapped on board. Victims’ relatives reacted furiously to the murder acquittal. Other senior crew members were sentenced to jail terms of between 15 and 30 years. Some 304 passengers and crew died in the accident.

Read the full story on Rappler.

European scientists are gearing for the culmination of two decades’ work and a 1.3-billion-euro ($1.6-billion) bet with the first-ever landing on a comet on Wednesday, November 12. In an operation fraught with peril, an unmanned science lab called Philae will detach from the European Space Agency (ESA) scout Rosetta and descend to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko 510 million kilometers (318 million miles) from Earth. It will then carry out experiments that, astrophysicists hope, could be a landmark in understanding the Solar System and the origins of life on Earth. “Rosetta spacecraft in excellent shape,” ESA tweeted on Tuesday, November 11. “Target locked!”

Read the full story on Rappler.

If you believe the world as you know it will come to an end and have a couple of million dollars to spend, then this luxury condo might be what you’re looking for. A US company has converted an old cold-war era nuclear missile silo into a “Survival Condo” where residents can live in luxury underground apartments that will survive a nuclear war or government breakdown. The apartments go for between $1.5 million to $4.5 million and come complete with a swimming pool, bar, movie theater and vegetable garden. There’s even a place to walk pets. The apartments are also designed to keep up to 70 people alive for five years.

Read the full story on the Telegraph.