January 29, 2014 Edition

President Barack Obama vowed to reverse a tide of economic inequality threatening the American dream Tuesday, January 28 (Wednesday, January 29 in Manila), seeking to outflank rival Republicans and revive his stumbling second term. In his annual State of the Union address, Obama vowed to use his executive powers to lift up workers, improve education and clean the environment if his foes in Congress balk at more sweeping action. Obama mined a political seam that has proven rich in the past, billing himself as the champion of middle class families fighting to overcome the worst recession since the Great Depression. He promised to wield his power to raise the minimum wage for federal workers on new contracts from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour, and to create a new retirement savings “starter” scheme to help millions of Americans. Obama has two more years in his term as President.


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Two Supreme Court justices say the constitution does not allow the President to use the Executive branch’s budget to augment lawmaker’s funds. In oral arguments on Tuesday, January 28 at the high tribunal, Justices Lucas Bersamin and Marivic Leonen questioned Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad on the government’s justification for the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). Jardeleza defended the administration’s system of expenditure dubbed DAP, which diverted unused funds from slow-moving government projects, activities, or programs to quick-disbursing ones. The DAP allegedly sought to revamp the country’s economy, following “sluggish” government spending in 2011. Justice Bersamin pointed out that the constitution limits the President’s power to realign the budget only within the executive branch. But Abad argued that under the “principle of interdependence”, the President may entertain lawmaker’s request for funds. Abad added that the petition questioning the constitutionality of the DAP is moot as the program was suspended in the second half of 2013.


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Ten Philippine police officers have been suspended for running a secret prison where jailers wearing wigs and masks beat and abused inmates, the government said Tuesday, January 28. The makeshift prison was used by the policemen to torture inmates and extract confessions. Its officers spun a “roulette” wheel to pick a type of torture to be meted out. One punishment, code-named “Manny Pacman” after the Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, has an officer continuously punching an inmate for 20 seconds. “The torture happens at time of arrest, a few days later, and every time the officers become intoxicated, or when they are forcing the inmates to admit to a crime,” Commission on Human Rights spokesman Mark Cebreros told AFP. The PNP says Chief Inspector Arnold Formento and 9 subordinates were charged administratively for grave misconduct, and could also face criminal charges.


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Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and his entire government resigned on Tuesday, January 29 in a bid to defuse tensions caused by massive protests. Azarov said he made a “personal decision” to resign to preserve the state. But President Viktor Yanukovych remains in power even as the opposition calls for his ouster and early elections. Prior to the mass resignation, parliament overwhelmingly voted to scrap anti-protest laws the sparked the current crisis. The dramatic twists in Ukraine’s two months of turmoil came as Russian President Vladimir Putin met with EU chiefs at a summit in Brussels. Protestors say the resignation is a “small step” and is calling on President Yanukovych to resign.


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A bomb exploded in a bus terminal on Tuesday, January 28, in the town of Datu Piang, Maguindanao. While there were no casualties, an 8-year-old girl and a pregnant woman were hurt and brought to a nearby clinic, according to the Mindanao Human Rights Action Center. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Abu Misry Mama, spokesman of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) that is now caught in intense fighting with soldiers, denied that they planted and detonated the bomb. “We do not use bombs and we do not attack civilians. These civilians are our relatives. We will not hurt them,” Mama said. The Philippine military has engaged the BIFF, a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in the past several days. The military claim it has killed 17 BIFF members in 3 days of fighting. The BIFF is a small group of militants opposed to the ongoing peace talks between the government and the MILF.


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Starting March 2015, the Philippines Stock Exchange (PSE) will not identify the broker for trading matched at the trading engine, or broker anonymity. This is to align the bourse with practices in most markets overseas, like Japan, Korea and Singapore. The move also hopes to attract more participants and improve liquidity, according to a PSE statement on Monday, January 27. The statement added that withholding the identify of brokers who post and match orders prevents the so-called “herding” mentality, the PSE said, and “usually translates into tighter spreads. To help traders and investors adjust to the new system, the PSE will implement a two-phase transition. During the first phase, which will take effect in March 2014, only the brokers and their systems will be able to see the brokers’ IDs in matched trades.


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Formula One champion Michael Schumacher has been under an induced coma in a French hospital for nearly a month, following a ski accident that caused damage to his head. Doctors have sedated the former race driver and cooled his body to around 35 degrees Celsius to ease the risk of further damage to the brain caused by internal bleeding. There has been no update on his condition since January 17, when his spokesman Sabine Kehm, said he was still “stable” and that his family had complete trust in his treatment. Experts not connected with the treatment say it is quite rare for a coma to be induced for more than 3 weeks. Patients who do awake from an induced coma will have a long road to recovery. Schumacher turned 45 on January 3. He first retried at aged 37 but came out of retirement in 2010.


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Google announced on Tuesday, January 28 the launch of Google Street View in the Philippines and said it plans to deploy Street View cars to capture photos of Metro Manila’s streets. The feature, available on its Google Maps and Google Eartha applications, allows users to switch from the normal birds-eye view down to street level view. Users have found the feature helpful for locating buildings and other landmarks. The launch of the Philippine initiative is done in partnership with the Philippine Department of Tourism. Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez said the initiative is about bringing an experience to potential tourists before they arrive in the country. For now you can enjoy Street View panoramas of 4 Intramuros sites including San Agustin Church, Baluarte de San Diego, Plaza San Luis Complex and Fort Santiago.


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Pope Francis as superman, flying through the air with his white cape billowing out behind him: the image graffitied by an anonymous artist onto a wall in Rome was tweeted by the Vatican on Tuesday. “We share with you a graffiti found in a Roman street near the Vatican,” the Pontifical Council for Social Communications from the Holy See said on its official Twitter page. The pope is a keen Twitter user himself, regularly posting tweets on his own feeds in nine languages.


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In a long list of zany Japanese inventions such as the chopstick bra and the solar bra, a Japanese lingerie company announced the creation of a bra that will only unlock when the wearer is really “in love.” The “True Love Tester” uses sensors and a special gadget linked to a mobile device to analyse the pattern and speed of the user’s heart beat in the heat of the moment. If the app determines the woman’s feelings are for real, the clasp at the front pops open to allow matters between lovers to take their course. The bra is a gimmick by lingerie brand Ravijour, which says it is not for sale, but forms part of a publicity campaign for the marque’s 10th anniversary.


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