March 20, 2014 Edition

The Ukraine government is drawing up plans to evacuate its soldiers and their families from Russian-occupied Crimea to the mainland. With tears in their eyes, Ukrainian servicemen filed out of a navy headquarters in Sevastopol that was seized by pro-Moscow militants, Russian troops and Cossack forces. The assault began when some 200 unarmed militants – some of them in balaclavas – sawed through a fence and overran the base while the Ukrainian servicemen barricaded themselves inside. The pullout is tantamount to surrender, even if the provisional government in Kiev has insisted that Russia’s annexation of Crimea is illegal.

Read the story on the pullout in The New York Times.
Read a related story on Rappler.

The Malaysian government gives different messages every day, says an angry Chinese relative of one of the passengers of the vanished Malaysian Airlines flight 370. She joined a handful of angry and crying relatives who tried to gatecrash Malaysia’s daily media briefing on March 19, unfurling a protest banner that read “Give us back our families.” In yet another twist that didn’t help clarify matters, authorities said probers had discovered that data had been deleted from the home flight simulator of pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah about one month before the plane vanished early on March 8. What that means is not clear though.

Read the full story on Rappler.

China is “posturing” to seize Ayungin Shoal and Recto bank, which are located within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, a former national security adviser said. China’s window of opportunity is the period before Manila and Washington sign a military deal that will give US forces access to Philippine bases, according to former National Security Adviser Roilo Golez. China has urged the Philippines to remove from Ayungin its grounded ship Sierra Madre, which has served as a detachment for the Philippine Marines. But the Marines have stayed put. China’s plans put the Marine detachment in jeopardy, Golez added.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Did they receive bribes sourced from the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund of lawmakers? That’s what the justice departments wants to know. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she will look into an Inquirer report that 3 prominent media personalities had received bribes – disguised as advertising expenses – from lawmakers’ pork barrel. Named in the report were TV5 news anchor Erwin Tulfo and GMA7 radio host Carmelo del Prado. The third media personality was not identified. Tulfo denied the claim while GMA7 said it is looking into the allegations. They reportedly received checks issued from one of the corporate bank accounts of state firm National Agribusiness Corporation, which is under the Department of Agriculture.

Read the full story on Rappler.

If you are an incoming college freshman who wants to be a licensed teacher someday, you might want to consider enrolling in the school we listed in this story. According to a recent study, in the last 5 years, private universities and those identified as Centers of Excellence in Teacher Education dominate the top performing schools in the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET). But only 10% to 12% of all teacher education institutions (TEIs) in the country produce good LET results. These schools have at least 250 first-time LET takers, with each of them having a minimum 80% passing rate.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Less than half of the 100 biggest corporations in the country are top taxpayers, the Bureau of Internal Revenue said. According to BIR’s latest Tax Watch ad released March 19, only 39 out of the top 100 corporations identified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were among the top 500 corporate taxpayers in 2012. SEC’s list was based on gross revenues. BIR’s list was based on income taxes paid. On top of the taxpayers’ list is Meralco followed by Petron.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Farmers have committed suicide in western India after freak hailstorms and rains destroyed winter crops worth millions of dollars, activists and politicians said March 19. The unusual weather struck parts of western Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, from late February and went on to badly damage crops. The region, which usually experiences the tropical rainy season from June to October, saw major damage to crops of fruits such as grape, mango, papaya, lime and watermelon, according to local reports. The opposition said the number of farmer suicides had gone up to 37, demanding that the natural disaster be declared a “national calamity.” They said the figure was expected to rise.

Read the full story on Rappler.

One of the Philippines’ most successful digital brands is rebranding. Sulit is now OLX.ph. The rebranding follows the recent acquisition of Sulit by OLX – one of the biggest classified ads network in the world. OLX, an abbreviation of online exchange, is an Internet company based in New York City in the US and in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Sulit founder RJ David says: “The name change to OLX aims to inspire Filipinos to re-think what they know about Sulit, and to re-think what they have to sell online.” Founded in September 2006 as an experimental website, Sulit now ranks no. 9 on Alexa among top Philippine websites in terms of web traffic.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Le Tour De Filipinas will send around 80 local and international riders to some of the most advanced and modern highways in the country in its fifth edition, which takes off on April 21-24. The race will span the 616 kilometers between Clark Field, Pampanga, and the summer capital Baguio City with a total of P744,300.00 prize money at stake. Fifteen teams will vie for the 2014 title, racing through the four stages in the only Union Cycliste Internationale-sanctioned road race in the country, dubbed as the Triple-X Stage. The race also serves as the qualifiers for the Filipinos to the next Asian Championship.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Enormous and ferocious, it’s a top-of-the-range mastiff. And it’s a prized status symbol among China’s wealthy. A Tibetan mastiff puppy was recently sold at a “luxury pet” fair in China for almost $2 million, in what could be the most expensive dog sale ever. The golden-haired animal was 80 centimeters (31 inches) tall, and weighed 90 kilograms (nearly 200 pounds). A property developer paid 12 million yuan ($1.9 million) for the one-year-old golden-haired mastiff. It is said that he hopes to breed dogs himself.

Read the full story on Rappler.