November 16, 2012 Edition

International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde was set to meet President Benigno Aquino III in Manila but the meeting was cancelled because the President was not feeling well. Instead, Lagarde held a press conference in Malacañang and paid a courtesy call on Vice President Jejomar Binay. She is in Manila to seek insights on solving the eurozone crisis and to highlight the need for the Philippines to pass the sin tax reform bill. Her visit comes as Manila shifted from being an IMF borrower to a lender. The first female head of the Washington-based lender is visiting Asia but will cut short her trip to attend a eurozone finance ministers meeting on the Greek crisis in Brussels next week.

Read more on Rappler here and here.

Tensions rose in the Middle East as Palestinian militants target Israel’s commercial capital Tel Aviv with missiles from the Gaza Strip. The fighting killed three Israelis and 19 Palestinians, including children. This is the worst outbreak of violence since the Israeli assault on Gaza 4 years ago. Israel began bombarding the Gaza Strip in response to rocket attacks, killing a top Hamas chief. It is unclear if a ground offensive will ensue but the conflict played out online, with both sides tweeting about the violence, and hackers targeting Israeli websites.

Read more on Rappler and Al Jazeera

The website of the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv was hacked following Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip. Hackers posted a Palestinian flag on the site, cursed Israel and put up the message, “FreeDom Palestine!” Hackers also put up a photo of a child wearing a traditional Palestinian headscarf, and a Youtube video showing alleged abuses by Israeli soldiers inside the Occupied Territories. The hacking came on the second consecutive day Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza.

Read more on Rappler

President Benigno Aquino III urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to put up a united front to China at the East Asia Summit next week. “We can talk to other claimants that aren’t ASEAN members … but we must have one voice in ASEAN,” he said. The Philippines and 3 other ASEAN members – Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam – are locked in territorial disputes with China over the South China Sea. A July ASEAN meeting ended in disarray with member-countries divided over the issue.

Read more on Rappler

The FBI put Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron on its list of most wanted terrorists. Sahiron is wanted for his alleged role in the kidnapping of an American in the Philippines in 1993. The State Department is offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to his arrest. Sahiron is the most senior leader of Abu Sayyaf, and engineered the kidnapping of an ABS-CBN news team in 2008.

Read more on Rappler

A Social Weather Stations survey showed most teen smokers said they will quit smoking if the price of a cigarette stick increases to P10. Current prices of preferred brands are as low as P1 to P3 per stick. The survey also showed that price was only a secondary factor behind the choice of a particular brand, next to taste. Results of the NGO-commissioned survey were released as the Senate debates the sin tax reform bill. Sen Pia Cayetano said the survey is an added argument to pass the bill.

Read more on Rappler here and here.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify before Congress on the attack on a US consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Leaders of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs said Clinton committed to testify after an internal review of events is finished by mid-December. Congress is probing the CIA’s handling of the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 others.

Read more on the BBC

Resigned CIA director David Petraeus said he never passed classified information to Paula Broadwell, the woman he had an affair with. In his first interview after the scandal broke out, Petraeus also stressed that his resignation had nothing to do with the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya. He said his testimony before Congress on the attack will push through on Friday. The fallen general maintained that the affair was a personal failing and he is lucky “to have a wife who is far better than he deserves.”

Read more on CNN

US President Barack Obama’s digital fundraising for the 2012 presidential race outperformed his online campaign in 2008. Obama raised $504 million online, up from $403 million in 2008. Total campaign funds are calculated to have reached $1 billion, breaking the 10-figure milestone for the first time in history. The breakthrough is credited to Obama’s small-dollar fundraising through email, social media, mobile and website during the final months of the race.

Read more on TIME

‘The Newsroom’ creator Aaron Sorkin said that the David Petraeus scandal will not be included in season 2 of the HBO drama. “Frankly, it’s a story I would love to take on. Unfortunately, our timelines literally end the day before the Petraeus story broke.” Sorkin though revealed details of the Steve Jobs biopic he is working on. The plot will follow 3 real-time scenes: the creation of the Mac, Jobs’s following company, NeXT, and the iPod. He said his challenge is to pull off an ending that will make people remember the iconic Mac ad, “Here’s to the crazy ones.”

Read more on The Daily Beast