September 12, 2012 Edition

Senatorial race frontrunner Loren Legarda said she has had direct talks only with Vice President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), after being invited directly by its leaders. Besides Binay, Legarda said she has also received a direct invitation from former President Joseph Estrada and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. A member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), Legarda said she has not spoken with any leader of the Liberal Party, which is in a coalition with her own party. “There is no direct communication [with me], it’s a party to party thing,” she added. At the proper time, Legarda said, the coalitions that are inviting her will announce themselves. One issue that needs to be resolved is the requirement of both the administration and UNA slates to require their candidates to campaign exclusively with their tickets.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

After acknowledging that Facebook had a “disappointing” stock market debut, its founder Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday, September 11,  he was eyeing mobile devices. “It is really clear from the stats and my own personal intuition that a lot of energy in the ecosystem is going to mobile, not desktop (computers),” Zuckerberg said, adding, “That is the future.” He also said, “We are going to be doing killer stuff there.” After its highly anticipated public offering on May 18, selling at $38 a share, Facebook shares have lost around half their value. After Zuckerberg’s remarks, after-hours trading gained 3.14% to rise at a little over $20. Zuckerberg said the company will pursue its mission about “making the world more connected.”

Read the full story on Rappler. 

UN goodwill ambassador and actress Angelina Jolie visited a refugee tent camp in Jordan near the Syrian border and spoke about the horrors that children have seen in Syria. Hoping to call attention to the Syrian crisis, Jolie went to the border escorted by the Jordanian military and saw for herself how Syrians became refugees. “The amount of innocent children that have been reported dead, the amount of innocent children I’ve met here who are wounded and unaccompanied – with their parents being killed and now they’re on their own – it’s impossible to imagine any mother standing by and not stepping up and doing something to prevent this,” Jolie said. Syria has been gripped by a prolonged crisis in the past 18 months that has claimed more than 20,000 lives.

Read the full story on CNN. 

6’9 Japeth Aguilar, a former player of PBA’s Talk ‘N Text team, is giving the NBA another try. He hopes to be the first Philippine-born player to make it to the league. “It’s now or never,” Aguilar said. “I just want to look at it and hope for the best.” If he doesn’t make it to the NBA, he can still compete in the PBA. Aguilar earlier tried out for D-League team Bakersfield Jam, an affiliate of NBA teams Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns, and Toronto Raptors. Coaches recognize Aguilar’s natural shot blocking abilities but add that he needs to toughen up, be more assertive and be a better outside shooter. Before leaving for the US, he was invited to work out with the Smart Gilas-Pilipinas 2.0 team coached by his mentor Chot Reyes. He declined but Gilas went on to win the gold the the 34^th William Jones Cup.

Read the full story on Rappler.  

There are now only two countries in the world where Coca-Cola, among the top global brands,  cannot be bought or sold officially: Cuba and North Korea. This is because both countries have been put under a US trade embargo. Coke moved out of Cuba in the 1960s after Fidel Castro’s government started seizing private assets. Just recently, reports said Coke has started selling in Burma after US trade sanctions imposed in 1962 were lifted. Local production is expected to begin soon. “Coca-Cola is the nearest thing to capitalism in a bottle,” Tom Standage who wrote “A History of the World in Six Glasses” said. “The moment Coca-Cola starts shipping is the moment you can say there might be real change going on here,” he added.  Coke rival PepsiCo has also disclosed plans of selling its products in Burma.

Read the full story on BBCNews. 

Sneezing caused by hay fever or allergies may become a thing of the past if London researchers are successful in developing a “cheaper and more effective vaccine.” Traditionally, hay fever is treated with antihistamines or steroids, even tablets or injections of pollen. Over 3 years, the doses of injections are gradually increased to increase tolerance to pollen. Researchers are using tiny amounts of pollen in injections targeted at a part of the skin with white blood cells. “It is a totally different route. The injections are very, very superficial, almost flat against the skin,” the BBC quoted Dr Stephen Till as saying. Early tests on 30 patients showed allergic reaction to grass pollen decreased as a result of the vaccine injection.

Read the full story on BBCNews. 

Resigned Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno will be issued a subpoena if he fails to show up during a Senate investigation on Friday, September 14. Sen Miriam Defensor Santiago, who called for the investigation under her Committee on Constitutional Amendments, Revision of Codes and Laws, said his resignation on Tuesday, September 11, has no bearing whatsoever on the probe. “He has to appear or we’ll put him in jail,” she said. She wants to investigate Puno on a number of issues: his alleged involvement in an illegal numbers game, supposed ties to illegal logging, bidding procedures for rifles intended for the Philippine National Police, and his attempt to keep documents of the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo kept in his condominium unit. Puno has denied accusations and said he was merely following orders of the President when he secured the documents. Puno also said he was on vacation and has not received any invitation from the Senate to appear before Santiago’s committee.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

An American was killed and at least one other person was wounded after an armed mob stormed the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The mob protested a film that offended that they found offensive to Islam. “One Amerian official was killed and another injured in the hand. The other staff members were evacuated and are safe and sound,” Wanis al-Sharef, Libya’s deputy interior minister, said. Washington condemned the attack on the US diplomatic mission. There was an earlier protest against the US embassy in Cairo where demonstrators, also offended by the film, even scaled the walls and grenades were hurled from a nearby farm. The film is said to have been produced by a 52-year-old US citizen from California and promoted by an expatriate Egyptian Copt. A trailer has appeared on YouTube and bears an Arabic translation.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Other details are available on BBCNews. 

More young people in rich countries are unemployed. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Tuesday, September 11, that unemployment rate in advanced countries rose from 7.9% in June to 8% in July. Close to 50 million were ranked unemployed, of which about 12 million were classified as youths. The highest unemployment rate was recorded in Spain at 25.1%, followed by Portugal at 15.7%, and Ireland at 14.9%. The rates in Australia, Austria, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico and the Netherlands were at 5.5%.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

Jihadists and terrorists from multiple countries are being connected through social media, according to a Philippine intelligence report. Khalil Pareja, a Christian convert to Islam who took over the leadership of the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM) in 2005, posted jihadi materials on YouTube and was active on Facebook, according to Maria Ressa, author of an upcoming book, “10 Days, 10 Years: From Bin Laden to Facebook.” RSM worked closely with the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaeda’s arm in Southeast Asia. They were said to be behind the Superferry bombing in 2004 and the Valentine’s Day bombings in 2005. Another terrorist leader, American Anwar al-Awlaki of the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula group, was also known to be a cyberworld superstar who understood the virtual world and influenced jihadists with his eloquence. Pareja, the same person as Abu Jihad Khalil al-Rahman al-Luzon, had called on Muslims to support the jihad in the Philippines via a video on YouTube. He was arrested by Filipino authorities on March 1.

Read the full story on Rappler.