Let's Do The News! (January 11, 2018)

- Despite improvements, the Philippine passport remained in the weaker half of the latest annual rankings for world's most powerful passports. According to the 2018 Henley Passport Index, the Philippine passport ranked 72nd in terms of global travel freedom out of the 199 passports in the index, tied with Azerbaijan, Cape Verde, Indonesia and Cuba.

- The Department of Health reported yesterday that over 90% of the Filipinos are now covered by social health insurance. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the DOH through PhilHealth provided health insurance coverage to 91 percent of the country’s total population and paid out a total of P361 million “Z benefit” claims in 2017.

- Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio will not attend the ongoing impeachment hearing against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. In a statement sent to reporters on Thursday, Carpio said that he wrote a letter to the House panel to decline the invitation to testify as he has "no personal knowledge of the matters the committee mentioned in its reply to me."

- A Cebu policeman involved in a drug war was named one of The Outstanding Young Men for 2017, along with seven other exceptional Filipinos. Supt. Byron Allatog, police chief of Bogo City, Cebu, said he felt honored and humbled by the recognition from the TOYM Foundation, believing that it would change the image of the PNP amid the bloody drug war.

- Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican who stood on a building yelling at protesters when he voted for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and who nearly lost in 2016, just announced he won't run for re-election in 2018. This comes just two days after another California Republican Rep. Ed Royce announced he also would not run for re-election.

- ICYMI: Philip Morris International announced that they will stop making cigarettes and replace them with alternatives such as e-cigarettes.

- A power outage broke out at the recent Consumer Electronics Showcase in Las Vegas Convention Center for nearly two hours. First reports of the power outage began hitting Twitter from convention goers starting around 11:14AM Pacific, and was slowly restored shortly after 1:00PM Pacific.

- Ford unveiled the Edge ST ahead of NAIAS premiere, featuring a slightly upgraded 2.0L EcoBoost engine mated to a brand new 8-speed AT with Auto Start-Stop technology.

2019 Ford Edge ST

- Kia teases an upcoming full model change of the K3 compact saloon with a sketch.

Teaser sketch for the All New K3

- The FIA Formula E Championship teams up with the ABB Group to become its official partner and now, the series is known as the ABB FIA Formula E.

TTFN!!!