April 26, 2013 Edition

Gunmen ambushed the convoy of a Lanao del Norte mayor on April 25, killing at least 12 — including the mayor’s granddaughter — and wounding 7 others. Mayor Abdulmalik Manamparan of Nunungan, Lanao del Norte survived the ambush but he was wounded and brought to a hospital in Iligan City. “They killed my granddaughter,” Manamparan told AFP from his hospital bed, where the 62-year-old official was being treated for a shrapnel wound that grazed his head. The ambush was the latest episode of political violence in the Philippines which will hold elections on May 13. A running police tally lists 30 deaths from 45 other violent incidents reported since the start of the campaign in February.

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Bangladeshi rescuers pulled dozens more people alive from a razed garment factory building on April 26, as the US pressed for a crackdown on deadly negligence of safety norms in the clothing industry. The overnight rescue of 45 people provided new hope to thousands of anguished relatives at the scene, but the death toll crept up to 273. The collapse of the building in the town of Savar is the worst industrial accident in the country’s history. It prompted new criticism of Western brands who were accused by activists of placing profit before safety by sourcing their products from the country despite its shocking track record of deadly disasters.

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The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) on April 25 assured Philippine President Benigno Aquino II that there is no reason to doubt the 1st semester poverty statistics. On Rappler’s #talkthursday, NSCB Secretary General Jose Ramon Albert said the numbers merely pointed to the percentage of the population of a country that is poor. The NSCB poverty data showed that poverty incidence in the first 6 months of 2012 was virtually unchanged from 2006 and 2009. The President has said he doubts whether the latest poverty numbers are reliable given that the population numbers have not been as accurate prior to 2010, when the Aquino administration assumed.

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The board of Manila-based lender Asian Development Bank (ADB) unanimously voted Takehiko Nakao, a Japanese bureaucrat who has “broad and deep knowledge of the Asian region,” as its new president. Nakao, 57, the sole nominee for the ADB position, was Japan’s former Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs. He will assume office as ADB’s 9th president on April 28. Japan has held the presidency of the ADB since the institution was founded in 1966, and is tied with the US in having the largest voting power at the bank.

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China welcomed French President Francois Hollande on April 25, with a deal potentially worth billions for 60 Airbus planes as he became the first Western leader to pay court to Beijing’s new supremo. In the Great Hall of the People adjoining the square, the leaders attended a signing ceremony for an outline agreement on the Airbus deal as Hollande pressed Xi to help re-balance China’s trade surplus over France. The French president later vowed to remove obstacles to Chinese investment in France as he vies to drum up anemic rates of growth in the eurozone’s number-two economy.

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South Koreans still dominated the 1.27 million tourists who visited the Philippines in the first 3 months of 2013. Koreans accounted for 25.83% of the total tourist arrivals, which improved by 11% compared to a year ago, data from the Tourism Department showed. The Philippines is aiming to hit 5.5 million tourists this 2013. The January-to-March numbers contributed 23% to the full year goal.

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Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis is researching a vaccine for the H7N9 strain of bird flu, its chief executive said Thursday, April 25, amid fears that the disease could mutate into a form that spreads among people. In an interview with the Swiss daily Tagesanzeiger, Joe Jimenez said that Novartis had already analysed the virus’ genetic codes, which have been published by Chinese authorities. Jimenez said that Novartis “would today be in a position to develop a vaccine for initial clinical trials within six to eight weeks”.

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Yahoo! on Thursday announced that the chairman of the board was stepping down as freshly-minted chief Marissa Mayer forges ahead with an effort to revive the struggling Internet pioneer. Fred Amoroso will not seek reelection to the board of directors at the upcoming 2013 annual meeting of shareholders, Yahoo! said in a release. Maynard Webb Jr. was appointed to take over as chairman of the board, with Amoroso serving as a member until the shareholder meeting on June 25.

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A luxury golf bag, a statue of Abraham Lincoln and an Australian rules football jersey formed part of a treasure trove given to US President Barack Obama in 2011, officials said. The list of presents given to Obama by foreign governments or dignitaries released by the US State Department revealed an Aladdin’s cave of gifts, ranging from the modest to the lavish. Several items reflected Obama’s fondness for golf. All federal employees in the United States must declare gifts from foreign governments or organizations with gifts to the president or the first family turned over to the National Archives. 

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A Pew Research Center report released late April 24 indicates that online social networks have become political hotspots in the United States. Approximately 39 percent of US adults engaged in political activity in Internet communities during the 2012 US presidential campaign, according to a Pew report titled Civic Engagement in the Digital Age. By comparison, only 26 percent of people in the United States used online social networks in any form or fashion during the prior presidential election in 2008, Pew reported.

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