June 28, 2012 Edition

Three Journalists and 4 security guards were killed in an attack on pro-government al-Ikhbariya TV Wednesday, June 27, the state news agency Sana reported. Hours before, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad declared they were in “a real situation of war” and American intelligence officials predicted a prolonged struggle. “The terrorist groups stormed the offices of al-Ikhbariya, planted explosives in the studios and blew them up along with the equipment,” Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said. Violence in the country, according to the BBC, had “reached or surpassed” levels before a ceasefire agreement sealed last April. UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has called for a meeting of the UN action group for Syria on Saturday, June 30. Al-Ikhbariya remained on air despite Wednesday’s assault.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

Read more on BBCNews. 

Additional details are available on CNN. 

More than 32,000 people have fled a residential area of Colorado’s second largest city on Wednesday, June 27, because of a massive wildfire. Starting in Waldo Canyon on Saturday, the fire has destroyed over 6,000 hectares. It doubled its size overnight and lit surrounding mountains. “This is a firestorm of epic proportions,” Colorado Springs fire chief Rich Brown told a press conference late Tuesday. Turbulent winds prompted evacuations of over 30,000 residents, with more people ordered to leave Wednesday. No deaths or injuries have been reported, but devastation has been described as “pretty intense.” It was unclear what sparked the fire but officials declared it was not caused by lightning.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

Read more on BBCNews. 

Amid protests and after last year’s Fukushima disaster, energy-starved Japan will start switching on reactors at the Ohi Nuclear Power Plant starting Sunday, July 1. This will provide electricity to the western part of Japan, including Osaka, the biggest city, by July 4. Prior to the Fukushima disaster, 30% of Japan’s electricity was sourced from nuclear energy. As a response to concerns over the safety of nuclear reactors, the Japanese government has been conducting simulation tests for restarting nuclear reactors. Japan’s 50 commercial nuclear reactors have been offline since May 5 for safety checks. Greenpeace activists have been protesting Japan’s use of nuclear energy. “Nuclear power has been disastrous for Japan’s environment, the health of its people and its economy,” a Greenpeace statement said.

Read the full story on CNN. 

Handsome, telegenic, 45-year-old Enrique Peña Nieto could be Mexico’s next president. Promising to battle poverty in the country, he wound up his national campaign on Wednesday, June 27, in Toluca, Mexico. Peña Nieto is leading in the nation’s latest polls which predict he will win by a 10-17-point margin over the candidate of the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution. He has presented himself as the new face of the party that ruled Mexico for most of the 20^th century and which had been tainted by charges of corruption and cronyism.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

Northern Luzon provinces are experiencing heavy rains as a result of Tropical Storm Dindo, which has been inching closer Thursday, June 28. The rains could continue until Friday afternoon or evening. Dindo (international codename Doksuri) is expected to be northwest of Aparri, Cagayan by Friday morning and northwest of Basco, Batanes by Saturday morning. Even as it exits, rains are still expected in the western part of the country as Dindo is expected to enhance the southwest monsoon. According to the state weather bureau PAGASA, rainfall will be heavy to intense. Another tropical cyclone is expected in the Philippine Area of Responsibility by Sunday.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

The world will look different in two years. Google hopes its glasses technology will someday make fumbling with smartphones a thing of the past. Google co-founder Sergey Brin said developers could buy their “Explorer” edition glasses for US$1,500 by early next year and that a version for the consumer market will be available  a year after. The eyewear features a built-in camera, microphone and speaker technology and can synch to the Internet using wireless connections. Mini-screens can also display text messages, email and other digitized information from the Internet or mobile gadgets.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

Severe stress caused by a broken heart syndrome could actually be good for the heart. Scientists at the Imperial College London have discovered that a temporary heart failure could actually protect it from high levels of adrenaline. A condition called “Takotsubo cardiomyopath,” also known as a broken heart syndrome, causes patients, older women in particular, to experience symptoms similar to a heart attack. This condition causes the heart to appear “balloon-like” because it does not contract properly. Professor Sian Harding of the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London explained that the stimulatory effect of adrenaline on the heart enables people to get more oxygen around the body but that it can be “damaging when it goes on for too long.” Rats which were tested and injected with high doses of adrenaline were found to have their hearts protected from over-stimulation and toxic levels of adrenaline.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

American boxer Timothy Bradley who won over Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao has chosen to keep the World Boxing Organization welterweight crown and give up his own WBO junior welterweight title. Bradley thus steps up in the WBO welterweight ranks, while Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez takes the throne in the WBO junior welterweight category. Promoter Bob Arum wants Pacquiao to fight Marquez for a 4^th time after beating him twice and drawing once. Bradley, who holds a 29-0, 12 knockout record, is hoping for a November 10 rematch with Pacquiao. Five judges earlier convened by the WBO unanimously voted in favor of Pacquiao, however, after watching a video of his June 9 fight with Bradley.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

A related story on the earlier ruling by the 5 WBO judges is available also on Rappler. 

Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III has decided to leave the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) after meeting with former President Joseph Estrada, a member of the coalition’s national executive committee on Thursday, June 28. The two met in Estrada’s Polk Clubhouse in San Juan. UNA, which is headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay, is a coalition formed between Pimentel’s PDP-Laban and Estrada’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino. Pimentel was upset when the executive committee accepted resigned Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri in its senatorial slate. Zubiri has been accused of cheating in the 2007 elections and robbing Pimentel of his Senate seat.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

Six-time tennis champ Roger Federer swept 3 sets and won over Italy’s Fabio Fognini on Wednesday, June 28. Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla witnessed Federer’s 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 win which took all of just 74 minutes at the All England Club. Federer unleashed 13 aces and 35 winners in his quick victory, which also makes him advance to the third round. He has lost only 9 games in his first two rounds. “I’m very happy to have won and to be back on Center Court. It’s great to have that feeling and to see Charles and Camilla up there is just great for tennis,” Federer said. World No. 1 Djokovic meanwhile defeated American Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, and goes up against Czech Radek Stepanek or German Benjamin Becker.

Read the full story on Rappler.