Daily News Highlights – March 15, 2015 Edition

The Philippine National Police Board of Inquiry (PNP-BOI), created to investigate the January 25 Mamasapano bloodbath, released its findings to the public on Friday, March 13. The report implicates resigned PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima for acting “without authority” before and during the operation that targetted terrorists Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, and Abdul Basit Usman, but which led to the killing of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandors, 18 Moro rebels and 5 civilians. 

Malacañang questioned the findings of the Philippine National Police Board of Inquiry (PNP BOI) into the Mamasapano operation and insisted on Saturday, March 14, that President Benigno Aquino III should not be held liable for any lapses.

Read the full report, and the details of the findings, on Rappler.

Vanuatu’s president made an emotional appeal for international assistance after his island nation was hit by a calamity of a cyclone, wreaking devastation in what is feared to be one of the region’s worst weather disasters. Though the full extent of the damage is unknown, the UN had unconfirmed reports of 44 people killed in just one province while aid agencies described scenes of destroyed homes, uprooted trees and blocked roads as a result of Super Cyclone Pam, a maximum Category 5 storm.

Read more on Rappler.

As Syria’s civil war rages into a fifth year, the daily suffering of its people has been overshadowed by atrocities committed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group that have sparked international horror. Four years after anti-regime protests broke out on March 15, 2011, jihadists control large tracts of territory, a defiant President Bashar al-Assad is clinging to power and revolutionary dreams have faded.

Read more on Rappler.

 State weather bureau PAGASA announced on Wednesday, March 11, the onset of El Niño, causing reduced rainfall and higher temperatures in some parts of the country. 

With El Niño causing a dry spell in the country, farmers, who may find scientific terms difficult to understand, are expected to be most affected by this phenomenon. 

How will we be affected? And how is government addressing this problem? Learn more on Rappler.

If you’ve watch a big foreign act perform in one of the numerous concerts in the country, you most probably have entrepreneur Celinda De Guia to thank. Celinda, together with her husband Rene, is the driving force behind Ovation Productions, responsible for bringing acts such as One Direction, Incubus, and the musical Beauty and the Beast to Philippine audiences.

Celinda shares to Rappler the story of Ovation’s early days and how the Internet has transformed the global music industry and concert scene.

Afghanistan used about $1 million provided by the CIA to a secret government fund to pay Al-Qaeda in 2010 for a diplomat’s release, The New York Times reported Saturday, March 14. The terror group’s leader at the time, Osama bin Laden, worried that the Americans knew about the payment and were either tracing the cash or had laced it with poison or radiation, and suggested it be converted to another currency, according to the Times.

Read more on Rappler.

Europe’s physics lab CERN said Thursday, March 12, it had begun tests in preparation for rebooting the world’s biggest particle collider and trying to uncover new particles that could alter our understanding of the Universe.

CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) went offline in February 2013 for a massive overhaul after identifying what is believed to be the Higgs boson, the long-sought maker of mass theorized in the 1960s. Now, after nearly doubling energy levels possible in the collider, CERN scientists have their sights set on finding exotic new particles in a previously-inaccessible realm.

Read more on Rappler.

Since Pope Francis’ election on March 13, 2013, the Pope has placed Filipinos in at least 10 key positions in the Catholic Church – from Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle’s role as the Synod’s president-delegate to a Boholano archbishop’s job as the Vatican’s representative in the United Nations (UN).

In an interview with Rappler, a leading Asian theologian said these appointments show us 3 things. What these 3 things are, read more on Rappler.

Freddie Roach believes Manny Pacquiao should dominate Floyd Mayweather Jr. from start to finish in their long-awaited encounter on May 2(May 3 in Manila) at the 16,800-seater MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Roach, who has been Pacquiao’s trainer since his title-winning performance against Lehlo Ledwaba for the IBF super bantamweight belt in June 2001, revealed that the blueprint on defeating Mayweather is taking the unbeaten American boxer out of his comfort zone with the Filipino’s busy pace.

Read more on Rappler.

Thirty-four ladies compete for a chance at the crowns. Who will take their places as Miss Universe Philippines, Binibining Pilipinas-International, Binibining Pilipinas-Tourism, Binibining Pilipinas-Supranational, and Binibining Pilipinas-Intercontinental?

Rappler live blogs the Bb Pilipinas 2015 grand coronation night starting 5pm on Sunday, March 15. Tune in for all the action, all the results, delivered to you right as they are announced.