Daily News Highlights – April 19, 2016 Edition

Rivals of presidential candidate Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte reacted to his rape joke. Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago told voters to express indignation by not voting for him but said that Duterte had the right to express himself. She also acknowledged that the tough-talking mayor had “crossed a line.” Liberal Party Candidate Mar Roxas had stronger words for Duterte. He said, “Rape is not just a crime of sex. Rape is a crime of control.” He added he doesn’t want a president who “views these grave matters as Duterte does, as though one can joke lightly about them.” Senator Grace Poe, the former frontrunner overtaken by Duterte in surveys said, “This is an issue of how women should be respected, not just women but all of us.”

Read more on reactions from Santiago, Roxas and Poe.

Stars and personalities expressed their views on social media on presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte’s joke about a murdered Australian rape victim. On Facebook, Artist Gab Valenciano told Duterte supporters, “Do not go out of your way to bash the others and deem yours most eligible and deserving.” Musician Noel Cabangon, a Roxas supporter, also took to Facebook to voice his disappointment over Duterte’s statement. He wrote: “I will never vote for your candidate because he is dangerous and will surely lead our country down a dark path.” Rock star Chito Miranda, who has previously voiced support for Duterte, tweeted that he was not happy about what Duterte said. In his tweets which have since been deleted, Chito said: “One should never joke about rape. I was deeply offended and disappointed. I really hope he cleans up his act, for the sake of the country.” In the end, Chito shared the video of Duterte’s explanation on Twitter, saying it’s up to the people to judge for themselves.

Read more celebrities’ reactions to Duterte’s rape remark.

A Social Weather Stations survey showed President Benigno Aquino’s satisfaction rating dropped 3 months before his term ends, the lowest since 2015. Aquino’s net satisfaction rating was at 27% for the first quarter from 32% in December 2015. The survey also revealed 57% are satisfied with the president 30% are dissatisfied while 14% undecided. The President had the highest rating in the Visayas at 69% followed by Mindanao at 58% Balance Luzon at 54%, and the National Capital Region at 43%.

Read more on Aquino satisfaction ratings.

The website of local radio station dzMM was defaced Monday and its database possibly leaked by hackers claiming to be from Bloodsec International and Anonymous Philippines. Bloodsec also posted a link to what it claims is the leaked database of dzMM. The dzMM website showed a black background with animated embers jumping upwards on the screen, with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. on “false propaganda.” dzMM is the radio station of giant network ABS-CBN.

Read more on DZMM website.

The US Supreme Court appeared closely divided Monday as it weighed President Barack Obama’s plan to shield nearly half of the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. If the 8 justices deadlock in their ruling, due by late June, it will keep intact a lower court block on the plan, dealing a bruising defeat to Obama during his last year in office and pushing the issue to the next president. One initiative shields from deportation people who have lived in the United States since 2010, with children who are US citizens or lawful residents. Another protects immigrants who entered the country as children. 4 liberal-leaning justices appeared to defend Obama’s plan but critics accuse Obama of overstepping his authority, a view that appeared to find an echo among the conservative justices on the Supreme Court bench. 

Read more on the US Supreme Court’s division on immigration.

Rescuers and desperate families clawed through the rubble Monday, April 18, to pull out survivors of an earthquake that killed 350 people and destroyed towns in a tourist area of Ecuador. The Spanish Red Cross said in a statement it estimated that up to 100,000 people would need assistance. Authorities send food and water to the devastated areas while international support is also pouring in. Although Ecuador frequently suffers seismic shudders because of its position on the Pacific Rim’s “Ring of Fire”, the weekend’s quake – which lasted a full minute – was the worst in nearly 40 years. 

Read more on Ecuador rescue efforts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Barack Obama agreed during a phone call on Monday to strengthen a Syria ceasefire brokered by both nations. The Russian Kremlin said Putin also stressed the need for “moderate” rebels to distance themselves from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al-Nusra Front jihadists and also urged the closure of the border between Syria and Turkey where “supplies of arms for extremists” are filtering across. A landmark partial ceasefire negotiated by the United States and Russia dramatically curtailed violence across much of Syria and raised hopes that a lasting deal could be struck in Geneva to end the bloodshed. But fighting has surged around second city Aleppo in the last week, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee, leading the opposition to question President Bashar al-Assad’s commitment to a political solution to a conflict that has displaced half of the population and killed more than 270,000 people.

Read more on the US-Russia agreement on Syria.

China’s economy grew in the first 3 months of 2016 at its slowest quarter-on-quarter rate since it began releasing the data, the government said, while the real-estate sector rebounded thanks to aggressive stimulus. The world’s second-largest economy expanded 1.1% in January-March over the last quarter of 2015, the slowest pace since it started publishing such statistics in early 2011. The result follows 1.5% growth in the previous 3 months and 1.8% in July-September. China’s leaders are looking to manage a difficult transition away from the investment- and export-led model of the past to an economy more driven by consumer demand, but the change is proving bumpy and global markets have fretted over the outlook.

Read more on China’s slow economic growth.

Young people often claim they are experts at multitasking and that they can monitor several electronic devices at once makes it seem to be the case. But research regularly demonstrates when they try to do two things at once, they tend to do both tasks poorly. Either they make more errors or they take longer than they would if they did one thing at a time. In one study, university students’ laptops were monitored by a spyware program during lectures. It found students attempted to multitask by checking course material and taking lecture notes as well as looking at emails, engaging in social media, surfing the web and playing games. The study found the more often students engaged with non-course-related material during the lecture, the worse their academic performance was.

Read more on the drawbacks of multitasking.

US Senator Bernie Sanders showed up late Saturday on the screen of the main stage in the California desert of leading US music festival Coachella, bringing cheers to the mostly young crowd – the left-wing candidate’s main support base. Sanders was offering a brief introduction to the set by Run the Jewels, a project of Atlanta rapper and supporter Killer Mike. Sanders backers are hoping to use Coachella, which brings 180,000 people over two consecutive weekends, to register voters and otherwise rally support. Sanders supporters waved signs and pictures, including one of the senator cuddling a kitten, as Run the Jewels put on a set that included “Early,” a powerful critique of police brutality.

Read more on Sanders’ Coachella appearance.