Daily News Highlights – April 28, 2016 Edition

Brigadier General Alan Arrojado, the brigade commander of Army troops in Sulu, resigned in the wake of the beheading of Canadian hostage John Ridsdel by the Abu Sayyaf Group. Sources told Rappler he cited “conflict [over] the approach in addressing the ASG threats in Sulu.” Two days after his murder, locals found a headless cadaver of a Caucasian in a village in Talipao, Sulu, the same province where Ridsdel was beheaded.

President Aquino revealed that the Abu Sayyaf also plotted to kidnap his sister TV host Kris Aquino and world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.

Read the full story of General Arrojado’s resignation on Rappler.

The Philippines’ first microsatellite, the Diwata-1, was deployed into space on Wednesday night to start its mission as the country’s own “eye in the sky.” It was deployed from the Japanese Experiment Module, nicknamed “Kibo,” onboard the International Space Station. JAXA, the Japanese space agency, said the Diwata-1 deployment will be the first time the JEM will deploy a 50-kilogram class microsatellite. Diwata-1 is expected to stay in orbit for around 20 months.

Read the full story on Rappler Science.

The “Panama Papers” trove of leaked documents revealing the vast extent of global tax evasion will be made available to the public on May 9, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists said. The searchable database will include information about more than 200,000 secret companies, trusts, and foundations based in 21 tax havens “from Hong Kong to Nevada in the United States.” About 11.5 million leaked documents of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, reveal the large-scale use of offshore entities to conceal assets from tax authorities.

Read the full story on Rappler World.

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon called for the United States, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Iran, and Egypt to end the “madness” of atomic testing by finally ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which turns 20 this year. “Nuclear testing poisons water, causes cancers, and pollutes the area with radioactive fallout for generations and generations to come,” Ban said in Vienna at an event marking the anniversary. The CTBT, adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 1996, has been signed by 183 states and ratified by 164 including Russia, France, and Britain – 3 of the 9 countries which have, or are thought to have, nuclear weapons. But to enter in force, the treaty needs 44 particular “nuclear technology holder” states to ratify it, 8 of whom have yet to do so.

Read the full story on Rappler World.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, a global financial messaging network, warned its customers that it knew of “a number of recent cyber incidents” in which attackers sent fraudulent messages over its system. Reuters reported that the disclosure came following investigations into the theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The group told customers, “SWIFT is aware of a number of recent cyber incidents in which malicious insiders or external attackers have managed to submit SWIFT messages from financial institutions’ back-offices, PCs or workstations connected to their local interface to the SWIFT network.”

Read the full story on Rappler Business.

Dozens of North Korean restaurants abroad have closed or suspended business as visitor numbers plunged because of growing international pressure on the isolated state, Seoul’s spy agency said. The network of more than 100 restaurants abroad – where young North Korean women entertain customers with dancing and singing – has been a valued source of hard currency for the impoverished country. Seoul last month told South Koreans to boycott North Korean restaurants abroad, saying a decrease in use would block the foreign currency cash flow, amid widespread condemnation over the North’s nuclear and missile tests. The United Nations Security Council in March slapped the toughest-ever sanctions on the North in response to the atomic and missile tests, staged in January and February in violation of existing UN resolutions.

Read the full story on Rappler World.

Thai election authorities filed their first charge under a law banning campaigning and debate before a referendum on a controversial new constitution. The broadly-worded legislation, which came into force last week, mandates up to 10 years in prison for criticizing the military’s new charter or “influencing voters” in the run-up to the August 7 poll. It will be Thailand’s first return to the ballot box since the generals toppled an elected government two years ago and banned all political activities. Election Commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn said the election agency filed the first charge under the law against a group who posted Facebook messages aimed at “inciting voters.” He said, “Those who post comments with rude or aggressive wordings are clearly violating the law.”

Read the full story on Rappler World.

Residents of Sawang Calero and its neighboring village of Pasil in Cebu City handed white flowers to members of the city council to celebrate the junking of Ludo Power Corporation’s 300 megawatts coal power plant project in their area. Sheida Henry, a concerned citizen, started an online petition to stop the construction of the coal-powered plant in Sawang Calero, which residents said was submitted to the village council without consulting the residents of the affected areas. They only knew of its existence through a public broadcast around the barangay and not through a community meeting. “Our demand for sustainable, clean energy has been heard,” wrote the Youth for a Livable Cebu organization on their Facebook page.

Read the full story on Rappler.

The province of Negros Occidental has declared a state of calamity after incurring P407 million worth of losses in agro-fishery, joining a growing list of localities that need emergency measures and funds to address the worsening drought. The dry spell has affected 7,080 farmers, 44 fisherfolk, and 7,909 sugar planters in 136 villages of 21 towns and cities in the province. Earlier, the towns of Hinobaan, Pontevedra and Hinigaran, and Sipalay City already declared a state of calamity after a prolonged shortage of water supply in farms due to the absence of rain brought on by the El Niño phenomenon.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Car makers Ford and Volvo, ride-sharing start-up Uber, its rival Lyft, and Google founded the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets to push for a unified United States legal code on self-driving cars. It is part of a broader lobbying drive to promote that technology. The US Department of Transportation has estimated that self-driving vehicles could help significantly reduce the severity and frequency of crashes, the vast majority of which are caused by human error in this country, according to the coalition.

Read the full story on Rappler Technology.