March 3, 2015 Edition

The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan allowed detained Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla to visit his son who is confined at the Asian Hospital for a gunshot wound. The First Division of the Sandiganbayan granted Revilla’s request to visit the Cavite Vice Governor on March 3, from 3-8 pm. In their motion for a 24-hour furlough, Revilla’s lawyers said he feels “helpless and distraught about the serious threat to the life of his son” who reportedly accidentally shot himself on the chest while cleaning his gun at home.

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As part of its continuing all-out offensive against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), the military has captured a factory of improvised explosives operated by the breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.Colonel Melquuiades Feliciano, commander of the Army 601st Infantry Brigade leading the military offensive, said equipment and materials used to “fabricate home-made bombs were left behind.” Bomb components were said to be discovered in an encampment near the site of the bloody Mamasapano clash. President Benigno Aquino III had promised government will hunt down BIFF bombmaker Abdul Basit Usman.

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Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates is still the world’s richest, Forbes Magazine said on Monday, March 2. The Microsoft co-founder has held the spot for 16 of the past 21 years. His fortune has increased to 79.2 billion, higher by $3.2 billion from 2014, notwithstanding the $1.5-billion gift of Microsoft shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in November last year. Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim was second with his $77.1 billion, followed by American investor Warren Buffet, with his $72.7 billion.

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More details are on Forbes Magazine.

About 30,000 Iraqi troops and militia, backed by aircraft, pounded jihadist positions in and around Tikrit, one of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) strongholds. While advancing northward in a bid to recapture from ISIS the hometown of deposed leader Saddam Hussein, troops are eyeing their toughest target yet. The broadest operation since ISIS took over large parts of the country last June would be a step towards the liberation of Mosul, the main hub of jihadists in Iraq.

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Astronomers have found that dust played an important role in the infancy of the Universe. They observed a galaxy called A1689-zD1 and found that it was consistently forming stars by about 560 million years after the Big Bang. “It is a galaxy of modest size, and yet it is already full of dust. This is very surprising and it tells us that ordinary galaxies were enriched with the heavier elements far faster than expected,” one of the astronomers said. Grains of dust are the building blocks of the cosmos. They are formed in the nuclear combustion of a star.

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Congress leaders set a new deadline for the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL): June 30, the end of the second regular session. House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr said Congress has no choice but to continue with deliberations on the proposed law, if the alternative is waging war in Mindanao. Senate and House leaders agreed on the new deadline during their monthly meeting for their legislative agenda on Monday, March 2. The fate of the BBL has become uncertain in the aftermath of the Mamasapano clash that killed 44 Special Action Force troopers, 18 Moro rebels, and at least 3 civilians.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Manny Pacquiao coach Freddie Roach is locking down the Wild Card Gym once training for the champion boxer begins. Roach said a closed gym will make sure their game plan for the bout with Floyd Mayweather on May 2 remains secret and distractions will be limited. “Nobody is gonna get my strategy unless I want them to. We’re locking down the Wild Card entirely,” Roach said.

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The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) denied they were behind the February 4 burning of the hut of Malaysian bombmaker Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan. Abu Misri Mama, spokesman of the BIFF, a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic LiberationFront, said, “We don’t burn houses or anything that destroys civilian properties.” Police arrested 3 suspected members of the BIFF evening of March 1 in Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao. The 3 who had hand grenades on them did not resist arrest.

Read the full story on Rappler.

The new Chinese character “duang” is taking China’s Internet by storm. Non-existent in the Chinese dictionary, “duang” has appeared more than 8 million times on Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo, the BBC reported. On China’s biggest online search engine Baidu, it has been searched for almost 600,000 times. The new word appears to have started with Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan, who was featured in a shampoo ad where he used the rhythmical-sounding “duang” to defend his sleek, black hair.

Read the full story on the BBC.

Jackie Chan image from Shutterstock

Now you can charge your mobile devices on furniture fitted with wireless charging spots. Swedish furniture giant Ikea has prepared bedside tables, a coffee table, and lamps for charging devices. Ikea adopted the wireless charging standard QI, also supported by Samsung in its latest handset, the S6, the BBC said. Ikea will be selling charging covers for incompatible iPhone and Samsung models.

Read the full story on the BBC.