March 5, 2015 Edition

The US ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was injured in an attack by an armed assailant on Thursday, March 5, in Seoul. The YTN news channel, citing police sources, said one man carried out the attack as Lippert was walking to a breakfast meeting in central Seoul. The channel carried a picture showing the ambassador after the assault with his right hand raised to his face and his left hand smeared with blood.

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German Marc Sueselbeck, the fiancé of slain transgender Filipino Jennifer Laude, writes an open letter about their relationship and his wish to be allowed to return to the Philippines on March 13, the date he was scheduled to wed Laude. Sueselbeck opted for voluntary deportation following controversial protests he led at a military camp where the main suspect in Laude’s murder, an American soldier, is detained. Sueselbeck remains on the Philippine blacklist.

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An online documentary on China’s notorious smog has become a viral sensation with more than 155 million views just one day after it was released, state media said. Under the Dome, a documentary privately produced by Chai Jing, a former anchor with state broadcaster China Central Television, detailed causes of atmospheric pollution in the country. They included slack government supervision and lenient penalties for polluters. Chai, a former anchor with state broadcaster China Central Television, said the film was her “personal battle” against air pollution after her daughter was born with a benign tumor, theGlobal Times said.

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It’s a test case closely watched by the Philippine automotive industry following a complaint by a buyer about a defective Audi luxury car that he had bought. The Department of Trade and Industry has ruled in favor of the buyer, Richard Nolasco Jr, as it ordered Audi Motorcars Incorporated and PGA Cars Incorporated to replace the Audi or pay him back. The two are “jointly liable for the imperfections” of the Audi 6 3.0 TD, which was bought by Nolasco in May 2014, DTI said.

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The EU’s migration chief insisted that the bloc must work with dictatorships in order to fight smugglers who traffic migrants to Europe, often using dangerous sea routes across the Mediterranean. The 28-member EU said it was pushing forward the launch of a new migration policy to mid-May because of the urgency in dealing with the flood of migrants across the Mediterranean, many of them fleeing conflicts in Syria and Libya. The comments by Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European commissioner for migration and home affairs, came as at least 10 more people were reported dead after a migrant boat capsized off Sicily.  “We’re not naive. And the fact that we cooperate in the framework of the Khartoum and Rabat process (EU agreements with African countries) with the dictatorial regimes, we do not legalize them,” Avramopoulos said.

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If a leader is supposed to know about everything that happens under his office, then Vice President Jejomar Binay should have been well aware of alleged corruption in Makati City. Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II hit back at Binay after the Vice President said that the bloody police operation in Maguindanao raised questions about the interior chief’s kind of leadership. Binay and Roxas are expected to go head-to-head for the presidency in 2016. Roxas said that following his own logic, Binay then should be aware of corruption allegations in Makati, where his son is incumbent mayor.

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The Department of Justice is looking into allegations that Special Action Force commandos also broke the rules of war in the January 25 Mamasapano carnage. But unless witnesses come out, the department would find it hard to verify these allegations, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said. She stressed that the SAF is not exempted from the “objective, thorough, and balance investigation” of the National Bureau of Investigation.

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One of Japan’s biggest and most famous battleships was found on a Philippine seabed, some 70 years after American forces sank it during World War II, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen announced on March 4. Historians likened the discovery, if verified, to finding the Titanic, as they hailed the American billionaire for his high-tech mission that apparently succeeded after so many failed search attempts by others. The discovery was the end of an 8-year search for the Musashi, backed by historical data from 4 countries and using “advanced technology” that surveyed the seabed.

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The top US Republican seeking Benghazi documents from Hillary Clinton filed a subpoena demanding her emails, which the likely 2016 presidential candidate sent from a private account while secretary of state. Clinton has been under fire in what has emerged as a potentially damaging scandal over revelations that virtually her entire email correspondence while at the State Department was conducted on private email accounts and not an encrypted government server. “The Select Committee on Benghazi today issued subpoenas for all communications of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton related to Libya,” committee communications director Jamal Ware said. Ware said the committee also issued “preservation letters to Internet firms informing them of their legal obligation to protect all relevant documents.”

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Singer Christina Perri arrived on March 4 for her concert at the Araneta Coliseum, which will be held Thursday, March 5. The Philippines is one of the stops of Christina’s Head or Heart tour. Christina rose to fame with her album Lovestrong, which includes the song “Jar of Hearts,” in 2011. The album was a great hit, which led Christina to doing 9 tours in 27 months.

Read the full story on Rappler.