Daily News Highlights – May 1, 2015 Edition

Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said they do no intend to knock out Floyd Mayweather Jr but instead will outscore him by decision. He added he anticipates Mayweather going in for the kill in early rounds to try to knock out Pacquiao but that they’re prepared for it. Mayweather’s trainer and father however said “the fight is already won.” Asked if the fight would be short, Mayweather Sr said, “Pretty much.”

 Read the full story on Rappler.

Is trouble brewing at the Bureau of Customs? Newly appointed Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina transferred lawyer Leonardo Peralta, the head of the Investigation Division, to an office that is commonly referred to as the “freezer”. This was done without the knowledge of Peralta’s superior Jessie Dellosa, the Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Group. While the move was described by Lina as part of a reorganization that is geared at reforming the tax-collecting agency, it also indicates power play between him and Dellosa. Peralta’s unit was investigating a company owned by Lina which supposedly failed to pay about P1.5 billion in taxes and duties.

 Read the full story on Rappler.

President Benigno Aquino III on Thursday, April 30, said he would order Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to fast track the case of the alleged recruiter of Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipina who narrowly escaped death by firing squad in Indonesia. It was Maria Kristina Sergio who recruited Veloso and brought her “to this predicament,” Aquino said, referring to her conviction for alleged drug smuggling. He told the Indonesian government that pursuing Sergio’s case could take two months as the justice department is still conducting its preliminary investigation on possible human trafficking, illegal recruitment and estafa charges. The Philippines is considering making an appeal for clemency for Veloso, who, if proven to be a human trafficking victim, should not deserve the death penalty.

Read the full story on Rappler.

A related story on the Philippine bid for clemency is also on Rappler.

The Philippine military has no reclamation activities in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). “We are not doing anything inside the areas that we control,” Armed Forces chief General Gregorio Catapang Jr said. The commanding officer of the military unit responsible for the country’s territorial defense said pictures will speak for themselves. Vice Admiral Alexander Lopez said, “We’re not doing anything that would weaken our arbitration case. We’re sticking to that game plan.”

Read the full story on Rappler.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said units in Luzon and the Visayas are under heightened alert, while units in Mindanao are under full alert on Labor Day. PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Bartolome Tobias said they would extend “full cooperation and support to participants in projected mass actions only within the bounds of law.” Militant groups are expected to organize mass actions all over the country.

Read the full story on Rappler.

A Pakistani court has sentenced to life imprisonment 10 men who attempted to kill Nobel Prize winner and teenage activist Malala Yousafzai in 2012. The chief suspect however remains at large. Life prison sentences in Pakistan last 25 years and allow convicts to appeal to a higher court. In October 2012, Pakistani Taliban militants boarded Malala’s school bus and shot her in the head for her outspoken views on girls’ education. Now 17, Malala received the Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest to do so, for her courageous and determined fight for children’s right to go to school.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

Lieutenant Colonel Jem Blades of the United Kingdom’s Royal Engineers had one advice for representatives of government and non-governmental organizations last Tuesday: Metro Manila’s earthquake response should be updated every 6 months. In the aftermath of the devastating Nepal earthquake that killed almost 6,000, Alexander Pama, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said there is a need to “step up our efforts to make the Philippines better prepared for earthquakes and other emergencies.” Blades pointed out that plans are never perfect. “It’s not a static process. Any plan that is being developed, even if it gets to be top-notch, will have to be looked at again 6 months down the line.”

Read the full story on Rappler.

“We have done everything humanly possible.” Recovery mission head Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg told a press conference that Dutch and other international investigators are done recovering human remains and wreckage from the MH17 plane crash site in eastern Ukraine. All 298 passengers and crew of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines jetliner, most of them Dutch, were killed when pro-Russian separatist rebels shot down the plane on July 17, 2014. Seven coffins filled with human remains are expected to arrive in the Netherlands on Saturday, May 1.

Read the full story on Rappler.

A teenage boy and a woman in her 30s were pulled out from the rubble alive, 5 days after a massive earthquake killed almost 6,000 people in Nepal. 15-year-old Pemba Tamang said he stayed alive by eating ghee (clarified butter). Buried under the rubble for 120 hours, he was fitted with a neck brace and hooked up to an intravenous drip before being put on a stretcher and raced to a hospital where he was found to have only minor cuts and bruises. Before him, Krishna Devi Khadka, a kitchen worker, had also been pulled out from the rubble of another nearby hotel.

Read the full story on Rappler. 

The Apple Watch may not work well when worn over tattoos. In a support page on its website, Apple said, “Permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can…impact heart rate sensor performance.” The tattoos and even darker-colored skin can block light from the sensor, Apple said, making it difficult for the watch to get accurate readings. The problem however is not unique to Apple Watch.

Read the full story on the BBC.