Rappler Newscast | August 6, 2014

Rappler.com

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

'Why not?' Aquino sisters open to endorsing Binay. Top terrorist Marwan still alive. Argentina activist finds stolen grandson after 35 years

Today on Rappler.

  • The president’s sisters say they’re open to the idea of Aquino endorsing Vice President Binay.
  • Two years after Rappler reported he’s alive, the military admits top terrorist Marwan was last seen in Cotabato.
  • After 35 years,an Argentine woman finds her grandson stolen by the dictatorship in the 70s.

‘WHY NOT?’ AQUINO SISTERS OPEN TO ENDORSING BINAY
Kris Aquino says she and her sisters are discussing the possibility of their brother endorsing Vice President Jejomar Binay.
Aquino’s sisters are Ballsy, Pinky and Viel.
In her evening show on ABS-CBN she said “We are not enemies.
And if he is going to continue what Noy has started, why not?”
Kris made it clear she’s not speaking for her brother, only her sisters.
She adds, “Everything is possible in politics.”
Talk of the possibility of Aquino endorsing Binay started with the President’s 5th State of the Nation Address.
In his speech, the President talked about the time he was ambushed with Binay in 1987.
Binay said in several interviews he is open to becoming the administration’s candidate despite heading the main opposition party United Nationalist Alliance.
But LP party stalwart and Senate president Frank Drilon said it’s just the “spinmasters having their day”.
Drilon says the Liberal Party has not wavered in its support for partymate and Binay rival Mar Roxas for 2016.

PHILIPPINES: ‘TRIPLE ACTION PLAN’ CAN HELP CHINA
The Philippines asserts its new triple action plan or TAP as a solution to the dispute in the South China Sea or West Philippine sea.
A key feature of TAP is a moratorium on aggression in the disputed seas.
TAP is composed of an immediate, intermediate, and final approach to resolve South China Sea disputes.
The Philippines was responding to China’s statement “that it can build what it wants in the South China Sea.”
saying “the Spratly Islands are China’s intrinsic territory.”
Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario accuses China of reclamation activities on disputed islands as part of its “expansion agenda”.
The Philippines says at least 3 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN support the TAP.
The country will propose the plan at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Myanmar this week.

CHINA EARTHQUAKE DEATH TOLL PASSES 400
The death toll for the magnitude 6.1 earthquake that shook the province of Yunnan in China Sunday goes up to 410.
The quake destroyed 80,000 houses and seriously damaged 124,000 more.
Mountainside village Longtoushan, the epicenter of Sunday’s quake, has a population of more than 50,000.
Nearly every building was demolished by the quake.
China’s state broadcaster CCTV raises the possibility of another disaster in the area after a landslide blocked a river.
The barrier could burst within days, endangering at least 800 people.

SIERRA LEONE DEPLOYS TROOPS TO GUARD EBOLA CLINICS
British Airways cancelled flights to two west African countries as Saudi Arabia’s first suspected Ebola case sparks fears of a possible global contagion.
But the fight to contain the virus in west Africa has been hampered by distrustful locals discharging highly contagious patients from hospitals.
Patients are taken back to die in their villages, where they can infect many more.
In response, Sierra Leone deploys troops to guard quarantined Ebola patients.
Some even believe the virus was introduced deliberately by outsiders or is a hoax fabricated by Westerners to subjugate them.
Ebola is a deadly tropical virus that causes severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding,
It claimed the lives of almost 900 people in four west African nations since the start of 2014.
Sierra Leone had 646 cases, the highest number of any nation… with 273 deaths.

LANDSLIDES, FLOODS POSSIBLE IN PARTS OF LUZON
Typhoon Halong, local name Jose weakens slightly but state weather bureau PAGASA warns: monsoon rain in northern and central Luzon may trigger landslides and flashfloods.
In its 5 pm bulletin Wednesday PAGASA says Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon will experience occasional rain.
Visayas and Mindanao will have fair weather with cloudy skies bringing isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.
Jose was spotted 745 kilometers east of Basco, Batanes at 4 pm Wednesday.
It had winds of up to 150 kilometers per hour with gustiness of up to 180 kph.
PAGASA predicts Jose will be out of the Philippine Area of Responsibility Thursday morning.

Check out Rappler’s Project Agos microsite…
a one-stop shop to help the public prepare better for disasters.
Project Agos aims to raise awareness on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and management.
You can see what to do before, during and after natural disasters like floods and earthquakes.
Visit www.rappler.com/projectagos.

AFTER 2 YEARS, PH MILITARY SAYS MARWAN IS LIKELY ALIVE
The Philippine military confirms senior Jemaah Islamiyah or JI leader Zulkifli bin Hir, better known as Marwan, is alive.
In February, 2012, the military claimed 3 terrorists died when two OV-10 Broncos dropped their bombs on an Abu Sayyaf hideout in Lanao Bato, Sulu —
Abu Sayyaf leader Umbra Jumdail, known as Dr Abu…
Singaporean Mohammed Ali, known as Muawiyah…
and the Malaysian, Marwan.
Marwan was reportedly working with a dozen remaining JI members in the Philippines.
Intelligence chief Major General Eduardo Año says Marwan was last seen in Cotabato in the southern Philippines.
It was the first time the military confirmed Marwan is alive after a military spokesman categorically claimed he had been killed.
Two years ago in 2012, Rappler reported Marwan escaped the air strike that targeted JI leaders.
Año confirms there was no concrete evidence showing Marwan was killed during the military offensive.
Año says, “We cannot declare he is dead but there are a lot of indications that he is still alive.”
Año adds the military has been “doing intensified and focused operations” against remaining JI members in the country.

UN CONDEMNS JIHADISTS OVER ATTACKS ON IRAQ’S YAZIDI MINORITY
The UN Security Council warns ethnic minority group Yazidi near the Syrian border is in danger of being massacred or starved into extinction.
The warning comes after the town of Sinjar fell to Islamic State or IS fighters Sunday, sending Yazidi fleeing into the mountains.
The Yazidi is a closed community following an ancient faith rooted in Zoroastrianism.
The jihadists call them “devil worshippers”.
Yazidi lawmaker Vian Dakhil broke down in tears during parliament session as she urged the government to save her community from IS terrorists.
Dakhil said 30,000 Yazidi families are besieged, with no water and food.
She said 70 children and 30 elderly have already died, mostly due to thirst.
Dakhil said 500 Yazidi men were killed by militants since Sunday.
The women were enslaved as “war booty.”
She said “We are being slaughtered, our entire religion is being wiped off the face of the earth.”
Iraqi helicopters dropped supplies to thousands of desperate people hiding in the mountains.

AUSTRALIAN IN THAI SURROGATE CASE HAS CHILD SEX CONVICTIONS
A surrogacy case involving an Australian couple and a Thai woman draws international attention.
The Thai woman, a mother of twins, claims the Australian couple only took the healthy baby girl and decided to leave the twin brother – who had Down’s syndrome.
The mother vows to raise the 7-month old boy and even offers to take back the twin sister.
But the Australian couple says the woman is “misleading the world,” because they did not know the boy had Down’s syndrome.
The case gets more complicated after revelations the Australian father had been convicted several times for child sex offenses.

ARGENTINA ACTIVIST FINDS STOLEN GRANDSON AFTER 35 YEARS
After 35 years the long lost grandson of an Argentine activist is found.
The grandmother leads a human rights group which finds babies stolen in the 70s.
Estela Carlotto of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo group was told her daughter’s kidnapped son was found…
after DNA tests confirm his identity.
The man is named Ignacio Hurban and lives in Olavarria, a city south of Buenos Aires.
His biological mother Laura Carlotto, was kidnapped while pregnant during the dictatorship’s “dirty war” against leftists and dissidents.
A fellow captive says she gave birth on June 26, 1978 in captivity and was killed shortly after.
The Grandmothers and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo leads a nationwide effort to reunite an estimated 500 children taken from leftists and government opponents during the dictatorship.
As many as 30,000 leftists are presumed to have been murdered during Argentina’s “dirty war”.
In many instances, their children were taken by ruling families and raised as their own.

HIROSHIMA MARKS 69TH ANNIVERSARY OF ATOMIC BOMBING
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Hiroshima Wednesday to mark the 69th anniversary of the atom bomb.
Bells tolled as aging survivors, relatives, government officials and foreign delegates observed a moment of silence in the rain when the detonation turned the western Japanese city into an inferno.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui urges people to listen to the voice of survivors as he delivered a speech.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe…
and US ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy also attended the ceremony.
The US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, in one of the final chapters of World War II.
On August 9, the port city of Nagasaki was also bombed, killing an estimated 70,000 people.
Japan surrendered days later – on August 15, 1945 – bringing the war to a close.

THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ

DISGRACED JAPAN STEM CELL SCIENTIST COMMITS SUICIDE
A renowned Japanese stem cell scientist was found dead in an apparent suicide Tuesday.
Yoshiki Sasai was found hanging inside the stairwell of the one of the country’s most prestigious scientific research institutions.
He left behind farewell notes.
Sasai co-wrote a research on transplant tissue.
Hailed as a “game-changer”, it was later retracted after accusations of false data.

RUSSIAN HACKERS STEAL PASSWORDS OF BILLION USERS
A Russian crime ring gathers the largest known collection of stolen Internet credentials.
The New York Times reports 1.2 billion usernames, passwords and more than 500 million email addresses are on the list.
The disclosure comes as hackers and security companies gather in Las Vegas for the annual Black Hat security conference.

A FILIPINO LOVE STORY GOES VIRAL
For New York-based Filipino Warren Villanueva, serendipity doesn’t just happen in the movies.
Villanueva tells Rappler he met his girlfriend Janina Pangilinan for the first time in 2014…. 3 years after they first connected online.
One day, he was approached by Brandon Stanton, the creator of popular Facebook page “Humans of New York” and asked to pose for a picture.
Villanueva obliged and asked Stanton to write about his long distance relationship so that he could tag Pangilinan online.
The post quickly went viral.

For the full top 10 visit Rappler.com’s ‘the wRap.’

Hacker using laptop image via Shutterstock

ROSETTA SPACECRAFT MAKES RENDEZVOUS WITH COMET – ESA
Space probe Rosetta makes a historic rendezvous with a comet Wednesday.
The European Space Agency or ESA says this is the climax of a 10-year, six-billion-kilometer chase through the Solar System.
Rosetta’s rendezvous with Comet 67P was confirmed at 9:29 GMT or 5:29 pm Manila time at a distance of 400 million km from Earth.
It is the first time for a spacecraft to ever go into orbit around a comet.
ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain says Rosetta is the fruit of 20 years’ work.
He adds, “Understanding our origins is certainly the best way to understand our future.”
Astrophysicists believe comets are ancient ice and dust left from the building of the Solar System around 4.6 billion years ago.
Understanding its chemical ID and physical composition will give insights into how the planets were formed.

AUSSIE TRAIN COMMUTERS FREE MAN TRAPPED IN PLATFORM GAP
Dozens of Australians in the city of Perth tilt a train Wednesday…
to free a commuter whose leg was trapped between a carriage and platform.
CCTV footage showed the commuter was about to board when he slipped and was jammed between the carriage and the platform.
An eyewitness says passengers were initially told to move to the opposite side of the train to help dislodge the man.
When that failed, 50 passengers lined up to tilt the carriage away from the man.
Transperth says it’s the first time this happened, and that it was “people power.”
The man was treated by paramedics and was able to catch a later train.

 

– Rappler.com

Newscast Production Staff

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER / WRITER Lilibeth Frondoso
DIRECTOR Rupert Ambil
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER / PUBLISHER Rodneil Quiteles
  Dindin Reyes
HEAD WRITER / PROMPTER Katerina Francisco
  Marga Deona
MASTER EDITOR / PLAYBACK Exxon Ruebe
  Emerald Hidalgo
  Jaene Zaplan
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR / CAMERAMAN Charlie Salazar
  Adrian Portugal
  Francis Lopez
  Naoki Mengua
GRAPHICS Jessica Lazaro
  Raffy de Guzman

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!