Palace: New appointment a chance for Faeldon to 'prove critics wrong'

MANILA, Philippines — Former Customs chief Nicanor Faeldon's appointment to the Office of Civil Defense is an opportunity for him to prove his critics wrong, Malacañang said yesterday.

Faeldon, who was tagged in a corruption scandal in the customs bureau earlier this year, was named civil defense deputy administrator last week.

Officials have justified the appointment, saying allegations against the former Customs chief have not been proven. They said Faeldon still enjoys the trust and confidence of President Rodrigo Duterte, who promised not to tolerate even a whiff of corruption in government.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar stressed that Duterte has the prerogative to appoint people he thinks are effective in performing tasks.

"The most important...is the trust and confidence of our president," Andanar told radio station dzBB Sunday.

"If you have the trust and confidence of the President and then you can serve the country. So this is a chance for Commissioner Nick Faeldon to prove his critics wrong," he added.

Faeldon, a former Marine captain, resigned as Customs commissioner in August after he was implicated in a corruption scandal involving the entry of P6.4 billion in shabu into the country.

He was one of the officials accused by Sen. Panfilo Lacson of receiving bribes in exchange for the release of smuggled shipments.

Faeldon has denied the allegation but refused to attend legislative hearings on smuggling, prompting senators to cite him for contempt and detain him at the Senate.

Duterte has described Faeldon as an "honest" man and has blamed corruption in the Customs bureau for the entry of smuggled goods.

R. Tiglao Exposed LTO Records Showing Aquino Never Bought or Sold a Porsche

Veteran columnist Rigoberto Tiglao exposed the Land Transportation Office (LTO) records of former President Benigno Aquino III showing that he never bought or sold an expensive Porsche car. The LTO records proved that the former President did not sold his Porsche 911 Carrera car which he claimed he bought for P5 million. The controversial Porsche car of the former President made headlines just months into his presidency but he explained that he bought the luxury car with the proceeds he got when he sold his BMW. Because of the furor from such display of opulence, Pres. Aquino claimed to have sold it six months later for exactly the same price. According to Tiglao during that time he asked through his column the LTO to release the car's deed of sale and registration to prove that it was not a gift from a Chinese-Filipino tycoon as rumored by some individuals critical to the President. The only possible way to discover whether the Porsche luxury was indeed sold was through ...

You can pay at a restaurant by smiling at a camera

© Provided by Engadget As easy as it is to make purchases in the era of tap-to-pay services , it's about to get easier still. Alipay (which handles purchases for Chinese shopping giant Alibaba) has launched what it says is the first payment system that uses facial recognition to complete the sale. If you visit one of KFC's KPRO restaurants in Hangzhou, China, you can pay for your panini or salad by smiling at a camera-equipped kiosk -- you need to verify the purchase on your phone, but you don't have to punch in digits or bring your phone up to an NFC reader. The system (Smile to Pay) is purportedly resistant to spoofing with photos and other tricks. It relies on both depth-sensing cameras and a "likeness detection algorithm" to make sure it's really you. Reportedly, the technology is good enough that it can accurately identify people even when they're disguising themselves through makeup or wigs. You shouldn't have to worry about someone buying ...

Tesla cloud account hacked to mine cryptocurrency

© Provided by The Hill An unidentified outside hacker infiltrated Tesla's Amazon cloud account and used its systems to quietly mine for cryptocurrencies, a cybersecurity firm announced Tuesday. The hack also potentially exposed the electric car company's data. Researchers for RedLock found that Tesla's credentials on an IT administrative console were not password protected. They made the discovery while trying to track down which organizations had left their Amazon Web Services (AWS) credentials openly exposed on the internet last month. The hackers quietly hijacked the console and began running scripts to generate virtual currency like bitcoin, the latest in a series of "cryptojacking" attacks. The researchers also found the hackers used "sophisticated evasion measures" to go undetected. A spokesperson for Tesla said the company learned about the breach in a company-sanctioned bug bounty program that pays outside hackers to discover vulnerabilitie...

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