April 15, 2013 Edition

US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Pyongyang to go back to the negotiating table as fears grew a missile attack may come Monday, the birthday of the North’s late founder Kim Il-Sung. In a joint press conference with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, Kerry also told Japan the United States would protect it from North Korea’s threats. North Korea’s state media said Friday any attempt by Japan to shoot down a missile would result in war that would see Japan “consumed in nuclear flames”. What is Kerry’s solution? It is forging a united front against Pyongyang’s erratic and bellicose behaviour. In Beijing Saturday, Kerry warned Chinese leaders the stakes for global and regional security were high. The top US diplomat hailed a joint commitment from Chinese and US leaders to work together to bring down tensions. Kerry earlier told reporters Beijing is a key player in ending the crisis. China is Pyongyang’s sole ally, and is seen as the only country that can influence its actions. China’s State Councillor Yang Jiechi said his nation “will work… to play a constructive role”. But analysts say China is wary of pushing too hard for fear of a regime collapse. That scenario will send waves of hungry refugees flooding into China and may ultimately lead to a reunified Korea allied with the United States right on its border.

Read more on Rappler.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal. 

A month before the Philippines goes to the polls, six senatorial candidates faced the public in the Rappler Senatorial Debate, Saturday. It was the first media debate held in an open space — the Liwasang Aurora, Quezon Memorial Circle — to allow a free exchange of ideas on issues that matter. Candidates Risa Hontiveros, Grace Poe, Teddy Casiño, Bro Eddie Villanueva, Bam Aquino and Dick Gordon presented their platforms and told the audience why they should get their votes. They also had the chance to throw questions at each other and answer questions from the live audience and social media. At the end of each round, viewers get to vote how they feel about each candidates’ speech and performance through the Rappler Mood Meter. Watch the full video of the event, which was livestreamed on Rappler.com and simulcast over Radio Natin’s 120 radio stations nationwide.

Read more on Rappler.

Venezuelans flocked to the polls Sunday, April 14, to pick late leader Hugo Chavez’s successor,
Nicolas Maduro. Voters were choosing between the anointed heir, acting President Maduro, and his opponent vowing change in the divided nation, Henrique Capriles. Maduro wins by a razor-thin margin of 50.66%. His rival refuses to concede defeat. Before dying last month, Chavez endorsed Maduro as his successor. Maduro has since cast himself as Chavez’s “son” and elevated his mentor to sainthood, calling him “Christ the redeemer of the poor.” Maduro was expected to win, promising to continue oil-funded anti-poverty programs that cut poverty from 50 to 29 percent. Capriles hoped discontent over the nation’s soaring murder rate, chronic food shortages, high inflation and regular power outages would give him an upset victory. Maduro and Capriles engaged in a bitter campaign marked by insults and accusations. Maduro called his rival a “little bourgeois” while Capriles derided his rival as a “bull-chicken.” Opinion polls gave Maduro the lead of 10-20 points. The winner will be sworn in Friday.

Read more on Rappler.

A 24-year-old with a chemistry degree from the University of the Philippines gets the top crown in the Philippines’ most prestigious beauty contest. Arielle Arida is crowned Miss Universe Philippines 2013 Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. During the press conference minutes after her win, the Laguna native admits being overwhelmed by her victory, but says she is prepared to handle the pressure that comes with her new crown. With 3 consecutive runner-up placements from Venus Raj (Miss Universe 2010 4th runner-up), Shamcey Supsup (Miss Universe 2011 3rd runner-up) and Janine Tugonon (Miss Universe 2012 first runner-up), Ariella has very large shoes to fill.

Also crowned Bb Pilipinas were Bea Rose Santiago, Binibining Pilipinas-International; Joanna Cindy Miranda, Binibining Pilipinas-Tourism, Mutya Datul, Binibining Pilipinas-Supranational and Pia Wurtzbach, the first runner-up. Joanna Cindy Miranda also wins Rappler’s online Bb Pilipinas 2013 poll, getting the highest votes for Best in National Costume, Best in Swimsuit, and Miss Photogenic Binibining Pilipinas celebrates 50 years of beauty this year. Since its inception in 1964, the contest has produced 2 Miss Universe winners (Gloria Diaz in 1969 and Margie Moran in 1973) and 3 Miss International Winners (Aurora Pijuan in 1970, Melanie Marquez in 1979, and Precious Lara Quigaman in 2005).

Read more on Rappler here, here, here and here.

William C. Rempel’s new e-book, Diary of a Dictator – Ferdinand & Imelda: The Last Days of Camelot, is an updated and revised version of his 1993 book, Delusions of a Dictator. A former investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Rempel tells the story of how he got the diary of Ferdinand Marcos 25 years ago. Rempel found bribery receipts and coded accounting reports recording official corruption. There were poems and love notes to First Lady Imelda and the Marcos children interspersed among Ferdinand’s plans for repression and dictatorship. Rempel writes, what caught him most by surprise were the lies he wrote down in his own diary. Rempel adds, “Time has helped clarify the answer. Today I can see that his lies actually reveal a greater truth: Marcos was a dictator at heart long before he was a dictator at gunpoint.”

Read more on Rappler.

Senatorial bet Juan Ponce “Jack” Enrile says “It’s all fiction.” He adds “We are expecting more attacks, more black propaganda, more crazy allegations that are thrown at us,” The younger Enrile’s role in the 1975 death of student Ernest Lucas Jr. landed in the headlines after WikiLeaks released classified US cables last week. In a cable, then US Ambassador to Manila William Sullivan said he was convinced Enrile killed Lucas. Sullivan’s cable discussed the killing of Lucas at a Makati party exclusive to Ateneo students. The teenage Enrile asked Lucas of De La Salle University to leave. Lucas died of a bullet shot in the forehead that night. Enrile’s aide owned up to the killing. Enrile told reports that court records will “bear me out.” “Lumang tugtugin na iyan. It’s 4 decades old. It happened to a young boy when he was 16 years old. That young boy grew up to be a man. His life has changed.” Lucas’ uncle, activist priest Fr Robert Reyes, says the Lucas family did not pursue charges because Enrile’s father, then defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile, was too powerful. Lucas’ father claimed in a 2011 court deposition that the elder Enrile allegedly offered him two blank checks to drop the case. The Cagayan congressman also addressed rumors linking him to the death of his sister’s ex-boyfriend, celebrity Alfie Anido, a charge he denies, and two other murders.

Read more on Rappler.

The Wall Street Journal’s new e-book, “Pope Francis: From the End of the Earth to Rome,” chronicles the unlikely ascension of Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy. The book tells the story of the a private dinner hosted by American Cardinals. The dinners are seen as the “conclave within a conclave,” where frank discussions on the succession are held away from the formal meetings of the Congregation. The WSJ e-books tells how the cardinals began to discuss a half-dozen candidates when someone brought up Cardinal Bergoglio’s name. By the end of the night, his name did not generate much buzz. Two days after the dinner, the tipping point happened. It was during Cardinal Bergoglio’s speech at the General Congregation. On March 7, the Argentine took out a sheet of paper with hand-written Spanish bullet-points that he delivered in Italian. Unlike other speakers who went before him, he talked about “the elephant in the room: the long-term future of the church and its recent history of failure.” The leaders of the Catholic Church, Bergoglio warned had become too focused on itself. Bergoglio said, “When the church is self-referential, inadvertently, she believes she has her own light; she ceases to be the mysterium lunae and gives way to that very serious evil, spiritual worldliness.” That was when the Cardinals took notice. For days they had heard speeches about “new evangelization.” Suddenly, they were hearing someone speak about justice, human dignity. Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George told The Wall Street Journal Bergoglio spoke “in a very straightforward way.” George said, “More than the content—it was simply a reminder that here is someone who has authenticity in such a way that he’s a wonderful witness to the discipleship.” By Sunday, March 10, two days before the start of the conclave, a new narrative was taking hold among the cardinals. Cardinal Bergoglio was now a contender.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal. 

The Armed Forces of the Philippines gets P75 billion more (about $1.8 billion) to buy fighter aircraft, transport aircraft, helicopters, naval vessels and other equipment.

This is on top of the P28 billion (about $678 million) President Benigno Aquino released 3 years ago. The defense allocation is part of Aquino’s efforts to build a “minimum credible defense posture” as deterrent to any aggressive action against the Philippines.

The Philippines and other neighboring countries are engaged in disputes with China over the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea). Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the military budget is insufficient given the Philippines’ security issues. He recommended allocating the biggest share of the national budget to defense instead of education. Under the Philippine Constitution, the government is mandated to give education the biggest budgetary share. Defense expenditure under the Aquino government is almost 3 times bigger than the combined amount spent by the three previous administrations, with only P33 billion (about $800 million) spent during the past 15 years.

Read more on Rappler.

The US Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday on whether to allow private entities to patent genes they have isolated and identified. The decision could have far-reaching implications for genetic research. The Court will review a 2012 appeals court decision that allowed biotechnology company Myriad Genetics Inc to patent two genes it found had links to breast and ovarian cancer. The ruling drew protest from associations representing some 150,000 researchers, doctors and patients, who want the court to overturn the decision. Lawyer Sandra Park of the American Civil Liberties Union says extracting a gene from a cell to isolate it does not constitute an invention by itself. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, says Myriad’s patents create a “lack of access for further development of basic research.” But the company says it created synthetic molecules of DNA in the laboratory, different from what is found in nature or the human body. The Supreme Court’s decision is expected in June.

Read more on Rappler.

A text message changes a ruling that could’ve seen celebrated golf player Tiger Woods disqualified at the Master’s, the sport’s biggest event. Woods was given a two-stroke penalty on Saturday for hitting from the wrong spot on Friday, a violation flagged by an observant television viewer. The viewer notified the Masters rules committee after seeing an illegal drop by Woods when his ball plunked into a pond at the 15th hole.

The committee decided there was no violation, but later, Woods unwittingly admitted playing from the wrong spot. He could have been disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard, but officials invoked a rule that spares players in exceptional cases. The committee said they could not impose the disqualification penalty because their earlier decision mitigated his culpability. Woods still has a chance to win the Masters.
He now stands four strokes behind 54-hole co-leaders Brandt Snedeker and Angel Cabrera.

Read more on The New York Times.