May 7, 2013 Edition

One of the Philippines’ most active volcanoes “produced a small phreatic event that lasted about 73 seconds” starting at around 8am on May 7, according to Phivolcs. Albay residents woke up to a phreatic explosion, which is caused by the heating of water by the magma underneath the volcano’s crater, sending steam, water, and volcanic material out. The gray to brown clouds reached 500 meters above the summit and drifted west southwest. No earthquake followed. The alert level for the volcano is still at zero, which means “no eruption is imminent.” Five mountain climbers, including 4 foreigners, died after being hit by rocks, authorities said. Seven are still missing.


Read more on Rappler

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim called for a rally on Wednesday, May 8, to protest a victory which he said was achieved via the “worst electoral fraud in our history.” Ibrahim lost to Prime Minister Najib Razak who was sworn in for a second term by Malaysia’s king on Monday, May 6, after his 56-year-old ruling coalition retained power. “I call upon as many Malaysians to join hands and express our rejection and disgust at the unprecedented electoral fraud committed by Najib Razak and the [Electoral Commission],” said Anwar who had hoped the recent polls would result in a historic change of government but which left Pakatan with only modest gains.


Read more on Rappler

North Korea has moved two missiles primed for imminent test firing from a launch site, American officials said, as North Asia tensions eased slightly on the eve of a US-South Korea summit. US and South Korean officials had been worried Pyongyang would heighten a cycle of provocation, which has included threats of nuclear war, by firing the Musudan missiles, which have a range of up to 3,500 miles. These have been moved, said an anonymous US defense official, adding that there was no longer an imminent threat of a launch. Pyongyang, which rattled the world last year by staging a nuclear test, would have to make detectable preparations if it changed its mind about a missile launch.


Read more on Rappler 

One of the favorite hangouts of Singapore’s tight-knit group of currency traders was the Il Fiore (or The Flower), an easy-to-miss basement bar nicknamed “The Blackhole.” According to Reuters, traders played card games at this bar for over a decade, when they are not chatting through their trading terminals on how to make money by manipulating the currency rates via the non-deliverable forwards (NDF), a product that allows foreign investors and companies to hedge or speculate on emerging market currencies when exchange controls in those countries make it difficult to trade directly in the spot market. The spotlight was cast on this practice when Singapore began to review reference rates after the 2012 scandal in London where Barclays traders were found to have manipulated Libor, a lending benchmark used to price trillions of dollars of loans and derivatives. Singapore’s investigations show that the constant messaging among NDF traders often centered on the daily fixings. “It was like a rigged dice game, where the traders were changing the numbers on the dice when no-one was looking,” Reuters quotes a former foreign exchange dealer as saying.


Read more on Reuters

Image via Shutterstock

Former pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao was turned down by the 1st and 2nd in his camp’s list for a comeback fight — Juan Manuel Marquez, who knocked him out cold in December 2012, and Timothy Bradley. So he’s fighting the 3rd option — Brandon Rios — in November 24 in Macau at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds. It’s still a statement, the Pacquiao camp says. Pacquiao will “get his mojo back” and that this marks the first Paquiao fight outside the United States since 2006. Economics also comes into play. “We’re building a business in Macau and China and these are the kinds of fights — real action fights — that they want to see,” promoter Bob Arum says.


Read more on Rappler 

Giant retailer Wal-Mart replaced energy titan ExxonMobil as the biggest revenue maker on the annual list of Fortune magazine 500 largest US companies. Exxon and Wal-Mart have traded the top two positions repeatedly in recent years. This year marks the 9th time Wal-Mart has topped the list. Wal-mart posted $469.2 billion in revenues, or $19.3 billion more than Exxon, which in turn posted profits of $44.9 billion, dwarfing the retailer’s $17.0 billion. The combined earnings of the Fortune 500 came in at $820 billion in 2012, slipping from the all-time high of US$824.5 billion in 2011.


Read more on Rappler


Walmart Los Angeles CA image via Shutterstock

Rappler editor-at-large Marites Vitug explains in a Thought Leader piece why, generally, Filipino journalists do not — and cannot — endorse candidates. She highlights media’s mission as an “independent voice and chronicler of the nation’s comings and goings. Let me add some qualifiers: we’re zealous about our independence. We aspire to be fiercely independent.” She explains that “news organizations cover candidates and their campaigns, analyze issues, sift through the rhetoric, navigate through the noise, and see beyond the theater.” Media organizations are also “forums for ideas, discussions, debates and thoughtful commentary.”


Read more on Rappler

Newspaper image via Shutterstock
 

Several senatorial candidates seem to be telling voters a message using their fashion choices. Former ramp model and now celebrity and commercial stylist Rey Santos says Cynthia Villar’s orange dresses communicate power and energy and creates enthusiasm and creativity, while the reds “communicate confidence and courage.” Bam Aquino’s black-rimmed glasses remind voters the legacy of his uncle, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr, who wore similar-looking glasses, notes Fashion stylist and costume designer Guada Reyes. Risa Hontiveros’s purple scarf with yellow top is functional and utilitarian…” representing a “creative thinker,” says Guada.


Read more on Rappler 

An 82-year-old Nepalese man who holds the world record for being the oldest person to summit Mount Everest will defend his title against a familiar octogenarian competitor. Min Bahadur Sherchan’s record for scaling the world’s highest peak at 76 is being challenged by arch rival Yuichiro Miura, 80, of Japan, who is already on his way up the mountain and has already summited the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) peak twice. A veteran adventurer, in 1970 he became the first person to ski down Everest. Bhim Paudel of Himalayan Guide, the company organising Sherchan’s expedition, said the campaign aimed to generate awareness about the strength of elderly people.


Read more on Rappler 

Twitter is hiring a ‘head of news’ in its bid to be even more indispensable to global media. Guardian’s Michael Wolff asks, “Will it work?” The job description considers the microblogging site both being in the front end for news, a first responder, a first draft of the first draft of history, and as a back end, a dedicated pool of eyes and ears on the ground. Who will fill the new position will show how Twitter takes on the intersection of technology and news that has been, for about 20 years now, an awkward one. Wolff says tech companies tend to hire “hustlers, Hollywood types, or ambitious young men and women with a suck-up I-love-tech shingle.” He says the best bet is someone “seasoned enough to have worked for an actual news organization, but astute enough to have migrated into the new news space.” A wrong choice can put Twitter back to the roster of tech companies that have unhappily experimented with content, to just retreat to the safer ground of just being a “conduit for someone else’s stuff.”


Read more in the Guardian