March 9, 2012

One of the strongest solar storms hit the earth on Thursday, March 8, with few of the feared effects seen, the Wall Street Journal reported. While solar storms don’t harm people, they can disrupt technology. Charged particles can “disturb utility grids, airline flights, satellite networks and global-positioning services, especially in northern areas.” The solar storm struck at about 6 am EST, fortunately in a direction that causes the least amount of problems, the WSJ said in its report.

Six Filipinos have made it to the Forbes list of the World’s Billionaires. They include Henry Sy, Lucio Tan, Andrew Tan, Enrique Razon, and newcomers Eduardo Cojuangco and Roberto Ongpin. The six are among the 315 billionaires from Asia. Cojuangco and Ongpin are known to have been close associates of the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The richest man in the country, Sy, has $8-B to his name, while the second richest, Tan, has $3.5-B. More in Rappler.

The counsels of Chief Justice Renato Corona are preparing to present his side Monday next week, March 12, when the impeachment trial resumes. Focusing on the 3 articles in the impeachment complaint which the prosecution tackled, the defense lawyers have lined up their witnesses to include Mrs Cristina Corona. Among others, they will also challenge the prosecution’s claim that failure to disclose SALNs is an impeachable offense. The full report on Rappler.

Pretty soon technology entrepreneurs will find a home and a laboratory to work in—with the support of business groups led by businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan. “IdeaSpace,” a multi-million-dollar program is envisioned to jumpstart a “Silicon Valley-like ecosystem” in the country. The program will target start-ups that have the potential to scale up in fields such as utilities, toll roads and transportation, healthcare, mining, telecommunications, media and food. Read more here.

A tied match with the Azkals on February 29 resulted in the Malaysian men’s football team dropping two spots from 150 to 152 in the FIFA world rankings. The Filipino football players remained in the 156^th spot and were unaffected by the friendly which was held in Manila. The game ended with a draw, 1-1. While the Azkals failed to pull an upset – Malaysia was the 2011 SEA Games gold medalist – the Philippine team’s performance was nevertheless considered commendable. More details in Rappler.

If you’re after balance, flexibility and strength, you don’t need to go to a gym to achieve these fitness goals. You don’t even need machinery or complex gym equipment. All you need is space, arms and legs to stretch the upper and lower body with. Here are 50 body weight exercises to choose from to work your legs, chest and back, shoulders and arms, core, and even your full body. Illustrations here will guide the truly determined.

48-year-old Patrick Wineger, a businessman linked to the murder of Italian priest Fr Fausto “Pops” Tentorio was killed by operatives of the New People’s Army (NPA) on Wednesday, March 7.  The NPA’s Merardo Arce Command commended the communist group’s Herminio Alfonso Command for carrying out the capital punishment order against Wineger said to have “anti-communist  activities in North Cotabato, Davao del Sur, and Bukidnon provinces.” Read more details in Rappler.

A half-hour documentary on Joseph Kony–a warlord in Uganda responsible for enslaving around 30,000 children and forcing them to kill their parents or turn into sex slaves–is reaching a global audience through the power of social media.
 

Kony 2012, the feature on “The Most Wanted Man In The World According To The International Criminal Court in The Hague,” which was backed by controversial non-government organization, Invisible Children, has been viewed almost 68 million times on YouTube as of March 11 morning (Manila time). While the expressed aim of the video is to call attention on the ongoing search for Kony who has evaded arrest, many considered it a scam.


Watch the documentary on YouTube.
Learn more from Voice of America.
See how viral it went via Guardian.

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes now controls one of the most influential political magazines in the US.

Hughes, 28, the Harvard gay geek who was the roommate and business partner of Mark Zuckerberg during the early days of the social media giant, bought a majority stake in The New Republic magazine, a nearly century-old bastion of liberal political thought.

He announced the move in an online letter to readers of the publication where he will assume the titles of publisher and editor-in-chief, said the Web “has introduced a competitive, and some might argue hostile, landscape for long, in-depth, resource-intensive journalism.

After leaving Facebook in 2007–and likely earn millions of dollars when Facebook lists its shares on a US stock market soon–he played a key role in organizing President Obama’s 2008 online organizing efforts then launched a social network aimed at fighting poverty.

Read more on HuffingtonPost and Vanity Fair and the New Yorker.

It has been a year since March 11, 2011, the day forever etched in history when a devastating magnitude 9.0 earthquake shook Japan, unleashing a tsunami that struck the north-eastern coast, and triggering a serious nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
 

To commemorate the death of thousands, and highlight the continuing efforts to rebuild lives for those who survived the disasters, memorial services have been planned and a minute of silence will be observed at the exact moment the quake hit.
 

Warning sirens will also sound across the north-east of the country at the precise time the quake struck. Bells and prayers will also reverberate across the country as the minute of silence is observed.
 

Read more about the memorial services on BBC here, view dramatic pictures on MSNBC here, and updates about the Fukushima plant here.


In Manila, officials also take in the lessons from the disasters that hit this neighbor. Read more from Rappler here.