March 22 2012

India has overtaken China as the world’s biggest arms importer, with analysts predicting it is likely to spend more than US$100-B on weapons in the next 15 years. Asia nations, in fact, are the most aggressive arms buyers, research showed. From 2007 to 2011, for example, India’s business accounted for 10% of the global arms market. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute also said South Korea was next, accounting for 6% of sales, followed by Pakistan and China (5%) and Singapore (4%).

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Our neighbors are feeling the heat as well. Labor unions in Indonesia are threatening to shut down ports and tolls if the government is unable to stop fuel price increases. The Jakarta Globe reported that workers’ unions plan to raid trucks carrying trucks carrying fuel tanks. The 50-cent raise in fuel prices takes effect April 1, and hardest hit would be Indonesia’s blue collar workers. Rising fuel prices have agitated workers across the region, including those in the Philippines who recently staged a transport strike.

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Singapore is host to an ongoing international conference aimed at sharing strategies to fight smoking. The discussion on Wednesday, March 21, focused on what leaders can do to address the problem. “Can presidents stand up to say, ‘I’ve quit smoking, follow me’? We need leadership in every country,” asked a Thai professor in the conference. Is this something President Benigno Aquino III, a smoker, would seriously consider?

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A Singapore court on Wednesday, March 21, gave an Indian shipyard worker a death penalty for the 2010 murder of a Filipina. Bijukumar Remadevi Nair Gopinathan, 36, was convicted of the murder of Roselyn Reyes Pascua and was handed the mandatory death penalty by a district court judge. Pascua’s body was found inside a hotel room in March 2010. She had been stabbed several times.  Gopinathan was caught with Pascua’s mobile phone and some bloodstained money when he was arrested 3 days after the killing. Capital punishment in Singapore is carried out by hanging, a legacy of the British colonial rule.

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You’re desperate for a job. The headhunter knows it. But if he asks for your Facebook password, would you give it? In the US, reports said 95% of employers who use social media sites to vet applicants now want to more than what they see on the latter’s online walls. Lawmakers want to fight this with legislation. In Maryland, a House bill would prevent employers from discriminating against job applicants who refuse to provide access to their social media profiles.

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Rappler breaks it down for you, this science called boxing. At 54 wins and only 3 defeats, Manny Pacquiao has been on a winning streak. Rappler sports writer Carlos Cinco says Pacman has used the same formula to win — punch as much as you can, as hard as you can. Cinco lists down Pacman’s 10 boxing tricks.

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For his role in the London riots last year, an actor in the Harry Potter movies who appeared as Hogwarts school bully was ordered jailed for 2 years. The Wood Green Crown Court found Jaime Waylett, 22, guilty of violent disorder. A video presented in court showed Waylett on the streets of London on the third day of the violence, with a bottle “full of petrol with a rag as a wick,” said the judge. The actor pleaded guilty to possessing stolen goods during the riots.

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Due to extreme stress and exhaustion following the runaway success of his Kony 2012 video, its director Jason Russel was diagnosed with a “brief reactive psychosis, his wife said. Last week, Russel was seen running through the streets of California in his underwear and masturbating. “The preliminary diagnosis he received is called brief reactive psychosis, an acute state brought on by extreme exhaustion, stress and dehydration,” Danica Russel said in a statement. “Even for us, it’s hard to understand the sudden transition from relative anonymity to worldwide attention — both raves and ridicules, in a matter of days.” Russel’s video exposed to the world the brutality of African warlord Joseph Kony.

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Self-professed Al-Qaeda militant Mohamed Merah died during a police assault on his besieged flat in Toulouse, France, after jumping out the window while still shooting, reports said. “Mohamed Merah jumped from the window still shooting,” France’s Interior Minister Claude Gueant told reporters. He said Merah had attacked police with “extreme violence” after bursting out of the window. The death ended a standoff between Merah, who killed 7 people in Toulouse, and French police who initially negotiated with him for a possible surrender.

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A new survey shows that Filipinos trust Chief Justice Renato Corona the least among the Philippines’ top 5 government officials. Pulse Asia also said 
Corona registered the steepest decline in performance ratings while Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who presides over his impeachment trial, posted the biggest improvement. Vice President Jejomar Binay enjoys most Filipinos’ trust at 80%. President Benigno Aquino III is the second most trusted top government official — at 69%, Pulse Asia added.

Read the story on Rappler