April 13, 2012 Edition

North Korea launched its long-range rocket which appears to have broken apart shortly after, US officials said. The rocket was fired at 7:39 am Friday, April 13, ostensibly to celebrate the centennial of the birth of North Korea’s late founder, Kim Il Sung. Japan had threatened to shoot down the rocket if it appeared to threaten its territory. The US and South Korea see the launch as a cover for a ballistic missile test. The international community had urged North Korea to cancel the rocket launch but Pyongyang was adamant, insisting that it was for peaceful purposes. Read more details in Rappler. 

More details from CNN. 

A toy grenade set off a scare at the Two World Financial Center building in New York City, just across the street from One World Trade Center on Friday, April 13, Manila time. One World Trade Center is the site of the World Trade Center that was the scene of the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks. People were evacuated from the Manhattan skyscraper because of what appeared to be a suspicious package being screened by a private security guard. The suspicious item turned out to be a toy grenade, mounted on a plaque that read “Complaint Dept. Pull Pin.” After an investigation by a New York police department bomb squad, people were let back into the building.

Read more from CNN. 

More details available from the Washington Post. 

The US$1-B purchase of the mobile phone sharing application Instagram disrupted traditional business models, Hans Roxas-Chua, co-founder of the Internet & Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) said during Rappler’s TalkThursday on April 12. Instagram, a free app with few ads on its site but with a minimum of 30 million users, was purchased by Facebook, transforming Instagram into overnight millionaires. “Digital has the ability to disrupt,” Roxas-Chua said. For 1% of its estimated IPO value, Facebook was able to take out one of its biggest competitors, making the deal beneficial all around, as the venture capitalists who invested $50 million in Instagram the week before the buyout, doubled their money in days. Read more details in Rappler.

A Vietnamese fishing vessel with 20 fishermen aboard were arrested by the Philippine Navy in the seas of Balabac in southern Palawan, Navy officials said on Thursday, April 12. The BRP Emilio Jacinto intercepted the Vietnamese vessel as it was on its way to meet up with another fishing vessel to load illegally caught live sea turtles, an endangered species. The poachers were spotted after local residents reported to Navy officers the presence of a suspicious green motorlaunch seen transferring live sea turtles to another vessel spotted in Hasa-hasa Shoal. The live turtles were confiscated, along with fishing equipment. Read more in Rappler. 

China has pulled out its 3rd warship from the South China Sea after the Philippines withdrew its biggest warship, the BRP Gregorio del Pilar, out of a standoff with Chinese vessels. Spokesperson Raul Hernandez said the information was received from the Chinese embassy. As of Friday morning, April 13, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing were in the middle of talks to find a peaceful solution to the Scarborough Shoal incident. BRP Gregorio del Pilar is the fastest ship bought from the US in 2011 for P13-M. Read more in Rappler. 

Residents served by the Luzon power grid may be spared from blackouts but not from higher power rates once the Malampaya gas-to-power project undergoes a 7-day maintenance program this July. Ernesto Pantangco, president of the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association said during a press briefing on Thursday, April 12 no problems were expected in terms of a reliable power supply. “However there may be a slight increase in power prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market during that 7-day period.” Read more details in Rappler’s business section. 

A leadership split in the Communist Party of China became more apparent as Chinese officials rapidly intensified a propaganda campaign against a deposed Politburo member, Bo Xilai. Reports focused on the wealth and influence allegedly amassed by relatives of Bo. His removal and the murder investigation aimed at him and his wife, according to analysts, could deepen the split between the Communist left and the more moderate right wing. The media blitz of articles and television segments included an unusual television national news segment in which a series of local leaders proclaimed their support for the party even in Chongqing, Bo’s former domain. Read more in the New York Times. 

Google+ has a new look. Google started rolling out its new design to users of its social network on Thursday, April 12 (Manila time), calling it “a more functional and flexible version of Google+.” Criticized initially for the use of too much white space, Google senior vice president Vic Gundotra said the design accelerates “efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google.” Some of the redesign’s new features look familiar – traces of Facebook’s Timeline and Twitter’s Discovery Page called Explore where users can view trending or other interesting posts on the network are visible. Yet there are also original concepts unseen on other social networks like a navigation ribbon that appears on the left side of the site. More on Rappler. 

The Boy in the Red Vest, a Cezanne painting stolen in a raid on a Zurich museum in 2008 has been recovered by police authorities in Serbia. Three people were arrested in connection with the theft from Zurich’s Emil Buehrle Collection. It was considered one of the biggest art thefts in Europe at the time. Witnesses said the heist was conducted by 3 armed and masked men who spoke German with a Slavic accent. An art expert was supposed to be flown in to confirm the authenticity of the 1888 painting estimated to be worth US$109-M. Besides the Cezanne painting, 3 other masterpieces from Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Edgar Degas were also stolen. Read more from the BBC.

American Idol contender Jessica Sanchez was saved by judges after emerging in the bottom 3 that included favorites Joshua Ledet and Elise Testone. As she started to sing her exit song, “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here,” the 3 judges, Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez, walked up the stage and interrupted her. “You’re not going home! This is ridiculous! We’re using the save!” Lopez exclaimed. Jackson angrily told the audience, “This girl is one of the best singers in America – are you kidding me? Everyone, please vote for the best!” Read the full story in Rappler.