National Intelligence report: Philippines at risk of rice crisis

A rice crisis looms in the Philippines according to a report prepared by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA). A shortage in worldwide supply of rice along with rising costs of essential commodities in the country are seen to be possible future sources of domestic unrest, according to the report.

Big Media outlets conspicuously mum on the Willie Revillame flap

At the centre of the flap around the alleged criminal abuse and humiliation of a six-year-old boy on national television by Filipino star entertainer Willie Revillame is the fledgling (but rapidly rising) challenger to Philippine Big Media, TV-5. TV-5 is the broadcasting arm of Mediaquest, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund. It airs the top-rated (in terms of popularity) program Willing Willie where the alleged crime was committed.

No need to panic over nuclear meltdowns in Japan

The air is understandably thick with fear, as the on-going crises surrounding the damage sustained by Japanese nuclear power plants resulting from the recent monster earthquake unfolds. The prospect of a catastrophic reactor meltdown and the possible release, as a result, of radioactive material into the atmosphere was described in an early news report as a disaster that could possibly affect a large swath of the Asia-Pacific region. Images of the plight of survivors of nuclear disasters such as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster tend to come up whenever the word "radiation" is heard or read.