Study: Youtube Source For News, Disaster Footage

A new study has found that YouTube is emerging as a major platform for news, one to which viewers increasingly turn for eyewitness videos in times of major events and natural disasters.

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism on Monday released its examination of 15 months of the most popular news videos on the Google Inc.-owned site. It found that while viewership for TV news still easily outpaces those consuming news on YouTube, the video-sharing site is a growing digital environment where professional journalism mingles with citizen content.

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Commander Robot perishes in encounter

A protégé of once popular Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) commander Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, was killed in an encounter with a group of policemen in Maimbung, Sulu.

Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz, Jr., spokesman of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said slain Abu Sayyaf man Juri Hamsiraji has even assumed the leadership of a small group of bandits operating in Maimbung town and nearby areas.

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Pinay maid in UAE charged for having sex with boyfriend in her boss' house

GMA News Online, citing a Gulf News article, reports that an unnamed Filipina maid in the United Arab Emirates faced a Dubai court on Wednesday, September 7, "for having sex with her Indian boyfriend in the house of her employer."

The report went on to say that both the maid and her boyfriend, an Indian driver, both faced the court on charges of consensual sex. The maid was also charged for trespassing, since she "illegally let her boyfriend into her employer's house."

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Comelec Chief says FPJ won 2004 elections

Commission on Elections chair and lawyer Sixto Brillantes Jr. remains a firm believer that the late Fernando Poe Jr. won the controversial 2004 presidential elections over Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, reports GMA News. Brillantes issued this statement after Sen. Chiz Escudero filed on Tuesday, July 18, a resolution to investigate the alleged anomalies of the said elections.

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Sheriff Abe Andres finally appears in public

Davao City Regional Trial Court (RTC) sheriff Abe Andres finally appeared in public, reiterating he will not file charges against Mayor Sara Duterte, who threw punches at him during a demolition in Sitio Soliman, Barangay Monteverde, Davao City last Friday.

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Mickey Mouse tweet by Egypt's Sawiris angers Muslims

One of Egypt's richest men has been accused of mocking Islam after tweeting cartoons of Mickey and Minnie Mouse wearing conservative Muslim attire.

Telecoms mogul and Coptic Christian Naguib Sawiris apologised for re-posting the images on Twitter a few days ago, saying he meant no offence.

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FVR's daughter dies

A daughter of former President Fidel V. Ramos passed away at the Medical City in Pasig on Monday, a source close to the former President said.

Josephine 'Jo' Ramos-Samartino, a singer and wife of actor Lloyd Samartino, reportedly died due to cancer, the source added.

Lloyd and Jo separated in 2004, according to a Manila Bulletin report. They have one child.

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Forecast predicts biggest Gulf dead zone ever

Scientists predict this year's "dead zone" of low-oxygen water in the northern Gulf of Mexico will be the largest in history — about the size of Lake Erie — because of more runoff from the flooded Mississippi River valley.

Each year when the nutrient-rich freshwater from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers pours into the Gulf, it spawns massive algae blooms. In turn, the algae consume the oxygen in the Gulf, creating the low oxygen conditions. Fish, shrimp and many other species must escape the dead zone or face dying.

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Bin Laden's No. 2: Muslims will destroy America

Osama bin Laden's deputy warned Wednesday that America faces not individual terrorists or groups but an international community of Muslims that seek to destroy it and its allies. He was delivering a 28-minute videotaped eulogy to slain al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaida's longtime No. 2 and considered the network's operational head, also sought to cast a role for the terror group in the popular uprisings shaking Arab world.

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Robin turns stalker to Bea during ‘Guns and Roses’ shoot

“I requested for more ‘takes’ in my kissing scenes with Bea (Alonzo)!” Action star Robin Padilla said jokingly.

The directors, Trina Dayrit and Rechie del Carmen however confirmed that there were actually eight takes for one kissing scene of Robin and Bea Alonzo!

The “kissing” revelation was made during the press conference held at the Dolphy Theater at the old ABS-CBN building along Sgt. Esguerra St., Quezon City.

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Lacson's birthday wish: Reunited family

For his 63rd birthday Wednesday, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said his greatest wish is just to see his family whole again.

After confirming in previous interviews that his son Panfilo Lacson Jr. is already separated with actress Jodi Sta. Maria, Lacson said Tuesday the couple is now on their way to finalizing their separation formally.

In an interview, Lacson told the Manila Bulletin that his son is now preparing to file an annulment case against Sta. Maria.

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Filipina maid in HK arrested for flushing fetus

A Filipina domestic helper in Hong Kong was arrested yesterday after she was suspected of flushing a 3-month-old fetus down a toilet, according to a report from The Standard Hong Kong.

The 32-year-old overseas Filipino worker (OFW), identified as “Ronna,” confessed that she was three months pregnant when she prematurely gave birth. She admitted to putting the fetus in the toilet in her employer’s flat and flushing it.

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Singer Sean Kingston crashes watercraft in Florida

Authorities say rapper Sean Kingston is hospitalized after crashing a personal watercraft into a Miami Beach bridge.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Jorge Pino says Kingston and a female passenger were injured when the watercraft hit the Palm Island Bridge around 6 p.m. Sunday.

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Man celebrates 85 years of living with diabetes

When Bob Krause turned 90 last week, it was by virtue of an unflagging determination and a mentality of precision that kept his body humming after being diagnosed with diabetes as a boy.

A leading diabetes research center named the San Diego resident the first American known to live 85 years with the disease, a life that has paralleled — and benefited from — the evolution in treatment.

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Nursing Students Urged to Shift Course

Nursing students who are still in the second year of their studies were urged by a recruitment expert to consider shifting to another course which may assure them of jobs upon their graduation.

Recruitment consultant Lito B. Soriano issued the call amid the rising number of unemployed licensed nurses estimated to reach 300,000 already this year.

Soriano said that those who are still in the early stages of their nursing course can still shift to take healthcare courses in their school which promise better chances in finding jobs.

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Hundreds of women report rapes by Gadhafi forces

At first, the responses to the questionnaire about the trauma of the war in Libya were predictable, if tragic: 10,000 people suffering post-traumatic stress, 4,000 children with psychological problems. Then came the unexpected: 259 women said they had been raped by militiamen loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.

Dr. Seham Sergewa had been working with children traumatized by the fighting in Libya but soon found herself being approached by troubled mothers who felt they could trust her with their dark secret.

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Midwives on motorbikes spread sex sense in Cambodia

Sitting in the shade of a large tree and surrounded by a group of women, Cambodian midwife Ly Siyan holds up a colourful poster displaying a range of contraception options.

She patiently waits for the giggles to subside when she points to a condom, aware that the two dozen women in the village of Chanloung in northwest Siem Reap province have rarely experienced such an open discussion about sex.

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Archbishop appeals for sobriety on RH debate

An archbishop has called on Catholics to be sober in discussing the reproductive health (RH) bill.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, in a pastoral letter, said he is dismayed with the bitter division between Catholics on the issue.

"The past few months have seen many of us who belong to the same Church and who share the same faith in Christ at odds with one another on the issue of the reproductive health bill in Congress," he said.

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House Approves P50,000 OFW Loan

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill that would grant overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) a maximum P50,000 loan to cover the living expenses of their families or pay placement fees, documentation costs, and plane fare of an OFW.

Unanimously passed in last Monday’s session, House Bill No. 4539 or the Overseas Workers Credit Assistance Act of 2011 extends the 12-month cash advance to qualified OFWs to make it easier for them and their families to cope with daily expenses during the first months of the worker’s absence.

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EBay, PayPal Sue Google Over Trade Secrets

EBay and its online payment unit PayPal Inc on Thursday filed suit against Google Inc and two executives for trade secret misappropriation related to mobile payment systems.

The two executives, Osama Bedier and Stephanie Tilenius, were formerly with PayPal, and led the launch on Thursday of Google's own mobile payment system.

The suit said Bedier worked for nine years at PayPal, most recently serving as vice president of platform, mobile and new ventures. He joined Google on January 24.

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