Filipinos Searched for Osama Bin Laden’s Biography, Photos and Videos on Yahoo! Searches

Philippines witnessed a spike in searches for ‘Osama Bin Laden’ across Southeast Asia and the US; Searches Spiked Nearly 28,000%

With Osama Bin Laden’s sudden death announcement on May 2nd, Yahoo! Search Trends witnessed a tremendous spike in the searches for Osama Bin Laden’s news in the Philippines. Searches on Yahoo! related to Osama Bin Laden spiked nearly 28,000%, also making him the most-searched person of the day.

In the Philippines, besides searches on confirmation of Osama’s death, we saw searches spiking for Osama’s biography and wife. Searches on Yahoo! for “Usama bin laden” also spiked off the charts in the Philippines. Yesterday’s events also caused a surge of questions around the September 11 attacks, Al Qaeda and World Trade Centre. This was probably an inevitable component of the searches as people got reminded of the attacks and other issues related to it. Interestingly, Yahoo! Search Trends also witnessed a surge in searches related to President Obama and his speech about Osama’s death, showcasing that there is interest in how these events will affect his approval rating.

Of all the Yahoo! Searches related to Osama Bin Laden, Indonesia ranked the highest on searches related to Osama in comparison to the rest of Southeast Asia.

Besides searches for confirmation of his death, Yahoo! Search Trends saw searches spike off the charts for Osama bin Laden’s biography and photo. Apart from specific searches on his life, Indonesian users looked out for graphical imagery of Osama with searches on videos and images observing a significant spike. Users wanted to know how Osama looked like after a decade of hiding.

In Indonesia, 64% of searches for ‘Osama Bin Laden’ were made by male users. Of this, 18% of searches for ‘Osama Bin laden’ were made by users between 35 – 44 and 34% by users 18 years old and below.

In Malaysia, 55% of searches for the keyword ‘Osama Bin laden’ was made by male users. 37% of searches were made by users between 21 and 29 years old and 25% by users 18 years old and below. While users in Malaysia sought most info like SEA users, they sought specific details relating to his family and the nitty-gritty around his death.

In other Southeast Asian countries such as

Singapore observed a 27,000% increase for searches on the name ‘Osama Bin Laden’ and even looked for detailed information by visiting the Wikipedia. The searches in Singapore were similar to that of Indonesia, with people searching for Osama’s biography, wives and video. Further, they seemed interested in Abbottabad, a popular summer destination in Pakistan where Osama hid in a guarded compound. 56% of searches in Singapore for ‘Osama Bin Laden’ were made by male users. Around 42% of searches for ‘Osama’ were made by users between the ages of 30 and 44 regardless of gender. Another 27% of searches came from those aged 18 to 29, while around 18% of searches were made by users 17 years old and below, who were perhaps too young to remember exact details of the Sept. 11, 2011 attacks in the US.

In Vietnam, sentiments remained the same as that of other SEA countries with Vietnamese too focusing on news, images and details about the death.

In the US, searches on Sunday for Osama bin Laden spiked nearly 100,00% on Yahoo!, also making him the most-searched person of the day. Nearly 1 in 5 searches for “osama bin laden” are by teenagers, many of who grew up during the war on terrorism. 25% of searches overall for Osama came from those under 24. However, teens ages 13-17 were seeking more information as they made up 66% of searches for “who is osama bin laden?”

In addition, the former President was not forgotten. A few looked up “George W. Bush” (466% fewer searches than for “barack obama”) and even the phrase “bush mission accomplished.” People are very curious for details about Pakistan. Searches on Sunday for “Pakistan map” spiked 2,594% and searches for “Pakistan news” spiked 610% on Yahoo!. News of Osama bin Laden’s death seems to have caused a spike for conspiracy theories (up 114% Sunday on Yahoo!) as well as a resurgence of searches for “9/11 conspiracy theories.”

The World Food Program (WFP) administered an online application called WeFeedback which calculate the equivalent of your sumptuous and said to be luxurious meal to the number of hungry children it can feed.

It may be your monster-sized pizza, extra special burger or your frappe cappucino. Whatever it is, it can be converted to the amount of donations you could give to the hungry children around the world instead of having your extravagant meal.

WeFeedback is about “sharing food and changing lives.” Its mission is “to enlist your help and the help of your social networks in the fight against the chronic hunger that burdens families all over the world.”

How it works?
You choose your favorite food, put it into the Feedback Calculator along with the estimated cost, and then calculate how many hungry children this would feed. The next step is to donate exactly that amount. Or, if you want, you donate multiples of that amount. In this way you feedback more portions of your favorite food.

You can also share the application to your friends so they can also share foods to hungry children.

The application is an initiative of the WFP to fight one of the worst societal problems of the world which is hunger. “Each year, WFP brings food to millions of people so they can move on with their lives, receive an education, find employment and create a better life for their families.”

Four Filipinos got a spot in the Forbes list of world’s wealthiest persons acquiring billions of net worth.

Mainstay listers Henry Sy and Lucio Tan remain as Philippines’ wealthiest individual. They did not only maintain their post but moved up in the list.

Henry Sy became the 173rd wealthiest man in the world being the mall magnate and the richest person in our country. On the other hand, Lucio Tan known for Philippine Airlines, the country’s largest cigarette maker, and second largest beer brewer leaped 70 spots forward reaching the 512th position.

Sy’s fortunes were estimated to have risen to $5.8 billion while Tan’s net accumulated $2.3 billion, both an increase of third as of February 2011.

Newcomers in the list were Andrew L. Tan of diversified Alliance Global Group, Inc. and Enrique K. Razon, Jr. who heads International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI).

Debut in stocks in 2010, Andrew Tan reached a net worth of $2.2 billion after Alliance Global, the holding company for his real estate, food and beverage and gaming businesses, enjoying the 540th billionaire slot.

The value of Mr. Razon’s ICTSI, on the other hand, earned $1.1 billion which grew up only last year assuming the 1,057th post.

Meanwhile, the world’s richest man according to the Forbes list wasn’t Bill Gates anymore for he only placed second to Mexican telco mogul Carlos Slim Helu whose net worth was valued at $74 billion.

Joining the top 10 list were fashion house owner Bernard Arnault, Larry Ellision of Oracle, steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, Amancio Ortega of the apparel brand Zara, Brazilian mining and oil tycoon Eike Batista, Mukesh Ambani who runs petrochemical businesses and Christy Walton of Walmart.

Unfortunately, Jaime Zobel de Ayala who had been a mainstay in the list wasn’t mentioned in this year’s global list.

Congressman Manny Pacquaio met US President Barack Obama last Tuesday in the White House together with her wife, Jinky, and a private audience.

The boxing champ and his wife had a lunch with US President Obama and Vice-president Biden which was followed by a closed-door meeting among them.

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, who delivered his privilege speech in the Senate uttering compliments to his last-minute endorser Pacquiao, insisted the meeting. He also noted how Pacquiao largely contribute to his winning against his Republican opponent.

During their meeting, Obama shook hands with Pacquiao. He also acknowledged Pacquiao as his boxing idol and he told that he is a boxing enthusiast.

Obama posed for photos with Pacquiao. He also gave the Jinky and Manny several souvenirs, including a box of M&M chocolates in a white box with the presidential seal.

To note, Pacquiao is the first reigning boxing champion to be invited to the White House and appeared to be a world-class politician upon visiting the White House.

Hip-hop song artist Wyclef Jean filed his candidacy for president at the office in the Haiti’s capital city. He was accompanied by his wife and daughter.

After he has submitted the papers in the electoral office, he was crowded by his supporters. “The United States has Barack Obama and Haiti has Wyclef Jean,” he shouted to the crowd.

This ended the speculation that he opts for a political dream. He was born in Haiti but grew up in Brooklyn.

It is expected that he will be having a competitive race once approved to run in the position. He will be facing several candidates who have strong political agenda.

Jean is not the only celebrity in the race. Popular musician Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly arrived just ahead of Jean to submit his candidacy papers.

Haiti is still in a ruined status by the earthquake happened last January 12.

For the second time, Google reported that China was totally blocked from using the search engine and other services such as Google’s blogging tools and YouTube video site.

It was a worry for Google because mainland China is a key market where the company has been locked in a high-profile battle over online censorship.

However, that was a false alarm. Google backed off the claim after posting a notice of blockage in their page.

Internet users in China check the Google engine and found out that there was no blockage.

“Because of the way we measure accessibility in China, it’s possible that our machines could overestimate the level of blockage. It appears now that users in China are accessing our properties normally,” a Google spokesman said.

China had recently won the renewal of their Google’s license last month. After all, experts have long noted that China’s system of Internet monitoring and filtering is perhaps the most extensive, sophisticated and secretive in the world.

On the other hand, Google is at risk of cutting connections to China because of unmaintained censorship to its engines.

International singing sensation Charice Pempengco announced on Twitter that she will be joining Season 2 of the famous television series Glee.

The popular Filipina singer posted on Tuesday: “It’s official. I’m on Glee (next season) but story behind it. When [the] rumor came out, it wasn’t true.”

Charice first denied that she will be on Glee’s Season 2 almost a month ago. Posted on her twitter page is the statement, “I just want to let you all know that it’s not true that I’m going to be on Glee… How I wish! Haha.” Her mother, Raquel Pempengco, also denied the report.

But this time, it’s for real. Charice will set to play the role of a foreign exchange student on Glee. Her killer vocal power is expected to bring out additional hits to the popular TV musical.

Charice auditioned in the said series and fortunately she got a ticket to another worldwide exposure.

“And i made it!!! Let’s Party!!!!,” Charice said.

The 18-year-old singer now actress launched her debut global album in “The Oprah Winfrey Show” last May 10. She is also expected to sing the national anthem during President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino’s inauguration on June 30.

Today marks the 8th year anniversary of one of the tragic event that happened in the world history. It was September 11, 2001, A day filled with nightmare and lost dreams as 2,993 people died when 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners and intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City with no survivors left. New York’s Central Business Center was now called the ” Ground Zero ” with bodies entombed at the World Trade Center ruins. It was the worst thing that happened in the entire U.S history that it took years for them to recover. As we commemorate this tragic event, let us all offer a minute of prayer for all the lives lost and for all the terrorist who made this unhumane act of terrorism that they may realize how is it unlawful to God. Let’s all hope that this things won’t happen again as wee seek guidance from Him.

An exclusive two-week special engagement will be given by the producers of Michael Jackson’s “This Is It ” movie for MJ’s Filipino fans who have been close to the heart of the King of Pop. This film shows a consummate performer working with and guiding singers, dancers, band members, choreographers, special effects creators and countless other creative members of the team as they assemble the historic concert event. Michael Jackson “This is It” movie premieres on October 28, 2009 worldwide.

Fox News has revealed the 4th judge of the upcoming Season 9 of the American Idol and that was Ellen de Generes, host of the “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”. She will be replacing Paula Abdul who resigned from the show recently. She will be joined with judges Kara DioGuardi, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson. This would be very exciting as Ellen joins the American Idol Season 9 that will open this coming January 2010.