Phillip is America's Idol but Jessica the world's?

THE IDOLS. American Idol Season 11 finalists Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez.

MANILA, Philippines - The Americans have spoken (or voted). Phillip Phillips is their new Idol.

But Jessica Sanchez, who has Filipino and Latino roots, is the world's idol, according to netizens who took to social media to express awe of the 16-year-old's power vocals.

On May 24, Phillips, the dreamy white-guy-with-guitar who fit the mold of previous American Idol winners, got bulk of the record 130 million votes, to be the 11th winner of the hit show.

Sanchez, the sassy "diva-in-training," however, has made her mark, especially with her killer duet with Tony Award-winning Jennifer Holliday on results night.

Sanchez's fans deal with upset and Phillips' celebrated -- in a passionate, emotional and witty fashion -- by flooding the social media space.

Read on.

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Latest developments in Arab world's unrest (AP)

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SYRIA

Syrian President Bashar Assad replaces his defense minister in the midst of a brutal military crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising. The army is playing a leading role in the bloody assault, attacking cities with heavy weapons and tanks. The bloodshed draws sharp condemnation from abroad. Arab nations join the growing international chorus against Assad's regime, with Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia recalling their ambassadors.

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LIBYA

Libya's rebels dissolve their executive committee in a move aimed at easing tensions over the recent killing of the opposition's military chief.

The rebels' National Transitional Council sacks the committee, which serves as a sort of government cabinet, after determining that "administrative mistakes" were made surrounding last month's slaying of Abdel-Fattah Younis, says national council member Fathi Turbel.

Mahmoud Jibril, who was the head of the outgoing committee, has been asked to form a new board of ministers.

Younis' killing has shaken both the rebels' leadership, and its Western allies, who have heavily backed the rebels controlling most of eastern Libya.

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Startup Seeks to Be Online Destination for World’s Best Photography

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WU seek World's most Socially connected person

Tomorrow, Western Union will be officially launching a new website that seeks to find the most socially and geographically connected person in the world. Called the Western Union World (http://www.westernunionworld.com/yourworld/), the app connects to your Facebook account and graphs all your friends worldwide.

I was invited by local reps of Western Union to attend the event tomorrow as one of their celebrity guests (together with Divine Lee and Carlos Celdran) and join the search. I will be competing against the two to see who among the three of us have the most friends geographically spread throughout the world.



According to the WU YourWorld, I have friends from 48 countries with a social index score of just over 13,000+. It’s not that much though. The Index only computes friends that are from other countries (so if you’re based in the Philippines, only friends outside of the Philippines will be counted in the index).

You can go check yours here. Do share in the comments what’s your ranking and Index. The search will run from tday ’til around September and they will also rank the most countries. I’m expecting the Philippines to be in the top #3.

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