Miss USA wins Miss Universe 2012

 
Miss Universe 2012 is the 61st Miss Universe pageant, and was held on December 19, 2012, at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Leila Lopes from Angola crowned her successor Olivia Culpo from USA.
Miss Philippines Janine Tugonon came in as first runner up in the Miss Universe pageant 2012, placing second to Miss USA.
Making up the Top 5 in the pageant held in Las Vegas, Nevada, were Venezuela, Brazil, Philippines, USA, Australia.
Fourth runner up was Ms. Brazil. Third and second runner up were Australia and Venezuela respectively.This is the seventh time in the history of the pageant that the home candidate won Miss Universe - and the sixth time for the USA to accomplish the feat.
Ms. China won the award for Best in National Costume, Miss Congeniality was Guatemala and Miss Photogenic winner was Kosovo.
89 countries and territories participated in this year's pageant and it will be broadcasted live in participant countries and territories by NBC, Telemundo & the international broadcasters.
What were the historical significance of this year's Miss Universe Pageant? Here are the list from en.wikepidea.org:

• USA won its eighth crown as Miss Universe.
• Australia placed for the fifth consecutive year.
• France placed for the fourth consecutive year.
• Kosovo placed for the second consecutive year.
• Brazil and Philippines placed in the Top 5 last year, the latter being the Top 5 for the third consecutive year.
• Poland last placed in 1989.
• Turkey last placed in 1990.
• Peru last placed in 2005.
• India last placed in 2007.
• Hungary last placed in 2008.
• Croatia last placed in 2009.
• This is the highest Venezuela has placed since Stefania Fernandez won in 2009.
• Russia and South Africa last placed in 2010.
• This is the first time since 2008 that the Top 5 finalists were composed of countries that had won Miss Universe before.
• At 5'5", Olivia Culpo is one of the shortest Miss Universes in the history of the pageant.

Newtown buries school massacre dead

NEWTOWN, Connecticut - Heart-rending funerals were held Monday for two six-year-old boys, as America began to say farewell to the 20 children slain in a school shooting that sparked calls for new gun laws.
The first burials, held under raw, wet skies, were of a pair of boys among those shot in Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut. On Tuesday, the first of the girls, also aged six, is to be laid to rest.
In all, on Friday, the gunman slaughtered 20 children aged between six and seven, six adults working at the school and his own mother, before turning one of his arsenal of high-powered firearms on himself.
The family of one boy, Jack Pinto, gathered at a funeral home in a century-old building in the center of the Connecticut town. Some 20 children of different ages came, along with about two dozen adults.
Jack Wellman, an eighth-grader who helped coach wrestling at the school, said fellow school wrestlers placed their sports medals in the coffin of Jack, a keen wrestler.
"He was an excellent kid," Wellman said at a nearby deli afterwards.
Another participant came out in shock. "I just cannot describe it, it was sad. The message was just comforting," she said. "Our hearts are heavy."
All the schools in this prosperous and picturesque dormitory town were shut until at least Tuesday and the blood-spattered elementary school itself was to remain a closed crime scene indefinitely, authorities said.
"Healing is still going on," Newtown police Lieutenant George Sinko said.
In the nearby town of Ridgefield, reports of a suspicious person prompted the brief lockdown and deployment of police Monday at all schools, indicating the jitters in the United States in the wake of the killings.
For Newtown, a quiet suburban community where the 20-year-old killer lived with his well-off mother, the start of funerals was hardly likely to settle the nightmare of what happened last Friday.
But the crime, in which the murderer carried a high-powered, military style rifle and two handguns, may have spurred change in the political landscape regarding rules on weapons ownership.
In an indication of how widely the shock has been felt, the Senate held a moment's silence in Washington.
Late Sunday, President Barack Obama joined a vigil in Newtown and pledged to work for an end to mass shootings, which have now become a regular event in the United States -- with half-a-dozen massacres since Obama took office.
"These tragedies must end," Obama said, appearing to commit himself to a push for reform in his second White House term, possibly by urging the restoration of a federal ban on assault weapons like the one used in Newtown.
Earlier, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California promised to introduce a bill to ban assault weapons on the very first day of the next Congress, January 3.
And on Monday, Senator Joe Lieberman called for a broad commission that could bring opponents on the issue together to discuss curbing gun deaths.
Each year, more than 31,000 Americans die from gunshots, most of them self-inflicted, but more than 11,000 in homicides -- five times as many as the death toll for US troops during an entire decade of conflict in Afghanistan.
"We've got to bring everybody to the table, including the gun manufacturers and the gun rights groups and the entertainment industry and just regular people," Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-independent, told Fox News.
But with gun ownership protected by the US constitution and firearms deeply ingrained in American culture, attempts to restrict access have long been seen as a vote-losing proposition.
Bit by bit, the full picture of the horror and heroism in the school, where the deranged shooter, Adam Lanza, sprayed bullets into two rooms, was starting to emerge.
The husband of Dawn Hochsprung, the slain school principal, said she had told others around her to hide. Then she "and at least one other teacher went out and actually tried to subdue the killer."
"I don't know where that comes from. Dawn was 5'2," he said.
"Dawn put herself in jeopardy and I have been angry about that, angry -- until just now, when I met two women that she told to go under shelter while she actually confronted the gunman."
One of the teachers, Janet Balmer, told CNN how the moment she heard gunshots she followed the lockdown routine that they'd recently practiced, then tried to act in front of her five-year-old charges as if all was well.
"We sat in the cubby away from the door so no one could see us, read them a story and talked to them," she said.
After agonizing minutes, police knocked at the door and told the children to leave -- and "cover their eyes" to avoid being exposed to the gore.
"At five, covering your eyes and walking isn't so easy. I just had them, you know, look towards the wall," Balmer said.
No information about a possible motive, or whether Lanza had any diagnosed mental condition, has emerged. He is believed to have first shot his mother in their house before going to the school.
Police remained tight-lipped, but said they are making progress. "We definitely are peeling that onion back, layer by layer," the state police spokesman said.
Newtown was the second deadliest school shooting in US history after the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, in which South Korean student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 people and wounded 17 others before taking his own life.
In the previously most notorious recent incident, a 24-year-old, James Holmes, allegedly killed 12 people and wounded 58 others when he opened fire at a midnight screening of the latest Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado, in July.

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

U.S. Refuses To Sign Treaty On Net Regulation; Fears Legally-Binding Rules In Future

 
The United States has said it will refuse to sign an updated communications treaty set to be ratified by the United Nations, because it veers too far into agreements to regulate the Internet.
For the last two weeks, delegates from more than 190 countries have been discussing the UN treaty at a conference for the International Telecommunications Union in Dubai. Countries such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia have pushed for proposals that include allowing nations to regulate global Internet companies and online content that is perceived as being “spam.”
The treaty is not legally binding, and does not come into effect until January 2015, but Ambassador Terry Kramer, who headed the U.S. delegation Dubai, said it was important to make sure that countries did not eventually agree to a more binding set of global agreements that they could use to justify acts of censorship online.
“What we don’t want over time is a set of global agreements that people can point to and say this treaty gave us right to impose these rules on global operators,” Kramer said on a conference call Thursday. “It’s not binding, but you don’t want to allow something to happen that people can think is a binding term on a global environment.”
He added that it was also “too early to tell” if countries that eventually signed the treaty would treat global Internet companies like Google and Facebook any differently.
Click here for the latest draft of the treaty, which is still evolving and has yet to be ratified. The U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and several other nations disagree with several aspects of the draft, but most at issue is Article 3, which states: “Member States shall endeavour to ensure that authorized operating agencies cooperate in the establishment, operation and maintenance of the international network to provide a satisfactory quality of service.”
An older version of the treaty had said “recognized operating agencies” in the text, which referred to large, public providers of telecommunications services like AT&T. Changing that to “authorized” operating agencies opens the door for governments to say the treaty also refers to Internet companies like Google and private networks.
Represented governments are set to vote on the treaty on Friday.
“Lots of countries will abstain,” said Kramer. “But a lot of countries that are expressing points of view that are different, are newer and less experienced with the Internet, and penetration rates are low. Many are dealing with political issues. There are different mindsets to what the benefits of the Internet bring.”

Source: www.forbes.com

Obama tops Forbes 2012 power list

 

NEW YORK - When it comes to power, politics trumps business, according to a new Forbes ranking on Wednesday that found heads of state occupying six of the top 10 spots among the world's most powerful people, led by President Barack Obama.
The annual list selected what Forbes said were the world's 71 most-powerful people from among the roughly 7.1 billion global populace, based on factors ranging from wealth to global influence.
Obama was joined in the top 10 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud of Saudi Arabia and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
The list's highest-ranked businessman was Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates at No. 4. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, both public officials, also made the top 10.
"This year's list reflects the changing of the guard in the world's two most powerful countries: the United States and China," Michael Noer, Forbes' executive editor, told Reuters in an email.
Noer noted that China's President Hu Jintao, last year's third most-powerful person, fell off the list as he is leaving power, and his successor, Xi Jinping, ranked ninth instead.
Both U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who have stated they will not be serving in Obama's second term, were not in this year's rankings.
While elected and appointed officials and business people made up the vast majority of Forbes' most powerful, Pope Benedict XVI placed fifth in the rankings.
Among the oddities was Joaquin Guzman Loera at No. 63.
Loera, far from a household name, is a billionaire nicknamed "El Chapo" who as head of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel is the world's most powerful drug trafficker, according to Forbes.
Age was also not a barrier, with two of the youngest and oldest of this year's most powerful -- 28-year-old Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and 81-year-old News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch -- back-to-back at numbers 25 and 26, respectively.
Forbes noted that Zuckerberg fell out of last year's top 10 after Facebook's IPO disappointed. A gainer, meanwhile, was Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who moved up four spots to No. 18 despite being only halfway into her first term of office.
To create the rankings, which Forbes readily concedes bore a measure of subjectivity, editors graded candidates on four criteria for power and averaged the four grades:

-- Power over many people

-- Control over financial and other valuable resources

-- Power in multiple spheres or arenas

-- Active use of power

Some measures, such as power over many people, favored leaders such as the Pope, while the world's richest man -- Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim Hula, worth a reported $72 billion -- placed 11th on the strength of his wealth.
Others, such as New York's billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, scored high in all areas, placing him at No. 16.
Noer said that Elon Musk, one of the co-founders of Paypal and Tesla Motors, was "one of the more interesting newcomers" on the list due to his SpaceX company, a private space exploration venture.
"With NASA retiring the space shuttle fleet, private companies like SpaceX have been awarded huge contracts to do things like resupply the International Space Station. The commercialization of space is just beginning, but we expect it to be big business," Noer said.
Former President Bill Clinton placed 50th, with editors noting that by hitting the campaign trail for Obama, Clinton "cemented his status as a kingmaker", along with his nonpartisan Global Initiative raising more than $71 billion in commitments to fund charitable action worldwide.
Other high-ranking heads of state included French President Francois Hollande at No. 14, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at No. 19 and Iran's Grand Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamenei at No. 21.
Among businessmen in the top 20 were Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett at No. 15, Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke at No. 17 and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at No. 20.
The entire list can be found at www.forbes.com/power as well as the December 24 issue of the magazine.

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

Latest Local and World News: Beijing to allow visa-free transit trips

Latest Local and World News: Beijing to allow visa-free transit trips:   BEIJING - China will allow transit passengers from 45 countries including the US, Canada and all members of the EU to spend up...

Beijing to allow visa-free transit trips

 

BEIJING - China will allow transit passengers from 45 countries including the US, Canada and all members of the EU to spend up to 72 hours in Beijing without a visa from next month, city authorities said.
The move would "strongly spur the development of the tourism industry, speed up building of an international city (and) expand contacts with the rest of the world," the Beijing Tourism Administration said on its website.
The policy only applies to travellers in transit to a third country, and not for return flights to the capital, whose attractions include the vast Forbidden City.
Eligible nationalities include the United States, Canada, European Union countries, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, South Korea, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
The city will "starting on January 1, 2013, implement a policy allowing foreigners from 45 countries with visas and plane tickets to a third country to transit through Beijing for 72 hours without a visa", the tourism body said.
But travellers would "face punishment" if they left the capital and lawbreakers would be banned for life, Gao Huada, deputy director of the city's exit-entry bureau, was quoted in the China Daily as saying on Thursday.
China's financial hub Shanghai already allows some foreigners in transit to visit the city for 48 hours, its government says on its website, including those from the US, some European countries, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Other travelers passing through the country are required to remain in the airport.
Beijing's airport is the second busiest in the world, having handled 47 million passengers in the first seven months of this year, according to the industry body Airports Council International.
Shanghai airport ranks 20th busiest with 26 million travellers during the same period.

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

Security Bank named PH bank of the year

MANILA, Philippines - Security Bank was named the 2012 Bank of the Year for the Philippines by The Banker magazine.
In giving the award, The Banker noted that Security Bank has become a competitive player in the local banking industry, after it acquired Premiere Development Bank. It also cited the bank's loan growth of 24%, as it focused on corporate and small-medium enterprise customers.
The magazine,  published by The Financial Times of London, also cited Security Bank's lead in the equity and debt capital markets, as it was involved in big-ticket deals such as the government's P323 billion bond swap and San Miguel Corp.'s P16 billion secondary offering.
"We are honored to have been bestowed this prestigious award as it now places us among the world’s most elite financial institutions. The Bank has always focused on
its core strengths that have allowed us to sustain a track record of strong financial and business performance," said Alberto Villarosa, President and CEO of Security Bank, in a statement.
In the third quarter of 2012, the bank posted a net income of P6.2 billion, a 55% increase from the same period last year. It had a return on equity (ROE) at 25%, outpacing the industry average of 12.14%
The Bank of the Year Awards is an annual event that promotes excellence in the global banking community by recognizing the top financial institutions in the world. Judges select only one bank from each country, making it the most sought-after award across the globe.

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

Nestle, Shell among 18 'green' firms awarded by DENR

MANILA, Philippines - Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Nestle Philippines, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum and Holcim Philippines are among the 18 companies considered as the "most environmentally responsible" by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The DENR awarded the 18 firms with the Official Seal of Approval, which is valid for one year, in recognition of their efforts for incorporating green policies across their business operations to help protect the environment.
"The awardees were chosen because of their exemplary environmental performance and for going beyond mere compliance with existing environmental laws and regulations," Environment Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje said, in a statement.
The awards are given under the DENR's Philippine Environmental Partnership Program (PEPP) covers which covers public and private industrial and commercial establishments.
Paje said the PEPP recognizes these companies' policies on self-monitoring and self-regulation.
The 18 awardees have not faced a single complaint before the DENR's Pollution Adjudication Board in the past three years.
As a reward, the DENR will relax its rules on the submission requirements for reports, automatically extend the validity of permits and ease procedures in securing environmental compliance certificates for project expansion of the recipients under PEPP Track 1 category.
There are now a total of 57 PEPP Track 1 awardees since the program started in 2009.

The World's Highest-Paid Musicians 2012

 

 

Though he’s only 18 years old, Justin Bieber has had a year for the ages. The Canadian crooner released his third studio album, launched a world tour and continued investing in startups, adding to a portfolio that includes stakes in Spotify, Tinychat and others. All in all, he earned $55 million in 12 months.
“I do calls every week with my business manager and my lawyer,” Bieber told FORBES this spring as part of a cover story on his budding venture capital career. “Each week I’m learning something about my business and what I need to know for my career.”
But when it comes to the world’s highest-paid musicians, Bieber is a relative pauper, barely breaking the top ten.
Hip-hop superproducer Dr. Dre leads the pack this year with $110 million, thanks largely to his Beats headphone line. He collected $100 million pretax when handset maker HTC paid $300 million for a 51% stake in the company last year, at the beginning of our scoring period; he and his partners later bought back half of what they sold.
“The brands are so aligned, Dre and Beats, it’s just who he is,” says Kevin Liles, former president of Def Jam Recordings, who now manages acts ranging from Young Jeezy to Trey Songz. “If you look at the biggest earners, the guys have been doing it for 20 years … what’s happening now is people are really telling their truth.”
Dr. Dre leads a slew of pop stars, rock icons, rap moguls and country crooners, many of whom bank the bulk of their bucks outside the recording studio. Though some artists—Jay-Z and Diddy, for example—owe their success partly to business ventures like Dre’s, most of this year’s top 25 are on the list because of touring.
“The concert business had another solid year as both artists and concert promoters used more caution in trying to achieve their touring objectives,” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor of concert data purveyor Pollstar. “The good seats for major artists continue to be priced at a premium.”
This year’s list has a distinctly international flavor. Among the top five, only Dr. Dre hails from the United States. Pink Floyd rocker Roger Waters ranks second with $88 million, nearly all of it coming from his The Wall Live tour. According to Pollstar, he grossed $158 million on 63 shows in the first six months of 2012. Fellow Brit Elton John claims the third spot with $80 million, culled from over 100 shows in our scoring period.
Ireland’s U2 ranks fourth, pulling in $78 million on the tail end of the group’s record-breaking 360 tour—which grossed $736 million over three years. British boy band Take That rounds out the top five with $69 million, thanks to a wildly-popular reunion tour. The group grossed $61 million for eight dates at London’s Wembley Stadium alone, the biggest single-stadium stand recorded to that point, cashing in on dozens of additional dates around Europe as well.
“The enormous level of business Take That did in the U.K. and Europe was truly mind-boggling,” says Bongiovanni. “That’s especially true when you consider that in the U.S. they would only be a theater-level act.”
Our estimates are based on total earnings from May 2011 to May 2012—the amount of money an act makes from record sales, touring, endorsements, merchandise sales and other ventures before subtracting management fees, legal costs and taxes (which can gobble up the bulk of a big payday). The totals were compiled with the help of data from Pollstar, RIAA and others, as well as interviews with industry insiders including concert promoters, lawyers, managers, agents and, in some cases, the musicians themselves.
Other highlights on the list include Toby Keith, who tied Bieber for tenth with $55 million. With his Ford sponsorship now on its second decade and his I Love This Bar And Grill restaurant chain booming, Keith was the top earner among all country artists—unless you count crossover star Taylor Swift, who earned $57 million, same as Paul McCartney. Coldplay and Adele continue the British trend, claiming the 21st and 22nd slots with $37 million and $35 million, respectively. Eight of the top 25 acts hail from England or Ireland.
That success extends to Anglophiles as well: Jay-Z and Beyoncé, both close friends of Coldplay’s lead singer, Chris Martin, combined to earn $78 million. The former Destiny’s Child diva is one of just eight ladies on the list, but Beyoncé’s song “Run The World (Girls)” still rings true—despite welcoming baby Blue Ivy earlier this year, she still out-earned her husband by $2 million.

Source: Forbes

Shamcey to host web coverage of Miss Universe

 

MANILA, Philippines – Beauty queen Shamcey Supsup is returning to the Miss Universe stage, this time as a host of the Internet coverage of this year's pageant.
Binibining Pilipinas Charities chairperson Stella Marquez-Araneta made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon, during the send-off ceremonies for this year's Miss Philippines-Universe, Janine Tugonon.
Araneta said Miss Universe viewers should expect more of Supsup on the Internet and she is hoping that her presence will also help Tugonon’s chances of taking home the crown.
“As Janine prepares to go to defend the Philippines in the Miss Universe, I ask you to please start voting for her because if she gets high votes, she will be one of the semi-finalists. I know that the Filipinos will vote and will make her win,” she said.
Araneta added that Supsup’s job involves interviewing this year's candidates for a behind-the-scenes look at the competition.
Meanwhile, Supsup only has good words for Tugonon as she prepares to compete in the international pageant.
“Ngayon pa lang, proud na kami sa narating mo. Proud na kami sa transformation mo. Proud na kami sa lahat ng efforts na binigay mo para lang ma-prove ang sarili mo sa lahat ng aspeto kaya doon pa lang, winner ka na. Pagdating mo doon, act like a winner because you’re already in the Filipinos’ eyes,” she said.
Miss Universe 2011 fourth runner-up Venus Raj also wished Tugonon well as she represents the Philippines in this year's beauty pageant.
“December 19, ito 'yung kumbagang pinaniniwalaan nating itinakdang date para sa iyo. Just pray. Iyon naman talaga ang kailangan natin. Napakaraming Pilipino ang magdadasal sa iyo. Napakraming Pilipino sa States na papalakpak at magpapalakas ng loob mo. Huwag kang mawawalan ng loob,” she said. - with a report from ANC.

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

What You Actually Need To Know About The Changes Facebook Is Making To Its Privacy Policy

 

Many Facebook users are frantically posting a “copyright protection notice” on their Walls to try to keep Facebook from violating their privacy by copying, disseminating, sharing, leaking, licking, scratching, biting, or clawing the contents of their Facebook accounts. It’s complete legal mumbo jumbo that’s not enforceable or binding on Facebook, as pointed out by my colleagues Dave Thier and Jeff Bercovici. It’s not the first time the notice has gone viral; it seems to have been spurred this time though by changes to the agreement that is binding on Facebook when it comes to your privacy: the site’s privacy policy, which Facebook likes to call the “Data Use Policy” (in acknowledgement perhaps of the fact that privacy policies don’t exist to protect your privacy but to explain the ways in which it will be violated).
Facebook sent out notice about the changes near midnight East Coast time the night before Thanksgiving — the kind of timing most companies would use to drop bad news, knowing most people are too busy traveling, salivating, or silently suffering through awkward family time to pay attention. That caused some people to freak out, assuming Facebook was changing the policy to retain rights to all your photos  as well as your eternal soul.
It’s hard to blame those naive Facebook users desperately posting this notice to their wall in hopes of putting some kind of legal fence around their drunken party pics. Even the experts are confused by Facebook’s privacy policy changes. Mathew Ingram, a tech writer I hold in high esteem, told his readers that the most recent changes to the privacy policy paves the way for Facebook to create ads that follow you around the Web. As evidence, he cites a post I wrote… six months ago. Yeah, you gave Facebook the right to use your info to create an external ad network last summer. That’s old news! Here’s what you need to know about the most recent set of proposed changes:

 1. There’s a handy-dandy redlined version of the new policy here. One of the biggest changes is that Facebook isn’t going to let you vote anymore on changes to its policy. Facebook was trying this whole democracy thing, letting its community decide whether or not it should make changes to the agreements between the social-networking site and its users. The problem: voter apathy. During their June vote, only 342,632 people participated. That’s a miniscule fraction of their now one-billion strong user base, and thus nearly meaningless. So Facebook’s pulling the plug on democracy, instead having a substantive “comment period” and making its privacy czar Erin Egan available to answer questions. 

2. Facebook is adding a clause to the data use policy that allows it to share “information with affiliates,” i.e. other companies that Facebook owns. Bloomberg calls the move Google-like, pointing out that it will allow Facebook “to build unified profiles of its users that include people’s personal data from its social network and from Instagram.” I think it’s less like Google mashing up everything it knows about a person in one basket and more like a typical corporate clause. But it does mean that Facebook and Instagram info may now exist on the same server and won’t be kept separate, meaning the social networking can now see everything it knows about you through a Walden filter.
“As our company grows, we acquire businesses that become a legal part of our organization,” says a Facebook spokesperson. “We wanted to clarify that we will share information with our affiliates and vice versa, both to help improve our services and theirs, and to take advantage of storage efficiencies.”

3. Facebook is making some changes to your ability to block people from sending you private messages. They’re removing a clause that said, “You can control who can start a message thread with you using your ‘How You Connect’ settings.” But Facebook says it’s not totally taking away your ability to block your ex from harassing you via private message.
“We are working on updates to Facebook Messages and have made this change in our Data Use Policy in order to allow for improvements to the product,” says a Facebook spokesperson. “You will still be able to block senders and manage which messages you see in your inbox.”

Source: www.forbes.com by Kashmir Hill

One more dead, three sick with mystery virus: WHO

GENEVA - Another person has died of a mysterious respiratory virus and three more cases have been discovered in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the World Health Organisation said Friday.
"This brings the total of laboratory-confirmed cases to six," the Geneva-based UN agency said in a statement.
A Saudi man died from the novel coronavirus in June and a Qatari man was hospitalised in London with the virus after a trip to Saudi Arabia.
The WHO has previously confirmed that the new strain was part of the coronavirus family, which also includes the deadly SARS virus as well as the common cold.
What sets the new virus apart from SARS is that it causes rapid kidney failure, the WHO said.
In view of the small number of cases with little connection between them, the WHO has previously said the virus did not appear to be very contagious, but it stressed Friday that many cases might be going undetected.
The Geneva-based UN agency meanwhile said that only the two most recently confirmed cases in Saudi Arabia were so far seen as epidemiologically linked, since they were both from the "same family, living in the same household".
"Preliminary investigations indicate that these two cases presented with similar symptoms of illness. One died and the other recovered," the organisation said.
It noted however that two other members of the same family had presented similar symptoms -- one of whom had died -- but stressed that the person who lived had tested negative for the novel coronavirus while the test on the deceased was still pending.
In the new Qatari case, the patient had been sent to Germany in October for treatment at a special lung hospital and had recovered, Germany's national public health institute said in a statement.
The WHO called Friday on countries to "continue their surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections" in general, adding that it was working to provide guidance related specifically to the novel coronavirus.
"Until more information is available, it is prudent to consider that the virus is likely more widely distributed than just the two countries which have identified cases," it cautioned.
Countries "should consider testing of patients with unexplained pneumonias for the new coronavirus even in the absence of travel or other associations with the two affected countries," it said.
According to a study published by the journal of the American Society for Microbiology earlier this week, the mystery virus appears to be most closely linked to viruses found in bats.
"The virus is most closely related to viruses in bats found in Asia, and there are no human viruses closely related to it," Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Center in The Netherlands, who led the study, told the journal.
"Therefore, we speculate that it comes from an animal source," he added.

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

Who made it till the end of 'Miss Saigon' auditions

MANILA, Philippines – At the close of the Manila auditions of the international hit musical “Miss Saigon” on Thursday, only six female hopefuls were asked to stay until the very end.
According to the official Twitter account of the website Broadway World, the six girls were asked to stay and sing more songs from the musical that launched the international career of Tony Award-winner Lea Salonga.
The auditions, which started at 10 a.m., ended at almost 7 p.m.
Among the most hyped hopefuls eyeing the lead role of Kim in the musical set during the final days of the Vietnam War, only former Kapamilya singer Rachelle Ann Go made it until the very end.
Go, who drew raves for her performance as Ariel in Atlantis Productions' "The Little Mermaid" last year, first auditioned on Tuesday and made it to the callbacks and the final audition round on Thursday at the Philippine Opera Company’s headquarters in Makati City.
The other five girls who made it until the very end were theater actresses Tanya Manalang and Apple Chiu, singer-actress Frencheska Farr, Emerald Bañares and Mary Jane Solomon.
Manalang currently stars at Tuptim in Resorts World’s production of “The King and I,” while Chiu was last seen in Atlantis Productions’ “Rock of Ages.” Farr, meanwhile, starred in the movie musical “Emir.”
Several other hopefuls were seen at the final round of auditions on Thursday, including former MYX VJ K-La Rivera, who was accompanied by “Aladdin” co-star Tom Rodriguez. However, it wasn’t clear if she failed to make the shortlist.
Also seen last Thursday were Repertory Philippines’ actress Caisa Borromeo, Manila-born Singaporean singer-actress Julia Abueva and opera singer Kelly Peralejo.
Among the male hopefuls, Broadway World reported that theater actors Lorenz Martinez, Jake Macapagal, Noel Rayos and Topper Fabregas made the final round of auditions, as well as Singaporean theater actor Hossan Leong.
Martinez currently stars as Lun Tha in Resorts World’s production of “The King and I,” while Rayos was last seen as the male lead in Tanghalang Pilipino’s “Walang Sugat.” Macapagal is best known for his performance as Angel in “Rent,” while Fabregas has appeared in many Repertory Philippines productions.
Broadway World did not say who among the male auditionees stayed until the end.
Among those who didn’t advance beyond the callbacks and into the final round were celebrities Karylle, Ciara Sotto and Angeline Quinto.
Although it was initially announced that the Manila auditions are for the revival of “Miss Saigon” in London, a sign at the audition said it is “still undetermined” when the musical will open in the West End.
“Hence, there shall be no cast announcements made during the course of this audition exercise,” the sign said.
According to Broadway World, the auditioning panel was composed of executive producer Trevor Jackson, director Laurence Connor, musical supervisor Stephen Brooker, choreographer Geoffrey Garratt and Cameron Mackintosh’s representative in the Philippines Dong Alegre.

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

Bieber, Swift early winners at American Music Awards

 

LOS ANGELES -- Canadian pop star Justin Bieber and country-pop darling Taylor Swift were among the early winners at the American Music Awards on Sunday, picking up accolades in the pop and country categories at a live televised awards ceremony.
Bieber, 18, picked up the award for favorite pop/rock male artist, beating out stiff competition from Flo Rida, Pitbull and Usher. The star walked the red carpet with his mother, Pattie Mallette, after his widely reported split from former Disney star and girlfriend Selena Gomez.
"This is for all the haters who thought that maybe I was just here for one or two years, but I feel like I am going to be here for a very long time," Bieber said on stage, dedicating his win to his mother.
Swift, 22, scored the favorite female country artist award, edging out Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood. She thanked her fans in her acceptance speech, saying, "I'm really, really happy right now and that's all because of you."
Nicki Minaj picked up the award for favorite rap/hip hop album of the year, with "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded," over nominees Drake and newcomer rapper J. Cole.
The American Music Award nominees and winners are voted for by fans online, and the awards are handed out during a live three-hour broadcast featuring performances by artists.
R&B star Usher kicked off the night with an electric performance on a laser-filled stage, followed by Carly Rae Jepsen singing hits including "Call Me Maybe," while boy band The Wanted, who are up for favorite pop/rock group, donned suits to sing their latest, "I Found You."
Former "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson belted out a medley of her tracks including "Miss Independent" and "What Doesn't Kill You," and pop singer Ke$ha hit the stage in a tribal-themed performance of her latest single "Die Young."
The awards show, which marks its 40th anniversary this year, treated the audience to some of its greatest moments, including R&B star Beyonce performing "Single Ladies" at the 2008 show and a clip of Michael and Janet Jackson as children accepting an award in 1975.
R&B star Rihanna, 24, and rapper Nicki Minaj, 29, went into Sunday's show leading with four nods each, battling each other in the favorite pop/rock female artist category.
Rihanna will also face stiff competition from Bieber, Maroon 5, Drake and Katy Perry for the night's top prize, the coveted artist of the year.
Rihanna wasn't expected to be at the awards show on Sunday, as she is in Berlin, midway through a seven-day tour across seven cities around the world promoting her upcoming "Unapologetic" album.
The race for new artist of the year will also be tight, as newcomers One Direction, Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen, indie-pop band fun. and rapper J. Cole will compete for the accolade.

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

Asia's mega-cities more vulnerable to disasters

MANILA – Asia's cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters as they struggle with poor planning, population explosions and climate change, the Asian Development Bank warned on Tuesday.
Floods, earthquakes and other disasters claim tens of thousands of lives a year and cost billions of dollars in the region's cities and urban areas, but not nearly enough is being done to improve their defenses, the bank said.
"The region has borne the brunt of the physical and economic damage of the sharp rise in natural disasters (globally) since the 1980s," the ADB said in a statement accompanying the release of a new study.
"Its people are four times more likely to be affected by natural disasters than in Africa, and 25 times more likely than in Europe or North America," it added.
Floods are the most common peril and have become three times more frequent across the Asia-Pacific in the past 30 years, the report said.
It found that the impact of storms on cities and urban areas has worsened due to chaotic urban planning and environmental degradation, as well as poorly-managed urbanization and deforestation.
Meanwhile, millions of people are leaving safer rural areas for low-lying coastal cities, often driven to the economic hubs by poverty.
More than 152 million people in the Asia-Pacific are now vulnerable to natural disasters every year, up from 24 million in the 1980s, the study found.
Deaths from natural disasters across the region increased to more than 651,000 between 2000 and 2009, compared with fewer than 100,000 in the 1980s, it said.
Vinod Thomas, director-general for independent evaluation at the Philippines-based ADB, said governments in the region spent two thirds of disaster funds on restoring damaged infrastructure.
But only a third was spent on making these areas more disaster-proof.
"We have thought for too long that natural disasters come and go, that they are just an interruption to development, and that they can simply be dealt with after they strike," Thomas said.
"However, there is growing international recognition that the incidence and impact of natural disasters are increasing for a variety of reasons: persistent poverty, population growth, and climate change.
"Policymakers need to recognize that investments in disaster risk management are an essential means to sustain growth."

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

The Facebook Job Board Is Here: Recruiting Will Never Look The Same

Sound the gong! Facebook recruiting is here...

Facebook announced its long-awaited job board this morning, ushering in a new era of online recruiting and, eventually, what’s likely to be an important new source of revenue for the company. After a yearlong “Social Jobs Partnership” with the U.S. Department of Labor and other government agencies, the company released the Social Jobs Partnership application today, an interactive job board that aggregates 1.7 million openings from recruiting companies already working on the platform, including Work4 Labs, BranchOut, Jobvite, DirectEmployers and Monster.com.
Though a spokesperson for the company insists the announcement does not mean Facebook is entering the recruiting industry, that statement appears far-fetched given the capability of the application. The page allows users to search for jobs by location, industry and skill, apply to them directly through Facebook, and then share the jobs to their social network. Its developer partners also believe Facebook is making a clear statement of its intentions. “Facebook is launching a jobs page within Facebook,” notes Stephane Le Viet, founder and CEO of Work4 Labs. “This is a very big disruption in a very large space.”

The company’s own blog post reveals some telling statistics about the potential for recruiting over the platform. According to Facebook, half of employers in the U.S. use the social network during their hiring process. Of those companies already using Facebook to engage with customers, 54 percent anticipate using it more heavily in their recruitment efforts in the future. Given those numbers, the lucrative nature of the recruitment industry and the success of companies like Work4 Labs—not to mention increasing pressure from battered shareholders—it appears likely that Facebook will seek monetize recruitment efforts at some point soon.
Le Viet surmises that the current application is just an early, lightweight version intended to test recruiting on the platform. It also serves to trigger a PR push letting the general public know that the social network is now a place to find jobs. A more robust version may eventually mean users will see more recruitment-related activity on their newsfeeds.
The Social Jobs Partnership was meant to serve as a consortium to guide the company’s recruitment offering.
Given today’s announcement, does November 14, 2012 mark the beginning of the end for LinkedIn? The varied demographics of Facebook certainly differ from LinkedIn’s 175 million older, college-educated users. Le Viet’s Work4 Labs acknowledges this reality, focusing on entry-level and hourly positions rather than the salaried openings for which LinkedIn provides candidates. And as Forbes contributor George Anders noted in a July cover story, LinkedIn Recruiter, the company’s enterprise recruitment tool, is the company’s core business. They have a three-year head start and a product with cachet among recruiters  said to rival the Bloomberg terminal for traders. LinkedIn is also a trusted, professional brand created for the explicit purpose of business networking. Older employees may not feel comfortable mixing work with a social platform better known for party photos.
The sheer size of Facebook’s user base however, means that the company can slice the population a number of different ways. Though only 22 percent of users are above the age of 45, that’s still 220 million people–more than LinkedIn’s entire platform. And Facebook has already been shown to be highly effective in recruiting lower-skilled workers. A foothold in the lower end of the market could serve as a nice starting point for moving upstream and eating LinkedIn’s business. The twenty-somethings who tend profiles on both LinkedIn and Facebook may not care where their next job comes from.
It is certain that traditional online job boards like Monster.com are on the way out. While Monster has seen its market share and stock price plummet in recent years, LinkedIn has soared and Facebook’s developer partners–Work4 Labs, BranchOut and Jobvite–have raised tens of millions of dollars to pursue social graph-based recruiting models. The future of recruiting is decidedly social.
Though Forbes staffer Eric Savitz noted that the lockup agreement covering 777 million Facebook shares ended today, the company’s stock is up nearly 8%.

Source: www.forbes.com

Obama wants immigration bill 'very soon'

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged lawmakers to agree as early as January on a bill to lay a path to citizenship for the estimated 11.5 million illegal immigrants in the United States.
"I'm very confident that we can get immigration reform done," Obama told reporters at his first press conference since a decisive November 6 re-election victory in which Hispanic voters played a major role.
"My expectation is that we get a bill introduced and we begin the process in Congress very soon after my inauguration," said Obama, who is due to begin his second term after a January 21 inauguration ceremony.
Republican nominee Mitt Romney's tack to the right during his presidential campaign, particularly on immigration, was a key reason he lost the Hispanic vote by a substantial margin.
Now, with Republicans soul-searching in the aftermath of their defeat, agreeing to immigration reform is seen as one way to frame the party as more inclusive of Latinos, the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States.
"Before the election I had given a couple of interviews where I predicted that the Latino vote was going to be strong, and that that would cause some reflection on the part of Republicans about their position," Obama said.
"I think we're starting to see that already. I think that's a positive sign," the president said, adding: "We need to seize the moment."
Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham have already begun talks on a bipartisan bill that was shelved two years ago.
"Some conversations I think are already beginning to take place among senators and congressmen and my staff about what would this look like," Obama said.
Comprehensive reform would include measures that would retain strong border controls and penalize companies that hire undocumented workers while opening an avenue for legalization.
"It's important for them to pay back taxes. It's important for them to learn English. It's important for them to potentially pay a fine," Obama said.
"But to give them the avenue whereby they can resolve their legal status here in this country, I think, is very important.
"I think there should be a pathway for legal status for those who are living in this country, are not engaged in criminal activity, are here simply to work," he said.
Republican Speaker John Boehner, whose party retained control of the House of Representatives in last week's vote, has since expressed confidence that he can work with Obama to hammer out a comprehensive deal on immigration.
Republicans rejected the DREAM Act, which would legalize undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children, and supported tough anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona along the border with Mexico.
Rising Republican star Senator Marco Rubio opposed the DREAM Act and has declined to say whether he believes Congress should allow those immigrants to become citizens without going home first.
But the Cuban-American lawmaker, seen as an early contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, made clear the day after the election that his party needed to reach out to Hispanics.
"The conservative movement should have particular appeal to people in minority and immigrant communities who are trying to make it," he said in a statement issued less than two hours after Romney's concession speech.
In a historic development in June, five months before he faced re-election, Obama suspended the deportations of young illegal immigrants under 30 who came to the United States before the age of 16.
The plan was welcomed by the Latino community and no doubt boosted Obama's re-election bid.
Obama ended up winning 71 percent of the Hispanic vote, second only to former Democratic president Bill Clinton, who managed 72 percent in 1996.
The Latino vote was seen as decisive in swing states with large influxes of Hispanics like Nevada, Colorado and Florida.
Romney, breaking his post-election silence in a phone call with his finance committee reported by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, expressed bitterness about what he saw as Obama handouts, particularly to Latinos.
"The amnesty for children of illegals, the so-called 'Dream Act' kids, was a huge plus for that voting group," he said.
The number of eligible Hispanic voters in the United States is expected to almost double from 24 to 40 million by 2030. A record 12.5 million Hispanics voted on November 6, according to exit polls.

Source: www.abs-cbnnews.com by Andrew Galley 11/15/2012