Pentagon sees climate change as national security risk

WASHINGTON DC -- The Pentagon had regarded climate change as a security risk for the United States and were integrating possible impacts of global warming into the planning cycles, according to a US military report.

In the report submitted to the Congress on Tuesday at the request of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Pentagon said that US national security interests around the world was subject to risks given the possibility that foreign states which were already fragile would be vulnerable to disruption caused by climate change.

"It is in this context that the department must consider the effects of climate change -- such as sea level rise, shifting climate zones, and more frequent and intense severe weather events -- and how these effects could impact national security," said the report.

The report said that US combatant commands were in the process of integrating climate-related impacts into their planning cycles to reduce the national security implications of climate change, covering areas such as the Arctic, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South America.

source: interaksyon.com

Actress Jane Birkin asks Hermes to remove her name from croc bag

PARIS | Actress and singer Jane Birkin has asked Hermes to remove her name from one of the luxury goods maker’s best-selling bags due to what she called “cruel” crocodile farming and slaughtering practices.

“I have asked Hermes to rename the Birkin Croco until they adopt better practices that meet international standards for the production of this bag,” Birkin said in a statement to the media on Tuesday.

Birkin said she had signed actor Joaquin Phoenix’s Mercy For Animals petition to “shed exotic skins from your wardrobe” in protest against the “millions of reptiles slaughtered each year and turned into shoes, handbags, belts and other accessories”.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said it had released a video, narrated by Phoenix and which Birkin had seen, showing how live reptiles were skinned or sawed open on farms that supplied luxury brands.

Hermes said the crocodile skins it sourced from a Texas farm in the video were not used for Birkin bags and stressed that it did not own that farm.

The luxury brand also said that an investigation was being conducted into the farm’s practices and that “any breach of rules will be rectified and sanctioned.”

Hermes said it imposed on its suppliers the highest ethical standards regarding the treatment of crocodiles and for more than a decade, had conducted monthly checks on them to ensure that they were respected.

“Hermes respects and shares her (Jane Birkin’s) emotions and was also shocked by the images recently broadcast,” it said in a statement.

“Her comments do not in any way influence the friendship and confidence that we have shared for so many years.”

Birkin agreed to lend her name to the bag after sharing a flight with the charismatic late head of Hermes, Jean-Louis Dumas, in the 1980s.

The crocodile Birkin and the Kelly bag, named after actress Grace Kelly, are among the most sought-after luxury goods — even though the starting retail price is more than 20,000 euros ($22,096) – partly because shops routinely run out of them.

Customers can obtain one either by putting their name on a waiting list or by paying hefty fees to specialized buyers who scout for the bags on their behalf.

A fuchsia Hermes crocodile Birkin bag with a diamond-studded clasp and lock set a record as the most expensive handbag ever sold at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong last month, fetching $222,000.

source: interaksyon.com

Mexico struggles to clean seaweed surge from Cancun beaches

MEXICO CITY  — Authorities on Mexico's Caribbean coast said Monday they are redoubling efforts to remove tons of sargassum seaweed that has been washing ashore in recent weeks.

The state government of Quintana Roo, where the resort of Cancun is located, said there have been no reports of tourists cancelling visits because of the problem.

Gov. Roberto Borge said the seaweed removal efforts will focus on much of the coast, from Holbox in the north down past Tulum to the south.

Photos issued by the Cancun city government show piles of brown seaweed on some normally pristine white beaches. By last week, the city said it had raked or shoveled up 500 cubic meters of sargassum.

Borge said the cause of the invasion is still unknown, though it could be due to high levels of nutrients in ocean water or changes in ocean temperatures, currents or wind patterns.

Authorities have to be careful, because there are two groups of visitors they don't want to disturb with overly aggressive removal efforts: nesting sea turtles that return to the Caribbean beaches to lay their eggs, and tourists.

Borge said the effort would take care not to cause erosion on the beaches, which has been a problem in Cancun in the past.

The government announced the formation of a task force of naval and environmental authorities to study the problem. Authorities are also researching ways to use or dispose of the seaweed mounds.

Sargassum is an algae that grows in the Sargasso Sea, a large body of warm water in the mid-Atlantic.

Officials in the Caribbean island of Barbados have also struggled with seaweed washing ashore, and large piles of sargassum washed up on the shore in Galveston, Texas, in 2014 after drifting into the Gulf of Mexico.

source: philstar.com

Boy Scouts of America to lift ban on gay troop leaders

WASHINGTON - The Boy Scouts of America was poised Monday to officially end its ban on gay scout leaders, a historic but controversial shift after years of legal wrangling and internal strife.

The proposed change was expected to be ratified on Monday by the organization's 80-member national executive board, after a smaller governing committee this month unanimously voted to lift the prohibition.

But while doing away with the blanket ban on gay adults in scouting, the BSA -- which already allows homosexual youths to join -- will apparently grant individual chapters license to continue to bar gay adults from being Scout leaders or employees.

The board said the planned policy change will let "scouting's members and parents to select local units, chartered to organizations with similar beliefs, that best meet the needs of their families."

"This change would also respect the right of religious chartered organizations to continue to choose adult leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own," the BSA statement said.

The Boy Scouts, with some 2.5 million members and around a million adult volunteers, had been beset by internal fighting and legal wrangling, amid defiant moves by some scout councils to flout the national BSA ban and allow gay scoutmasters.

But about 70 percent of Boy Scout chapters are run by church groups, complicating efforts to reform the ban.

The Mormon Church -- also known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- runs the greatest number of BSA chapters.

Earlier this month it issued a statement after the executive board vote asserting that it "has always had the right to select Scout leaders who adhere to moral and religious principles that are consistent with our doctrines and beliefs."

The organization said, however, that the move lifting the ban was inevitable, given US social and political changes of recent years.

Back in May, the BSA's national president Robert Gates warned at its annual meeting that the courts could force the organization to change its membership policies if it failed to do so of its own accord.

"We must all understand that this will probably happen sooner rather than later," said Gates, a former CIA director and defense secretary.

Gates was himself an avid scout as a youngster, having attained the coveted top rank of Eagle Scout.

Founded in 1910, the Boy Scouts describes itself as a "values-based youth development organization."

Through camping, hiking and skills building activities, the BSA "provides a program for young people that builds character, trains them in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and develops personal fitness."

The BSA in January 2014 officially began accepting gay youths into their ranks, after a more than two-decade-long ban.

A few months earlier, in May 2013, the Boy Scouts' national council voted to no longer deny membership to youths on the basis of sexual orientation, but it retained its ban on gay and lesbian adult Scout leaders.

source: interaksyon.com

Pearson says in talks to sell its 50 percent stake in The Economist

LONDON - Britain's Pearson said on Saturday it was in talks to sell its 50 percent stake in The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist newspaper.

The move comes on the heels of Pearson's sale of the Financial Times newspaper to Japanese media group Nikkei, announced this week as its focuses on its education business.

"Pearson confirms it is in discussions with The Economist Group Board and trustees regarding the potential sale of our 50 percent share in the group," the company said in a statement on Saturday.

"There is no certainty that this process will lead to a transaction."

Pearson did not name the potential buyers.

People familiar with the matter said, however, that the group of families and staff and former staff that own the remaining 50 percent are talking to Pearson but need to raise cash to fund the deal.

The co-owners of the weekly publication, which had a paid circulation of 1.6 million at the end of 2014 and reported 67 million pounds in annual operating profit in June, have greater voting rights than Pearson, which holds only B shares.

Any change of ownership would need the consent of the holders of the A shares, which include the Cadbury, Rothschild, Schroder and Agnelli families, an analyst told Reuters on Friday.

It would also need to be approved by trustees who are tasked with preserving the independence of the ownership of the company and the editorial independence of the title.

The families were unlikely to back any plans by Pearson to sell to a third party, industry bankers said.

Bernstein analyst Claudio Aspesi estimated the stake could be worth 300 to 400 million pounds, based on a multiple of 15 times its net income of 46 million pounds.

It is unlikely that any offer would reflect the same rich multiple that Nikkei agreed to pay for the Financial Times.

The Japanese company had been in competition with Germany's Axel Springer to win control of the trophy asset.

Beside The Economist itself, the group operates several subsidiaries including The Economist Intelligence Unit, Economist Events and Economist Corporate Network.

A deal would likely take several weeks to be agreed, a source close to the situation said on Saturday.

source: interaksyon.com

Nuns oppose sale of convent to Katy Perry

LOS ANGELES | Katy Perry has amassed millions of fans around the world, but her failure to win over two elderly nuns is creating an unholy battle.

The pop singer wants to turn a former convent into her home. The sprawling hillside Italianate complex valued at $15 million is situated near the hip Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake.

But two nuns are having none of it. In the latest legal salvo, the two sisters challenged the authority of the archdiocese to sell the property.

The motion dated Monday accused the archdiocese of unilaterally changing the bylaws of the convent, known as the California Institute of the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The suit said that two of the five remaining sisters, who range in age from 77 to 88, were chosen to have “sole authority to amend the institute’s bylaws, elect officers and sell the assets of the institute.”

Perry has visited the nuns, reportedly singing for them and telling them that she hopes to live on the property with her mother and grandmother.

But the two nuns remain opposed to the sale to Perry, who grew up in a born-again Protestant Christian household but has become both a sex symbol and vocal advocate for gay rights.

Perry’s hits include sultry numbers such as “I Kissed a Girl” and “Teenage Dream.”

Sister Rita Callanan, 77, recently told the Los Angeles Times that she found Perry’s videos online and “if it’s all right to say, I wasn’t happy with any of it.”

Callanan and Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, 86, instead signed to sell the property to restaurateur Dana Hollister.

The archdiocese countered that Hollister offered only $44,000 upfront with no promise to make payments to the aging sisters for another three years.

The archdiocese said that the three other remaining sisters supported the sale to Perry. The five sisters no longer live in the former convent, which was once the home to more than 100 nuns.

“The archdiocese is committed to the care and well-being of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters now and in the future,” it said in a statement.

“That is our obligation as directed by the Holy See, which will have the final approval over any sale of the property.”

source: interaksyon.com

Greece does about-face, pledges big privatization push

ATHENS — Work was supposed to begin next year on a 7 billion euros ($7.6 billion) waterfront urban renewal project almost twice the size of New York's Central Park that could have poured nearly a billion euros into Greece's depleted coffers. The plans stalled late last year after the far-left Syriza party took power and promised to halt attempts at putting the private sector in control of state assets, both on ideological grounds and because leaders believe rampant corruption must be addressed before any sell-off.

Now, in an attempt to get a third European bailout and prevent the Greek economy from collapsing, the ruling party has done an about-face. It has pledged to fast-track the waterfront project, plus sell government assets and allow for private development of state-owned property, all to generate cash that will help reduce Greece's 320-billion-euro national debt and pay back money lent by European nations to prop up ailing banks.

Experts say the goal set by Greece's European counterparts for the country to raise 50 billion euros in privatizations and private use of state property is probably impossible — but that Greece must make a better effort than it has in the past.

"There can be absolutely no backpedaling or unwinding with the privatization effort," said Mujtaba Rahman, European director for the Eurasia Group political and business risk consulting firm. "This is about testing the government's appetite to liberalize the economy and move forward with pro-market reforms."

Big money assets that Greece could sell include state-owned stakes in Athens' new airport, energy company Hellenic Petroleum and electrical utility Public Power Corp., plus offshore oil or natural gas drilling parcels. Greece also has stock in banks valued at 7.5 billion euros, but the true value of the stake is unknown because the Athens stock market stopped trading at the end of June as the country descended into financial chaos.

The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, charged with matching state assets in deals with the private sector, also has parcels of land on beautiful islands available for long-term leases and a castle on the island of Corfu, plus buildings throughout Athens and across the country.


It was formed in 2011 following demands by Greece's creditors to embark on a privatization wave, but has collected only 3.5 billion euros so far. Efforts have been complicated by constantly changing laws for asset sales, court challenges, local opposition, financial upheaval that makes it difficult to value assets, and criticism that prices have dropped so much that assets aren't worth selling.

Proponents of privatization say it can help boost investment and the economy flourish by unleashing market forces. It was particularly popular in countries like the United Kingdom in the 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher sold state-owned assets including water and gas. Though privatizations have taken place elsewhere in Europe, they've been far less prevalent.

But over the past few years during Europe's debt crises, privatizing assets has been a key demand placed on countries being bailed out. Greece notably failed to meet initial targets.

The privatizations have met with varying degrees of resistance, with some arguing that stressed governments such as Greece's are selling assets at below-market prices. Opponents also say privatization reduces job security and transfers wealth to a rich elite.

Greece's development fund doesn't publicly disclose the estimated value of assets it has to offer, but the deal it negotiated for the waterfront renewal project would give Greece 950 million euros in return for a 99-year lease on the property.

A Greek company with backing from Chinese and Arab investors would then build a huge park, a shopping center, a marina, 1,000 hotel rooms and a skyscraper apartment building on what's billed as Europe's largest undeveloped waterfront tract. Multimillion-euro yachts dock at a marina within the parcel that was built for the 2004 Olympics, but a crumbling, two-block-long building with a leaky roof bakes in the sun. It was built for athletes but never used after the games.

The project has been held up by a delay in approval from Parliament, which angers Jiorgos Kourtelis, a boat captain who sees money lost every time he drives by the unused buildings where he'd like to open a coffee shop for marina workers and boat crews.

"Right now it's a waste," said Kourtelis, 45. "They've been trying to solve this and they haven't done very much."

Conflicts between local and state authorities frequently block privatization projects. The Hellenic fund has been unable to sell an 800-slip facility nearby, in part because local officials and a businessman raised objections.

The state-owned marina hadn't paid trash collection fees to the local government for decades, Kourtelis said, so the local government was allowed to build a public swimming pool on the marina's grounds. When the fund tried to sell the marina, local officials didn't want to give up the pool and a businessman with several nightclubs on the premises didn't want to leave either.

Even if Greece could resolve the conflicts that prevent assets from being privatized, the total amount revenue would probably be in the 15-20 billion euros range, said Manos Giakoumis, chief analyst at the Macropolis economic and political analysis website in Athens.

"You have to take into account that market conditions at the moment are very unfavorable," he said. "Even if you say the value of an asset was worth 300 million euros this does not mean this is the actual value of the asset. There are a lot of real estate properties that could be privatized but no one knows the amount that can be raised from this."

Giakoumis believes Greece's need for European financing is now so dire that it will be forced to step up privatizations and deals to allow the private sector use government land and assets.

"If you asked me the same question five months ago I said it would be difficult," he said. "Now I think there is no way for the current government to continue opposing these privatizations. They need to accelerate the final process of approval."

source: philstar.com

Can you wake up one day and not feel any love?

Dear Tita Witty,

My first boyfriend and I got back together after three years of being separated. I thought love would be lovelier the second time around, but it clearly wasn’t the case. He’s been cold and distant. Lumala pa nung kinailangan niyang mag-OJT sa US. It had only been four months since we got back together, and the OJT is for three months. Days would pass that he wouldn’t talk to me — sometimes even a week! What’s even worse, nalalagay ako sa seenzone. Despite all that, I trusted and tried to understand him.  Ang ‘di ko gets, ‘pag nakikipag-cool off ako, ayaw naman at hindi raw niya kaya.

Around two weeks before he was supposed to come home, sobrang labo na talaga. I gave him the cold shoulder for a week so he’d come to his senses. Tapos biglang nag-message na wala na talaga, sa kanya raw may mali at ginamitan ako ng “It’s not you, it’s me.” line. I didn’t even know he had come home.

What do you think happened? Is it really possible to wake up one day and not feel any love? I don’t know how to move on and I don’t understand why this happened to us. What should I do, Tita?

Love,

Clueless

Dear Clueless,

Para talaga sa mga taong kagaya mo ang column na ‘to. Sadyang pagdating sa pag-ibig ay marami tayong hindi nakikita kahit nasa harap na natin.

What I’m about to say will hurt. Ready ka na? May tissue ka dyan at wala namang kutsilyo o gunting na malapit sa’yo? Okay, here goes:

There’s someone else. That’s what happened. May iba na siya bago pa siya umalis, at habang naka-seenzone ka ay ‘yun ang ka-chat at video call niya. No, he didn’t just wake up one day and decided he doesn’t love you anymore.

The reason why he wouldn’t let you go when you were trying to “cool off” (may I just say, lakas maka-high school ng term na ‘yun) with him is because he wasn’t sure yet if it would work out with the other girl. Syempre, kailangan niya ng reserba, ‘di ba?  When he came home, malamang nagkita sila, at nung sure na siya na pwede sila, that’s when he had the balls to break up with you.

What should you do? Forget him. Easier said than done, I know. At bago ‘yun, iiyak ka muna nang maraming marami, magagalit sa kanya via drunk chat/text/call tapos ikaw din ang magso-sorry, hanggang sa i-block ka na niya at magpalit siya ng number, tapos iiyak ka ulit nang maraming marami.

You might not see it now, but trust me, you’ll get past this. One day, it will just come to you that he wasn’t the last thing you thought of before going to sleep last night, and he wasn’t the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning. Tapos maiisip mo: OMG, ang pangit niya pala. Ewww.

xoxo,

Tita Witty

source: philstar.com

Google propels Nasdaq to another record high close

NEW YORK - A major rally in Google pushed the Nasdaq to a second straight record high on Friday while weak energy stocks weighed on the Dow and S&P 500.

Google surged 16.26 percent to end at an all-time high of $699.62, a day after reporting strong ad revenue growth. It was Google's largest one-day percentage gain since April 2008.

Facebook rose 4.53 percent to a record high of $94.97 on hopes that it could mirror Google's ad growth. Etsy spiked 30 percent thanks to a nod from Google during its conference call.

But a drop in oil prices limited gains on the broader stock market, with the S&P 500 energy index down 1.07 percent to its lowest level since January 2013. Chevron lost 1.4 percent. The utilities index dropped 1.06 percent.

Wall Street insiders were cautiously optimistic about upcoming quarterly reports after some results this week came in above expectations.

“It’s going to be better than what the consensus numbers were pointing to,” said Kurt Brunner, a portfolio manager at Swarthmore Group in Philadelphia. “Our economy is doing okay. We’re not growing at 5 percent but we have slow, steady growth and I think that continues.”

The Nasdaq Composite added 46.96 points, or 0.91 percent, to end at 5,210.14, its second straight record high close.

The S&P 500 gained 2.35 points, or 0.11 percent, to end at 2,126.64, just shy of its record high of 2,130.82.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 33.8 points, or 0.19 percent, to end at 18,086.45.

Boeing fell 1.11 percent and was the biggest drag on the Dow after it said it will take a second-quarter charge related to problems with its KC-46 aerial refueling tanker aircraft program.

General Electric shares rose 0.74 percent after raising its 2015 outlook for its industrial manufacturing businesses.

The technology index was the sole gainer among the 10 major S&P 500 indexes, up 1.75 percent, mostly because of Google.

For the week, the Dow gained 1.8 percent, the S&P added 2.4 percent and the Nasdaq rose 4.3 percent, its largest weekly gain since October 2014.

The dollar saw its biggest weekly gain in two months due to expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike this year. However, a strong dollar reduces the value of U.S. companies' overseas income.

U.S. companies have been expected to post their worst sales decline in nearly six years in the second quarter, in part due to the strong dollar. Profit is expected to have fallen 2.9 percent, according to Thomson Reuters estimates.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,000 to 1,076, for a 1.86-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,676 issues fell and 1,115 advanced for a 1.50-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and 25 new lows; the Nasdaq saw 107 new highs and 87 new lows.

Volume was a bit light, with about 6.1 billion shares traded on U.S. exchanges, below the 6.6 billion average so far this month, according to BATS Global Markets.

source: interaksyon.com

Damaged, dirty women do well in TV’s Emmy nominations

LOS ANGELES | A word of warning to sensitive viewers: Some seriously damaged and foul-mouthed women are winning over the world of television.

The Emmy nominations on Thursday validated a number of raunchy and troubling performances by women in both comedy and drama – lending credence to the idea that likeability is no longer the key to success for female characters.

Take Amy Schumer, rewarded with her first lead actress nomination for her candid and crude Comedy Central series “Inside Amy Schumer.”

Then there’s veteran Lily Tomlin, a six-time Emmy winner who pulls no punches as a feisty, sexually explicit woman in her 70s in Netflix’s new comedy “Grace and Frankie.”

For audiences and critics who have longed to see female actors occupy the anti-hero space that has been so successful for TV’s men in recent years, the wait appears to be over.

“For years, there’s been a huge problem for women, because female characters could not be perceived as being unlikeable,” said Mary McNamara, television critic for the Los Angeles Times.

“Now we’re seeing that’s changing,” she added. “You can have women who are complicated, irritating, bad, who make stupid decisions, are raunchy. You’re seeing a deepening of the female character across the board.”

Uzo Aduba knows something about that, as the woman who plays the deeply damaged “Crazy Eyes” in Netflix female prison saga “Orange Is The New Black” and last year won the Emmy for best guest actress in a comedy. She was nominated again on Thursday, this time in the drama supporting actress category.

“What I feel when I watch our show is that a collection of different types of people can actually be engaging to audiences, if the story is true and if it’s honest,” Aduba said.

In a Hollywood long filled with laments over the lack of good parts for women, television gets higher marks than film for pushing the boundaries for females.

“We had a meaningful increase in the number of women nominated in director and writing categories, a terrific amount of diversity in front of the camera, and in storytelling,” said Bruce Rosenblum, Television Academy chairman and CEO.

As it happens, Schumer was also nominated for directing and writing her feminist satire, a no-holds-barred takedown of her ditzy, selfish, promiscuous self.

“I wasn’t surprised given the amount of acclaim,” said Cynthia Littleton, managing editor of television for Variety. “That woman just has momentum on momentum.”

source: interaksyon.com