Catherine Zeta-Jones seeks help again for bipolar disorder

LOS ANGELES - Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones has sought help again for bipolar disorder, in what her publicist called a "pro-active" move to take care of her health.

It's the second-known trip to a healthcare facility for the British actress since 2011, when news first broke that she suffers from bipolar II disorder - a milder form of the illness that is marked by sharp mood swings and erratic behavior.

"Catherine has pro-actively checked into a healthcare facility," publicist Cece Yorke said on Monday. "Previously Catherine has said that she is committed to periodic care in order to manage her health in an optimum manner."

Zeta-Jones, 43, who won an Oscar for her role in the 2002 musical "Chicago," underwent treatment in 2011 for what aides said was the stress of coping with the advanced throat cancer diagnosis and treatment of her husband, actor Michael Douglas.

No specific reason was given this time for her decision to seek help.

Bipolar II is a milder form of the disorder and is marked by less manic "up" moods but more depressive episodes, according to medical experts. It can be treated with medication or therapy.

Zeta-Jones was last seen on screen in February in the crime thriller "Side Effects," which received warm critical acclaim. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Fil-Am ESL pioneer appointed to California school district board

Thelma Boac, a Filipino-American who teaches English as second language (ESL) in California was recently voted to the Berryessa Union School District board of trustees.

The voting on April 23 was done to fill the seat vacated by former trustee David Neighbors who resigned. Boac will be serving as a board member until November 2014.

Board President Linda Chen said of Boac: "I look forward to serving with an experienced and excellent educator who has made a huge difference in many young lives."

Five candidates were interviewed during an open session. Voting began after comments from the public were gathered.

Boac is currently the adjunct faculty student teacher supervisor at the San Jose University and National Hispanic University.

A long-time educator, Berryesa resident

Boac was a former principal of the largest union high school district in Northern California, the Eastside Union High School District.

Before this, she taught in Independence High School for over two decades, according to an article by Lorna Dietz on her Radiant View blog site.

Boac was the president of the Filipino American Movement of Education (FAME) in the Silicon Valley, a group founded in 1972 by dedicated educators.

Dietz also noted that Boac was the recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr.’s Day “Good Neighbor Award for Community Service” in January 2005.

During the same year she was named by Marquis Publications as one of the “Outstanding Women” during the “Who’s Who Among America’s Women.”

For Boac, education and teaching are two of the most important things in the world.

“When you’re an educator, you become ‘public.’ You also become an advocate for what you believe in: the best educational opportunities for all children. Education is not only the responsibility of the school but also a partnership with parents and the community,” Boac said on the blog.

Twist of fate

Dietz said Boac who was born in the island of Bohol, Philippines left the country in 1965 to come to the United States with her foster parents.

Her foster mother is her aunt. She was surrendered for adoption by her biological mother.

As a 10-year-old girl, she started living in California barely knowing any English.

Boac later graduated from San Francisco State University where she earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in education, administration and supervision.

However, in a twist of fate, Boac's life seemed to mirrored by history when her youngest sister passed away in 1989, Dietz said.

“I had no idea that my life would be repeated. Danny and I adopted the two children of my youngest sister who had passed away.” she recalls, adding that “they are a gift from God.” - Andrei Medina, VVP, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Ultimate Software Earnings Seen Doubling For Q1

Analysts are bullish about Ultimate Software Group's  first-quarter earnings report out after the market close Tuesday.

Ultimate is a leading provider of human resources management, payroll and talent management software. It competes with a wide range of rivals, including Automatic Data Processing, Ceridian and Oracle. Database leader Oracle bought Ultimate rival Taleo for $1.9 billion in 2012.

Ultimate has used its software-as-a-service model, where companies pay on a monthly basis, to lure customers from its rivals.

For Q1, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect Ultimate to report a per-share profit ex items of 26 cents, up from 13 cents in Q1 2012.

Revenue is expected to rise 25% to $97.9 million.

For the current quarter, analysts expect EPS ex items of 32 cents, up 52%, on sales of $98.2 million, up 24%.

Shares of Ultimate were up 1.7% in afternoon trading in the stock market today, and shares have again poked above their 10-day moving average. But the stock has an IBD Accumulation/Distribution rating of a lowly E, signaling institutional investor selling.

source: news.investors.com

Nissan recalls over 123,000 Altimas in US for spare tire issue

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. is recalling more than 123,000 Altima sedans in the United States to adjust the inflation of the spare tires, which could be over- or under-inflated.

About 123,308 Altimas from model year 2013 are affected by the recall, according to documents filed by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Due to a production issue that has since been corrected, the spare tires in some of the recalled cars may have too much or not enough air in them, NHTSA said. In some cases, the over inflation may have been significant enough to hurt the tires' structural integrity, causing them to fail and increasing the risk of a crash, NHTSA said.

Nissan said there were no reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue.

The problem was discovered by a dealer and an investigation by Nissan found the problem was caused by a malfunctioning pressure regulator at its Canton, Mississippi, plant, NHTSA said.

Nissan will check the spare tires and adjust the inflation as needed, NHTSA said. If after further investigation by Nissan, the tire pressure exceeded a certain threshold, the spare tire would be replaced. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Moody's, S&P, Morgan Stanley settle subprime mortgage investment suits

NEW YORK - Credit ratings agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's, and investment bank Morgan Stanley have reached agreements to settle two lawsuits on accusations that they hid the risk of "subprime" mortgage investments to customers.

The lawsuits, one from King County in northwestern US state of Washington, the other from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, and which date back to before the 2008 economic meltdown, were dismissed by a Manhattan federal court, according to a court filing late Friday.

The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants failed to properly disclose the risk of their investment in a fund that bought bonds backed by subprime mortgages.

The McGraw-Hill Companies, the parent company of Standard and Poor's, told AFP that it ended the two disputes without admitting guilt or responsibility, and that the terms of the agreement were confidential.

Spokespeople for Morgan Stanley and Moody's were not immediately available for comment.

The trial was especially crucial for S&P: on February 5 the US Justice Department filed a lawsuit seeking at least $5 billion in civil penalties for losses due to inflated ratings of mortgage bonds.

The suit claims that S&P knowingly exaggerated the ratings on financial securities, misrepresenting their true credit risk.

The suit cited S&P's top-grade ratings of dozens of mortgage-based collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) issued in early 2007 that were in default within one year, some within six months.

The defaults dealt billions of dollars in losses to financial institutions insured by the US government, some of which collapsed in the 2008 crisis and others, like Citigroup, forced to seek a government bailout.

S&P was specifically charged with wire fraud, mail fraud and financial institution fraud. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

Counterfeit wrinkle-filler Botox found in the US

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that fake versions of Botox, a drug made by Allergan Inc that is used as a wrinkle-filler and for headaches, are being sold in the United States.

The FDA said in an alert issued to healthcare providers and the public that the outer carton is counterfeit, while the vial inside is labeled as a foreign version of Botox, which is not approved for sale in the United Sates.

"FDA cannot confirm that the manufacture, quality, storage, and handling of these products follow U.S. standards," the agency said. - Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Expedia Drops As Priceline Wins Discount Travel Wars

Expedia  stock was down 9.5% in midday trading Friday, after the company's outlook late Thursday disappointed amid discounter competition, though its Q1 earnings and revenue beat expectations.

The online travel site cited pressure on its Hotwire discount travel website as it cut its organic growth forecast.

"Results are solid, but keep an eye on slowing growth and pressure on profitability," Pacific Crest Securities analyst Chad Bartley wrote in a Friday research note.






The company has not seen a change in the environment, he added, but indicated that Priceline  (his favorite online travel stock) "is having a bigger-than-expected impact on its U.S. business."

The company lowered its 2013 EBITDA guidance (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) by $20 million to $30 million, which amount to 2% to 3% of EBITDA, "to account for weakness at Hotwire due to rental car inventory constraints and competition from Priceline Express Deals," Cowen & Co. analyst Kevin Kopelman wrote in a research note. He estimates that Hotwire accounts for 8% to 10% of Expedia revenue and somewhat more of profit.

The year's EBITDA guidance "remained at 'low double-digit growth,' with the possibility of low-teens growth, as Hotwire shortfalls are expected to be offset by second-half-of-the-year profits from Trivago, in which Expedia acquired a majority stake in March," Kopelman said.

Expedia said in its earnings report that it saw strong growth in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific across most brands.

In Q1, Expedia earned 25 cents a share ex items, down a penny from a year ago, where analysts expected 23 cents. Revenue rose 24% to $1.01 billion, against views for $968 million. Hotels and international demand helped boost gross bookings 16%. The company owns Hotels.com.

Expedia competes in IBD's Leisure-Travel Booking industry group against discounter Priceline, which is the largest by market cap. Expedia is second, followed by Ctrip.com International in China.




The group, up for the year but down from an all-time high touched earlier this month. It's down nearly 3% in the stock market today.

TripAdvisor, which reports its first quarter results on May 7 and is in the Internet-Content industry group, was up a fraction.

Expedia holds an IBD Composite Rating of 94 out of a possible 99, second in its group only to online vacation home rentals marketplace HomeAway, which has a 97. The group ranks No. 119 of 197 that IBD tracks.

source: news.investors.com

Gwyneth Paltrow's 'Iron Man 3' premiere dress is stunning and sheer

After being dubbed this year's "World's Most Beautiful Woman" by “People Magazine”, the Oscar-winner has now made waves with what she wore to the “Iron Man 3” premiere in Hollywood last April 24.

Held at California's El Capitan Theatre, Paltrow strode down the red carpet in a stunning and strategically sheer dress by designer Antonio Berardi from his Fall 2013 collection.

The dress is a floor-length gown in silver with green trims that features sheer, very opaque black panels running down the sides that bared her torso and a fair amount of her backside.

By making it to the top of “People Magazine's” “Most Beautiful” list the star, who plays Tony Stark's beau Pepper Potts, has toppled R&B singer Beyonce off the spot. Other celebrities who've shared the accolade include Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Halle Berry and Jennifer Aniston.

Paltrow is 40 years old and married to Coldplay singer Chris Martin, with whom she has a two-year-old child. Though she 's routinely featured on the magazine's list, this is the first time she's graced the cover as the most beautiful woman. -- KDM, GMA News

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Spain joblessness hits new high, fueling austerity debate

MADRID - Unemployment in Spain jumped to a record 27.2 percent, data showed on Thursday, fueling a European debate over whether to ditch austerity policies and switch to reviving economic growth.

More than 6 million Spaniards were out of work in the first three months of this year, raising the rate in the euro zone's fourth biggest economy to a level unseen since records began in the 1970s.

Joblessness has grown for seven quarters in a row, leaving more Spaniards without work than the entire population of Denmark, and the percentage rate now matches that of Greece, which is in the grips of a full-blown depression.

Spain has slipped in an out of recession for the past five years. In the first quarter more businesses and individuals went into bankruptcy and default, further driving up bad loan rates in Spain's troubled banking system and hitting profits at three of the country's top five lenders, Santander, Caixabank and Sabadell.

The grim economic picture contrasts sharply with financial markets. There, waves of liquidity from around the globe have brought down Spain's borrowing costs and all but banished last year's fears that a budget crisis would force Madrid to seek a international sovereign bailout.

"These figures are worse than expected and highlight the serious situation of the Spanish economy as well as the shocking decoupling between the real and the financial economy," strategist at Citi in Madrid Jose Luis Martinez said.

On the markets, yields on Spain's 10-year bond fell this week to their lowest level since late 2010.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy imposed drastic spending cuts and tax increases last year, trying to bring a huge budget deficit under control, in line with the euro zone's policy of fighting its debt crisis with austerity. However, the belt-tightening has aggravated the Spanish economy's problems.

With the entire euro zone heading into a second year of recession, top EU economics official Olli Rehn and his boss European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have begun to push for more flexibility on public deficits.

Others, including European Central Bank policymakers, disagree, saying easing up on austerity would not mean economic recovery. Nevertheless, senior sources said the ECB is closer to lowering interest rates than at any time since it last cut them in July 2012, and is likely to shave a quarter percentage point off its main rate next week.

Spain's weak economy is hurting even the likes of Santander, the euro zone's biggest bank. Santander reported a 26 percent drop in its net profit on the quarter, citing the prolonged recession, low interest rates and the need to set aside more capital to cover rising bad loans.

Rajoy has tried for months to tread a line between the pro-austerity and pro-growth camps, saying Spain would always be disciplined on spending but indicating that his next round of measures, to be announced on Friday, would lean more to stimulating small business growth than short-term cost cuts.

Given this tight-rope act, few economists believe Rajoy's new measures will be ambitious enough to restart the ailing economy and create jobs.

Embittered public

Rajoy's budget cuts, along with corruption scandals, have embittered the public and protests have become commonplace.

Police arrested four people in Madrid before dawn on Thursday on accusations of trying to set fire to a bank. Demonstrators plan to march on parliament at 1500 GMT to protest against Rajoy's economic policy and the cost of a 41.5 billion euro bailout of Spanish banks that will fall on taxpayers.

Most banks reported that non-performing loans rose in the quarter as unemployed Spaniards continue to default on their mortgages and other credit, and companies go under.

Sabadell, Spain's fifth biggest bank, said the financial situation was highly unstable and complex due to a weak economy, low interest rates and financial sector reform.

In another sign of growing concerns about the economy, banking and official sources said the Bank of Spain was preparing new rules that could force lenders to recognize bad corporate debts that have until now been classified as sound.

Most Spanish companies are currently cut off from regular loan financing, a situation that has fuelled a sharp increase in bankruptcies in the first quarter of the year.

Hundreds of other firms are shutting down or leaving Spain, such as French electronics retailer Darty, while the country's biggest employers are making mass layoffs. Airline Iberia , international telecoms group Vodafone and Madrid's public television station Telemadrid all announced plans to cut thousands of jobs in the first part of this year.

Youth unemployment has soared to 57 percent and Spain's population fell last year for the first time on record as young people and immigrants who came to Spain to work in the once booming construction industry, flee the crisis.

Analysts say the most troubling statistic is that almost a third of jobless have been out of work for more than two years. Also, two million Spanish households have no one earning a wage.

"More than half Spain's unemployed have very low levels of education and skill levels and that, combined with several years of unemployment, is the biggest risk to recovery in Spain," said Marcel Jansen at Madrid-based think tank Fedea.

"How on earth are we going to reemploy more than 3 million low educated people? This is a big question mark." — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

White House formally notifies Congress of Japan free-trade talks

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's administration on Wednesday notified Congress it will start free-trade talks with Japan, after more than a year of consultations with Tokyo over joining U.S.-led negotiations on a regional free-trade pact.

"The participation of Japan, a major U.S. trading partner as well as close ally, further increases the economic significance of a TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Agreement," acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis said in a letter to congressional leaders.

The 90-day notification was expected after U.S. and Japanese negotiators reached a deal on April 12 on the terms of Japan's entry into the TPP talks, which are now in their fourth year.

The United States and the 10 other countries already involved in the TPP talks on Saturday formally approved Japan's entry into the negotiations at a meeting of regional trade ministers in Indonesia.

The White House sees the TPP pact as part of its economic re-balancing toward Asia. It also plans to launch free-trade talks with the 27-nation European Union in coming months.

Countries around the world are moving increasingly toward regional free-trade agreements in the absence of any progress toward a comprehensive world trade deal.

Detroit-based auto makers, particularly Ford Motor Co, have lobbied against Japan joining the TPP talks.

They say the agreement will open the door for more imports from Japan, without tearing down barriers that they say keep U.S. autos out of Japan's market. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Bangladesh factory building collapse kills nearly 100

DHAKA - An eight-story block housing garment factories and a shopping center collapsed on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital on Wednesday, killing nearly 100 people and injuring hundreds more, officials said.

Fire fighters and army personnel worked frantically through the day at the Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka, to rescue people trapped in the rubble. Television showed young women workers, some apparently semi-conscious, being pulled from the debris.

One fireman told Reuters that about 2,000 people were in the building when the upper floors jolted down on top of each other.

Bangladesh's booming garment industry has been plagued by fires and other accidents for years, despite a drive to improve safety standards. In November last year, 112 workers were killed in a blaze at the Tazreen factory in a nearby industrial suburb.

"It looks like an earthquake has struck here," said one resident as he looked on at the chaotic scene of smashed concrete and ambulances making their way through the crowds of workers and wailing relatives.

"I was at work on the third floor, and then suddenly I heard a deafening sound, but couldn't understand what was happening. I ran and was hit by something on my head," said Zohra Begum a worker at one of the factories.

An official at a control room set up to provide information about the missing and injured said that 96 people were confirmed dead and more than 700 were injured.

Cracks in the building

Mohammad Asaduzzaman, in charge of the area's police station, said factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow their workers into the building after a crack was detected in the block on Tuesday.

Five garment factories - employing mostly women - were housed in the building, including Ether Tex Ltd., whose chairman told Reuters he was unaware of any warnings not to open the workshops.

"There were some crack at the second floor, but my factory was on the fifth floor," said Muhammad Anisur Rahman. "The owner of the building told our floor manager that it is not a problem and so you can open the factory."

He said that his firm had been sub-contracted to supply Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, and Europe's C&A.

Last November's factory fire put a spotlight on global retailers that source clothes from Bangladesh, where low wages - as little as $37 a month for some workers - have helped propel the country to no. 2 in the ranks of apparel exporters.

It emerged later that a Wal-Mart supplier had subcontracted work to the Tazreen factory without authorization.

Buildings in the crowded city of Dhaka are sometimes erected without permission and many do not comply with construction regulations. Dozens died when a garment factory collapsed in the same area eight years ago. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Skechers Rolls With The Punches, Delivers New Shoes

Shape-up toning shoes were all the rage in 2010.

They gave Skechers a big sales lift and, then, thump. They fell flat.

Skechers would just as soon forget about the product's spectacular fall, which caused a profit loss of 60 cents a share in 2011 on a 20% drop in sales as retailers cleared out excess inventory at discounts.

As they were clearing out Shape-up inventory, wholesale customers were reluctant to place big orders with Skechers on other products.

Skechers' wholesale customers include department stores, such as Macy's and Dillard's and footwear specialty stores, such as Famous Footwear.

"Skechers was put in the penalty box for quite a while. Retailers didn't want to take the risk of getting slammed again," said Sterne Agee analyst Sam Poser.

Skechers went back to the drawing board.

"They redeveloped a lot of their product lines, and they came up with new product in a lot of different segments," said analyst Jeff Van Sinderen of B. Riley & Co. "That product has been gaining strong traction for the last couple of quarters."

Performance Division

Running shoes were among the new lineup, part of a new performance division that also includes lightweight, active and sports shoes for men, women and kids.

Without one mention of Shape-ups in its last earnings report or conference call, Skechers reported a 39% jump in fourth-quarter sales vs. the prior year, to $395.6 million.

From dress and casual footwear to running shoes, its products have lately been selling well in wholesale channels and in the company's 350-plus company-owned stores.

Same-store sales at company-owned stores rose in the low-double-digits in the fourth quarter while international business leapt 30%.

In the year-end report Feb. 13, CEO Robert Greenberg called 2012 "a remarkable year for Skechers" as the Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based company broadened product lines and grew earnings 132% over 2011's 60-cent loss.

Sales, however, were down 3% for the year as excess inventory continued to be liquidated, especially in the first half of the year.

Earnings in the fourth quarter grew 121% to 8 cents a share. In the same quarter of 2011, earnings had plummeted 657% for a 39-cent per-share loss. For all of 2011, profit fell 122% to a loss of 60 cents a share.

'Strong Start'

Greenberg said the first quarter of this year got off to "a strong start." Shares are up almost 25% since the first of the year.

source: news.investors.com

Design: Lose the Combined "Investments & Insurance" Navigation Category

I spent many hours in November looking at how banks and credit unions position insurance offerings online (our report here). Many banks don't even mention insurance. And those that do often bury it under an "investments & insurance" tab. Wells Fargo is the most notable example.
While I understand the need to keep navigation choices to a manageable number, these two really shouldn't be lumped together. It's like Amazon having one tab for "Shoes and Goats." It's confusing for both the shoe buyer and goat shopper.

Although a number of investments contain an insurance component (e.g., annuities), for most shoppers, this is unclear. Usually investing comes first, so it's unlikely the auto insurance shopper is going to pay much attention to a navigation item beginning with "investments." That's the furthest thing from the mind of someone trying to save a few bucks to keep the family fleet running.

imageBottom line: If you are serious about selling insurance, it needs proper attention in website layout and navigation. Notice how Wescom Credit Union (Pasadena, CA) splits investments and insurance into two categories, with appropriate calls to action at the bottom of each column . The CU has some work to do on the landing page (it's cluttered and hard to find the quote I was promised), but it's still better than most.

source: netbanker.com

Want to be Iron Man? That'll be $10 billion

Want to have your own working Iron Man exosuit? Yes, it's possible —but you'll have to shell out a whopping $10.086 billion (about P416.4 billion), according to finance site MoneySupermarket.com.

MoneySupermarket.com noted the $10-billion figure is six times the $1.6 billion needed to be Iron Man in last year's "Iron Man 2," to account for various upgrades in terms of hardware and billionaire-playboy lifestyle.

One-fifth PHL national budget

 

In the Philippines, that amount —$10,086,485,000 or PhP416,420,533,225— would be a little over a fifth of the Philippines' P2.006-trillion budget for 2013.

 

 

"Following the release of Iron Man 2 we calculated the Cost of Being Iron Man at a staggering $1.6 billion, and since then Tony Stark's been very busy constructing at least 36 new suits. If you thought fulfilling your dream of being Iron Man was out of reach at $1.6 billion, it's now six times that!" MoneySupermarket.com said.

 

 

It said the updates for "Iron Man 3" may include new armor options such as an "offensive artillery suit, a disaster rescue suit, a stealth suit, a heavy lifting suit and even one capable of flying in space - handy for meeting other galactic heroes for future movie releases."

 

 

Also, the new movie shows Stark spending a fortune on a new electric super-car and some home improvements —or even a rebuild of his Malibu mansion.

Cost breakdown

 

 MoneySupermarket.com's infographic showed the new suit alone would cost $110.302 million, including:


    Helmet with holographic heads-up display: $54.1 million
    Arc reactor nuclear power source: $36 million
    Gold-titanium exoskeleton suit: $10 million
    Boot-mounted repulsor jetpacks: $3.8 million
    Hand-mounted stabilization and maneuvering jets: $2 million
    Back- and shoulder-mounted ailerons: $2 million
    Wrist-mounted antitank missile launchers: $1.5 million
    Thigh-mounted flare system: $500,000
    Shoulder-mounted anti-personnel guns: $400,000
    Hip-mounted battery packs: $2,000


This does not even include the mind-controlled armor, the cost of which is not immediately known.

Also throw in $10 million for JARVIS, Stark's AI computer, which controls his house, workshop and components of the Iron Man suits.

Stark also has a Malibu cliffside mansion worth $25 million, and $1.464 billion in suits ranging from $0 in Mark 1 to $500 million for the Mark 7.

Throw in another $7 billion for the suits in "Iron Man 3" including the Marks 17, 33, 35, 38, 39, 40 and 42, and War machine Mark 2.

As if these were not expensive enough, factor in Stark's cars, including a 1932 Ford Flathead roadster worth $40,000, a 1967 Shelby Cobra worth $45,000, a Saleen S7 worth $550,000, an Audi R8 worth $130,000, and a Tesla Roadster worth $110,000 - as well as a Rolls Royce Phantom worth $388,000, an Audi R8 Spyder worth $152,000 and an Audi R8 e-Tron worth $250,000. — TJD, GMA News

 

source: gmanetwork.com

 

 

 

iPad-addicted toddlers found to suffer withdrawal, require therapy

 

Toddlers who are allowed access to tablet devices for extended periods of time everyday are in danger of suffering from long-term effects, experts have observed.

 

 

In the UK, a four-year-old girl became increasingly “distressed and inconsolable” whenever her parents took her iPad away from her. The child, the youngest known to ever require treatment for this particular condition, has since then been receiving compulsive behavior therapy, according to The Telegraph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Escalated use

The parents told the doctors that, in the span of a year, the amount of time their daughter spent on the iPad had escalated to up to four hours daily.

“The child's mother called me and described her symptoms,” said Dr. Richard Graham, who three years ago established the first technology addiction program in the UK. “She told me she had developed an obsession with the device and would ask for it constantly. She was using it three to four hours every day and showed increased agitation if it was removed.”

He believes there are many other children who have become addicted to iPads and mobile phones. When these devices are taken away from the young technology addicts, they experience the same withdrawal symptoms as drug addicts and alcoholics.

'Digital detox'

Dr. Graham warns parents that this condition could seriously interfere with a child’s ability to form normal social relationships, so that something as natural as human interaction could become exhausting for him or her.

“Children have access to the internet almost from birth now,” he said. “They see their parents playing on their mobile devices and they want to play too. It's difficult, because having a device can also be very useful in terms of having a reward, having a pacifier. But if you don't get the balance right it can be very dangerous.

“They can't cope and become addicted, reacting with tantrums and uncontrollable behavior when they are taken away. Then as they grow older, the problem only gets worse. Even the most shy kids, when they hit their teens, suddenly want to become sociable and popular.”

London’s Capio Nightingale clinic is the site of the 28-day treatment program, called “digital detox”. Designed by Dr Graham to specifically treat children suffering from addiction to technology, it can cost up to £16,000 —or over P1 million.

Troubling trends

Over the past three years, the number of people who have become dependent on this type of technology has risen by 30 per cent, according to psychiatrists.

A recent UK survey revealed a disturbing statistic: over half of parents allow their very young children to play with digital gadgets.

 

 

Babies.co.uk questioned more than 1,000 parents about their babies’ use of these devices. One in seven of them confessed that they allowed their babies to use tablets and smartphones for up to four hours a day, or more.

 

“Given that babies between 3-12 months are awake for only around 10 hours per day this is a huge proportion of their waking day,” said the managing director of the website, James Macfarlane. “Although 81 per cent of our users felt that children today spend too much time on smart devices, it hasn’t put most of them off using them to entertain their baby.” — TJD, GMA News

 

source: gmanetwork.com

 

 

 

Rocco Nacino says no to gay roles and politics

Natutuwa si Rocco Nacino para sa kasabayan niya sa StarStruck V na si Enzo Pineda na na-upgrade na ang level nito bilang leading man sa afternoon soap ng GMA-7 na Kakambal Ni Eliana.

Sabi ni Rocco, “Masaya ako para sa kanya.

“Actually, sinuportahan ko din siya, nagtu-tweet ako, ‘Tara! Manood kayo ng Kakambal Ni Eliana!’



“So siyempre, suporta para sa kaibigan ko.

"And I’m happy for him... tagal siyang naghintay, e.”

Nakausap ng PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) si Rocco sa taping ng Unforgettable sa Tagaytay City last week.

Kahit kailan daw ay hindi naging isyu sa kanila na si Rocco ang madalas nabibigyan ng magagandang breaks sa GMA-7, kahit na Second Prince lamang ito at si Enzo ang First Prince. Si Steven Silva naman ang tinanghal na Ultimate Male Survivor.

Ayon kay Rocco, “A, hindi! It’s just a matter of waiting for good opportunities, picking the opportunities. Tsaka staying positive na magkakaroon ka ng magandang projects.

“So ginawa ni Enzo yun, never naman siyang nagreklamo—ayan, dumating na yung time na napasok siya sa show na ‘yan.

“At lagi niyang ikinukuwento sa akin kung gaano siya ka-excited.”

FRUSTRATIONS and PRIORITIES. Umamin si Enzo sa isang interview noon dito sa PEP, na bago ang Kakambal Ni Eliana ay may pagkakataong umiyak siya dahil napa-frustrate na siya sa kanyang showbiz career. Na hindi nito alam kung saan siya lulugar dati.

Naranasan rin daw ito ni Rocco.

Sabi ng 26-year-old actor, “Honestly, after ng shows ko, parang wala pang isang buwan, hinahanap ko na yung kamera, hinahanap ko na yung puyat, yung taping.

“So may time nararamdaman ko rin yung frustration na yun.

“Na, ‘Gusto kong mag-taping, gusto kong magtrabaho!’”

Si Rocco ang tipo ng tao na mas priority ang career kaysa lovelife.

“Oo. Alam naman natin na siyempre dapat ini-enjoy natin ang buhay natin.

“Pero mas iniisip ko na hindi naman ako magla-last sa showbiz, hindi naman ako tatanda sa showbiz, so I have to make the most out of it.

“Kung kayang mag–ipon nang mag-ipon, magtrabaho nang magtrabaho, mag-aral nang mag-aral para gumaling lalo sa craft ko, gagawin ko ngayon yun.

“Kung 2013, ito yung mga pumapasok na opportunities sa akin, sasamantalahin ko, pagbubuthin ko ang trabaho ko.”

INSPIRATION. Kanino siya kumukuha ng inspirasyon?

“Sa trabaho ko!" bulalas ni Rocco.

"Hindi siya kanino, kung saan—sa trabaho at sa magulang ko...

“Iyon nga, I’m doing this for them din—para sa kapatid ko na nag-aaral ngayon.”

Kahati raw si Rocco ng mga magulang niya sa mga gastusin sa pag-aaral ng nakababatang kapatid niya na si Kyle Nacino.

“Tri-sem [tri-semester] siya, so tig-isa kaming semester,” ang nakangiting sabi ni Rocco.

Sa De La Salle University nag-aaral ang kapatid niyang lalaki na second year na sa kursong Industrial Engineering.

Sabi pa ni Rocco, “Magastos, pero at last kahit papaano, naibabalik naman niya yung mga binabayaran namin, magaganda ang grades niya. 

“At the same time, varsity siya ng judo.”

Guwapo rin ba ang kapatid niya tulad niya?

“Mas guwapo yun sa akin, mas matangkad pa,” proud na sabi ni Rocco.

Mag-aartista rin daw ito pagkatapos ng pag-aaral.

“Same style na ginawa sa akin, aral muna bago mag-artista.”

Si Rocco ay nagtapos muna ng kanyang pag-aaral bago pumasok ng showbiz. Isa siyang registered nurse.

NO MORE GAY ROLES. Nakadalawang gay roles na si Rocco—sa Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (2011) at I Love You Pare (2013).

Sa ngayon ay ayaw muna raw niyang gumanap na bading sa pelikula o telebisyon.

“Hindi muna. Ang daming pumapasok ngayon na magagandang roles.

“Wala muna... There’s a lot of good roles na puwedeng pagpilian o paglaruan, so focused muna ako doon.”

Dalawang indie films ang tinatapos ni Rocco ngayon—Burgos at Ibong Adarna.

Ang Burgos ay tungkol sa kuwento ni Editha Burgos, ang ina ng nawawalang aktibista na si Jonas Burgos. Si Lorna Tolentino ang gaganap na Mrs. Burgos at si Rocco naman ang gaganap sa papel ni Jonas. Mula ito sa direksiyon ni Joel Lamangan.

Ang Ibong Adarna naman ay base sa istorya ng orihinal na kuwento ng Ibong Adarna, kung saan si Rocco ang gaganap sa papel ng bunso sa tatlong prinsipe at siyang makakahuli sa mahiwagang ibon.

May isa pang indie film na nasimulan si Rocco, ang Lam-ang, ngunit nahinto ang shooting nito. May balita ba siya kung matutuloy pa ito?

Sabi ng Kapuso actor, “On-hold pa rin, e. Sayang.

"Pero actually, yung team ng Lam-ang, iyon ang gumagawa ng Ibong Adarna ngayon. Iba lang yung production, iba yung producer.”

Thirty percent na raw ang nakunan nila para sa sa Lam-Ang at hindi alam ni Rocco kung bakit hindi natutuloy ang shoot nito.

Biniro namin si Rocco na mas maraming matutuwa sa kanya sa Lam-ang dahil doon ay naka-bahag siya. Sa Ibong Adarna kasi ay balot na balot  ang katawan niya.

NAUGHTY CONCEPT. Kaugnay ng usaping paghuhubad, tatlong beses nang rumampa si Rocco sa Cosmo Bachelor Bash. This year ba ay rarampa ulit siya?

“Ngayon pinag-iisapan ko kasi nakatatlo na ako, baka nagsasawa na ang mga tao sa akin!” sabay tawa niya.

“So kung bibigyan ako ng magandang prod number or ma-feature ako sa magazine, may naisip na akong very naughty concept.

“Doon malalaman kung sakaling magko-Cosmo ako this year.”

As in naughty ang naiisip niyang “pasabog”?

“Naughty, naughty. Look at my smile,” sabay pilyong ngumiti si Rocco.

May butt exposure?

“A, naughty!” at tumawa si Rocco.

POLITICS. Marami ang pumupuri sa pagganap ni Rocco bilang idealistic young mayor sa GMA News TV series na Bayan Ko. Sa tunay na buhay ba ay pumasok sa isip niya na pasukin ang pulitika?

Sagot niya, “Ang daming nagyayaya, ang daming nagsasabi, ‘Halika, umpisahan na natin ang campaign mo!’ Ganyan-ganyan.

"Sabi ko, huwag muna, ayoko ng mga ganyan. Hindi, huwag muna.

"Hindi talaga... hindi ko inisip.

“Ayoko, hindi ko kakayanin yung stress diyan.

“Although mahilig akong gumawa ng ideas na makakatulong sa mga tao, pero I don’t think na kakayanin ko yung ganoong klaseng role.

“I’ll just leave it to the experts siguro.”

INVESTMENTS. Sa loob ng tatlong taon niya sa showbiz, ano ang masasabi ni Rocco na pinakamalaking investment niya?

“Itong Elorde Gym ko sa Ortigas, and soon magtatayo na kami ng Elorde-Marikina.

“And gusto ko pa ring matuloy yung balak ko na magtayo ng sariling parking business.

“Bibili ako ng lupa, magpapatayo ako ng building, tapos gagawin ko siyang parking business.

“Something low-maintenance, pero gusto ko ng lupa sa prime area,” sabi niya. - Rommel Gonzales, PEP

source: gmanetwork.com

Verizon, Vodafone deal smoothed by cross-ownership

If Verizon Communications  buys out U.K. partner Vodafone's stake in Verizon Wireless, cross-ownership in both stocks by large institutional investors could smooth the path to a deal.

Shareholders in both Verizon and Vodafone include BlackRock , U.K.-based Legal & General Investment Management, Norges Bank Investment Management, Capital Research, State Street , and the Vanguard Group — according to data provided to IBD by Thomson One Analytics.

BlackRock Advisors is the biggest shareholder in London-listed shares of Vodafone, according to Thomson One. Blackrock Institutional Trust Co., BlackRock Financial Management and BlackRock Investment Management all own big chunks of Verizon.


Verizon Communications owns 55% of Verizon Wireless, Vodafone the rest. Analysts have estimated the value of Vodafone's stake at $100 billion to $135 billion. Technically, a shareholder vote wouldn't be required in a buyout of Vodafone's stake, but no doubt shareholder approval would be greatly desired by the companies.

Verizon's stock as well as NY-listed shares of Vodafone are both up a fraction in the stock market today, continuing to rise amid speculation over a deal.

Some analysts have said a deal that would give Verizon Communications full ownership of the wireless business may already be priced into its stock.

Verizon's chief financial officer recently said tax hurdles to a deal could be overcome, as IBD reported.

One way Vodafone could avoid a big capital gains tax in the U.S. would be to restructure the joint venture, with Vodafone exchanging its shares of Verizon Wireless for shares of Verizon Communications.

At Macquarie Capital, analyst Kevin Smithen says if a deal is announced, the stock reaction might be mixed.

"Many investors on both sides of the Atlantic own both Verizon and Vodafone for a trade. Even with a (possible) joint listing in London, we see huge cross-ownership creating selling pressure and feel that Verizon might not go up on the deal," he said in a report.

source: news.investors.com

Nasdaq Leads Market Advance But Volume Drops

Stocks rose Monday but remained a ways from regaining last week's losses — the worst week of the year so far. The technology sector led the gains, lifting the Nasdaq to a 0.9% gain. The index regained its 50-day moving average after falling below it Wednesday. Bellwethers Apple (AAPL) and Amazon.com (AMZN) helped the Nasdaq. Biotechs were also a pocket of strength for the Nasdaq. Biogen ...

source: news.investors.com

Animated Google Doodle honors Earth Day

Google on Monday marked Earth Day with a 3D animated doodle, keeping the public aware of the importance of the environment and the effects of global warming.

Visitors to Google's homepage (www.google.com) were greeted with a doodle featuring ecological systems that spell the word "Google."


"The Google Doodle have also been cleverly designed into an animation showing the effects of Global Warming on the Earth. If you clicked on the Google Doodle without seeing the animation, you can go back to Google and click on the Earth Day 2013 play button, which will then animate the Google doodle showing the long term effect of global warming and climate change," according to an article on 3d-Car-shows.com.



 It added Earth Day 2013 "aims to raise people’s awareness of global warming, and offers solutions to people to help fight against Climate Change."

As in the past, clicking on the small magnifying glass will send the user to a Search Results page for Earth Day.

The EarthDay.org site warned of the effects of climate change, which it said "can seem like a remote problem for our leaders."

For this year's observance of Earth Day, it asked the public to help make a mosaic of the "faces" of climate change.


 "Fortunately, other Faces of Climate Change are multiplying too: those stepping up to do something about it. Help us personalize the massive challenge climate change presents by taking a photo and telling your story. How has climate change impacted you? What are you doing to be part of the solution?" it asked. — TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Pink Floyd's album designer dies aged 69

LONDON - Graphic artist Storm Thorgerson, who designed the cover for Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon" album and also created artwork for Led Zeppelin and Genesis in their heydays, has died aged 69 from cancer.

Thorgerson was a teenage friend of Pink Floyd's founding members and became their main designer. His most famous work is the prism and rainbow stripe on the "The Dark Side of the Moon," which marked its 40th anniversary last month.

It was voted the greatest album cover of all time in a poll by website musicradar.com last year. Pink Floyd's "Animals" cover, in which Thorgerson depicted a pig flying over London's Battersea power station, came 10th.

"He has been a constant force in my life, both at work and in private, a shoulder to cry on and a great friend," Pink Floyd guitarist and singer David Gilmour said in a statement.

"The artworks that he created for Pink Floyd from 1968 to the present day have been an inseparable part of our work."

"The Dark Side of The Moon," one of the best-selling albums of all time, was released in Britain in 1973 and became the band's first No. 1 album in the United States.

As well as working with Pink Floyd, the British designer created artwork for a list of musicians including Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Genesis, and, more recently, the Cranberries and Anthrax.

Thorgerson's family said in a statement that he died peacefully on Thursday, surrounded by family and friends. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Peachstate Lawyer Continues Hot Run as Successful Atlanta DUI Lawyer

W. Scott Smith, P.C., has a well-earned reputation as a successful Atlanta DUI law firm. Our experienced team has handled all varieties of cases, and we offer our clients complete dedication to their cases, and commitment to their cause. Our hard work and innovative defense strategies continue producing dividends, too. In a two week period at the beginning of March, the Peachstate Lawyer went on an unprecedented streak of success.

During that time our firm had 10 different DUI cases either dismissed, or reduced to reckless driving. These 10 cases were all from the surrounding region, including Alpharetta, Atlanta, Cobb, DeKalb, Forsyth and Fulton, and offer a great testament to the successful track record that each Atlanta DUI attorney on our team provides.

The circumstances of every case are different, and that’s the approach that we take for each and every client.  Just a few of the variables at play include whether this is your first or second DUI offense, or another instance down the line, how and why you were originally pulled over, the results of your field sobriety tests or breath or blood tests, and so much more

For example, did you know that there are dozens of different causes or types of Nystagmus, or jerky, rapid eye movement, but that an arresting officer could be pinning that test result on you being impaired? This is just one of the countless facets of your case that we will examine, and the results speak for themselves.

As an Atlanta DUI lawyer, we continue to produce positive results, offering relief and peace of mind for our clients in need. When you have the Peachstate Lawyer on your side, you’ll have a winning team which will know exactly how to defend you, and reach the outcome you’re seeking.

A DUI arrest in or around Atlanta doesn’t mean the sky is the falling. We’ll guide you through the entire process, tell you what you need to know and should expect, and what the best approach to your predicament may be. From there, we’ll go about fighting on your behalf.

If you have been arrested for a DUI in Atlanta or related charges, don’t panic. Find the best and most experienced representation that you can. With 10 dropped or reduced charges in just two weeks, perhaps that’s us at W. Scott Smith, P.C.

Call us today at 404.581.0999 and we’ll be happy to provide you with a free case evaluation and tell you more about how we can help as your new Atlanta DUI lawyer.

source: peachstatelawyer.com

Extra fiber tied to lower risk of stroke — UK study

NEW YORK - People who get more fiber in their diet are less likely to have a stroke than those who skimp on the nutrient, according to a new review of existing research.

"A few people in the past have looked at the relationship between fiber and cardiovascular disease, which includes coronary heart disease and stroke," senior author Victoria Burley told Reuters Health.

But this is the first time all the available results from long-term studies have been pulled together into one analysis, said Burley, a senior lecturer in nutritional epidemiology at the University of Leeds in the UK.

Burley and her coauthors pooled the results of eight studies conducted since 1990 that included close to 500,000 participants. Those people reported on their dietary fiber consumption and were followed for anywhere from eight to 19 years.

The researchers found the risk of suffering a first stroke fell by 7 percent for every 7-gram increase in dietary fiber people reported each day - so that those who ate the most fiber had the lowest chance of stroke, according to findings published in the journal Stroke.


The average U.S. woman gets 13 grams of fiber per day, and the average man gets 17 grams - well below the Institute of Medicine recommendation of 24 and 35 grams, respectively.

An extra 7 grams could come from two slices of whole wheat bread and a serving of fruit, for example, Burley said. But even less than that - just 2 or 3 extra grams per day - might affect stroke risk.

Americans suffer almost 800,000 strokes annually, and strokes cause one out of every 18 U.S. deaths, or 130,000 per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most happen when a clot blocks blood flow in a brain vessel.

"Stroke is a very common and chronic disease in our society because the risk factors are growing," Dr. Dean Sherzai, a neurologist at Loma Linda University in California, told Reuters Health.

The new results are important because at the moment there are limited treatments and preventive measures available for stroke, but diet changes such as adding more fiber are relatively easy, said Sherzai, who was not involved in the study.

The report didn't look at the effects of different types of fiber on people of specific ages - so it's possible some may glean more benefit from eating extra fiber than others, he added.

The findings don't prove fiber directly prevents strokes. Researchers also don't know why fiber would be linked to a lower risk, although they have some ideas.

"There could be all sorts of things going on," Burley said.

Foods high in fiber tend to be low-calorie and help people maintain a healthy weight, which reduces stroke risk, she said. Fibrous foods also have vitamins, minerals and antioxidants including polyphenols and flavonoids, which make blood vessels more elastic.

The findings should serve as more encouragement for people to get their daily recommended fiber, Burley said. She'd like to see fiber back on the agenda - since it sometimes falls to the wayside in low-carbohydrate or gluten-free diets.

"Sometimes things like this just aren't deemed sexy enough," Sherzai said. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Three bodies found after Hong Kong boat collision

Hong Kong underwater search teams have recovered three bodies a day after two boats collided in fog in the city's busy waterways, with three crew members still missing as police arrested the two captains.

The incident Thursday night refocused attention on Hong Kong's maritime safety, and came after a ferry crash in October claimed 39 lives in the city's worst sea disaster in 40 years.

Search teams were deployed after a boat with 11 crew from mainland China carrying construction waste collided with another vessel on the southeast of the island and began to sink. Five crew were rescued soon after.

"The fire department's diving rescue personnel found three dead males inside the sunken cargo vessel tonight," the police said in an statement late Friday.

Officers arrested four people from both vessels, aged 30 to 58, including both captains, on suspicion of "endangering the safety of others at sea", the statement said.

The October catastrophe saw a high-speed passenger ferry collide with a pleasure boat carrying around 120 people. The captains of the boats involved were charged with 39 counts of manslaughter last week and face life in prison if convicted. - Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

Lakers guard Nash optimistic about playoffs return

LOS ANGELES - Steve Nash gave the Los Angeles Lakers a welcome boost on Friday (Saturday, PHL time) when he said he was "very optimistic" he would play in Saturday's (Sunday, PHL time) Game One of their first-round playoff series against the Spurs in San Antonio.

The 39-year-old point guard missed the last eight games of the regular season because of back and hip problems but pronounced himself happy after going through a series of five-on-five sessions in team practice on Friday (Saturday, PHL time).

"Mentally, I'm chomping at the bit and physically, I'm getting there," Nash told reporters. "I'm very optimistic that I'll play on Sunday. I just don't want to over-promise and get ahead of myself."

Nash, who has not played for the Lakers in almost three weeks, had an epidural injection three days ago. Though not yet pain-free, he said he felt less inhibited in his movement.

"I was able to play halfcourt today, and there were a couple of situations where it was pretty close to a sprint so it's coming," he said.

"In some ways, I want to give myself as much time as possible but at the same time you can't wait forever. I'm just hoping to be able to play, get out there and contribute.

"That's the bottom line. I'm just really hopeful and working hard - pretty much twice a day the last few weeks - to get back. Hopefully the time has come."

Game-time decision

Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni said that Nash, twice an NBA most valuable player, would be a game-time decision for the team's best-of-seven playoff series opener against the Spurs.

"I thought he looked good," D'Antoni said of Nash's form during Friday's (Saturday, PHL time) practice session. "He only played half court. We'll check it out tomorrow and see how it reacted."

D'Antoni said Nash could start alongside Steve Blake, his backup as point guard, but that if he did play, he would not necessarily defend against San Antonio's agile point guard Tony Parker.

"Nothing says he [Nash] has to guard the point guard, and nothing says he has to play big minutes," D'Antoni added. "We'll see. Steve is a good defender, and a good team defender. I don't expect us to back up at all."

The return of former All-Star Nash would give the Lakers a much needed lift as they prepare to take on the Spurs without the inspirational Kobe Bryant, who has been sidelined for up to nine months after having surgery on an injured Achilles tendon.

Without Bryant for just over a week, the Lakers scraped into the playoffs as the seventh-seeded team in the Western Conference after winning their last five regular-season games.

Up against the Spurs, they face experienced opponents who have clinched four NBA titles and ended their regular season second best in the West with a 58-24 record.

Spanish forward Pau Gasol, who has recorded two triple-doubles in his last three games for the Lakers, said of the challenge facing his team: "Understand that it's going to be very difficult.

"San Antonio is a great team. They're very experienced. They execute really well, they're disciplined, they're extremely well-coached, and we're going to play on their home court - but we still believe in ourselves."

D'Antoni has been impressed by his team's resurgence during the latter part of an injury-plagued regular season as they improved from a 17-25 low point to finish on a 28-12 run.

"Confidence-wise, they're more secure in what they're doing and in what their team mates are doing," he said.

"We've played an elimination game almost every night. We went through a lot of stuff this year. It's been hard all year."  - Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

GE profit meets Wall Street on strong jet engine sales

General Electric Co. reported a first-quarter profit in line with Wall Street's expectations on Friday, as the conglomerate sold more jet engines and shed its stake in NBC Universal.

The world's biggest maker of jet engines and electric turbines said it earned $3.53 billion, or 34 cents per share, compared with $3.03 billion, or 29 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned 35 cents per share, matching analyst expectations, according to Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose slightly to $35 billion, beating the $34.51 billion analysts had expected.

GE's order backlog—a closely watched indicator of future sales—rose to $216 billion from $210 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012.


GE shares fell slightly to $22.65 in premarket trading. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Debt Levels, Big Monetary Stimulus on Tap at G20

Finance leaders of the G20 economies on Friday were set to debate specific targets for reigning in debt levels and the potential dangers from the latest round of aggressive easing of monetary policy from the world's biggest central banks.

They were also poised to demand swifter resolution to setting guidelines for financial benchmarks like the Libor interest rate in the wake of a global rate-rigging scandal.

But a rethinking of the austerity push among the world's biggest economies loomed as the biggest talking point. Advanced economies, particularly in Europe, have undertaken sharp austerity drives in recent years to curb growing debt, but those efforts have at times damaged economies already suffering from capital flight and under-investment from the private sector.

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that a period of reduced spending and borrowing was necessary to calm markets concerned about out-of-control debt levels, particularly in peripheral European countries. That time has passed, he said.

"Decisive action was taken. Now as we have restored the credibility in the short-term, that gives us the possibility of having a smoother path of fiscal adjustment in the medium-term," he said.

The United States has opposed committing to any targeted level of public debt as a percentage of GDP, a common way to measure a nation's debt burden.

"I think an issue that will come up ... is the issue of hard targets, or not, for debt-to-GDP," Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters on Thursday.

In a 2010 study frequently cited by policymakers, Harvard professors Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart found that on average, economies contract when the debt-to-GDP ratio surpasses 90 percent - a level G20 officials were set to debate.

However, the study's results were disputed by researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who said growth for countries with those ratios was actually 2.2 percent.

Weakness in economies that undertook the most severe measures to cut deficits undercut the austerity argument. The United Kingdom, in particular, is suffering its third recession in the last five years.

Still, Flaherty urged the G20 to set hard targets on debt and deficit, though he added that troubled economies should move more slowly towards balanced budgets than others.

"It's important for confidence by investors, which leads to more investment, economic growth and jobs," Flaherty said.

SPILLOVER CONCERNS

The unprecedented level of monetary stimulus designed to reinvigorate struggling large economies, including the United States, the euro zone and Japan, has raised concerns about excessive capital flight to developing nations.

In a communique on Thursday, the Group of 24 developing nations, whose ranks include Brazil, India, South Africa and Mexico, called on the advanced economies to "take into account the negative spillover effects ... of prolonged unconventional monetary policies including on inflation and the volatility of capital flows and commodity prices."

The Bank of Japan is attempting to end decades of stagnation by pumping $1.4 trillion into its economy, some of which is expected to find its way into emerging markets. Local currency funds have pulled in $16.7 billion in the first quarter of 2013 worldwide, the most in more than two years, according to Lipper, a unit of Thomson Reuters.

"There is a call from the G24 members to have clear coordination and better communication between advanced economies and emerging markets ... towards using coordination as a way to mitigate these potential asset appreciation bubbles. The consensus is that this is something that has to be closely monitored," said Mexican Finance Minister Luis Videgaray.

Videgaray has cause for concern.

In the days following the Bank of Japan's announcement, for example, the Mexican peso jumped 2.5 percent against the dollar to its strongest in 20 months. Against the yen, the peso surged over 9 percent.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, in response to questioning about the country's aggressive efforts, said he didn't see signs of asset price bubbles "brewing in emerging nations" as a result of monetary stimulus.

"It's true that the massive monetary stimulus of advanced economies may affect emerging economies including through capital inflows," he said. "Such spill-over effects had been discussed even before the G20 meeting, and will likely be on the agenda at (this week's) meeting too."

The G20 finance ministers are due to release their formal communique around midday on Friday. They plan to task the Financial Stability Board, a coordinating body of global financial regulators, with overseeing the reform of financial benchmarks such as Libor, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Thursday.

An early draft of a communique G20 financial officials will be debating asks the FSB to take on the role after a global interest rate-rigging scandal that involved some of the world's largest banks.

The International Organization of Securities Commissions came out with a report this week saying that financial benchmarks should be based on actual transactions rather than estimates, such as is the case with Libor.

source: foxbusiness.com

Windows 8.1 may boot straight to desktop?

Could this be the answer to prayers of owners of devices running Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system?

Windows 8.1, the next major update to Windows 8, may have the option to boot directly to the desktop instead of going through the tile-based Metro interface, a tech site reported.

"For those upgrading to Windows Blue, you might now have the option to remove the Start Screen," reported Windows-oriented site WinBeta.org.




It said an examination of the code in the twinui.dll file shows a line that is "responsible for disabling the Start Screen."

The line supposedly allows the system "go to the desktop automatically" if that line is disabled or modified.

WinBeta noted many users have criticized Windows 8 for ditching the Start menu - which had been around since Windows 95 - in favor of the tile-based interface.

A separate article on Neowin.net said many users have already requested the ability to boot into the desktop directly.

  

"So far, however, Microsoft has made no statement that it's working on such a feature. Last month, a research firm said a boot-to-desktop feature and start menu are the two options users have requested the most for Windows 8," it added.  — TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Makers of fraudulent breast implants go on trial in France

MARSEILLE, France - Five French executives went on trial on Wednesday to jeers from victims for supplying women with hundreds of thousands of substandard breast implants and triggering a global health scare.

More than 300,000 women around the world were fitted over a decade with implants from the French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), and the trial includes 5,000 civil plaintiffs and 300 lawyers.

PIP's founder and chief executive, 73-year-old Jean-Claude Mas, has admitted filling the implants with an unapproved homemade recipe made of industrial-grade silicone gel.

Mas and four PIP executives, including the chief financial officer, are charged with aggravated fraud and risk maximum prison terms of five years each, plus fines, for selling the implants around the world from 2001 to 2010, when they were ordered off the market.

A vast exhibition building close to PIP's former premises has been set up as a makeshift courtroom to accommodate the huge crowds expected for the trial, due to last until May 14.

Mas arrived at court under police escort and faced a crush of cameras as the trial began in the southern city of Marseille.

"Bastard!" shouted someone in the audience of some 300 victims as Mas appeared live on a giant video screen.

Of the more than 5,000 individual lawsuits filed against PIP - once the world's third-largest supplier of breast implants - and its executives, 220 have come from women outside France.

A French woman who alleges that one of her PIP implants began to leak four years after its insertion said outside the courtroom that victims were both scared and angry.

"We had foreign bodies put inside us that were flawed ... we could have maybe died from it. The anger is because we were tricked," said Tomassine Catalano. "It's frightening."

Rush for removal

The scandal - revealed after inspectors pursuing a tip-off discovered vats of industrial-grade silicone outside the PIP factory in 2010 - sparked worldwide panic when the government recommended removal of the implants due to an abnormally high rupture rate.

Health experts say no link has been established between PIP implants and breast cancer, but in the months after the scandal broke, plastic surgeons around the world reported a flood of removal requests from worried patients.

Half the French women with PIP implants, or nearly 15,000, have already opted for removal, whether because of rupture or as a precaution, according to the government.

Mas was released in October from eight months in detention following a failure to post bail. He told police that 75 percent of PIP's implants had contained the homemade gel, which was never been approved by regulators, although he denies it was unsafe. He and the other executives deny the charges.

Investigators estimate that Mas's formula allowed PIP to save nearly 1.2 million euros ($1.6 million) in one year alone.

On Wednesday, hoots erupted in court when Mas said he lived on a modest monthly retirement income of 1,800 euros, prompting the judge to warn that the next person to disrupt proceedings would be thrown out.

Minutes before the trial began, a court in Paris rejected a defense request to have the case thrown out.


Mas and CFO Claude Couty are separately implicated in a civil case over fiscal fraud that has yet to reach trial. Mas is also under investigation for manslaughter following a complaint from the mother of a French woman with PIP implants who died of cancer in 2010. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Britain's Hilary Mantel tops women's fiction prize shortlist

LONDON - British novelist Hilary Mantel's "Bring Up the Bodies" tale about Thomas Cromwell will take on five challengers in the Women's Prize for Fiction award in 2013 as she attempts to add to her groaning trophy cabinet.

The historical bestseller set in Henry VIII's court has already won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction and the Costa Book Award. If she takes the Women's Prize, Mantel will become the first person to win all three of Britain's top literary prizes.

The shortlist for the 30,000-pound ($45,900) literary prize released on Tuesday also included two former winners: fellow Briton Zadie Smith for "NW" and American writer Barbara Kingsolver for "Flight Behavior".

The other three books were "Where'd You Go Bernadette" by U.S. author Maria Semple, "May We Be Forgiven" from American A.M. Homes and "Life After Life" by Briton Kate Atkinson.

"The shortlist for 2013 represents six tremendous writers at the top of their game," chair of the judging panel Miranda Richardson said.

"Their individual novels are flawlessly presented, they contain a heady mix of ideas and without exception take the reader on a unique and deeply satisfying journey."

"Bring Up the Bodies" is the second book in Mantel's trilogy about Cromwell's rise to power. The other novels on the shortlist included Smith's look at characters in north London, a darkly comic novel about 21st century domesticity from Homes and Kingsolver's exploration of climate change and rural poverty in America's Appalachian region.

Atkinson's tale follows the turbulent events of the last century in Britain through the constantly reincarnating character of Ursula Todd. Semple sets her story in Seattle, where 15-year-old Bee searches for her missing, wealthy and erratic mother Bernadette Fox.

Set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote international fiction by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible, the Women's Prize for Fiction is awarded annually for the best novel of the year written by a woman.

Any woman writing in English - whatever her nationality, country of residence, age or subject matter - is eligible.

The award ceremony will take place in London on June 5.

Previous winners besides Smith and Kingsolver include Madeline Miller for "The Song of Achilles" last year, Rose Tremain for "The Road Home" in 2008 and Lionel Shriver for "We Need to Talk About Kevin" in 2005. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

New bird flu strain spreads to humans, causes pandemic scare

A leading expert on avian influenza warns of the possibility of a new global flu pandemic following the nine deaths in China.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Tokyo reports that examination of the genetic sequences of H7N9 isolates from four of the victims show a protein mutation that efficiently replicates in human cells.

The mutation also allows them to thrive at the cooler temperatures of the human upper respiratory tract, particularly the nose and throat.

The findings, which are the result of a collaborative study conducted by a team led by Masato Tashiro of Japan's Influenza Virus Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, were published in the April 11, 2013 edition of the journal Eurosurveillance.



 The new strain of bird flu has so far infected 33 people and killed nine, as reported by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kawaoka says what is troubling is the fact that the virus, while avian, is evolving, and due to characteristics similar to mammalian influenza viruses, is developing an ability to infect humans, raising the possibility of a pandemic.

Experiments currently being conducted from the genetic sequences deposited by Chinese researchers into an international database are now focused on the development of a candidate vaccine to prevent infection on a wider scale.

Commonly used antiviral drugs, ion channel inhibitors which trap the virus in the cell, have not been effective.

A more promising candidate is oseltamivir, a new neuraminidase inhibitor which works by preventing the virus from chemically cutting ties with its host cell, thus slowing its spread. — TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Euro zone bank troublespots don't come down to size

DUBLIN/LONDON - Though the implosion of Cyprus's bloated banking system has put other euro zone economies with outsized financial sectors such as Luxembourg and Malta in the spotlight, loan quality is the real litmus test of a country's financial stability.

Attracted by low taxes, high interest rates and light regulation, foreign deposits, largely from Russia and other former Soviet states, pumped up the Cypriot banking sector to nearly eight times annual economic output, more than double the European average of around 3.5 times.

Stripping out Russian banks and other international lenders, the three Cypriot banks for which the state was liable had assets amounting to more than five times Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a huge proportion for an island of just 800,000 people.

What caused the problem, however, was that Cyprus's two main banks used the gush of deposits to gamble on the Greek economy, leaving them horribly exposed when Europe imposed losses on Greek sovereign bonds. The implosion of the Greek economy rotted their loans to that country.

"Banks don't fail because they are big. Banks fail because they make bad lending decisions," said Frank Gill, director of European sovereign ratings at Standard & Poors.

"It is important to understand that the Cypriot banking crisis was born on the asset not the liability side of the balance sheet."

Bank of Cyprus's non-performing loans shot up to 17 percent of its total book at the end of September last year. Cyprus Popular Bank, known as Laiki, which is being shut down as part of the Cypriot bailout, almost quadrupled its loan loss provisions to €400 million in the third quarter of 2012.

Big sector, small duchy

Officials from Luxembourg, anxious to protect the country's reputation as a hub for international capital, are quick to draw the distinction between their risk exposure and Cyprus's.

Though it has the largest banking sector in the euro zone, at an eye-watering 22 times GDP, and a population of only just over half a million people, roughly equivalent to Tucson, Arizona, the Grand Duchy is keen to emphasize that its banks are healthy and its liabilities much smaller than they appear on paper.

"In all the articles of the last few weeks, you have this famous bar chart measuring the size of the financial sector against GDP. It is not the way it should be looked at," said Marc Saluzzi, chairman of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry.

"If you look at Luxembourg, our center is much more diversified; it is run by 142 banks, which are essentially subsidiaries of very large foreign banks, with solvency ratios above 15 percent. We are agents and not principals."

Stripping out international banks, the core of Luxembourg's financial system is based around three banks—state-owned BCEE, BGL BNP Paribas, in which French bank BNP Paribas has a majority stake, and Banque Internationale a Luxembourg (BIL), majority owned by Qatar's al-Thani royal family.

"Like the Cypriot banks, they do have fairly large external assets," said Gill of those three banks. "Our estimate is just under €100 billion of external assets, which is 45 percent of GDP, but these are almost exclusively holdings of tradable, financial, highly liquid assets, securities they could realistically convert into liquidity almost instantly.

"They are not claims on an insolvent economy."

According to the IMF, just 0.4 percent of loans in Luxembourg were non-performing as of June last year.

Bail-in bolters

After Luxembourg, Malta has proportionately the next largest financial sector in the euro zone, at around eight times the country's GDP.

But this statistic is misleading.

Stripping out international banks including some Turkish lenders that book a lot of their loans through Malta for tax reasons and do not take domestic deposits or lend domestically, the local banking sector has assets equivalent to under 300 percent of GDP and is dominated by two lenders—Bank of Valletta and HSBC Malta.

If trouble hit, HSBC Malta would likely have the support of its parent HSBC, Europe's largest bank, leaving Bank of Valletta with assets equivalent to around 1.4 times GDP.

Malta's domestic banks had non-performing loans equivalent to 8.2 percent of the loan book as of June 2012, according to the IMF.

While the domestic banks in Malta have limited foreign exposure and have so far sidestepped any fallout from the euro zone crisis, the central bank this week called for them to raise their provisioning to better cushion them from potential losses.

The vulnerability for Malta is the uncertainty caused by the Cypriot bailout, which for the first time forced large depositors and holders of senior bank debt to take losses—a 'bail-in' as the jargon has it.

"The key risk facing Malta is that its international offshore investors begin to relocate in light of the policy uncertainty created by the Cypriot bail-in," said Myles Bradshaw, portfolio manager at PIMCO.

"This would have significant negative economic effects that could in turn create a problem with domestic banks' asset quality. Together with the deep recession, this could force Malta to seek external assistance."

Fool me twice

Markets are betting that Slovenia, a country of 2 million perched on Italy's northeast border, will be the next euro zone country to succumb to a bailout.

In contrast to Cyprus, Slovenia's banking system is not large—around 1.4 times as big as the economy—and there are negligible foreign depositors.

But the Slovenian banks, most of them state-owned, are crippled with bad loans, which reached 14.4 percent of their loan books last year.

Like Cyprus, Slovenia does not have the money to recapitalize them.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development heaped pressure on Slovenia this week when it said the level of bad loans at Nova Ljubljanska, Nova KBM and Abanka Vipa could be much bigger than previously thought and capital needs could be "significantly higher."

If Slovenia needs a bailout, investors will be watching to see if Europe stays true to its word that the Cypriot bailout was unique.

A Cyprus-style rescue involving losses on large depositors and banks' senior bonds would re-ignite contagion risk, particularly for countries with large banking sectors.

"Cyprus has sent a strong message to a lot of people," said Lee Robinson, founder of asset management firm Altana Wealth. "Non-Europeans will be asking themselves whether they have exposure to any of these other countries where the financial sector looks dangerously large relative to GDP."

"Simply saying this won't happen again is not enough—it's the 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me'." — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com