Hewlett-Packard to slash 27,000 jobs by 2014

SAN FRANCISCO, United States of America - Hewlett-Packard said Wednesday, May 23, it plans to cut 27,000 jobs, or 8% of its global workforce, by 2014 in a major restructuring effort for the computer giant.

The world's biggest personal computer maker said the move was part of "a multi-year productivity initiative designed to simplify business processes, advance innovation and deliver better results for customers, employees and shareholders."

The restructuring is expected to generate annualized savings of US$3.0-3.5 billion by the end of the 2014 fiscal year for HP, which is struggling amid a move to mobile devices and tablet computers.

The savings will mostly be reinvested back into the company and boost investment in areas such as cloud computing, big data and security, and other segments "that offer attractive growth potential."

The workforce cuts will include an early retirement program and "will vary by country, based on local legal requirements and consultation with works councils and employee representatives, as appropriate."

The company will also seek savings in other ways including improvements in its supply chain and simplifying some business processes.

"While some of these actions are difficult... We are setting HP on a path to extend our global leadership and deliver the greatest value to customers and shareholders," said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive.

The move came as the Palo Alto, California-based firm reported a 31 percent drop in profits in its second fiscal quarter to $1.6 billion. Revenue in the period fell three percent from a year ago to $30.7 billion.

The results excluding special items amounted to 98 cents a share, better than expected. And revenues were above most Wall Street estimates as well.

In after-hours trade, HP shares jumped 5.69% to $22.28.

Progress

"We are making progress in our multi-year effort to make HP simpler, more efficient and better for customers, employees, and shareholders," Whitman said.

"This quarter we exceeded our previously provided outlook and are executing against our strategy, but we still have a lot of work to do."

News of the reorganization leaked last week, but analysts gave a cool reception.

Deutsche Bank analysts said previous cuts "have done little to improve HP's competitive position or reduce its reliance on declining or troubled businesses" and added that the company "has been restructuring for the past decade."

A separate note from Bernstein Research lamented "HP's apparent lack of competitiveness," and argued that "investors view HP as a 'broken' company."

Whitman has vowed to turn the company around after a series of problems including a failed tablet computer and a reversal on plans for its PC unit.

A former chief executive of eBay and unsuccessful candidate for governor of California, Whitman took the reins at HP in September after her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, was ousted after just 11 months on the job.

In the quarterly results, HP said revenues from its Personal Systems Group, which includes the PC division, were flat year-over-year. Desktop sales were up five percent, notebook units were down six percent and total unit sales were down one percent.

Last year, HP announced it was discontinuing the TouchPad, a tablet computer powered by its own webOS software, just seven weeks after it hit the market dominated by Apple's iPad.

HP also last year said it was readying plans to spin off its PC division and stop making tablet computers, but reversed course later after naming Whitman as chief executive.

The low-margin PC market has been flat amid an astronomical increase in powerful smartphones and the arrival of hot-selling tablet computers such as the iPad.

Dell, which is the number three PC maker worldwide and faces similar problems, on Tuesday reported a 33 percent drop in quarterly profits. - Agence France-Presse

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Pinay ex-nanny sues Sharon Stone for abuse

LOS ANGELES, United States of America (UPDATED) - A Filipina former nanny of Sharon Stone is suing the US film star for wrongful dismissal and harassment, including by allegedly making derogatory remarks about her ethnicity and religion.

But the star's publicist slammed the lawsuit as "absurd," claiming the ex-nanny was simply trying to "cash in" on Stone.

In legal papers filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Erlinda Elemen claims the actress equated being Filipino with being stupid, and ordered her not to speak in front of her children so they would not "talk like you."

The "Basic Instinct" star also banned Elemen, who was dismissed last year, from reading the Bible in Stone's home, even though she lived with her to look after the actress's three children, and frequently traveled with them.

From August 2010, Elemen "was repeatedly subjected to repeated derogatory comments and slurs by (Stone) related to her Filipino ethnicity and heritage," said the 17-page lawsuit.

"These statements included ... comments about Plaintiff's Filipino accent (ie Plaintiff was instructed to refrain from speaking to the children because Defendant did not want them to 'talk like you'), comments about Filipino food, and comments which equated being Filipino with being stupid," it added.

In addition, Stone "was repeatedly verbally dismissive of Plaintiff's deeply held religious beliefs, criticized Plaintiff for frequently attending church, and, on one occasion, forbade Plaintiff from reading the Bible..."

Elemen, who was hired in October 2006 and was promoted to head live-in nanny two years later, was dismissed in February 2011, after Stone learned she was paid overtime when traveling with the children and on holiday days.

Stone told her nanny that she had no right to overtime pay, and "accused Plaintiff of 'stealing' from her by taking the ... overtime pay, told Plaintiff that it was 'illegal' .. to have taken the pay, and asked for the money back."

The lawsuit asks for an unspecified amount for unpaid wages, damages and penalties, and is seeking trial by jury.

Stone's say

But a statement released by Stone's publicist dismissed the legal action.

"This is an absurd lawsuit that has been filed by a disgruntled ex-employee who is obviously looking to get money any way she can," it said.

"After she was terminated approximately one and a half years ago, she filed claims for alleged disability and workers compensation. Now, she is obviously looking for another opportunity to cash in.

"This is a frivolous lawsuit for absurd claims that are made up and fabricated. Sharon Stone will be completely vindicated in court."

Last year the actress was ordered to pay $232,000 in compensation to a worker who injured his knee after slipping and falling in her back yard in 2006. - Agence France-Presse

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France, Germany in EU summit showdown

BRUSSELS, Belgium - France and Germany crossed swords Wednesday, May 23, over how to spur growth in the debt-stricken eurozone at an EU summit tinged by plunging markets and the euro hitting a near two-year low.

"We have to act straight away for growth," French President Francois Hollande insisted amid deepening worries over Greece's eurozone future and Spain's troubled banks. "Otherwise there will still be doubt on the markets."

"We have no time to waste," the freshly elected Socialist leader stressed at his first EU summit after a cost-conscious train ride from Paris.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced pressure to give ground on her hardline austerity doctrine as the European single currency fell to US$1.2564 and London, Frankfurt and Paris stock exchanges each shed well over 2%.

However, she rejected a call by Hollande for eurobonds -- jointly pooled eurozone debt -- on the grounds they are "not a contribution to stimulating growth in the eurozone" and adding that such instruments ran contrary to EU treaties.

Berlin fears eurobonds would only result in German taxpayers permanently underwriting the public finances of weaker eurozone economies.

In a German press interview appearing on Thursday, Merkel's finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble maintained that "the differences between ourselves and France are not so great."

Floating ideas

Schaeuble said Hollande wants more done to kickstart growth, but insisted that the French president "does not want to water down" a treaty obliging balanced budgets the Frenchman initially said he wanted to re-negotiate.

"We're not talking about an easing of budgetary discipline," Schaeuble insisted.

A member of Hollande's entourage said he was "floating ideas" but "not coming to Brussels with a Kalashnikov."

Non-euro Britain also flexed muscles, ruling out in advance other core ideas put forward by European Union officials and backed by Hollande -- including a tax on financial transactions.

Home to three quarters of Europe's financial services industry, London vehemently rejects the tax.

Opening the dinner talks, EU president Herman Van Rompuy underlined the need to find "a strong will to compromise" with the risk of knock-on effects from a Greek eurozone exit exercising markets.

After Germany's central bank said the picture in Athens ahead of June 17 elections was "highly alarming," leaders were expected to remind Greek voters that they expect Athens to honour a 237-billion-euro ($300 billion) bailout deal agreed in March.

"I don't believe we can afford to allow this issue to be endlessly fudged or put off," said British Prime Minister David Cameron, notably urging the European Central Bank (ECB) to do more.

Treasury officials from the other 16 eurozone member states were told this week to "reflect" on what an exit would mean for their economies, a diplomat from one eurozone country told AFP.

Spain's case

The Greek finance ministry in Athens "categorically" denied this was the case.

Contingency planning that diplomats called "commonsense" stems from arguably greater worries about Spain and Italy, after a report by Fitch Rating agency showed foreign investors had fled Spanish and Italian debt in huge numbers.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Spain did not require the support of European rescue funds, saying there were "faster instruments" -- an apparent allusion to the ECB which has previously bought government bonds in sell-on markets.

Analysts see this as inevitable, with consultant Sony Kapoor warning that Spain otherwise "is headed toward needing a fully-fledged bailout."

Wednesday's talks were set to endorse a trial for 230 million euros in seed money from the EU's budget this year and next by way of EU "project bonds."

This is intended to attract 4.5 billion euros of long-term private investment for Europe's incomplete energy, transport and digital networks.

Other ideas on the table included a 10-billion-euro boost to European Investment Bank (EIB). - Agence France-Presse

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Why Phillip Phillips won American Idol Season 11

PINOY HEARTBREAK. Global sentiment favored Filipino-Mexican Jessica Sanchez but the American Idol for Season 11 is Phillip Phillips

MANILA, Philippines - If we go by total social media sentiment, Jessica appeared to be in the lead.

So why did Phillip Phillips win the Season 11 of American Idol?

A study which analyzed the geolocation of tweets concerning the popular show showed that while Jessica led in terms of Twitter mentions globally, Phillips was generally favored in the US. (Read the full study below)

The Twitter data was analyzed in an attempt to predict the American Idol winner ahead of the airing of the official result.

The study, which analyzed the fanbase of each contestant, both within the US and abroad, revealed that "strong regional polarizations occur" with respect to social media chatter concerning the contestants.

See world rankings against US rankings below.

GLOBAL SENTIMENT FOR JESSICA. But it was the US votes that mattered

The map below shows that the US social media denizens favored Phillip Phillips. It shows that Jessica’s fan base was from the West Coast and in other pockets of the US while Phillip was ahead with the rest of the country.

US WENT FOR PHILLIPS. The map shows states where tweets favoring Phillips dominated

Of course, things would have been different if the rest of the world including Pinoys were allowed to vote.

The study said that, "the advantage of Phillip in the U.S. is remarkably smaller than the one of Jessica in the aggregated dataset, and the voting coming from abroad might have a crucial role in determining the outcome of the ?nale."

The study also said that Jessica is the only contestant that had a strong Twitter signal originating from outside of the U.S. (and in particular from the Philippines). It added that this strong Twitter sentiment favoring the Filipino-Mexican has been increasing after the show on April 19.

The maps below show social media attention focused on American Idol Season 11 emanating both within and outside the United States.

IDOL WORSHIP? Social media attention focused on American Idol Season 11

The study was conducted by Fabio Ciulla, Delia Mocanu, Andrea Baronchelli, Bruno Goncalves, Nicola Perra, and Alessandro Vespignani--all from the Department of Physics of Boston's Northeastern University.

Vespignani is also with the Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation of Turin, Italy as well as with the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachussetts. - Rappler.com

Social Media Analysis: American Idol Finale

Click on the links below for more of the American Idol finale.

Click on the links below for previous social media predictions.

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Social media indicates Jessica is next 'Idol'

MANILA, Philippines - The American Idol finals night has come and gone. Both finalists delivered performances that had the judges evenly split with the performances. What did Rappler see online?

Online sentiment has returned in favor of Jessica Sanchez.

At least 90 minutes before the finals, Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips were tied in online sentiment. Our final tracker for this year’s American Idol finalists show Jessica continuing to grow and in fact accelerating in Twitter follower growth while Phillip’s follower growth actually slowed down.

Socialmention.com is showing Jessica’s sentiment score growing from before the finals (11:1) to 19:1 after her finals performance. Phillip’s sentiment score slightly declines (from 6:1 to 5:1) over the same time period.

Tracking their Twitter handles, we see an even bigger decline in sentiment for Phillip (from 25:1 down to 11:1) while Jessica’s sentiment score grew (from 16:1 to 19:1). Jessica’s passion score also grew.

Based on the significant increase in positive sentiment, the indicators point to Jessica as this year’s new American Idol. The growth in passion (which is a measure of the frequency of people speaking about Jessica), also favors Jessica.

Sentiment140.com tracks a rise in negatives for both finalists – indicating a polarization of the fan base.

This is natural as people cast their votes for one finalist over the other. While there seems to be a bigger rise in negatives toward Jessica, the change in negatives for their Twitter handles is negligible.

Tracking their real names, there was a big spike in Jessica’s negatives (a 13% increase) but sentiment remained significantly positive for both finalists.

To this end, we believe social media is indicating that Jessica Sanchez will be the next American Idol.

Finally, Zaba Research has also released the result of their predictive engine model. Zaba also predicts that Jessica Sanchez will be the next American Idol.

Should these predictions come true, Jessica will be the first American Idol winner to have been voted off the show and saved by the judges.

A win by Jessica will also break a streak of male winners since David Cook’s win in 2008 all the way to last year’s winner, Scotty McCreery. There have been 6 male American Idol winners and 4 female winners. - Rappler.com

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Suu Kyi to make landmark foreign trip next week

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) - Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will travel overseas next week for the first time in more than two decades to attend an economic forum in Bangkok, her party said Thursday.

The former political prisoner's plan to leave her homeland for the first time since 1988 is the latest sign of dramatic political change sweeping through the country, where decades of outright military rule ended last year.

"She will go to the World Economic Forum (on East Asia) in Thailand," said Nyan Win, a spokesman for the Nobel laureate's National League for Democracy.

The gathering of senior government officials and business leaders from around the region is being held from May 30 to June 1 at a luxury hotel in the Thai capital.

Myanmar President Thein Sein will also attend the event, according to a government official who did not want to be named.

Suu Kyi was released from seven straight years of house arrest in November 2010 and has now been issued with a passport, enabling her to travel abroad for the first time in 24 years.

She also plans to go to Europe where she will address an International Labour Organization conference in Geneva on June 14.

After that she will make a speech in Oslo on June 16 to accept the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in 1991 for her peaceful struggle for democracy, according to the Nobel Committee.

At the time her British husband Michael Aris, who died in 1999 while she remained imprisoned, and her two sons accepted the Nobel medal on her behalf.

Suu Kyi also intends to travel to Britain, where she lived for years with her family, and has been given the rare honour of addressing the country's parliament on June 21.

The daughter of Myanmar's independence hero General Aung San was thrust into the limelight as protests broke out against the junta while she was visiting her homeland to care for her sick mother in 1988.

The military crushed the demonstrations and in July 1989 placed Suu Kyi under house arrest, 10 months after she helped form the National League for Democracy.

Despite her confinement, the NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the junta did not recognise the result.

She spent much of the two decades since then locked up in her Yangon home and has not set foot outside Myanmar, fearing that the generals would prevent her from returning.

Now 66, Suu Kyi was released in November 2010 just days after another controversial election won by the military's political allies.

But since then Thein Sein, a former general, has won international praise for releasing hundreds of political prisoners and welcoming Suu Kyi and her party back into mainstream politics.

Myanmar's relations with the international community have improved dramatically since his nominally civilian government took over. Last month Suu Kyi won her first ever seat in parliament in by-elections.

In response the international community has begun to roll back sanctions against the impoverished country, led by the European Union which has suspended all measures except an arms embargo for one year. - Agence France-Presse

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Aboitiz to build new hydropower facilities in Bukidnon

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - Amid the power shortage in Mindanao, a wholly owned unit of Aboitiz Power Corp has announced its plans to construct two run-of-river hydroelectric power plants in Kitaotao, Bukidnon.

Hedcor Inc vice president for business department Gregorio Jabonillo said the plants will have a combined generation capacity of 28.2 megawatts.

Jabonillo explained that the facilities would harness the water running from Sita River and Simod River to run its turbines for power generation.

He added that about 90% of the water in the river will be diverted through pipes to create enough push to generate power in the turbines.

The facilities will cover up to 5 kilometers of Sita River and 4 kilometers of Simod River.

“After the process, we will also return the water to the river in a cleaner state,” Jabonillo said.

Jabonillo said that the proposed facility in Sita River is targeted to have a capacity of 16.4 megawatts while that in Simod River is expected to produce 11.8 megawatts.

Yearly, the facilities are estimated to generate 59 million kilowatt-hours power, which would help boost supply in Mindanao, he explained.

The company said aside from power generation, the power complex will also bring different forms of benefits and assistance to the host communities.

“Our facilities, which will be built on the ancestral domain of our brothers and sisters from the indigenous tribes of Bukidnon, will produce substantial benefits to the host communities including employment, medical assistance, schools and infrastructure projects,” Jabonillo said.

And the most important benefit of the host communities from these facilities, he added, is the annual generation share from the operations.

In the rounds of consultations with the tribal communities, the company promised the residents that there is nothing to worry about any ill environmental effects of the proposed project.

However, Mindanao-based environmental group Panalipdan criticizes the power project for possible adverse effects to the local ecosystem.

Juland Suazo, spokesperson of Panalipdan, said that despite the promises made by the company that the facility will champion clean energy, it will still have emissions, and the pipes where the water will be diverted will eventually accumulate methane.

“If the flow of water would be diverted and redesigned then definitely this would have its unimaginable adverse effects on the flora and fauna in the community,” Suazo said.

Possible long-term effects of the projects include unpredictable flashfloods and the drying of the irrigation system, which is being used on the rice fields of the farmers, he explained.

“The accumulation of wealth is privatized while the accumulation of damages is socialized,” Suazo said.

Aboitiz and Hedcor consistently asserted that their clean technology will have no negative impacts to the environment. - Rappler.com

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Tightening the noose on money launderers

On a good day, the intricate marriage of commerce and technology is stimulating. With the innovations that we are seeing today, we are able to do business with more people, in a greater number of countries, and in less amount of time that we used to need a few decades ago.

For an emerging economy like the Philippines, these gifts are most welcome. Technology and commerce must serve the needs and hopes of the people.

However, we must remain cautious of the fact that commerce and technology are also constantly being used by scrupulous groups and individuals who take advantage of the speed and convenience offered by this modern world to steal, divert, and profit from unlawful activities through ever-expanding schemes for money laundering.

We better make sure that the wonders of technology in whatever form are actually used to serve the needs and hopes of the people.

That commercial and financial transactions used with the aid of technology are the legitimate kind—the kind that actually contributes to meaningful economic growth and more importantly, more meaningful and decent human lives.

We can do this in various ways. The Senate has been doing to address money laundering, terrorism, and terrorist financing.

I am privileged to stand as the sponsor of 3 legislative measures that seek to strengthen the anti-money laundering regime of the country and to combat terrorism and its lifeline, terrorist financing.

First, we seek to allow an ex parte inquiry into the accounts of persons when there is probable cause that the funds therein are related to money laundering or an unlawful activity or a predicate crime.

This proposal is necessary in light of a lamentable decision of our Supreme Court which ruled that before the Anti-Money Laundering Council can look into an account, it would have to inform the concerned person: a de parte inquiry.

As a result, once informed, many have resorted to emptying out their bank accounts before the government can inquire into them. Logic and necessity demand that we allow for an ex parte inquiry.

Second, we seek to empower the AMLC to inquire into not just the main account but also related accounts, defined as “other bank deposits, investments, or other monetary instruments, owned or controlled by the person whose account is the subject of freeze order, or the funds of which originated from, or were transferred to such account.”

As the chairperson of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, I have witnessed the usual scheme wherein funds that are unlawfully acquired or stolen from government are moved from one account to another, with the clear purpose of keeping it away from the reach of the authorities.

People have laundered funds from their accounts to the accounts of their wives, brothers-in-law, drivers, and every conceivable person within their network.

Redefining money laundering

The first two proposals that I just discussed are contained in Senate Bill 3009.

To further strengthen our anti-money laundering regime, I am also sponsoring Senate Bill 3123, a bill which lays the foundation for the Philippines’ full compliance with the international standards set by the Financial Task Force and the various international conventions transnational crimes, traffic of narcotics and corruption.

Senate Bill 3213 seeks to do the following:

1. It expands the definition of “money laundering” in significant ways. From mere “transaction,” it now includes the “conversion, transfer, movement, disposal of, possession, use, and concealment or disguise” of the monetary proceeds of a criminal act.

2. It significantly expands the number of so-called “covered institutions and persons” or those institutions and individuals required to submit covered transaction reports and suspicious transaction reports within a period of time.

Money nowadays is not only laundered through banks but also through a whole gamut of institutions which will now be covered by our proposed amendments: foreign exchange corporations, money changers, remittance centers and similar establishments, pre-need companies, casinos including those which operate on-line gaming, real estate agents, dealers in precious stones and metals, and several others.

We are expanding the list because we know that as we tighten the noose on those using the formal banking system to launder ill-gotten funds, they have begun to look at other tools in which they can park such money.

When crooks get creative, they depart from simple “money laundering” and resort to “dry cleaning” of ill-gotten wealth too.

3. Because we recognize that money laundering is used to hide the proceeds of so many types of unlawful activities, we have likewise expanded the list of predicate crimes to include, among others:

- Terrorism and conspiracy to finance terrorism;
- Bribery and corruption of public officers;
- Frauds and Illegal Exactions;
- Malversation of Public funds and Property;
- Forgeries and counterfeiting; and
- Anti-Trafficking in Persons.

Lastly, I am defending Senate Bill 3127 which seeks to cut terrorism’s lifeline: financing. This bill seeks to do the following:

1. It criminalizes terrorist financing as an offense separate from the crime of terrorism. Mere financing, despite the non-accomplishment of terrorist acts will be penalized.

2. It penalizes any person who deals with properties or funds owned or controlled by terrorist organizations or those that have been seized and sequestered under the Human Security Act of the Philippines.

3. It mandates the AMLC to investigate any property or funds that could be related to financing terrorist elements and activities.

Despite opposition from certain sectors, I will continue to defend these bills because of three reasons: to stop corruption, to build a stable financial system, and to send a message of financial integrity.

A strong anti-money laundering regime is a step toward the end of corruption. I believe that money laundering, especially if it arises from and because of acts of corruption, impact directly on the Philippine economy. Public funds that have been intended to benefit the people, especially the poor, often end up in a private person’s bank account. We need to ensure that this leakage of public funds will be halted.

A strong anti-money laundering regime creates a stable financial system: one that is bolstered by funds and investments from legitimate sources. There is no logic in the belief that a strong anti-money laundering regime will only encourage people to transfer their funds to other territories. I believe that when one earns legitimately, one is not afraid of a strong anti-money laundering regime. One would even welcome it.

A strong anti-money laundering regime is a message that we, as a country, believe in integrity in our financial and business transactions. That we will commend those who profit lawfully and penalize those who steal from the government or its people and go one step further by hiding the fruits of the crime.

Despite Corona

The question often asked of us these days is this: how can the Senate attend to these urgent bills when we seem so focused on the ongoing Impeachment Trial?

The answer is this: we are doing everything humanly possible to make sure that these bills are passed into law soonest.

The public is aware that the Senate sits as an impeachment court every afternoon, from Monday to Thursday. What the public may not know is that the Senate devotes the mornings of those days to sessions and committee work for pending legislation.

We are aware of the necessity and urgency of doing so.

We value our commitments to the community of nations and appreciate the importance it has placed on curbing corruption and terrorism. That commitment is foremost in our minds as we hammer out the final versions of these pieces of proposed legislation.

And, we are aware, too, of the heavy toll that corruption exacts on our economy and our people.

We will not rest until the elements that perpetrate and perpetuate this form of evil find no useful tool in which and through which to conceal the moneys they have illegally acquired.

We are doing this for our children to whom we shall all be accountable from the quality of the ethical, moral and economic environment they will inherit for us.

I guess, that does make the task really, really urgent. - Rappler.com

(These are excerpts from a speech delivered by Senator Guingona on May 24 at the Best Practices and Standards for Anti-Money Laundering Compliance forum in Makati Shangri-la Hotel.)

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Aung San Suu Kyi to address UK parliament

LONDON, United Kingdom - Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi will be given the rare honor of addressing Britain's parliament on June 21 during her landmark first trip abroad in more than two decades, it was announced Wednesday.

The 66-year-old opposition leader spent much of the last two decades locked up in her Yangon home by Myanmar's former junta.

However, the democracy icon has now been issued with a passport and is able to travel abroad for the first time in 24 years.

Prime Minister David Cameron last month became the first Western leader in decades to visit Myanmar, and invited Aung San Suu Kyi to come to Britain.

House of Commons speaker John Bercow made the brief announcement in parliament's lower chamber on Wednesday.

"The prime minister has extended a formal invitation to Nobel Prize winner and newly-elected parliamentarian Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to visit the United Kingdom next month," he told lawmakers.

"At my request, and that of the Lords speaker, she has kindly agreed to address members of both houses in Westminster Hall on Thursday, 21st of June at 3:00pm (1400 GMT)," John Bercow told the chamber.

Westminster Hall is the oldest building at the Houses of Parliament in London, dating back to the 11th century.

For the few

Addressing both houses in the oak-timbered hall is a rare honor bestowed on few foreign dignitaries.

US President Barack Obama did so in May 2011 and Pope Benedict XVI in September 2010.

The only others since World War II are French president Charles de Gaulle in 1960 and South African president Nelson Mandela in 1996.

Cameron welcomed Bercow's announcement.

"She is a remarkable woman and for so many years has been effectively imprisoned in her own country," he said.

"It's an incredible testament to change in that country that she's now able to travel and to speak freely, including in this parliament."

Other confirmed stops on her landmark trip include Switzerland and Norway. She had previously been unwilling to leave for fear the former British colony's military rulers would not let her return.

Myanmar's relations with the international community have thawed rapidly since a nominally civilian government took over from the junta, and subsequent elections on April 1 gave Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy 43 seats in parliament.

On Cameron's visit soon afterwards, the pair called for the European Union to suspend sanctions against the impoverished country in reward for political reforms, and the bloc has since done so.

During her overseas trip, Aung San Suu Kyi will give a speech on June 14 to the International Labour Organization conference in Geneva.

She is also scheduled to make a speech in Oslo on June 16 to accept the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in 1991.

Her British husband Michael Aris, who died in 1999 while she remained imprisoned, and her two sons accepted the honour on her behalf.

Trip to Oxford

Her visit to Britain, where she lived for years with her family, will include a trip to Oxford in southern England, her university town.

The last person to address both houses in Westminster Hall was Queen Elizabeth II on March 20, in a speech marking her diamond jubilee.

The hall will also host a lunch for the sovereign marking her 60 years on the throne on June 5.

The lyings-in-state of several kings and queens, plus figures such as wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, have been held there.

The trials of king Charles I, Gunpowder Plot ringleader Guy Fawkes, Scottish independence leader William Wallace and Reformation martyr Thomas More were also held in the hall. - Agence France-Presse

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US$20-B sales in 2012? Possible says San Miguel chief

MANILA, Philippines - Diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. is aiming to increase target sales for all units more than 60% this year, after its president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang said its US$20 billion (est PhP860 billion) revenue target will be achieved by end of this year.

“We are ahead to achieve the $20 billion sales. We believe that we may even hit $20 billion revenues per year. We have set internally another target but I will not say how much,” Ang told reporters on May 23.

Originally the company set its $20 billion target revenue for 2015. Last year the conglomerate brought in P535.76 billion (or roughly $12.37 billion based on a 43.31 average exchange rate).

Asked about achieving the ambitious target, Ang said, "We have been buying good companies, that’s why.”

“Madami pa kaming gagawin. Marami pang opportunity sa labas na hinahabol naming at madami pa na opportunities sa Pilipinas. Ngayon ginagaya na kami ng lahat. Habang gumaganda, hinde namin ititigil ito. We will pursue our diversification. (We will be doing more acquisitions. We have a lot of opportunities here and outside the country. Now, others are copying our strategy. We will not stop. We will pursue our diversification strategy),” said Ang.

"Oh, you have not seen anything yet," he quipped.

San Miguel has been diversifying away from its decades-long food and drinks core businesses, and into heavy industries that they expect to bring in higher yields. Their business portfolio now includes mining, energy, power, banking, toll roads, agriculture and other utilities.

San Miguel's recent acquisition was a minority stake in legacy carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL). It also recently disposed its stake in Bank of Commerce for P12 billion. It has expressed interest in key infrastructure and capital intensive projects, including the upcoming NLEx-SLEx connector link project.

“If the timing is good this year, marami pa kaming gagawin (we will do more deals),” said Ang. - Rappler.com

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UN Security Council 'unfit for purpose': Amnesty

LONDON, United Kingdom - The UN Security Council has failed to match the courage shown by protesters around the world and is increasingly "unfit for purpose," Amnesty International said in its annual report Thursday, May 24.

The rights group called for the signing of a strong treaty on the global arms trade when the United Nations meets on the issue in July, saying it would be an acid test for world leaders to place rights over profits.

Amnesty highlighted the failure to end the bloodshed in Syria and said repeated vetoes by major arms exporters Russia and China had left the UN's top security body "looking redundant as a guardian of global peace."

The report also singled out emerging powers India, Brazil and South Africa, saying they were "complicit through their silence" on key rights issues.

"You've had people standing up, putting their lives on the line," Amnesty's Secretary General Salil Shetty told AFP.

"Unfortunately that has been met by a complete failed leadership both at the national and global level," he told AFP.

Shetty said that in the 21st century the UN Security Council was "simply not fit for purpose. If they do not change the way in which they behave, I think there are going to be increasing questions about the relevance of the body."

In its 50th annual report, Amnesty said the vocal support by many global powers in the early months of the Arab Spring in 2011 had not translated into action, with many international leaders now looking the other way.

Yielding to Syria

In Syria the group said there was a "clear and compelling case" for alleged crimes against humanity by Bashar Al-Assad's regime to be referred to the International Criminal Court.

"The determination of some UN Security Council members to shield Syria at any cost leaves accountability for these crimes elusive and is a betrayal of the Syrian people," said Shetty.

Russia and China have vetoed two Council resolutions which condemned Assad, and they fiercely oppose UN sanctions.

"Two countries that are among the top six arms dealers in the world, who are permanent members of the Security Council, may have been voting much more with their pocket in mind," said Widney Brown, senior director of international law and policy at Amnesty.

Amnesty said it was the conference on a global treaty limiting the arms trade in July that would really show whether UN member states were willing to take on serious challenges.

The conference is set for July 2-27 in New York. It follows an agreement in 2009 by most of the world's major weapons exporters, including the United States, to seek a treaty that strengthens controls on the trade.

"The UN meeting to agree an Arms Trade Treaty in July will be an acid test for politicians to place rights over self-interest and profit," the Amnesty report said.

"Without a strong treaty, the UN Security Council's guardianship of global peace and security seems doomed to failure; its permanent members wielding an absolute veto on any resolution despite being the world's largest arms suppliers."

The UN General Assembly passed a resolution in 2006 calling for such a treaty, but the United States, the world's biggest exporter of weaponry, voted against it, the only country to do so.

The report also focused on other areas, including:

- China, which Amnesty said had thrown the "full weight" of its security apparatus into suffocating protests.

- Russia, where civic activism grew amid the biggest protests since the Soviet Union, but opposition voices were "abused and systematically undermined."

- Myanmar, where the government allowed Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi to stand in elections and freed hundreds of political prisoners, although fighting with ethnic groups and fresh detentions showed "limits to the reform." - Agence France-Presse

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Pakistan jails doctor who helped in bin Laden hunt

WASHINGTON, United States of America - The US State Department said that Pakistan had no basis to hold or charge a surgeon who was sentenced Wednesday to 33 years in prison for helping in the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

A tribal court in Khyber, a lawless district and extremist hotbed, convicted surgeon Shakeel Afridi of treason after he agreed to collect DNA for US intelligence to verify the presence of the most-wanted Al-Qaeda leader.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland recalled that both US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had earlier raised concerns with Pakistan about the doctor's case.

"Our views on it haven't changed. We continue to see no basis for Dr. Afridi to be held," Nuland said. "We will continue to make those representations to the government of Pakistan."

When asked why she only referred to Afridi's charges and did not acknowledge his actual conviction and sentencing, Nuland said: "It's not clear that the legal process is over, OK? There may be other options for him legally."

Her muted remarks came as Washington and Islamabad, allies in the war on terror, struggle to repair ties that hit a low when US forces staged a secret raid into Pakistan that killed bin Laden in May last year.

Breaking point

They were strained to breaking point in November when US forces staged a botched raid that killed 24 Pakistani troops, prompting Islamabad to cut off the land route for supplies to NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Carl Levin and John McCain, the top senators from the two major US parties on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Afridi's sentence "shocking and outrageous" and urged Pakistan to pardon and free him immediately.

"Dr. Afridi's continuing imprisonment and treatment as a criminal will only do further harm to US-Pakistani relations, including diminishing Congress's willingness to provide financial assistance to Pakistan," they warned. - Agence France-Presse

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Magsaysay, Gwen Garcia joining Binay’s party

BINAY PARTYMATES. Zambales Rep Mitos Magsaysay and Cebu Gov Gwen Garcia will be the new partymates of Vice President Jejomar Binay

MANILA, Philippines – Two politicians identified with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo are joining Vice President Jejomar Binay’s political party.

Zambales Rep Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay and Cebu Gov Gwen Garcia are joining Binay’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban). This paves the way for their inclusion in Binay’s senatorial slate under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

Magsaysay and Garcia will take their oath as PDP-Laban members on Friday, May 25.

Binay will attend the oath-taking while President Benigno Aquino III’s uncle, PDP-Laban secretary-general Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. will administer the oath. (Read: PNoy uncle supports Erap-Binay coalition)

The event will be held at Cojuangco’s office in Makati.

In a phone interview, UNA spokesperson JV Bautista told Rappler that Magsaysay and Garcia’s oath-taking assures them of slots in UNA’s senatorial slate.

“It will only be a formality. We will make a formal announcement next week on the new UNA official candidates.”

UNA is a coalition between PDP-Laban and former President Joseph Estrada’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) for the 2013 polls. (For more on UNA, read our special reports: Binay and the Politics of Firsts, and UNA vs LP: What’s the difference?)

Mitos leaving Lakas

Bautista said Magsaysay’s inclusion in PDP-Laban means she will be leaving Arroyo’s political party, Lakas-CMD.

Magsaysay has been a staunch Arroyo defender while Garcia was also a key ally of the former President in vote-rich Cebu.

Bautista, however, said Garcia is not required to resign from her One Cebu Party because it is a local party that can align with UNA.

Magsaysay has long expressed her intention to join PDP-Laban. “She reached an agreement with the Vice President months ago and she has been travelling with him in sorties. They were together in Nueva Ecija.”

As for Garcia, Bautista said she visited Binay at his office in the Coconut Palace on April 24.

“This finalized the agreement for her to take her oath in PDP-Laban,” said Bautista.

2013 ALLIES. Zambales Rep Mitos Magsaysay will likely be named as an official senatorial candidate of Binay's coalition. File photo

UNA to announce more bets next week

So far, UNA has announced only 5 official senatorial candidates:

Sen Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (PDP-Laban president)Joey de Venecia (PDP-Laban executive vice president)Cagayan Rep Juan Ponce “Jackie” Enrile Jr.San Juan Rep Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito (PMP)Sen Gregorio Honasan

Bautista said UNA’s national executive committee will meet next week to finalize additional names for the senatorial slate.

The executive committee is composed of Binay, Estrada and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

The group was supposed to meet on Friday, May 25, but Bautista said it had to postpone the meeting because of the impeachment trial, where Enrile is presiding officer.

Mitos vs Gordon?

Also being eyed as an UNA senatorial bet is former Sen Richard Gordon, whose family is a bitter rival of the Magsaysays in Zambales.

Bautista downplayed a possible conflict arising from their inclusion in the same slate.

“The politics of the Gordons and the Magsaysays in Zambales is not that harmonious. But whatever differences they have will be subsumed under the necessity to run in a unified slate,” said Bautista.

UNA is also trying to resolve the rift between Pimentel and resigned Sen Juan Miguel Zubiri, who were rivals in the 2007 senatorial polls. – Rappler.com

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China: What 92 vessels in Scarborough?

92 VESSELS? Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei denies China has 92 vessels in Scarborough Shoal. File photo from China Foreign Ministry

MANILA, Philippines – China insisted it only has 20 fishing vessels in the disputed Scarborough Shoal after the Philippine government protested the supposed presence of up to 92 Chinese vessels in the area.

In a press briefing Wednesday, May 23, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said the number of fishing boats in the area – 20 – is roughly the same as in previous years. “The operating manners of the fishing boats are consistent with China's relevant laws as well as China's fishing moratorium orders,” Hong said.

Earlier, the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has monitored at least 16 Chinese fishing vessels and 76 utility boats in Scarborough Shoal as of Tuesday, May 22.

Utility boats, which Hong did not include in the count he released, usually operate alongside bigger fishing vessels.

Hong also failed to mention the presence of Chinese government vessels, which have been in Scarborough Shoal since day one of the standoff. The Philippines monitored at least 5 Chinese government vessels in the area Monday, May 21, as opposed to the 2 government vessels from the Philippines – one from PCG and another from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

'Regrettable'

The DFA has sent a note verbale to the Chinese embassy regarding the increase in Chinese vessels.

“It is regrettable that these actions occurred at a time when China has been articulating for a de-escalation of tensions and while the two sides have been discussing how to defuse the situation in the area,” the DFA said.

China has been moving toward what seem to be preparations for a military strike, said Southeast Asia maritime analyst Alec Almazan in a Thought Leaders piece for Rappler. (Read: Is China moving to attack the Philippines?)

Before the DFA's protest, a nuclear-powered United States submarine arrived near Scarborough Shoal in what is seen to be a sign of American support for the Philippines. It left as scheduled Saturday, May 19.

“Virtually undetectable when submerged and bristling with an array of cruise and anti-ship missiles, the deployment of the submarine is meant to send a strong message to China that the US is prepared to defend the Philippines in case of attack,” said Alec Almazan, who works as an analyst for the London-based Lloyd's List Intelligence Unit.

The Scarborough Shoal standoff between the Philippines and China is now approaching its second month. – Rappler.com

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CJ returning to Senate Friday, says lawyer

DEFYING DOCTORS. Chief Justice Renato Corona will return to the Senate Friday, defying doctors' orders. File photo by Joseph Vidal/PRIB/Senate Pool

MANILA, Philippines – Chief Justice Renato Corona will attend the impeachment trial Friday, May 25, lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas told reporters.

Corona will attend the trial in defiance of his doctors' medical advice, Cuevas said, according to reports by ABS-CBN News.

Earlier, prosecution spokesman Rep Juan Edgardo Angara said on Twitter that Corona is likely return to the witness stand Friday, quoting one of Corona's counsels. The counsel told Angara that Corona "is feeling better."

Corona remains in the intensive care unit (ICU) of The Medical City, Pasig City as of posting time. The hospital will issue a medical bulletin on his condition at 3 p.m. Thursday, May 24. – Rappler.com

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Pure divahood: Jennifer Holliday and Jessica Sanchez duet on AI

MANILA, Philippines - Young singer Jessica Sanchez did not win this year's American Idol, but her "killer duet" with Tony Award-winning actress Jennifer Holliday will likely be one of the most viewed clips from this season of the hit contest.

On Thursday, May 4, no one held back. It was pure divahood as they went back and forth, with their huge voices in full display as they sang And I Am Telling You.

Holliday's iconic performance of the song in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls, where she originated the role of Effie, catapulted her to national stardom. She's 51.

Sanchez, a 16-year-old bet with Filipino roots, sang it on Top 4 performance night and got rave reviews.

Watch their power performance below:

Netizens shared their reactions on the Jennifer-Jessica duet.

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Facebook sued over IPO

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read on.

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Phillip Phillips wins 'American Idol'

ELEVENTH "IDOL." Winner Phillip Phillips performs onstage during Fox's "American Idol 2012" results show at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on May 23, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Mark Davis/Getty Images/AFP

MANILA, Philippines - America has voted: Phillip Phillips is this season's "American Idol."

Host Ryan Seacrest announced the winner at the end of a two-hour, star-studded season finale for American television's highest-rating reality competition show, broadcast worldwide on Wednesday, May 23 (Thursday, May 24 in Manila).

Phillips bested Jessica Sanchez, ending the weeks-long competition in the search for the "next American superstar." The finale was dubbed as the battle of opposites: the sassy "diva-in-training" pitted against the dreamy, boy-next-door singer with a guitar as his best friend.

An "Idol" world record of 132 million votes were cast by America during the 4-hour voting window after Tuesday evening's (May 22; Wednesday, May 23 in Manila) penultimate broadcast, Seacrest announced at the start of the show.

Phillips' win marks the 5th consecutive time a male contestant won the show. He also continues the winning streak of contestants from the US south (he is the 7th; only Jordin Sparks, David Cook, and Lee DeWyze come from other regions).

Music megastars, as well as the other top finalists for the season - Joshua Ledet, Hollie Cavanagh, Skylar Laine, Elise Testone, Colton Dixon, DeAndre Brackensick, Heejun Han, Ericka Van Pelt, Shannon Magrane, and Jeremy Rosado - performed during the results night, broadcast live from the famed Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, California.

The night was filled with music from different decades, with performances from Credence Clearwater Revival's John Fogerty, Chaka Khan, Rihanna, Neil Diamond, Aerosmith, Wisin Y Yandel, Reba McEntire, Jordin Sparks, and Jennifer Holliday.

The male finalists paid tribute to the former Bee Gees member Robin Gibb in special number, while the girls performed a Donna Summer tribute.

There was even a surprise segment: season 5 finalist Ace Young proposed to girlfriend Diana DeGarmo, who was the runner up in Season 3.

Performance night

The previous night, the two finalists battled it out infront of 7,000 fans and millions more at home watching the proceedings live.

The two finalists tackled 3 songs each: Idol producer Simon Fuller's picks, the contestants' favorites in the whole season, and their potential first single if they win the competition - a song selected by the record company.

The two singers alternated in performing during the night, with Jessica going first.

During round one, Sanchez performed the Whitney Houston hit "I Have Nothing." Phillips, meanwhile, sang "Stand By Me," a Ben E. King original.

In round 2, the contestants performed songs they previously sang in the competition: Andrea Boccelli's "The Prayer" for Jessica, and Billy Joel's "Movin' Out" for Phillip.

Finally, original songs were the theme of the final round. Sanchez sang the ballad "Change Nothing," while Phillip performed the song "Home."

The judges - Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, and Randy Jackson - did not comment after each performance during the first two rounds, but gave their reactions after both contestants already finished singing.

The results were mixed. Round one of the last showdown went to Sanchez for her performance of a popular ballad that was right in her comfort zone, but Phillips snatched round 3 when he got a standing ovation from the judges. Round 2 was a draw, with one judge favoring Sanchez, one Phillips, and one saying it was a tie.

Predictions

Early on, Sanchez, the 16-year-old powerhouse from Chula Vista, California, was viewed as one of the favorites, with her performances of "I Will Always Love You," "The Prayer," and "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going."

On the other hand, Phillips, the 21-year-old former pawn shop worker from Leesburg, Georgia, was a bit off the radar in the first few weeks of the competition, but came strong in later weeks, with his performances of "Volcano," "Beggin'," and "We've Got Tonight."

Phillips becomes part of the elite group of "Idol" winners:

Kelly Clarkson (Season 1)Ruben Studdard (Season 2)Fantasia Barrino (Season 3)Carrie Underwood (Season 4)Taylor Hicks (Season 5)Jordin Sparks (Season 6)David Cook (Season 7)Kris Allen (Season 8)Lee DeWyze (Season 9)Scotty McCreery (Season 10)

The show, once the top-rated show in all of American television, has been suffering from major ratings drops.

From a high of as much as 40 million people tuning in for the show, ratings for the most recent broadcast (the finale performance show) dropped to 14.39 million according to Nielsen, the lowest ever finale show since season 1. - Rappler.com

Click on the links below for more of the American Idol finale.

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San Miguel ready to go to battle for CURE - Ang

MANILA, Philippines - In the battle for one of the remaining available 3G frequencies, two of the largest conglomerates in the country are up against the other.

Ramon Ang, the president of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp., declared on Wednesday, May 23, that they, too, will bid for the 3G frequency originally assigned to Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprises Inc. (CURE) and which the Ayala-led Globe Telecom desperately wants.

"We will bid to win," Ang told reporters.

He said the 10-megahertz (Mhz) frequency in the 2100 bandwidth is the latest item on his acquisition wish-list.

The San Miguel group, which has been in an acquisition binge in the past years, is the newest entrant in the local telecommunication industry via units Liberty Telecommunication and Extelcom.

The country's biggest telecommunication firm, Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT), has to give up all its rights and interests in CURE as part of the conditions set by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in approving PLDT's acquisition of third-ranked Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (Digitel) in October 2011.

After delaying turning over the frequency, PLDT recently promised to surrender CURE to regulators in July. PLDT would then be left with 25 MHz total frequencies.

If San Miguel were to win CURE, it would have 10 MHz of total spectrum, putting it in equal footing as the 2nd largest telecommunications firm, Globe.

In an April press con, Globe said that it needs CURE to maintain its premium customer base. At the time Globe CEO Ernest Cu, said he would "bid aggressively" for CURE, which will be instrumental in helping the company gain market share from PLDT.

Cu has remained confident the company will beat out a possible bid from Ang's SMC. In April he pointed out that telecommunications requires massive infusions of capital and that Globe had already invested heavily in creating its network, so SMC would have to pour in more money now to compete.

Ang said his group will focus on broadband if they are not able to acquire CURE. “We would have to stay in mobile broadband which is not the biggest market in the telecoms industry. The biggest right now is SMS and voice."

"Very soon, maybe within one year, we will offer voice and SMS. We are just waiting for the auction of the 21MHz frequency band,” said Ang.

San Miguel’s telco is present in the broadband arena under the wi-tribe brand which offers WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) technology that runs on a 4G (fourth generation) platform.

Ang suggested he would be willing to follow in the footsteps of Digitel and use low prices to undercut the competition.

"There are only two business models here. Either come in and be a nice guy with hopes that they pity you and give you market share or come in with low prices and gain market share,” the executive said.

Asked about his chances to win the bid for CURE, Ang said, "We leave it up to God and through good luck for us to win...Timing is the key. But we will come to that.”

He explained that San Miguel's telco interests would be housed in one group but the details are still be ironed out. - Rappler.com

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Google patents Project Glass design

16 May 2012 Last updated at 13:19 Images from the patents show different versions of the technology Search giant Google has patented the design of its augmented-reality glasses, known as Project Glass.

Three patents for a "wearable display device" with characteristics of the much-talked about futuristic glasses were submitted last autumn.

The patents reference such functions as displaying data in front of the wearer's eyes and playing audio.

In April, Google revealed details of its research into the glasses and showed a demo video of a prototype.

The patents show images of different versions of augmented reality glasses, some with lenses and some without.

Cyborg eye

Google is working on the project in its research lab, Google X.

The prototypes are currently being tested by the firm's executives, including Sergey Brin and Vic Gundotra.

The demo video showed science fiction-like glasses equipped with a microphone and partly transparent tiny screen right above the user's right eye.

The glasses are said to have many functions of a smartphone

Besides displaying information about the wearer's surroundings, the glasses were shown to be used to communicate with other people, browse the web, listen to music and also take photos.

Similar tech

There are other firms researching the augmented-reality eyewear.

For instance, Oakley is currently developing similar glasses targeted at athletes and other sportsmen and women.

A number of companies had attempted to pioneer the concept as well, but did not get very far because their versions required users to carry separate battery equipment, as analyst at Davies Murphy Group Europe told the BBC in an earlier interview.

"There are huge opportunities for tailored advertising with augmented reality systems - especially if they have in-built GPS location tracking," Chris Green said.

"The monetisation opportunities would be enormous - but there are still big issues involved with shrinking the technology and making the computer that receives and processes the data truly portable."

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Sexting threat comes from peers

16 May 2012 Last updated at 13:42 Teenage girls are coming under increasing pressure to text and email sexually explicit pictures of themselves, a report suggests.

The report, commissioned by the NSPCC, suggests the demands come from peers rather than from adults or strangers.

So-called sexting, the sending or receiving of sexual images by text or email, is thought to affect more than a third of under-18s.

More needs to be done to address the issue, the report concludes.

Sexual abuse

Entitled A Qualitative Study of Children and Young People, the study was conducted by researchers at King's College, London; the Institute of Education; and the London School of Economics.

"Up until now, e-safety campaigns have focused on preparing young people to face dangers posed by strangers online," said Professor Rosalind Gill from King's College, one of the authors.

"Our report suggests that the focus needs to shift to include the much more complicated issue of peer-to-peer communication and the difficulties and isolation young people experience in negotiating this," she added.

Jon Brown, head of the sexual abuse programme at the NSPCC, said the revelations were disturbing.

"What's most striking about this research is that many young people seem to accept all this as part of life. But it can be another layer of sexual abuse and, although most children will not be aware, it is illegal."

Cyberbullying

The in-depth interviews with 35 teenagers at two London schools found that girls as young as 11 were being asked to send "special photos" to boys who they knew.

In some cases, the girls had to write a name in black marker pen on a part of their body to show it was the "property" of a certain boy.

The teenagers also faced a "barrage" of messages from boys demanding for intercourse or oral sex.

"Even while we were interviewing them they were being bombarded with these messages," said lead researcher Jessica Ringrose, from the Institute of Education.

Such sexting is an extreme form of cyberbullying, the report concludes.

The study was launched at the House of Commons by Conservative MP Claire Perry.

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Mobile porn filters 'censorship'

15 May 2012 Last updated at 14:45 Pornography filters come as standard on many mobile phones Pornography filters on mobile phones are "censoring" normal web content, according to the Open Rights Group.

Its report found that 60 websites were incorrectly blocked by mobile filters designed to prevent children viewing adult content.

The affected sites included political commentaries, personal blogs and community websites.

The government is considering whether to apply similar blocks to fixed-line broadband services.

Peter Bradwell of the Open Rights Group, author of the report, said the study proved such tools were ineffective.

Automatic block

"Child protection filters can actually affect many more users than intended and block many more sites than they should. These blunt blocks effectively add up to a system of censorship across UK networks," he said.

In a response published on the ORG website, Hamish MacLeod, chairman of the Mobile Broadband Group, denied this.

"Even allowing for the ORG missing a few, 60 misclassified websites does not amount to anything that could reasonably be described as 'censorship', particularly when mobile operators are happy to remove the filters when customers show they are over 18 and will re-classify websites when misclassifications are pointed out to them," he said.

"This is how the small handful of websites that get referred to mobile operators each year are already dealt with," he added.

MPs campaigning

In 2004, the UK's mobile operators, under the auspices of the Mobile Broadband Group, published a code of practice about how to offer a safe browsing experience for children.

At that time, few children accessed the internet via mobiles.

The result was that filters were automatically put on all pay-as-you-go handsets, regardless of the age of the user. In order to remove the filters, users needed either to ring up customer services or go into a mobile shop with proof of age. With its contract phones, Orange and Three customers need to ask if they want filters put on the handsets.

A group of MPs led by Conservative Claire Perry is campaigning to introduce similar filters to fixed line broadband services.

Mr Bradwell called on the government to reject automatic network filtering and instead give parents the option of whether they want such filters turned on.

"Default-on blocks can have significant harmful and unintended consequences for everybody's access to information," he said.

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Virgin Atlantic allows air calls

16 May 2012 Last updated at 16:32 Only six people on board will be allowed to make calls at once Passengers flying with Virgin Atlantic from London to New York will soon be able to make in-flight phone calls using their personal mobile devices.

Only six people will be allowed to talk at once, and phones will still have to be turned off at take-off and landing.

By the end of 2012, the service could be available on at least 20 planes, the company has said.

Analysts say that in-flight calls and wi-fi are the future, and soon the technology will be on most aeroplanes.

The service will be available on the airline's Airbus A330 from London to New York.

Mobile access will be provided by AeroMobile, and only customers of European carriers Vodafone and O2 or the US carrier T-Mobile will be able to make calls.

"Many people will have experienced that moment when you're about to take off on a 10-hour flight and you need to send an important message to the office, or even reminding a family member to feed the cat," Virgin Atlantic's chief operating officer Steve Griffiths said in the firm's press release.

"It's also quite fun to call home and say, 'Guess where I am' - not many people would think you're travelling at 35,000ft above the Atlantic Ocean."

Phone calls will not be free - passengers will be charged what they usually pay for international roaming calls.

Only six people will be able to talk on the phone at the same time due to limited bandwidth available on the system, said Virgin Atlantic's spokesperson.

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission bans the use of mobile phones on aeroplanes, so passengers will not be allowed to make calls when approaching US airspace.

Although Virgin Atlantic is the first British carrier to allow passengers to make phone calls above the clouds, several others have similar services.

In 2008, Dubai-based Emirates became the first airline to allow flyers to use their phones while in the air.

Internet calls The service will be available on the airline's Airbus A330 from London to New York

Some passengers have been using the existing in-flight internet technology offered on a number of planes around the world for voice communications.

"I had a Skype conference with a client who was flying from Miami to Washington DC while I was in the office in Hampshire," Chris Bignell, managing director of XL Communications, told the BBC.

"I was astonished that I got a Skype message from him saying he was in the air and I thought he was joking, so I tried to call him to catch him out.

"Apparently it was about $10 [to use wi-fi] on the flight. I think mainly people just thought it was someone using an iPad but they must have found it slightly strange when he was trying to talk to me via video call.

"The quality of the video was good but the audio was not so good - mostly because of the plane's background noise - the video was fine so I took a couple of shots."

'Flight safety'

However, the head of smartphone app Viber, Talmon Marco, was told to stop making in-flight calls using his app - and was even met by police when the Delta flight he was on landed in New York.

Continue reading the main story

I placed a call using Viber to an associate to see how it's working (it was working great!) and after a couple of minutes I was approached by a flight attendant asking that I hang up”

End Quote Talmon Marco Viber "I placed a call using Viber to an associate to see how it's working (it was working great!) and after a couple of minutes I was approached by a flight attendant asking that I hang up," he told the BBC.

"At first I thought she was mistaking my call for a regular phone call using the cellular network but I still hung up right away and proceeded to explain that this was VoIP on wi-fi - not cellular.

"To my surprise, she said that FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) regulations forbid VoIP as well due to flight safety reasons.

"I tried to explain that there is no way that the FAA will forbid VoIP and she insisted that this was the case."

Another flight attendant then told him that calling in-flight was not an FAA regulation but part of the terms of service of the onboard internet provider, GoGo.

Mr Marco was escorted off the plane by two police officers, who then let him go.

Although in-flight communications have been slow to properly take off, there is little doubt that soon, internet browsing and phone calls at 36,000ft will be available on most planes, Diogenis Papiomytis from consulting firm Frost & Sullivan told the BBC.

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Sorkin to write Steve Jobs biopic

16 May 2012 Last updated at 08:13 GMT Sorkin (right) previously wrote The Social Network, about Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is to write the script for Sony Pictures' upcoming biopic of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

The film is based on Walter Isaacson's authorised biography and is unconnected to another proposed screen biopic, to which Ashton Kutcher has been linked.

West Wing creator Sorkin won an Oscar in 2011 for writing The Social Network.

Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal said there was "no writer working in Hollywood today who is more capable of capturing such an extraordinary life".

"In his hands, we're confident that the film will be everything that Jobs himself was: captivating, entertaining and polarising," she continued.

It was reported last month that Two and a Half Men actor Kutcher would play Jobs in a film directed by Joshua Michael Stern.

Production is scheduled to begin this month on the film said to follow Jobs' progression from "wayward hippie to revered creative entrepreneur".

Sorkin is the creator of upcoming HBO series The Newsroom, a behind the scenes look at a fictional cable news channel starring Jeff Daniels and Britain's Emily Mortimer.

He is also writing a new stage musical about the illusionist Harry Houdini, to open in Broadway in 2013 or 2014 with Hugh Jackman in the lead.

Jobs, the former chief executive of and driving force behind US technology giant Apple, died last October aged 56.

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Diablo III players report game bug

By Jasmine Coleman
Newsbeat reporter Gamers have discovered a bug in the eagerly anticipated Diablo III which they say throws them out of the system.

It comes after servers crashed under the weight of players trying to log in online after the game's release on Monday night (14 May).

There were so many complaints #error37 was trending on Twitter.

The game's developer Blizzard Entertainment has said it is aware of the bug and is working to fix it.

'Game breaking'

Diablo III comes more than a decade after the release of the previous instalment of the dungeon role-playing game.

Blizzard, which also makes World of Warcraft, was forced to take down its websites temporarily and add more servers to cope with demand.

And now players have reported a game breaking bug that means they are disconnected when they give a shield to a character known as the Templar follower.

Blizzard said: "We're aware of this issue and working to resolve it as quickly as possible. Thank you all for your reports."

It has asked customers to go through a login before starting to play the game in an attempt to tackle piracy.

But some were unhappy with how long it took.

One Twitter user posted: "Man, Diablo III is super hard. I've been playing for 30 minutes and haven't even defeated the login screen."

Blizzard released a statement online shortly afterwards, saying: "Please note that due to a high volume of traffic, login and character creation may be slower than normal.

"We've temporarily taken our Battle.net websites offline and launched more servers to accommodate for the traffic. We hope to resolve these issues as soon as possible and appreciate your patience."

The company announced later on Tuesday that the servers and websites were up and running again.

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Sina swings to loss on expenses

16 May 2012 Last updated at 02:41 GMT Michael Clendenin from RedTech Advisors in Shanghai says Facebook may not be able to pose a serious challenge to sites like Weibo in China

Sina Corp, China's largest internet portal and media website, has swung to a loss in the first three months of the year.

Its first quarter net loss was $13.7m (£8.6m) compared with a profit of $15m in the same period last year.

The company said advertising revenue jumped 9%, sending its shares up 10% after hours.

However that was outpaced by rising costs, mostly on its Twitter-like microblogging site Weibo.

Weak market

Sina makes most of its revenue from online advertising and analysts said the Chinese online advertising market has been softening.

Sina also blamed slowing economic growth in China for its losses.

"Our brand advertising business got off to a relatively slow start in the first quarter due to the softening of macroeconomic conditions in China," said Charles Chao, Sina's chief executive.

Sina said most of its spending was on hiring employees and setting up infrastructure for its micro-blogging business.

New rules Sina Corp's results beat Wall Street expectations with advertising revenue rising despite a weak Chinese market

The company also said it would continue to invest in Weibo's potential.

"The initial feedback from advertisers on our Weibo advertising is encouraging, and we believe it is critical that Sina continues its significant investments in social media and related initiatives," said Charles Chao, Sina's chief executive.

Weibo already has 300 million users.

Recently Chinese authorities disabled the commenting function on microblogs, including Wiebo, for three days. Officials criticised the spreading of "unfounded" rumours.

In Beijing, users now have to register with real identities to post online.

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Nvidia aims for fastest computer

15 May 2012 Last updated at 21:10 GMT By Leo Kelion Technology reporter, BBC News The US government plans to install nearly 19,000 of Nvidia's new GPUs into its Titan supercomputer later this year Chip maker Nvidia has revealed details of a new graphics processing unit (GPU) which it says will create the world's most powerful computer.

Thousands of the firm's Tesla K20 modules will be fitted to an existing supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, US.

Nvidia says the machine will run nearly eight times faster than at present, carrying out up to 25,000 trillion floating point operations per second.

It marks the shift to hybrid computing.

Traditionally supercomputers relied on central processing units (CPUs) to carry out most of their calculations.

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A machine like Titan has a budget of around 10 megawatts, and that costs roughly $10m per year just for the electricity”

End Quote Steve Scott, Chief technology officer, Nvidia While CPUs tend to outpace GPUs at carrying out a single set of instructions, GPUs have an advantage in that they can carry out hundreds of tasks at the same time.

This makes GPUs particularly suited for what are termed "parallisable" jobs - processes that can be broken down into several parts and run simultaneously because the outcome of any one calculation does not determine the input of another.

Hybrid computing involves combining a system with CPUs and GPUs and then writing software to divide up work to best take advantage of each type of processor's strengths.

Parallel power

Oak Ridge is the US Department of Energy's biggest science laboratory and the souped-up computer is expected to be used to help develop more energy-efficient engines for vehicles, improved biofuels and to model climate change.

Time on the computer will also be rented to third parties.

Continue reading the main story

The concept of a special card to accelerate images drawn on screen dates back to the 1980s, although Nvidia coined the term to market one of its products in 1999.

As the name suggests, the original focus of the chips was to improve graphics performance whether to offer gamers more detailed animations or to help computers play video files.

But increasingly their makers are focusing on their suitability for other tasks.

The oil and gas industry is probably the biggest market for high-end GPUs. It uses them to help analyse seismic surveys to work out where best to drill to maximise the amount of fossil fuel that can be extracted.

Other popular uses include cryptanalysis, molecular modelling and biochemistry simulations.

In 2007, none of the world's most powerful 500 supercomputers made use of GPU-accelerated systems.

But last year the list included 35 systems and that number is expected to keep growing.

"If you take a look at scientific applications, 99% of the operations can be done in a highly parallel manner, and that can be done much more efficiently by large numbers of very simple GPU processors than on a traditional CPU burning a lot of power trying to make a single thread go fast," Steve Scott, Nvidia's chief technology officer, told the BBC.

"I liken CPUs to a Tour de France where a whole team of trucks and support staff are built around one athlete to help them win the race - a lot of energy making one thing go fast - as opposed to a parallel throughput approach where you make thousands of things in aggregate go fast."

Investment

Nvidia says the addition of its chips should allow Oak Ridge's Titan system to leapfrog from the world's third fastest supercomputer to the top spot.

But the extra speed comes at a cost.

The upgrade is expected to involve the addition of almost 19,000 Tesla K20s. Each is set to have a list price of between $1,500 and $2,000 (£930-£1,245), although the laboratory will get a discount for buying in bulk.

However, the investment will be partly offset by the fact that the machine should burn up less energy.

Cutting clock speeds

A focus on maximising performance per watt led Nvidia to take the unusual step of making the cores in its new Kepler architecture run about a third slower than their equivalents in its previous generation of chips.

There will be more than 2,000 cores in the Kepler GPU that powers the Tesla K20

But because the cores use smaller transistors, more cores can be crammed on to each GPU - in this case more than 2,000 per processor.

Nvidia says that its technology will allow Titan to be more than twice as powerful as the current record holder- Fujitsu's K Computer in Japan - and also more than three times as energy efficient.

"A machine like Titan has a budget of around 10 megawatts, and that costs roughly $10m per year just for the electricity, so people are concerned about the electrical bills," said Mr Scott.

"They are also concerned about how much power they can provide to their facility as there is a limited amount of power you can get from the utilities.

"Oak Ridge is probably the best site in the world at providing additional power, but a lot of other centres are limited in their power and cooling infrastructure and so for them their facilities do constrain the amount of performance that they can get."

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HTC shares dip on shipment delay

16 May 2012 Last updated at 09:06 GMT The success of the new models is being considered as key to HTC's fortunes Shares of Taiwan's HTC have fallen after US customs officials held up shipments of its new smartphones.

In December, HTC was found guilty of infringing a patent held by Apple and there is a ban on the sale of any HTC phones in the US that use technology involving that patent.

HTC said that it had altered its technology and design, but that the shipments still require inspection.

Its shares dropped 6.6% to close at NT$411 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

"The US availability of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed due to a standard US customs review of shipments that is required after an International Trade Commission exclusion order," the firm said in a statement.

Setback The Taiwanese firm, which was one of the early leaders in Android-powered smartphones, has been hurt by increasing competition in the sector.

Last month, it reported that its first quarter net profit had dropped by 70% from a year earlier.

It also said revenues had fallen by 35% during the period, raising concerns that it was fast losing out to rivals such as Samsung and Apple.

In an attempt to regain its market share, the firm announced the launch of the new models earlier this year.

Analysts said that the delay in the shipment of these models was a setback for the firm as it was likely to hurt sales in one of its key markets and result in the competition gaining more ground.

However, HTC said it was trying to resolve the issue with the authorities.

"We believe we are in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with customs to secure approval."

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Government to miss cookie cut-off

17 May 2012 Last updated at 00:07 By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News The UK government has a vast portfolio of services available online, such as this Directgov portal Ahead of a nationwide deadline over regulating the use of cookies, the BBC has learned that the "majority" of the UK government's own websites will fail to comply in time.

All UK sites have been given until 26 May to make sure visitors are able to give "informed consent" over cookies.

Cookies are pieces of personal data stored when users browse the web.

The Cabinet Office said the government was "working to achieve compliance at the earliest possible date".

Once the new rules take force, consent will most likely be obtained by ticking a "yes" box when visiting a site - although other approaches have been suggested.

The regulations are designed to protect user privacy when using the web.

"As in the private sector, where it is estimated that very few websites will be compliant by the 26th May, so it is true of the government estate," a Cabinet Office spokesman told the BBC.

"The majority of department websites will not be compliant with the legislation by that date."

Showing 'commitment'

The BBC understands that the sites, which range from those run by local councils to national departments, have been told that no action will be taken by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over the deadline miss - provided they were "showing a commitment" to eventually make changes.

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Cookies are small files that allow a website to recognise and track users. The ICO groups them into three overlapping groups:

Session cookies

Files that allow a site to link the actions of a visitor during a single browser session. These might be used by an internet bank or webmail service. They are not stored long term and are considered "less privacy intrusive" than persistent cookies.

Persistent cookies

These remain on the user's device between sessions and allow one or several sites to remember details about the visitor. They may be used by marketers to target advertising or to avoid the user having to provide a password each visit.

First and third-party cookies

A cookie is classed as being first-party if it is set by the site being visited. It might be used to study how people navigate a site.

It is classed as third-party if it is issued by a different server to that of the domain being visited. It could be used to trigger a banner advert based on the visitor's viewing habits.

"The impression I'm getting from the ICO is that even if there are complaints and you're found not to be compliant, unless it can be shown your intent was to avoid compliance, then they would work with you," said Mike MacAuley from the Local Government Association, which has hosted discussions on the issue.

The ICO did not want to comment on the issue when contacted by the BBC.

On 26 May the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) imposes an EU directive designed to protect internet users' privacy.

The law says that sites must provide "clear and comprehensive" information about the use of cookies.

In computing, cookies are small text files that help organise and store browsing information. However, cookies are increasingly being used to power targeted advertising, by gathering data about sites visited and search terms used.

It is these "tracking" cookies, which users do not often know about, which the EU hopes to clamp down on with the regulations.

The deadline had originally been set for May last year. However, the ICO - which will be enforcing the rules in the UK - decided to give firms an extra year to comply with the laws in order to avoid an "overnight" change.

At the time, communications minister Ed Vaizey said: "It will take some time for workable technical solutions to be developed, evaluated and rolled out so we have decided that a phased in approach is right."

'No problem'

While government websites do not carry advertising, cookies are still used to carry out various tasks, such as helping site administrators monitor levels of traffic.

"If people listen to our advice and are prepared to take steps towards compliance there shouldn't be a problem," Dave Evans, the ICO's group manager for business and industry, told E-Consultancy last month.

"However, if businesses deliberately stop short of total compliance, then there is a risk."

Mr MacAuley said meetings had been held earlier this month between the LGA's members and the ICO to discuss how best to comply.

"I think the issue is really more about what the spirit of the regulations is intended to prevent," he said.

"They're intended to prevent any kind of malicious exploitation of cookies, or any wilful avoidance of the regulations. I think the ICO takes a very dim view of that.

"However I don't think local governments would in any way try to do either of those things."

Business frustration

Vinod Bange, a lawyer for Taylor Wessing who has spent time consulting companies who are cautious of the changes, said the small number of businesses who have invested in meeting the guideline deadline could be left feeling frustrated.

The ICO's website has implemented its own consent mechanism on its site

"There will be some companies out there wondering why they've gone to the expense, and committed a lot of resource, into trying to tackle a problem which is not going to be enforced," he said.

In the interview with E-Consultancy, the ICO's Mr Evans said there would not be a team of investigators seeking out infringing sites, but would act on complaints.

"How likely it is that complaints will flood in, we don't know," he said.

"It may be that the great British public simply isn't that concerned about cookies."

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