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Batanes Island

Posted by Unknown On 12:41 AM 1 comments

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A number of devastating storms have battered Batanes Island, but this province still stands today. Located on the extreme northern edge of the Philippines, Batanes is the least populated province but it remains one of the most beautiful.
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Photo Credit: Flickr: jep

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Photo Credit: commons.wikimedia.org

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Photo Credit: Flickr: 62822983@N04

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Calaguas Island, Camarines Norte

Posted by Unknown On 12:40 AM 0 comments

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The Calaguas is a group of islands in the province of Camarines Norte that includes 3 major islands and several minor islands. If you are looking to escape the main islands you should head to Calaguas Island, which is one of the lesser-known beaches in the Philippines. Campers and backpackers enjoy the well-maintained powdery white sand beaches found here.
Camarines Norte is equally stunning, albeit more crowded, just like the other main islands–Vinzons and Paracale.
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Photo Credit: commons.wikimedia.org

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Photo Credit: Flickr: natcastaritas

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Photo Credit: iamtravelinglight.com

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Photo Credit: Flickr: 119358449@N03

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Close VP race could drag out canvassing

Posted by Unknown On 7:50 PM 0 comments

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By Paolo Romero

Leaders of the House of Representatives vowed to ensure the smooth canvassing of votes for president and vice president this week, but also raised the possibility of being hampered by the tight race for the vice presidency.

The Senate and the House are set to convene jointly on Wednesday as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) to tally the votes for president and vice president.

The two chambers will resume session today and they are expected to adopt a resolution calling for a joint session of Congress to act as NBOC.

After the approval of the joint resolution, the Senate and the House are expected to pass tomorrow the canvassing rules and appoint members of the canvassing panel from the two chambers.

The canvassing process is scheduled to start on Wednesday with the opening of ballot boxes containing the certificates of canvass (COCs).

The Senate, for its part, has named its representatives to the NBOC.

Apart from Senate President Franklin Drilon, Senators Aquilino Pimentel III, Juan Edgardo Angara, Teofisto Guingona III, Loren Legarda, and Paolo Benigno Aquino were nominated to represent the Senate in the NBOC, which will convene on Tuesday.

Angara said some senators have met and agreed on the composition of the panel.

To ensure impartiality and objectivity, Angara said those who ran for president and vice-president were excluded: Senators Grace Poe, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Alan Peter Cayetano, Gregorio Honasan, Francis Escudero and Antonio Trillanes IV.

Sen. Nancy Binay, daughter of Vice President Jejomar Binay who lost in the presidential race, was also not included.

Pimentel, president of PDP-Laban whose standard bearer was incoming president Rodrigo Duterte, was chosen to replace Cayetano.

Angara said the Senate contingent will be led by the Senate president as counterpart of the Speaker, supported by the majority leaders of both chambers.

Since Cayetano ran with Duterte as vice presidential candidate, he would not be part of the Senate contingent as majority leader, Angara said. Pimentel is the deputy.

“There is no problem with Congressman Gonzales since he did not run for any national elective position,” Angara said, referring to House Majority Leader Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II.

Gonzales, for his part, said that while every effort will be made to speed up the canvassing, it is also anticipating some delays owing to the close fight between Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo and Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the vice-presidential race.

“We’re not really sure how intense the battle for vice president will turn out,” Gonzales told dzBB.

“The possible clash will be between those representing presumptive president Rodrigo Duterte, who naturally want it (canvassing) to be faster, and probably those in the vice- presidential race,” he said.

The latest unofficial tally from the transparency servers of the Commission on Elections showed Robredo leading Marcos by over 200,000 votes.

Last week, Robredo’s camp claimed victory, saying even if she will get zero votes from the remaining untallied voting precincts, the Liberal Party bet will win by over 20,000 votes.

Marcos’ camp, however, alleged some form of fraud that allowed Robredo to overtake his lead.

Gonzales pointed out that all of Duterte’s rivals, except Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, have conceded defeat, which should make the canvassing of votes for president go on smoothly.

He said this has a bearing on the canvassing of votes for vice president as votes of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates will be canvassed virtually simultaneously from each COC.

“For example a COC from a province, there will be only one observation (by members of the canvassing panel) on the COC after inspecting it. It can’t be that there are differing observations on the vote for president and vice president because it comes from only one COC,” he said.

Gonzales said the canvassing process would be continuous but there were no specific rules yet.

He recalled the 2010 canvassing where President Aquino was proclaimed on June 10.

The 16th Congress, which began on July 22, 2013, will adjourn sine die its third and last regular session on June 10.

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Social media changes landscape of Phl elections

Posted by Unknown On 6:52 PM 0 comments

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Social media has changed the landscape of the recently concluded Philippine elections, according to Twitter.

Pratiksha Rao, head for media partnerships in Twitter Southeast Asia, said social media, particularly Twitter, absolutely played a critical role in the general election when over 35 million election tweets were sent since the start of the year, of which over four million tweets came on election day.

“First-time voters accounted for one-third of the 50 million registered voters, meaning that around 17 million votes were up for grabs and social media is the best way to reach young Filipinos. That’s why we called this the first-ever Twitter Election in the Philippines,” Rao told The STAR.

He said one of the most important contributions of Twitter was that it was used to provide more transparency and fairness for the general election.

“The beauty of Twitter is that Filipinos could see a wide range of political views and comments about the candidates in order to make a more informed voting decision. People come to Twitter for diversity. In addition, people have been reporting voting irregularities via Twitter using the #Sumbongko hashtag and Comelec has been responding in real-time to address their concerns. In fact, one of the most retweeted tweets on election day was a reply tweet from the Comelec spokesman to investigate selfie photos with the ballot,” Rao said.

Twitter also saw the youth voice moved the election.

“For example, many of the most shared tweets on election day came from young Filipinos talking about the early election results. Even though they only have several hundred followers, their tweets were retweeted several thousand times, showing how any Filipino voice can be heard around the world on Twitter, Rao said.

Because so many young people were active on Twitter, the social media giant created special election emojis for the presidential candidates and for voting day to give the first-time voters a fun way to express themselves on Twitter.

“Young people loved the emoji designs, from the faces of the presidential candidates to an inked voting finger, which increased engagement on our platform especially for live conversations around the key moments during the election,” he said.

Last year, Twitter partnered with Comelec to get more Filipinos to participate in the election process and join the election conversation this year. The partnership focused on enabling Filipinos to get live updates on the election, to connect with others for a wide variety of political viewpoints and to express their thoughts and ideas about the candidates and election campaigns.

“There’s no doubt that Twitter contributed to the record voter turnout of over 80 percent on election day with over four million elections-related tweets on that day alone,”Rao said.

Twitter also enabled the live conversations around the elections to give people the pulse of the nation.

“For example, there were over five million tweets combined for the presidential TV debates, showing how Filipinos loved watching TV and tweeting about the candidates at the same time. Many user-generated Twitter trends and hashtags were created during the live TV broadcasts, from the #DuRiam hashtag when Duterte and Santiago hugged each other to the #PilipinasDelate hashtag when the second debate started late.

Even on election day, the Twitter conversation peaked at 5,600 tweets per minute at 7:30 p.m. when the early election results came out and people were discussing in real-time on Twitter.

He said that on election day, Twitter saw that mentions of Binay started strongly on Twitter but faded throughout the day, while mentions of Duterte started slowly on Twitter but peaked at the end of the day.

“Twitter is a reflection of society and the real-time nature of our platform is a leading indicator of what Filipinos think about the candidates during the election campaign and on voting day,” he said.

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China angered as Filipino protesters visit South China Sea island

Posted by Unknown On 7:20 PM 0 comments

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China expressed anger on Monday after a group of Filipino protesters landed on a disputed Philippine-held island in the disputed South China Sea.

About 50 protesters, most of them students, reached Thitu island in the Spratly archipelago on Saturday in a stand against what they say is Beijing's creeping invasion of the Philippine exclusive economic zone, said Eugenio Bito-onon, the island's mayor.

China claims almost all the South China Sea, believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

China was "strongly dissatisfied" by what the Filipinos had done, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, reiterating that China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly islands.

"We once again urge the Philippines to withdraw all its personnel and facilities from the islands that it is illegally occupying, refrain from actions that are detrimental to regional peace and stability and not conducive to Sino-Philippines relations," Lu said.

Describing their expedition as a "a patriotic voyage", the protesters, led by an ex-marine captain, plan to camp on the island, which the Philippines calls Pagasa, for three days in a symbolic act of defiance.

Government and military officials had tried to prevent the group from sailing to the disputed waters, citing security and safety reasons after a storm in the South China Sea earlier this month.

The Philippines was also concerned about China's reaction to trip as Manila has been trying to calm tensions heightened by Beijing's rapid expansion in the South China Sea - building seven artificial islands in the disputed waters.

The Philippines has challenged Beijing before the arbitration court in The Hague, a case Beijing has not recognised.

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Virtual Families 2 1.5.0.1 Free

Posted by Unknown On 9:54 PM 0 comments

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Description

Virtual Families 2: Our Dream House
The sequel to the smash hit is finally here!
Adopt a little person from the thousands of choices of little people who live inside your computer. Help them choose a mate, and start a family! Encourage them to work in their chosen career to earn money for necessities and luxuries. Expand and renovate the house. Make it your Dream House and shop for tons of items: make a nursery, a music room or even a game room! Help your little person get through the challenges of life and shape their personalities with all sorts of upgrades, from boarding school to career counseling and many more! Along the way, there will be many different random events to respond to, all of them adding unexpected elements to the daily routine of life. It is a virtual pet, and a family ...

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CAUSTIC Unlock Key 1.0.0

Posted by Unknown On 6:48 PM 0 comments

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Description

This is the key to unlock CAUSTIC to full version mode. The full version enables song saving as well as exporting to WAV, Ogg and MIDI.

MAKE SURE YOU'VE TRIED CAUSTIC ON YOUR DEVICE BEFORE PURCHASING THIS.

Once installed, simply close the installer and return to CAUSTIC, it will be unlocked.

(If you had already unlocked CAUSTIC v1.x, contact the developer with your order number)

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Are you Really Hate Marcus? Think first before Judge

Posted by Unknown On 8:15 PM 0 comments

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I use to hate this man growing up because that's what they taught us in school. Aquino = Good,…. Marcos = Bad. But then i realized not everything they teach you in school is true. History is written by the Victors.
When I was young I was a supporter of the Aquino due to the fact that most people considered them as heroes, and the media and elementary grade history-books (SIBIKA) considers President Marcos as the villain. Even 2-3 years ago I am a great supporter of PNoy but as his reign as the president I am unsatisfied with his governance.

Then, a classmate and a friend told me that President Marcos was the best president and I my reaction is like "WTF!? that guy is the villain for goodness sake!".

Curiosity got the better of me and I research the history of President Marcos, there I understood that the people I looked up to in my childhood was false that is painted with baised opinion and the media, there my eyes opens as it showed me that the 'villain' painted during my 1st level of education is actually a HERO of this country.

I now know what President Marcos did, and it showed it was all for the best of my country and those who succeded him, especially the Aquino, are all frauds that should never have been given the position of the leader of this country!

Here are more facts..
Sana sa kanyang pagdedeklara ng Martial Law
ay agaran din na reinstate ang Writ ( with condition )
with exception sa mga aktwal na nahuling mga rebelde
na in possession of firearms ( sa kanila lang di applicable ung writ sana ) sa mga rebelde na nang gugulo at pumapatay

( since ML was enacted for the purpose of their elimination )
Wala rin patunay na nagnakaw siya ng $36 billion
noong 1960 - 1980
Dahil walang ganong kalakeng pera ang Pilipinas
Nasa $3 - 5 billion lang ang pondo ng gobyerno kada taon
At bago mo makuha ung $36 billion
That means 90% ng pera ng bayan nanakawin mo taon taon
Which is so obvious to the point na
Di na aandar ung pamahalaan
( But thats not the case )
We saw many programs such as
- Masagana 99 Rice Self Sufficiency ( Nasira din by mid 1980s
- Metro Aide projects
- NLEX
- LRT First In South East Asia
- MIA was rennovated
( In 1981 MIA was among the modern in ASEAN )
- Hospitals
- 20,000 Classrooms in Schol projects in 2 years
- 1967 . Modernization of Air Force to Jet Age
- 1977. Modernization of newer Air Force Jets
- 1979. Development of Local missile programs
At Dahil Dito Kinatakutan Ang bansang Pilipinas sa Buong Rehiyon ng Kontinenteng Asya, Pero Ngayon, halos, Gawin Na lang Tayong Tuta, Walang Kapangyarihan sa Mga Sarili nating mga Lupain na Kina kamkam ng Mga dayunhan,. at ina angkin ang ilang Bahagi ng ating mga Karagatan.
Pinangarap pa nga daw ni Macoy na magka sariling
SPACE PROGAM ang Pilipinas before 2000!
Totoong baon sa utang ang Pilipinas noong 1980
Pero alam nyo ba...
Na mas baon ang South Korea kesa sa atin sa utang??
Sila napaandar nila ung inutang nila
> Naging mga LARGE BUSINESSES gaya ng
> Samsung , Kia, Hyundai, Hanjin, LG atbp
Ang Pilipinas wala. lahat ng mga pinundar na negosyo
gaya ng car manufacturing noon.
Bago pa man nag 1990s na bankrupt lahat
Remember 1983 - 1989?
How many Millions of Filipinos lost their jobs
to to political turmoil??
ang ganda ganda ng Economiya ng Pilipinas
nung 1973-1981. we were poised to be
at per capita $990 by 1987
Instead it was delayed by more than 20 years
1981 : $650
1982 : $705
1983 : $810
1984 : $705 ( Marcos was no longer in control )
1985 : $665
1986 : $555
1987 : $610 < ( was due to rising prices )
( So why blame 1983 - 1986 economic downfall on Marcos? )
Why not blame it on violent events that took place?
( That made BILLIONS OF US$ fly away from our Economy )
in just months left thousands unemployed
and left millions more to be forced to go Abroad!
Anlaking kawalan non
Mala Malaysia na sana na Economy by 1989
Instead na naibalik natin ung Economic status natin
with Malaysia and Thailand by 1990s
Wala. naunahan pa tayo ng Thailand at Indonesia!
( Is Marcos to Blame?? )
In 1981 our GDP was larger than Thailand and Malaysia
and our per capita was $705 ( half of South Korea )
Now our per capita is not even 1/8 of South Korea

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Fractal Combat X APK

Posted by Unknown On 11:54 PM 0 comments

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Action-packed 3D flight combat game, with progressively intense gameplay!

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Fractal Combat X Description from Publisher:
FCX is an action-packed flight combat game, sporting top notch 3D graphics and a progressively intense gameplay!

MAIN FEATURES
- Exciting, fast-paced arcade flight combat action
- Top notch 3D graphics
- Virtual Reality support via Google Cardboard, Homido, etc.
- Unique gorgeous fractal landscapes
- Dozens of missions in Story mode
- New missions every day!
- Game Controller support: Android HID, MOGA, NVidia, Nyko
- Epic sound tracks
- Arcade and Simulator modes
- Google Services: Leaderboards, Achievements, Cloud Save
PARTNERS
- Native support for Intel x86 and Intel GPUs, including OpenGL ES 3.2!
- As featured in TegraZone!
- Play it on NVIDIA SHIELD
- Fractal Combat X is now MOGA Enhanced! Available at major retailers, carrier stores and online at http://www.MOGAanywhere.com

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Phivolcs raises tsunami alert over 20 provinces

Posted by Unknown On 12:06 AM 0 comments

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LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines — The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has raised a tsunami alert over 20 provinces in the country following the magnitude-8.3 quake that hit Chile across the Pacific Ocean, the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (Apsemo) said.
Apsemo told Albay residents to stay alert and listen for updates after the temblor struck off the South American country at 6:55 a.m., Thursday.

People along coastal areas facing the Pacific Ocean and the Philippine Sea should keep watch, Apsemo said.
An Apsemo bulletin stressed that Phivolcs had not given any evacuation order, however.
According to Apsemo, Phivolcs urged monitoring of sea level changes saying the Chile earthquake had the potential of generating a destructive tsunami.

Coastal communities fronting the Philippine Sea/Pacific Ocean that were advised to wait and listen for updates are the Batanes Group of Islands, Sorsogon, Cagayan, Northern Samar, Ilocos Norte, Eastern Samar, Isabela, Leyte, Quezon, Southern Leyte, Aurora, Surigao del Norte, Camarines Norte, Surigao del Sur, Camarines Sur, Davao Oriental, Albay, Davao del Sur, Catanduanes and Davao Occidental.

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Danica Torres Full Video leaked

Posted by Unknown On 8:31 PM 0 comments

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Watch Livestreaming Pacquiao Vs Rios Fight

Posted by Unknown On 3:32 PM 0 comments

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Watch Nonito Donaire vs. Vic Darchinyan Rematch full reply

Posted by Unknown On 7:15 AM 0 comments

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American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas - More than six years after their first meeting, Nonito Donaire (32-2, 21KOs) knocked out Vic Darchinyan (39-6-1, 28KOs) in the ninth round of their rematch. In the first fight, Donaire knocked out Darchinyan in five rounds. Donaire returns for the first time since the April decision loss to Guillermo Rigondeaux.

At the time of the stoppage, Darchinyan was leading 78-74 on two of the cards and it was a draw on the third card... [Read Full Article on boxingscene.com]

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Garcia vs Martinez, Donaire vs Darchinyan II, Martirosyan vs Andrade, more: Boxing TV schedule

Posted by Unknown On 6:28 PM 0 comments

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HBO, 9:30 pm EST, Rocky Martinez vs Mikey Garcia, Nonito Donaire vs Vic Darchinyan (rematch), Vanes Martirosyan vs Demetrius Andrade. It's a redemption-themed triple-header on HBO, as Donaire looks to get back into the winner's circle against his old foe Darchinyan, Garcia looks to make a new statement at 130 after missing weight in his first scheduled 126-pound title defense, and Martirosyan looks to finally make a statement that he belongs on HBO.

I mean, let me be clear about this: Martirosyan belongs on HBO in that he's certainly a good enough fighter to be on HBO. Seth Mitchell has been featured on premium networks, for God's sake. But Martirosyan doesn't have any "it" factors going for him, and past HBO fights with Joe Greene (2010) and Erislandy Lara (last year) left a lot to be desired in terms of entertainment.

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SWA online Facebook Job

Posted by Unknown On 7:57 PM 0 comments

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Watch Chavez Jr. vs Vera Live stream online

Posted by Unknown On 7:28 AM 0 comments

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Watch Chavez Jr. vs Vera Live stream online. HBO will broadcast at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT former WBC middleweight champion and Son of the Legend JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ, JR.'s battle against No. 1 contender BRYAN "THE WARRIOR" VERA.

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Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. weighed in at 172.4 pounds on Friday at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, clearing the way for his bout Saturday in Carson, Calif., against Bryan Vera.

Chavez (46-1-1, 32 KO) is fighting for the first time in 54 weeks, following his first career loss to Sergio Martinez, the resulting drug test suspension from Nevada, and some time off to prepare and get ready and, it seems, eat. He's also parted ways with trainer Freddie Roach, and the sort of arrogance coming from his camp about the weight limit for this fight has been obnoxious even for Team Chavez.

Vera (23-6, 14 KO) will look to score a career-biggest upset win tomorrow night, but it needs to be said that he's going to be really undersized in terms of body mass. Vera's a 160-pound fighter who can stretch to 168, but 173 seems really big for him, not to mention whatever Chavez rehydrates to. 190? 195?

We'll have the results of the weigh-in right after the event is over, and if you want immediate weights and all that for the card -- which we will cover in full including the entire off-TV undercard tomorrow starting at 6:30 pm EDT

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'Big Brother 15's' Controversial Houseguests Respond to Losing Their Jobs

Posted by Unknown On 10:24 PM 0 comments

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After Big Brother crowned Andy Herren the $500,000 victor of the 15th cycle, several houseguests found out the extent of the negative attention they received from their actions and insensitive remarks made inside the house.

The Hollywood Reporter caught up with the houseguests who made the biggest waves this season following Wednesday's finale:

Aaryn Gries
The 22-year-old Texan took the brunt of the flak after referring to several houseguests using racial slurs, prompting her to be dropped by her talent agency. With two publicists in tow Wednesday night, Gries addressed her actions in the house. "I definitely was shocked with how serious things were taken," she told THR. "Some of the things were taken out of context but either way, I definitely regret saying those things. I never wanted to hurt or offend anyone, and when I realized how I had affected people, it made me really think about how I'm going about things. And I need to be more cognizant of what I'm doing and saying all the time."

PHOTOS: 'Big Brother 15': Meet the 16 Houseguests

While in the jury house, several houseguests gave Gries some credit for seemingly turning over a new leaf. (Viewers saw her apologize for some of the racial slurs she made in the house in one of the episodes.) "The jury house was amazing. These girls and I had a great time. We got along. Candice and I bonded and we've become really close friends. It all worked out and I'm thankful for every minute of it," she said.

Gries revealed that her eviction on Day 70 was the most shocking moment of the season. "My eviction was surprising and I was shocked to walk out to that," Gries said of the audience's tepid reaction following her eviction. "I had other things on my mind so I was thrown off. I guess I can't be too surprised though; I already had that feeling ever since [my remarks/actions were] brought to light. But I was wanting to talk more about my game than controversy."

When asked about her firing from her modeling agency, Gries claimed she was already on the way out. "I was on the rocks with the agency before I even came here," she said, "and I do have more opportunities, more agencies that are wanting to meet with me that I'm going to meet with [Thursday]. It's all good. I'm going to move up."

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Brands Bet Millions That Apple's iTunes Radio Scales Quickly

Posted by Unknown On 9:14 PM 0 comments

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Like any new service, iTunes Radio will have zero users when it launches on Wednesday. More important, one of the key platforms for Apple's highly-anticipated streaming music service, the iOS 7 mobile platform necessary to run iTunes Radio on iPhones and iPads, is also being released for the first time today.

But that doesn't seem to concern advertisers.

Several big brands have shelled out upwards of $10 million to be iTunes Radio launch partners, a large bet that iTunes Radio will quickly become a force in the already crowded Internet radio industry.

"We've worked with all of them," said Frank Cooper, PepsiCo's CMO for global consumer engagement, "We looked at the the devices Apple has and the number of subscribers that they have overall on iTunes. Just in terms of infrastructure, we think they have the chance to be the biggest."
Apple's iTunes has already been receiving more Internet traffic than most streaming music services, and that was without its new radio product. iTunes received 26.6 million unique U.S. visitors in July 2013, more than streaming music providers Spotify (20.19 million), Rdio (4 million) and Rhapsody (2.89 million), according to comScore. iTunes has the advantage of coming preloaded on all Apple products and being available for free download on Windows as well.

Mr. Cooper thinks iTunes will be so popular that he helped make Pepsi one of the handful of brands to advertise on the service shortly after it launches. Other marketers in on the launch include Macy's, McDonald's, Nissan and Procter & Gamble. Each brand will be the exclusive advertiser on iTunes Radio within its respective category through the end of 2013. Pepsi will be the only brand with a branded radio station at launch.

The nature of iTunes Radio -- serving songs (and ads) to users based upon their listening habits rather than allowing them to play songs on demand -- makes Pandora its closest competitor. At the moment, Pandora is by far the industry leader in streaming music with nearly 65 million uniques in July alone, per comScore.

Tony Giannini, senior VP-media strategy and marketing effectiveness at Macy's, said he will continue buying ads on Pandora despite Macy's being an iTunes Radio launch partner.
"Audio has for us always done very, very well. It's something we use to support most if not all of our campaigns," he said.

Pandora's main advantage over its competition is its mobile presence. Eighty percent of people who visited Pandora in July 2013 did so from a mobile device, according to comScore. Apple will compete by making iTunes Radio built into all iPhones, iPods and iPads that run iOS 7, Apple's latest iteration of its mobile operating system.

Phil O'Connor, Nissan's senior manager of media, said he plans to use iTunes Radio's location-targeting capabilities for Nissan's traveling Heisman House campaign. The installation goes to a different college football stadium each week, so Mr. O'Connor plans to serve ads to iTunes Radio users near its weekly location.

Targeting only matters if there is a substantial user base, and in order for this to happen, Apple needs its users to upgrade their software. Apple has a good track of record of getting its mobile users to update to subsequent OSs. When Apple CEO Tim Cook announced iOS 7 this summer, he said 93% of Apple mobile users were using iOS 6, the latest version at the time.

Disregarding iTunes Radio's scale, launch partners still stand to benefit from being associated with a high-profile Apple product.

"We'd never shy away from the positive PR of an Apple launch, but we've found that those things fade out," Mr. Cooper said. "What's left is the substantive aspects of that partnership."

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Browns trade Trent Richardson to Colts for first-round pick

Posted by Unknown On 7:18 PM 0 comments

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The Indianapolis Colts pulled off a stunning trade Wednesday afternoon, sending their 2014 first-round draft pick to the Cleveland Browns for running back Trent Richardson.

The move comes just 17 months after the Browns made Richardson the No. 3 overall pick in the NFL draft under a previous regime.

The Browns appear to be stockpiling draft picks in order to grab a franchise quarterback in next year's draft. The deal came on the same day that the team announced third-string quarterback Brian Hoyer will start Sunday, with no guarantee that injured starter Brandon Weeden — drafted by the previous regime — would ever get his job back.

When asked about the draft, Browns CEO Joe Banner dodged.
"I don't want to tip our hands, but it puts us in a very good position to have made some good progress in the off-season, we're in good (salary) cap shape," Banner said. "We're positioning ourselves to build a team that is good and sustainable."

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US, Philippines launch war games near South China Sea

Posted by Unknown On 7:12 PM 0 comments

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The Philippines and the United States launched war games Wednesday at a naval base facing turbulent waters claimed by China, as the allies sought to highlight their expanding military ties.

About 2,300 marines from both sides are taking part in the annual manoeuvres which this year are being staged alongside the South China Sea and come ahead of US President Barack Obama's planned first visit to the Philippines next month.

The Philippines, which has been seeking US military support to counter what it perceives as a growing Chinese threat to its South China Sea territory, welcomed the exercises as another important plank in building its defence capabilities.

"Multilateral exercises and agreements are essential in our cooperation and operational readiness as a multi-capable force, ready to defend our country's sovereignty and integrity," Philippine Navy vice-commander Rear Admiral Jaime Bernardino said in a speech at the opening of the exercises.
The three-week Philippine-US Amphibious Landing Exercises (Phiblex) will involve two US warships, as well as a series of live ground fire exercises and jungle survival training.

The Filipino exercises commander, Brigadier-General Remigio Valdez, said they would also include simulated amphibious assaults to capture islands held by hostile forces.

"We are building our capability on amphibious operations, so it's part of the scenario," he told reporters, although no specific hostile country was named.

The exercises were launched at a naval base in San Antonio, a town on the western coast of Luzon island that faces the South China Sea.

The naval base is about 220 kilometres (135 miles) from Scarborough Shoal, a group of rocky outcrops that is one of the flashpoint areas in the territorial dispute between the Philippines and China.

The Philippines insists it has sovereign rights to the shoal, which fishermen from coastal towns near San Antonio have sailed to for decades, because it is well within its internationally recognised exclusive economic zone.

The nearest major Chinese land mass to Scarborough Shoal is Hainan island, about 650 kilometres away.

But China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters and land formations close to the other countries. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, as well as the Philippines, have overlapping claims to parts of the sea,

The rivalries have for decades made the sea, home to vital global shipping lanes, a potential trigger for military conflict.

Tensions have risen sharply in recent years amid accusations by the Philippines and Vietnam of increasing Chinese aggressiveness.

The Philippines says Chinese vessels have occupied Scarborough Shoal since last year, preventing Filipino fishermen from going there. This month the Philippines accused China of erecting concrete structures there to begin a permanent presence.

However neither the US nor Philippine side would say exactly where the Phiblex exercises would be held, and Valdez said the drill to retake islands was not for Scarborough Shoal.

"There is no specific activity in the exercises designed (for) the Scarborough," Valdez said.
The exercises are taking place as the allies move closer to a planned deal that would expand the US military presence in the Philippines.

The pact would allow the United States to bring military hardware on to local bases, and formalise more US troop visits. The Philippines has said it wants the pact signed as soon as possible.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Brigadier-General Paul Kennedy, commander of the US 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, said he did not know if the agreement would be ready in time for Obama's visit to the Philippines on October 11 and 12.

"If it comes out of the president's visit and if it's politically mature enough to have been signed at that point it would be fortuitous, but I don't have any idea where it stands at this point," Kennedy told reporters.

The next round of negotiations are set for Manila starting on October 1.
The United States had a permanent military presence at two bases in the Philippines until 1992, when they were closed amid nationalist opposition.

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