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| Mittermaier verliert Kampf gegen Krebs: Weihnachten feierte „Gold-Rosi“ noch mit der Familie. Die Sport-Welt weint. Gold-Rosi ist tot. Ski-Legende Rosi Mittermaier ist am Mittwoch im Alter von 72 Jahren in Garmisch-Partenkirchen an Krebs verstorben. |
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Friday, January 6, 2023
Rosi Mittermaier verstorben
Maris Racal falls victim to virus ‘who viewed your profile’ link
Actress-singer Maris Racal alerted online users about clicking a link on Twitter that unleashes spam posts on unsuspecting users.
The artist apologized to her 3.8 million followers for “incoming spam tweets” that they might encounter on their Twitter feed since she clicked a link claiming to know users who visited their profile.
“I clicked on this who visits your account thingy and virus pala siya,” she tweeted on Wednesday with an upside-down emoji.
“Changed my password already. Hope that fixed it,” Maris added in another tweet.
Some Twitter users who read her post warned their mutuals about the spam.
Others claimed of encountering the similar link and spam tweets.
“OMG! Kaya pala may iba pa akong tweets na posted kanina tapos pare-parehas lang. ‘Wag na talagang ma-curious next time. Haha!” a Twitter user said, quote tweeting Maris.
“Kaya pala ‘yung iba sa feed ko [ulit ulit] ‘yung tweets about that who viewed their profile, ganon. Waaaa,” another online user responded.
The link in question has the name “askforme.me” and has the following thumbnail, as recently shared by a Twitter user:
In 2018, a lead malware intelligence analyst warned the public about the spam which lures users into thinking they will get to know who has visited their Twitter profiles.
“At the time of testing, all this [spam link] seemed to do was promote the app across timelines and encourage more installs, so the main aggravation here is the knowledge that you installed something useless, and then started beaming said uselessness to all of your contacts,” Christopher Boyd said.
“No matter how you come across these sites, we’d advise you not to bother giving these apps permission. The ‘See who visited you’ routine has been around for years on Twitter and Tumblr, and going even further back to Myspace. In all cases, none of these things ever seem to work and only serve to annoy, spam ads, or offer surveys,” he added.
Boyd said that users can remove the app by heading over to the Apps and Sessions tab on Twitter via Settings and Support > Settings and Privacy > Security and Account Access.
They can “revoke” an app’s permission through the “Connected Apps” tab.
Half of world’s glaciers expected to vanish by 2100: study
Published January 6, 2023, 8:06 AM
WASHINGTON, United States — Half of the Earth’s glaciers, notably smaller ones, are destined to disappear by the end of the century because of climate change, but limiting global warming could save others, according to a new study.
The findings, published in the journal Science on Thursday, provide the most comprehensive look so far at the future of the world’s 215,000 glaciers.
The authors emphasized the importance of restricting greenhouse gas emissions to limit the consequences from glacier melt such as sea level rise and depletion of water resources.
To help orient policy makers, the study looked at the impact of four scenarios on glaciers, where global mean temperature change is 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), 2.0C, 3.0C and 4.0C.
“Every degree increase produces more melt and loss,” said Regine Hock of the University of Oslo and University of Alaska Fairbanks, a co-author of the study.
“But that also means if you reduce the temperature increase, you can also reduce that mass loss,” Hock told AFP. “So in that sense, there is also a little bit of hope.”
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Even if global temperature rise is limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels — the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement — the researchers estimated that 49 percent of the world’s glaciers would vanish by the year 2100.
That would represent about 26 percent of the world’s glacier mass because the smallest glaciers would be those first impacted.
Global mean temperature is currently estimated to be increasing by 2.7C which would result in a near-complete loss of glaciers in Central Europe, Western Canada and the continental United States and New Zealand.
“Regions with relatively little ice like the European Alps, the Caucasus, the Andes, or the western US, they lose almost all the ice by the end of the century almost no matter what the emission scenario is,” Hock said. “So those glaciers, they’re more or less doomed.”
‘Up to the policy makers’
Under the worst-case scenario — global temperature rise of 4.0C — giant glaciers such as those in Alaska would be more affected and 83 percent of glaciers would disappear by the end of the century.
Glacier loss would also exacerbate sea level rise.
“The glaciers that we are studying are only one percent of all ice on Earth,” said Hock, “much less than the Greenland ice sheet and the Antarctic ice sheet.
“But they have contributed to sea level rise almost just as much as the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet together in the last three decades,” she said.
Warming of 1.5C would lead to an increase in average sea levels of nine centimeters while temperatures 4.0C higher would cause 15 centimeters of sea level rise.
“It doesn’t sound very much, nine centimeters up to 15 centimeters,” Hock said, “but it’s not global sea level that is that much of a concern.
“It’s mostly associated storm surges,” she said, which have the potential to cause “a lot more damage.”
The disappearance of glaciers will also have an impact on water resources because they provide freshwater for some two billion people.
“The glaciers compensate for the loss of water in summer when it’s not raining much and it’s hot,” Hock said.
The study’s projections, which are more pessimistic than those of UN climate experts, were reached through observations of the mass of each glacier through the decades and computer simulations.
Despite the alarming findings, Hock said “it is possible to reduce the mass loss by human action.
BLACKPINK sets record as ‘Ddu-Du Ddu-Du’ MV reaches 2 billion views on YouTube
Published January 6, 2023, 8:26 AM
K-pop girl group BLACKPINK set a new record with their music video “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du.”
On Jan. 4, “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” reached two billion views on YouTube and set the record of becoming the first music video by a K-pop group to achieve the feat.
The “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” music video was released on YouTube on June 15, 2018 and it first set the record of becoming the first music video by a K-pop group to reach one billion views on Nov. 11, 2019, or one year and five months since its upload.
The two-billion feat for “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” was achieved four years and six months after its release on YouTube.
“Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” is the main track of BLACKPINK’s first mini-album “Square Up” released on June 15, 2018.
According to YG Life, after its release, “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” reached “perfect all-kill” status on music streaming sites in South Korea. It also reached 40th and 55th places, respectively, on Billboard 200 and Hot 100 Chart, and also achieved 500 million streams on Spotify.
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BLACKPINK completed 26 performances in 15 cities under their “Born Pink” world tour and they will head to Asia and Oceania including the Philippines.
Meanwhile, BLACKPINK’s Jisoo will have her solo debut this year.
In YouTube’s most viewed music videos in the first 24 hours of release, BLACKPINK and member Lisa occupy four in the top 10.
YouTube’s All-Time Top 24 Hour Music Debuts as of Jan. 3, 2023:
1. BTS (방탄소년단) ‘Butter’ Official MV – 108.2 million views
2. BTS (방탄소년단) ‘Dynamite’ Official MV – 101.1 million views
3. BLACKPINK – ‘Pink Venom’ M/V – 90.4 million views
4. BLACKPINK – ‘How You Like That’ M/V – 86.3 million views
5. BLACKPINK – ‘Ice Cream (with Selena Gomez)’ M/V – 79.0 million views
6. BTS (방탄소년단) ‘작은 것들을 위한 시 (Boy With Luv) (feat. Halsey)’ Official MV – 74.6 million views
7. LISA – ‘LALISA’ M/V – 73.6 million views
8. BTS (방탄소년단) ‘Permission to Dance’ Official MV – 72.3 million views
9. BTS (방탄소년단) ‘Life Goes On’ Official MV – 71.6 million views
10. Taylor Swift – ME! (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco) ft. Brendon Urie – 65 million views
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CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UPPhilHealth contribution hike freeze a relief for members
Published January 6, 2023, 12:05 AM
The decision of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to suspend implementation this month of the scheduled increase in Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) premium rate and income ceiling is a welcome development.
Coming at a time when we are still reeling from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, it provides much needed relief, albeit temporary, for PhilHealth members who continue to deal with financial and medical challenges.
“In light of the prevailing socio-economic challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, and to provide financial relief to our countrymen amid these difficult times, please be informed that the President has directed the PhilHealth to suspend the above-mentioned increase in premium rate and income ceiling for Calendar Year 2023,” a PhilHealth statement said.
Without the suspension, PhilHealth premium rate is supposed to increase from 4 percent to 4.5 percent and the income ceiling from ₱80,000 to ₱90,000 this year as mandated by Section 10 of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act. The UHC law mandates a yearly increase in member’s premium by 0.5 percent starting in 2021 until it reaches the 5-percent limit in 2025.
Reacting to the suspension, PhilHealth said current benefits won’t be affected and will remain the same — an announcement that reassures members.
“Despite the suspension, PhilHealth operations will not be affected and will have no effect on the overall implementation of the National Health Insurance Program,” PhilHealth corporate communications manager Rey Balena said in a statement. “Even with the suspension, we want to assure the public that delivery of services will continue — no diminution of or cut in benefits.”
Welcoming the suspension of contribution increase, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, said Congress was successful in pushing for a ₱79-billion allocation for PhilHealth, thus, he sees no reason why this would negatively impact the benefits and services that the state health insurance agency provides its members.
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While the suspension of premium increase and income ceiling is a welcome development, members should temper their expectations.
The increase, being mandated by law, will eventually be collected sometime in the future much like the previous suspension.
While we rejoice now at the suspension, be ready to pay for the retroactive differential when time comes.
Government sees inflation's peak as it misses target for second straight year
Ramon Royandoyan - Philstar.com
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MANILA, Philippines (Update 1, 11:04 a.m.) — Inflation accelerated to its fastest pace in 14 years in December, with the national government missing its annual target for the second straight year amid a supply-demand imbalance that has stoked painfully high price growth.
Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, quickened to 8.1% year-on-year in December, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported Thursday. Data showed this was the fastest reading since November 2008.
For the entire 2022, inflation averaged 5.8%, way above the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ 2-4% target for this year. This means BSP Governor Felipe Medalla would have to explain to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office in June last year, why the inflation target was not met.
At the start of its term, the Marcos Jr. administration projected inflation would settle between 4.5-5.5% this year. But supply chain issues, expensive fuel prices, and a weak peso caused more problems than the government had thought they would. Economic managers later revised their annual inflation forecast to 5.8% in their year-end briefing.
Core inflation, computed without volatile items such as fuel and food, rose to 6.9% year-on-year in December.
Food prices were largely responsible for the uptick in December, peak spending season as Filipinos welcomed the holidays. National statisticians saw increases in the prices of vegetables (32.4%), rice (3.4%), and fruits and nuts (7.6%).
The BSP, which aggressively hiked interest rates this year to temper resurgent demand and bring it in line with limited supply, projected inflation would peak in December. Likewise, the BSP expects inflation to slow down beginning in 2023.
Domini Velasquez, chief economist at China Banking Corp., said that while inflation likely peaked in December, "we are not out of the woods yet".
"In 2023, we expect inflation to breach the BSP’s target yet again, possibly higher than 5.0%. Key domestic risks are higher electricity and water tariffs, continued higher prices for food, and calls for wage and transport fare increases," Velasquez said.
"On the international front, oil prices will likely not fall as initially expected as China’s reopening will drive up demand for the commodity," she added.
BSP to stay hawkish?
National statistician Claire Dennis Mapa told journalists that the uptrend in food prices, especially vegetables, was due to typhoons that battered various parts of the country amid the monsoon season.
The inflation of vegetable prices averaged 7.8% in 2022. In December alone, vegetable inflation jumped 32.4% year-on-year, the highest since February 1999 when it hit 44%. The price of red onion, a staple vegetable that has proven to be more expensive by the day, increased in the weeks leading to December, according to the PSA’s monitoring.
Rice prices could see increases in the coming months as well. Regular rice, which cost P38 in 2021, rose to an average of P40 in 2022.
Even Noche Buena fixtures, such as ham (14.4%) and fruit cocktail (9.4%), saw prices shoot up in December.
The Marcos Jr. administration would need to mount a heftier policy response to inflation. Citing market force as largely responsible for the uptrend for most of the year, core inflation averaged 3.9% in 2022, an increase from the 3% average recorded in the preceding year. In 2019, this stood at 3.4%.
But analysts like Nicholas Antonio Mapa, senior economist at ING Bank in Manila, expect inflation to slow down this year.
“Storm damage to crops may have helped fan price pressures for basic food items but elevated transport and utility costs for nearly a year may have also contributed to price pressures spreading across the CPI basket. Meanwhile, resurgent demand reflected in the stronger-than-expected GDP growth, fanned inflation even further with notable increases in inflation for the services sector,” he said in an emailed commentary.
The ING economist expects the BSP to keep a hawkish stance in the coming months.
Mapa also expects the BSP to match the US Federal Reserve’s moves to tame inflation. Experts everywhere expect the global economy to land face first into a recession in 2023, due in part to interest rate hikes by central banks.
“However, once the Fed carries out its much-anticipated ‘pivot’ we believe Governor Medalla could consider a pause of his own as policy rates are currently already in restrictive territory,” he added.
Thursday, January 5, 2023
Olivia Culpo, Jeannie Mai Jenkins announced as hosts for 71st Miss Universe
Published January 5, 2023, 12:09 PM
By Carissa Alcantara
It’s Girl Power once again at the 71st Miss Universe Competition.
After having Steve Harvey for five years, this year’s Miss Universe welcomes new hosts.
Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo and Jeannie Mai Jenkins will join forces as the new hosts for the upcoming pageant.
While Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray and “Emmy award-winning television personality, “American Ninja Warrior” co-host and “Access Hollywood” correspondent Zuri Hall will serve as the backstage commentators.
In an exclusive report from Variety, Olivia shared how honored she is to be part of the event.
“I have so much respect for the continuous evolution of the Miss Universe Organization, including the new female ownership for the first time in the company’s history,” Olivia said.
Olivia was crowned the Miss Universe 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Philippines representative then was Janine Tugonon, who won first runner-up in the same competition.
The competition is the latest TV event making a move to streaming, as The Roku Channel sealed a one-year deal to be the official English-language U.S. home for Miss Universe. The event also airs here in Spanish on Telemundo.
This year’s Miss Universe will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, on Jan. 14. (Jan. 15 in Manila).
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
From mere curiosity to serious commitment
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By Fr. Roy Cimagala *
THINGS like this can happen in life. What may appear at first as something insignificant and casual may end up as something extraordinary and very special. This was the case of St. Andrew, the apostle, who was simply curious at where Christ was staying after St. John the Baptist referred to Christ as the “Lamb of God.”
He ended up as an apostle who had to give up everything just to follow Christ most closely. And he eventually invited his brother, Peter, the unlikely person to be the head of the apostles, to be the first Pope to whom the “keys of heaven” were first given. (cfr. Jn 1,35-42)
It can even happen that what may appear first to be something against the things of God can provoke an instant conversion, just like the case of St. Paul who in the middle of his campaign against the early Christians heard the voice of Christ that led to his conversion.
The providence of God, the ways of God, can certainly work beyond what we can imagine and expect. It can adapt itself to the ways of men and can take advantage of whatever human condition and circumstance there is to execute his divine designs for us. As is said, God can write straight with crooked lines.
There have been many stories of unlikely characters who became saints or at least made significant transformations for the better in their lives. That was the case of St. Augustine, for example.
Of course, there also have been unfortunate stories of men and women who started well but ended badly. This only shows that in our relationship with God, there is always the interplay of God’s grace and our freedom at play. It’s in how we use our freedom that would determine whether things would go north or south.
What we should draw from this observation is that every event, condition and circumstance of our life, whether considered humanly good or bad, can be a pathway to God if we only know how to deal with these situations properly, as shown to us by Christ himself.
Yes, Christ has shown us how to deal with any situation, whether we are at the peak of human glory and success, or at the abyss of the worst human misery imaginable. That is why we can never overemphasize the need for us to know and follow Christ who himself said that he is “the way, the truth and the life” for us.
Making Christ the center of our life, making him alive in our life through our prayer, studying his life and words, and having recourse to the sacraments, etc., should be the main concern that we should have. After all, he is the one who will enable us to make any situation in our life as a way to heaven, a means to achieve our sanctification which is the fullness and perfection of our humanity.
That is also something that we have to be more aware of. The fullness and perfection of our humanity is when we truly become God’s image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature, as he wants us to be. This truth of faith may sound too incredible to us, but that is just how it is.
Let’s remember that we are not meant to understand everything about God and ourselves. What we are meant is to be guided by faith, hope and charity more than anything else.
* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE) Talamban, Cebu City.
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
REAL WINNER IN MMFF 2022
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By: ReniMV Valenzuela
The character of a nation cannot be far from the kind of movie it produces, watches and rewards with accolades.
On New Year's Day, I watched the movie Family Matters with my family and we liked it very much as we enjoyed every bit of it. There was no dull moment. It has depth. Everyone in the theater seemed to be in perpetual anticipation of what will happen next, and how might the story end. There were a few laughs in between and sometimes tears in the eyes.
I seldom appreciate a movie for its overall quality, but this one, for me, takes the awards if the awards were to be given based on correct criteria. Though, in fairness to the other Metro Manila Film Festival entries, I haven't seen any one of them. But having said that, it's a huge, huge wonder why Family Matters didn't win a single award except for Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award, whatever that award means. Worse, its actors and actresses didn't even get to be nominated when they performed so well and I thought they had very good chances of winning the best acting and best supporting acting awards as they are all natural before the camera, including the children.
Family Matters can be likened to the 1975 movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It was a light but poetic drama. There were no spectacular scenes and acting in the movie but it was aptly applauded in the Oscars as a runaway winner, having bagged 35 awards, including best picture, best actor and best actress. The only difference is that Family Matters lost, and lost big, during the MMFF awards night.
It's curious. Could there be manipulation or corruption among the festival's organizers/people?
Family Matters is an excellent drama movie without being excessively dramatic. It has profoundness in its story and script, and in the manner it was directed. The movie is intentional in teaching moral lessons and imbibing good values to its viewers. It is a drama about a fairly big family to which every Filipino family today can relate.
I liked the portions wherein some scenes would have evolved to transform the movie into a heavy drama flick, but each one was prevented from making the heavy drama happen because everyone involved in the squabble/fracas knew how to forgive.
The movie is a rebuke to the children who are uncaring to their elderly parents, to the busy parents who are irresponsible, and to the modern youths who are addicted to gadgets. The plot's heavy drama is left in the imagination of the viewers. Watch well every scene, listen intently to the words of the characters and fathom the message - and thus it is expected that one would leave the movie house a better child, a better father, a better parent, a better husband and wife and a better grandchild.
Actor Noel Trinidad's words rang a bell when he collected the phones and gadgets of every member of his entire family for a three-day special family bonding occasion: "In order to connect, you have to disconnect."
You lost, Family Matters, but cheer up! You won big in much greater aspects/categories, and in Heaven's eyes. You are the real winner.
Congratulations!
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