Maniolas

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, left, is welcomed by Rear Admiral Guan Youfei, Director of Foreign Affairs Office of the Chinese Defense Ministry and U.S. Ambassador to China, Max Baucus, upon his arrival at Qingdao International Airport in Qingdao, China, Monday, April 7, 2014. Hagel is currently on his fourth trip to Asian nations since taking office. AP/Alex Wong BEIJING — China, the United States, Japan and more than a dozen other Asia-Pacific countries have signed a naval agreement aimed at ensuring miscommunication between ships at sea does not escalate into conflict. The Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, which was agreed Tuesday in the eastern port city of Qingdao, would reduce the potential for “situations to arise that could lead to conflict in busy sea lanes”, the state-run China Daily said. China is embroiled in a series of territorial disputes with neighbors in the South and East China Seas which have frequently led to military jets being scrambled but not open conflict. Beijing also feels threatened by an increase in US naval power in the region. In December, a US-guided missile warship, the Cowpens, had to make a sharp turn to avoid colliding with a Chinese naval ship that cut in front of it, according to the Pentagon. Gary Li, an analyst with the consultancy IHS, described the agreement as “the ideal thing for China to grab hold of — the rules of the road.” “It is not some kind of comprehensive ‘covers all’ code of conduct. It Read More …

BLUE Carreon: “No one is going to look after the business except you.” Photo by Nelson Matawaran It only took a distinct perspective, a flair for style, well-composed vignettes and engagement with his Instagram followers that got fashion journalist Blue Carreon into retail. When he opened his 35-sqm store, Blue Carreon Home at Century City Mall, friends from the local media made a beeline for interviews and pictorials. “I was going to pitch to Forbes.com how Instagram got me to open my own store,” says Carreon, a fashion columnist for the South China Morning, Forbes.com and Huffington Post. The store is a collection of functional and decorative objects for the home. He designed the furniture and put them under his brand name Blue Carreon Home, while the accessories are sourced from India, China and America. His vision is to share his sensibilities through his designs. “My aesthetic is classic with a twist,” Carreon says. He points to a square mirror, framed with black metal that is an abstraction of the solihiya, the traditional cross-weaving pattern found in local furniture. New word of mouth When Carreon was renovating his apartments in Makati, Midlevels Hong Kong and Midtown Manhattan, he met various suppliers, manufacturers and visited trade shows. He would post the way he styled his three apartments. Followers on his personal Instagram account (@bluecarreon) would always comment or ask where he sourced his décor. His personal account  served as a documentation of his travels, homes and lifestyle. “People appreciated my postings Read More …

Photo from bsp.gov.ph and AP FILE PHOTO The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is leaving it to the discretion of individual banks whether to refund the victims of automated teller machine (ATM) fraud. The BSP said it could not at this time require banks to give a refund because of the complexity of the issue. According to BSP Assistant Governor Noe Ravalo, on one hand, the BSP agrees with the view of Sen. Grace Poe that banks should be accountable for the security concerns affecting their customers. Competing interests On the other hand, however, it can be difficult to verify the accuracy of customers’ claims that they have been victimized by ATM fraud, Ravalo said. “If the issue is one of accountability, we (BSP) support that. But how does one manage the competing interests of [banks and complaining customers]? Anyone can always claim that they lost money,” said Ravalo, who heads the central bank’s customer protection unit. Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public order that is conducting a hearing on the increasingly serious incidents of ATM fraud, said on Thursday that she favored the passage of a law that would require banks to reimburse depositors who had been defrauded by ATM cloning. At the committee hearing last week, bank officials said depositors lost some P220 million to ATM fraud in 2013. Ravalo said he was confident that most, if not all, banks would positively respond to suggestions that they give refunds to clients who have been victimized. Based Read More …