APEC summit gets mixed grades from business

 Economy
Nov 202015
 
APEC summit gets mixed grades from business

Leaders pose for a group family photo at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Manila, Philippines, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015. Pictured from top left, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive is Leung Chun-ying, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe , South Korea President Park Geun-hye, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. front row from left, Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Sultan of Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Philippines President Benigno Aquino III, Peru’s President Ollanta Humala, Vietnam’s President Truong Tan Sang, U.S. President Barack Obama, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Taiwan envoy Vincent Siew. AP/Bullit Marquez MANILA, Philippines – The conclusion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Manila left mixed reactions from the local business community, with some groups satisfied and some discontented with the outcome. Major business groups in the country were specifically pleased with the APEC economies’ push for the globalization of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as well as support for climate change mitigation and more trade agreements in the region. “We applaud most of all the successful hosting of the Philippines of the APEC Leaders’ Meeting, the APEC CEO Summit, the APEC MSME Summit as well as the fourth meeting for 2015 of the APEC Business Advisory Council,” Makati Business Read More …

It’s Not Good to be Lazy

 News
Nov 202015
 
It’s Not Good to be Lazy

Chinkee Tan Sleep late … Wake up late… Facebook all day… TV and gadget all day… Consistently unproductive. Do you know anyone who does absolutely nothing for the whole day? Why are there people who are lazy? I realize that all of us have somehow gone through a season of lethargy or idleness, where we have no energy to get out of bed every morning, to go to school, to report for work, or to do anything else. Whether we admit it or not, we have experienced laziness in one way or another. We can be diligent when it comes to our work, but lazy in exercising. We can be diligent in preparing and cooking food, but lazy when it comes to cleaning the house. It can be a real challenge to counter laziness. We want to change and become more industrious in everything that we do, but we can’t do it because of laziness. But before we can even counter laziness, we should be aware of the possible reasons why we feel lethargic at times. TIRED AND OVERWORKED When we have already accomplished so much, we want to just shut down. We feel drained of our energy, so what we want is to just do nothing. INFLUENCE Maybe you are surrounded by people who are generally lazy, who don’t have much drive and are unproductive in life. And you find yourself being dragged into this kind of lifestyle. Oftentimes, people who have no drive become lazier and lazier because Read More …

Genetically modified salmon OK'd for human consumption in US

 General
Nov 192015
 
Genetically modified salmon OK'd for human consumption in US

Members of the Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee listen during a presentation at Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee hearing on modified salmon. AP Photo/Charles Dharapak WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved genetically modified salmon, the first such altered animal allowed for human consumption in the United States. The Obama administration had stalled in approving the fast-growing salmon for more than five years amid consumer concerns about eating genetically modified foods. But the agency said Thursday the fish is safe to eat. In announcing the approval, the FDA said that there are “no biologically relevant differences in the nutritional profile of AquAdvantage Salmon compared to that of other farm-raised Atlantic salmon.” AquAdvantage Salmon was created by the Massachusetts-based company AquaBounty. Ron Stotish, the company’s CEO, said in a statement that the fish is a “game changer that brings healthy and nutritious food to consumers in an environmentally responsible manner without damaging the ocean and other marine habitats.” The fish grows twice as fast as normal salmon, so it reaches market size more quickly. It has an added growth hormone from the Pacific Chinook salmon that allows the fish to produce growth hormone all year long. The engineers were able to keep the hormone active by using another gene from an eel-like fish called an ocean pout that acts like an “on” switch for the hormone. Typical Atlantic salmon produce the growth hormone for only part of the year. The FDA has also said the fish is Read More …

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