MikeLigalig.com

there are stories though that these names do not necessarily refer to vic sotto and joey de leon.  whatever, justice was not served pepsi paloma.

vic and joey are indeed mentioned.

i see.  thanks for the info, rects.  this is getting more interesting...

the lyrics thus:

Spolarium
(Eraserheads)

Dumidilim ang paligid
May tumawag sa pangalan ko
Labing isang palapag
Tinanong kung okay lang ako
Sabay abot ng baso
May naghihintay
At bakit ba pag nagsawa na ako
Bigla na lang ayoko na

At ngayon Di pa rin alam
Kung ba't tayo nandito
Puwede bang itigil muna
Ang pag-ikot ng mundo

Lumiwanag ang buwan
San Juan Di ko na nasasakyan
Ang lahat ng bagay ay
Gumuguhit na lang Sa 'king lalamunan

Ewan mo at ewan natin
Sinong may pakana?
At bakit ba Tumilapon ang
Gintong alak diyan sa paligid mo?

At ngayon Di pa rin alam
Kung ba't tayo nandito
Puwede bang itigil muna
Ang pag-ikot ng mundo

Umiyak ang umaga (hmm)
Anong sinulat ni Enteng at Joey diyan
Sa gintong salamin Di ko na mabasa
Pagkat merong nagbura

Ewan mo at ewan natin
Sinong nagpakana?
At bakit ba tumilapon ang spolarium
Diyan sa paligid mo?

At ngayon Di pa rin alam
Kung ba't tayo nandito
Puwede bang itigil muna
Ang pag-ikot ng mundo

Weight:                  
Cheetah   46 to 160 pounds
Leopard   194-216 kgs

Conservation status:
Cheetah   Vulnerable         
Leopard   Near Threatened

Coloring:   
Cheetah   Tan with black spots
Leopard   Yellow with black rosettes

Scientific name:
Cheetah   Acinonyx jubatus           
Leopard   Panthera pardus

Genus:         
Cheetah   Acinonyx           
Leopard   Panthera

Species:       
Cheetah   A. jubatus           
Leopard   P. pardus

Subfamily:     
Cheetah   Felinae                   
Leopard   Pantherinae

Hunting behavior:         
Cheetah   Diurnal                   
Leopard   Nocturnal

Number in wild:       
Cheetah   7,000 to 10,000           
Leopard   Around 69,000

more at http://www.diffen.com/difference/Cheetah_vs_Leopard

to go a bit into one of the issues here, which is whether one of those animals is a cheetah or a leopard (he was never my neighbor), here's the result of my curious search:

Cheetahs and leopards are both big cats found in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. Leopards have yellow fur while cheetahs are tan. Cheetahs are known to hunt their prey during daytime whereas Leopards generally hunt during the night. They also differ in other physical and behavioral characteristics. Cheetahs are known for their speed; they are one of the fastest animals on the planet.


cheetah                   leopard

hehe, so unlike tb in terms of discussion.  we hardly go into this kind of heated discussion and name-calling.  hardly, i mean.  and maybe we are the better for it. 

DEEE:
we cant even get along online lol

pauline ann tomalin:
True Love

Princessmichelle_glamourgirl:
that is so cute, sweet & nice. >) animals do have feelings too.

Melikinskitty:
these guys are from busch gardens in the cheetah hunt!!! <3 <3 love them.. they have been raised together!!
 
SHANEPOWELL92:
ALSO CHEETAHS HAVE ONLY BLACK IN THEIR SPOTS THIS HAS A SPACE IN THE MIDDLE SO IT A LEOPARD

Erin:
Pretty sure this is an octopus

http://www.pbh2.com/

Number26:
its a young leopard, learn your spots and stop being stupid animals arent fully grown their entire lives moron.

Eden20:
i like this image

Craftersink123:
Thats wonderful! Animals have the right idea!

Sigh:
Do NOT, I repeat NOT, feed the trolls!!

whiterhino:
lol it definitely is photoshopped

J money:
All this fighting and nobody noticed the snake in the background...?

Dbakeca Italia:
I agree with Paws...The most ferocious animal in this world it's the human being.
 
Fofinha123456789:
Jeez I study animals and it is a leopard, happy?

thomas:
hey retard. its a f***** leopard. a cheetah? really

anon:
this is is so obviously photoshopped... i dont see how no one has noticed

SHANEPOWELL92:
BUT YEA WHO CARES

SHANEPOWELL92:
THIS IS THE BEST!!!

REBS007:
This is a lovely series of pictures of a dog and a LEOPARD!!!!!!!

Leopard:
I am a leopard.

Jordan:
thats cooln all
but how the f*** do you even have a leopard?

Kelli:
cheetahs have a black stripe going from the corner of each eye down to their mouth. don't believe me? google it retards... THAT IS A LEOPARD

Diabetic Alert dog:
I am such a fan of your happy, healthy vegan pugs. You're an excellent pug mama!

lenkano:
thats whats friend are for!

Jasteart88:
here's the backstory, for anyone who's interested. this isn't photoshopped, it's not in the US, and the cub was raised on a wildlife reserve.

Leopard ‘Salati’ snuggles up beside golden retriever ‘Tommy’ in the back of a 4×4 at the Glen Afric Country Lodge on May 04, 2010 in Pretoria, South Africa. Salati the leopard turns the assumption that dogs love to chase cats on its head by running playfully after Tommy the golden retriever. Animal wrangler Richard Brooker, 23, hand-reared 10-month-old Salati and gives her and family pet dog Tommy their daily exercise together. He takes them out into his family’s 750 hectare estate and lets them run amok, saying “Wherever you see one the other is right behind”. Rescued as an orphaned cub, Salati was donated by a local vet to the family-run country retreat, which helps to rehabilitate injured and needy animals. The Brookers’ hard work and breeding programmes with elephants, lions, and giraffes has helped boost wildlife numbers in the area.

    here's a link to the whole article.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

Cjlawrie35 Josh:
jesus, just like it for what it is...
           
Liam Josh:
Look up the video of the WILD leopard taking care of the WILD baby baboon...it completely destroys your entire argument.
           
Samsquanch53 Josh:
you spelled, " i'm a faggot." wrong.
           
Daniel Wall Josh:
Lol, so what do you do when you encounter anachronism or teleology?

Phil Paws:
You obviously haven't seen too many animals interact...

You're all retarded.:
It's a leopard and a golden retriever, and it's not photoshopped. Stop trying to put a downer on a nice picture and learn to get along.

ZakIsAnAsshole:
Nope. Definitely not photoshopped. Do a little research before you call people stupid...

some bits of the wacky discussion on this image:
(these made my day!  i hope these make your night. )

Mother:
If only the Anglo race and the African race, could be so lovely towards each other...not to forget the Israelis and its border nations in the neighboring Middle East nations.

Cassie:
You're all wrong. They're both obviously unicorns...

Gern:
Cassie is the name of my Pit bull.
       
bee:
ur all dumb. its a golden retriever.

Paws:
Who cares if it's a leopard or a cheetah! The discussion here proves that animals get along better than people, no matter what the species is!! WE are the stupid ones!
   
Josh Paws:
its a leopard. animals "get along" better than people, no matter what the species is?
thats a little heavy on the anthropomorphism, don't ya think?in any WILD setting, the leopard would DESTROY any canid species HANDS DOWN.the only reason that you are able to see this picture is because some humans have figured out a way to modify behavior patterns for both animals so that they become "domesticated" enough, and to not engage in their genetic behavioral tendencies (ripping the dog to shreds). SO, moral of the story, DO NOT ANTHROPOMORPHIZE! its not a matter of things being smart or stupid, good or bad, right or wrong, it just IS; and so are we, at least for a little while.......

1. Cheetah and Labrador Become BFF



We put this at number 1 for two reasons. First, this is simply the most adorable thing ever. Second, over 500 people have commented on this PBH2 post and is home to one of the wackiest on-going discussions we’ve ever seen on the internet.

http://www.pbh2.com/pets-animals/

2. Orangutan Helps Hand Raise Tiger Cubs



Is there anything cuter than baby orangutans helping to hand raise tiger cubs? Well it turns out…

3. A Puppy And Praying Mantis



Ah, the playful nature of our canine friends! A puppy comes across a praying mantis and the unexpected happens.

4. Kitten And Puppy Become Snuggle Buddies



A newborn puppy is the snuggle buddy of an equally young kitten. Heartwarming!

5. An Epically Adorable Kitten & Parakeet Friendship



Talk about unusual and hilarious! A parakeet tricks a kitten with an olive branch then closes the cage.

6. A Dog And Leopard Become Lifelong Friends



Via PBH2, a dog and leopard grow up friends. Aww!

7. Orphaned Kangaroo And Wombat Babies Become Playpals



From the Daily Mail, Anzac the baby kangaroo was abandoned and upon taking up residence at the Wildlife Kilmore Rescue Centre in Victoria, Australia, became friends with Peggy the baby wombat. And how adorable is this? According to caretaker Lisa Milligan, “the unlikely friends are comforted by each other's movement and heartbeat.”

8. A Very Cuddly Dog And Cat Friendship



Who doesn’t want a furry cuddle buddy?

9. Real Life Thumper & Bambi



A shorty but goody: a rabbit befriends an inquisitive deer with a touch of noses to solidify their new-found friendship!

10. A Chimpanzee Adopts An Orphaned Puma Cub



At the The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species in South Carolina, 5 year old chimpanzee Anjana took up the task of helping to hand-raise an orphaned cub named Sierra. The results were expectedly adorable! (Images via the Daily Mail).

The Ten Most Adorably Unusual Animal Friendships

Ah, interspecies animal love â€" it’s something we simply adore at the PBH Network. So we did a little research and found the 10 most adorable unusual animal friendships for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.pbh2.com/

The result? With such a limited gene pool, white tigers are born with an astoundingly high rate of deformities and health issues. For example, Kenny is mentally retarded, has significant physical limitations, and is considered the first tiger with down syndrome. The pictures, in many ways, speak to the condition that Kenny and other white tigers are in:

Meet Kenny, An Inbred White Tiger With Down Syndrome



Kenny is a white tiger that was ‘selectively’ inbred while in captivity in the United States. As zoos and exotic pet stores along with consumers have increased the demand for white tigers, breeders have attempted to recreate the ideal white tiger â€" large snout, blue eyes, white fur â€" by relying on a limited pool of white tigers that are in captivity.

aguy.  it looks like an ideological movement that had gone on for decades may be morphing into something else.  i hope they won't resort to banditry in the name of a lost cause.

While the Old Testament includes some passages about taking the life of one who kills, the Old Testament and the teaching of Christ in the New Testament call us to protect life, practice mercy, and reject vengeance. â€"USCCB, A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death


When Cain killed Abel, God did not end Cain's life. Instead, he sent Cain into exile, not only sparing his life but protecting it by putting a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight (Gn 4:15). â€"USCCB, A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death


it looks like the defense of one's stand, whether for or against the death penalty, can quote from the same source, the bible.

a great read for defending capital punishment, no doubt, lorenz.  and so it goes with defending what one truly believes in.  but let me share here what the other side, also catholic, is saying.

In his encyclical The Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II told us that we have an inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life. This Catholic campaign brings us together for common action to end the use of the death penalty, to reject a culture of death, and to build a culture of life. It poses an old and fundamental choice: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live. (Dt 30:19)  â€"USCCB, A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death

hehe, pang-binay diay ka meantime, di pang-noynoy.

goodness me.  mahuman na unta nang lost cause sa npa uy.  ang model nila nga maoist nangharos na bitaw ug capitalism. 

may the two victims rest in peace.

unsa kahay lami anag un-onan?

10. Bernard Cornfeld [Born: 1927; Died: 1995]



Bernard Cornfeld was a prominent businessman and international financier who sold investments in US mutual funds. He was born in Turkey. When he moved to the US, he first worked as a social worker but became a mutual fund salesman in the 1950s.

Although he suffered from a stammer, he had a natural gift for selling and when a schoolfriend’s father died, the two of them used the $3,000 insurance money to purchase and run an age and weight guessing stand at the Coney Island fun fair.

In the 1960s, Cornfeld formed his own mutual fund selling company, Investors Overseas Services (IOS), which he incorporated outside the US with funds in Canada and headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Although the headquarters were officially in Geneva, the main operational offices of IOS were in Ferney-Voltaire, France, a short drive from the Swiss border to Geneva; this was simply a means of avoiding the problems of obtaining Swiss work permits for the many employees.

During the next ten years, IOS raised in excess of $2.5 billion, bringing Cornfeld a personal fortune of more than $100 million. Cornfeld himself became known for conspicuous consumption with lavish parties. Socially, he was generous and jovial.

A group of 300 IOS employees complained to the Swiss authorities that Cornfeld and his co-founders pocketed part of the proceeds of a share issue raised among employees in 1969. Consequently he was charged with fraud in 1973 by the Swiss authorities. When Cornfeld visited Geneva, Swiss authorities arrested him. He served 11 months in a Swiss jail before being freed on a bail surety of $600,000.

He returned to Beverly Hills, living less ostentatiously than in his previous years. He developed an obsession for health foods and vitamins, renounced red meat and seldom drank alcohol. He suffered a stroke and died of a cerebral aneurysm on 27th February 1995 in London, England.


the author: Jamie Frater

Jamie is the founder of Listverse. He spends his time working on the site, doing research for new lists, and cooking. He is fascinated with all things morbid and bizarre.

http://listverse.com/

9. Robert Hendy-Freegard [Born: 1971]



Robert Hendy-Freegard is a British barman, car salesman, conman and impostor who masqueraded as an MI5 agent and fooled several people to go underground for fear of IRA assassination.

He met his victims on social occasions or as customers in the pub or car dealership where he was working. He would reveal his “role” as an undercover agent for MI5, Special Branch or Scotland Yard working against the IRA. He would win them over, ask for money and make them do his bidding. He demanded that they cut off contact with family and friends, go through “loyalty tests” and live alone in poor conditions. He seduced five women, claiming that he wanted to marry them. Initially some of the victims refused to co-operate with the police because he had warned them that police would be double agents or MI5 agents performing another “loyalty test”.

Hendy-Freegard also seduced a newly married personal assistant who was taking care of his children. He told her he was with MI5 and forced her to cut contact with friends and family lest the IRA would kill her. He also took naked pictures of her and threatened to give them to her husband if she would not cooperate. She had to change her name and tell the deed poll officer it was because she was sexually abused as a child. Her loyalty tests included sleeping in Heathrow airport and on park benches for several nights and pretending to be a Jehovah’s Witness so that his bosses in MI5 would let them marry.

In 2002 Scotland Yard and the FBI organized a sting operation. First, the FBI bugged the phone of the American psychologist’s parents. Her mother told Hendy-Freegard she would hand over £10,000 but only in person. Hendy-Freegard met the mother in Heathrow airport where police apprehended him. He denied all charges and claimed they were part of a conspiracy against him and continued this story in the subsequent trial.

On June 23, 2005, after an eight month trial, Blackfriars Crown Court convicted Robert Hendy-Freegard for two counts of kidnapping, 10 of theft and 8 of deception. On September 6, 2005 he was given a life sentence. Police doubt that they have discovered all the victims. On April 25, 2007, the BBC reported that Robert Hendy-Freegard had appealed against his kidnapping convictions and won. This means that the life sentence is revoked but he will still serve nine years for the other offences. He could be free by the end of 2007.

8. James Hogue [Born: 1959]



Hogue is a US impostor who most famously entered Princeton University by posing as a self-taught orphan. In 1986 Hogue enrolled in a Palo Alto High School as Jay Mitchell Huntsman, a 16-year-old orphan from Nevada. He had adopted the identity of a dead infant. A suspicious local reporter exposed him.

In 1988 Hogue enrolled at Princeton University using the alias Alexi Indris Santana, a self-taught orphan from Utah. He deferred admission for one year because he had been convicted of the theft of bicycle frames in Utah. Hogue claimed in his application materials that he had slept outside in the Grand Canyon, raising sheep and reading philosophers. He violated his parole to enter class. For the next two years he lived as Santana and as a member of the track team. He was also admitted into the Ivy Club.

In 1991 Hogue’s real identity was exposed when Renee Pacheco, a student from the Palo Alto High School, recognized him. He was arrested for defrauding the university for $30,000 in financial aid and sentenced to three years in jail with 5 years probation and 100 hours of community service.

On May 16, 1993 Hogue made headlines again through his association with Harvard University. Having lied about his identity again, he was able to take a job as a security guard in one of Harvard’s on-campus museums. A few months into his tenure, museum officials noticed that several gemstones on exhibit had been replaced with inexpensive fakes. Somerville police seized Hogue in his home and charged him with grand larceny to the tune of $50,000.

On March 12, 2007 Hogue pleaded guilty to a single felony count of theft of more than $15,000 in exchange for a prison sentence not to exceed 10 years, and prosecutors’ agreement to drop other theft and habitual criminal charges.

7. Eduardo de Valfierno



Eduardo de Valfierno, who referred to himself as Marqués (marquis), was an Argentine con man who allegedly masterminded the theft of the Mona Lisa. Valfierno paid several men to steal the work of art from the Louvre, including museum employee Vincenzo Peruggia. On August 21, 1911 Peruggia hid the Mona Lisa under his coat and simply walked out the door.

Before the heist took place, Valfierno commissioned French art restorer and forger Yves Chaudron to make six copies of the Mona Lisa. The forgeries were then shipped to various parts of the world, readying them for the buyers he had lined up.

Valfierno knew once the Mona Lisa was stolen it would be harder to smuggle copies past customs. After the heist the copies were delivered to their buyers, each thinking they had the original which had just been stolen for them. Because Valfierno just wanted to sell forgeries, he only needed the original Mona Lisa to disappear and never contacted Peruggia again after the crime. Eventually Peruggia was caught trying to sell the painting and it was returned to the Louvre in 1913.

6. Soapy Smith [Born: 1860; Died: 1898]



Soapy Smith (born Jefferson Randolph Smith) was an American con artist and gangster who had a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver, Colorado, Creede, Colorado, and Skagway, Alaska from 1879 to 1898. He is perhaps the most famous “sure-thing” bunko man of the old west.

Some time in the late 1870s or early 1880s, Smith began duping entire crowds with a ploy the Denver newspapers dubbed The Prize Package Soap Sell Swindle.

Jefferson would open his “tripe and keister” (display case on a tripod) on a busy street corner. Piling ordinary soap cakes onto the keister top, he would describe their wonders. As he spoke to the growing crowd of curious onlookers, he would pull out his wallet and begin wrapping paper money ranging from one dollar up to one hundred dollars, around a select few of the bars. He then finished each bar by wrapping plain paper around it to hide the money. He mixed the money-wrapped packages in with wrapped bars containing no money. He then sold the soap to the crowd for a dollar a cake.

A shill planted in the crowd would buy a bar, tear it open, and loudly proclaim that he had won some money, waving it around for all to see. This performance had the desired effect of enticing the sale of the packages. More often than not, victims bought several bars before the sale was completed. Midway through the sale, Smith would announce that the hundred-dollar bill still remained in the pile, unpurchased. He then would auction off the remaining soap bars to the highest bidders.

Through the masterful art of manipulation and sleight-of-hand, the cakes of soap wrapped with money were hidden and replaced with packages holding no cash. It was assured that the only money “won” went to members of what became known as the “Soap Gang.” Soapy was eventually shot to death by a group he swindled in a card game.

5. George Parker [Born: 1870; Died: 1936]



Parker was one of the most audacious con men in American history. He made his living selling New York’s public landmarks to unwary tourists. His favorite object for sale was the Brooklyn Bridge, which he sold twice a week for years. He convinced his marks that they could make a fortune by controlling access to the roadway. More than once police had to remove naive buyers from the bridge as they tried to erect toll barriers.

Other public landmarks he sold included the original Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant’s Tomb, and the Statue of Liberty. George had many different methods for making his sales. When he sold Grant’s Tomb, he would often pose as the general’s grandson. He even set up a fake “office” to handle his real estate swindles. He produced impressive forged documents to prove that he was the legal owner of whatever property he was selling.

Parker was convicted of fraud three times. After his third conviction on December 17th, 1928 he was sentenced to a life term at Sing Sing Prison. He spent the last eight years of his life behind bars. He was popular among guards and fellow inmates who enjoyed hearing of his exploits.

George is remembered as one of the most successful con men in the history of the United States, as well as one of history’s most talented hoaxers. His exploits have passed into popular culture, giving rise to phrases such as “and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you”, a popular way of expressing a belief that someone is gullible.

4. Victor Lustig [Born: 1890; Died: 1947]



Victor Lustig was renowned as the Man who Sold the Eiffel Tower. He was born in Bohemia but later moved to Paris where he was able to con people on his frequent journeys between Paris and New York. His first con was to show people a device that could print $100 bills. The only problem, he would tell them, is that it only prints one bill every six hours. Many people paid him enormous amounts of money (usually over $30,000) for the device. In fact, the device contained two real hidden $100 bills â€" once they were spat out by the machine it would produce only blank paper. By the time the buyers discovered this, Lustig was well gone with their money.

In 1925, as France was recovering from the war, the upkeep of the Eiffel tower was an almost unbearable expense for the city of Paris. When Lustig read about this in a paper, he came up with his most brilliant idea. After forging government credentials, he invited six scrap metal dealers to a secret meeting in a hotel. He explained that the City could not afford to keep the tower and that they had to sell it for scrap. He told them the secrecy of the meeting and all future dealings was due to the fact that the public may become distressed at the idea of the removal of the tower.

While it seems implausible, at the time the tower was built it was meant to be temporary and this happened just 18 years after the original date for removal of the tower. Lustig took the dealers in a limousine to tour the tower.

One of the dealers, Andre Poisson was convinced that the tale was legitimate and he handed over the money. When he realised he had been conned, he was too embarrassed to tell the police and Lustig escaped with the money. One month later, he returned to Paris to try the whole scam again. This time it was reported to the police but Lustig managed to escape.

At one point, Lustig convinced Al Capone to invest $50,000 with him. He stored the money in a vault and returned it two months later, stating that the deal had fallen through. Capone, so impressed by Lustig’s honesty gave him $5,000 for his effort.

In 1934, Lustig was found guilty of counterfeiting. He plead guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in Alcatraz. In 1947 he died of pneumonia whilst in jail in Springfield, Missouri.

3. Joseph Weil [Born: 1877; Died: 1975]



Joseph “Yellow Kid” Weil was one of the most famous con men in his era. Over the course of his career he is believed to have stolen over 8 million dollars. In his first job as a collector, he realized that his co-workers were collecting their debts but keeping a little part of the money for themselves. Weil started a protection racket â€" offering not to report their activities in return for a small portion of what they were taking.

He also used phony oil deals, women, fixed races, and an endless list of other tricks to steal from an increasingly gullible public. He could change his persona daily to further his gains: one day he was Dr. Henri Reuel, a noted geologist who travelled around and told his hosts that he was a representative for a big oil company while draining them of the cash they gave him to “invest in fuel.” The next day he was director of the Elysium Development Company, promising land to innocent believers while robbing them in recording and abstract fees. Or he was a chemist par excellence, who had discovered how to copy dollar bills; promising to increase your fortune, he would multiply your bills then take the booty once the police arrived.

In his autobiography, Weil writes:

    “The desire to get something for nothing has been very costly to many people who have dealt with me and with other con men,” Weil writes. “But I have found that this is the way it works. The average person, in my estimation, is ninety-nine per cent animal and one per cent human. The ninety-nine per cent that is animal causes very little trouble. But the one per cent that is human causes all our woes. When people learn â€" as I doubt they will â€" that they can’t get something for nothing, crime will diminish and we shall live in greater harmony.”

2. Charles Ponzi [Born: 1882; Died: 1949]



Ponzi, an Italian immigrant to the United States became one of the most famous con men in American history. While many people do not know the name Ponzi, the Ponzi Scheme is extremely well known and continues today in Internet Make Money Fast schemes. His early life is not entirely known as he was prone to fabricate stories about it. What is known is that he spent a short amount of time at University in Rome and, after dropping out, caught a boat to Boston, USA where he arrived with $2.50 in his pocket.

His early years in the United States were troublesome. He began working at a restaurant but was soon fired for playing tricks with the bills and shortchanging customers. His next job was working in a bank in Canada that catered to Italian immigrants. His knowledge of numbers helped him to do very well there. Unfortunately it turned out that the owner of the bank was stealing money from newly opened savings accounts to pay the interest on the interest bearing accounts and to cover bad investments. The bank owner eventually fled to Mexico and left Ponzi without a job. After writing a fraudulent cheque and spending a number of years in prison, Ponzi determined to become wealthy at any cost.

Once he had settled in to life on the outside, he discovered postal reply coupons through a letter that was sent to him from abroad. He realised that he could buy foreign coupons at massively devalued prices (because of price fixing after the war) and then resell them in the United States for a 400% profit. This was a form of arbitrage and it was legal. Ponzi began canvassing friends and acquaintances for money â€" promising them a 50% return or a doubling of their money in 90 days. He started his own company, the Securities Exchange Company, to promote the scheme.

The word of this great investment quickly spread and before long Ponzi was living in a luxurious mansion. He was bringing in cash at a fantastic rate, but the simplest financial analysis showed that he wasn’t making money, he was losing it rapidly. For every dollar he took in, he went more deeply into debt. As long as money kept flowing in, Ponzi would stay ahead of the eventual collapse.

People soon began to be suspicious and the press were starting to publish negative articles about him. Inevitably people were starting to demand their money. Shortly after, federal agents raided his office and shut it down. No stock of stamps was found and everyone that had invested their money with Ponzi lost every penny. It is probable that he lost tens of millions of dollars. Ponzi plead guilty of mail fraud and was sent to prison. After one escape he was returned to jail to complete his sentence. He was eventually deported back to Italy and he died there in poverty in 1949.

1. Frank Abagnale [Born: 1948]



Frank Abagnale is a former cheque con artist, forger and imposter who, for five years in the 1960s, passed bad cheques worth more than $2.5 million in 26 countries. The recent blockbuster film Catch Me If You Can is based on his life. His first experience of fraud was as a youth when he used his father’s Mobil card to buy car parts that he would then sell back to the gas station for a lower price. He did not realise that his father was the one who had to foot the bill and when he was eventually confronted with the fraud, his mother sent him for four months to a juvenile correction facility.

After moving to New York, Frank lived solely on the income of his fraudulent activities. One of his most famous tricks was to print his own account number on fake bank deposit slips so that when clients of the bank deposited money, it would actually go in to his account. By the time the banks realised what had happened, Frank had taken $40,000 and run.

For two years, Abagnale travelled around the world free by masquerading as a Pan Am pilot. He was able to abuse the professional courtesy of other airlines to provide free transport for competing airline pilots if they had to move to another city at short notice. When he was nearly caught leaving a plane, he changed his masquerade to that of a Doctor. He worked as a medical supervisor for 11 months without detection. At other times he worked as a lawyer and a teacher.

He was eventually caught in France and spent six months in prison there. After that he was extradited to Sweden and imprisoned for a further six months. After a successful escape whilst travelling to the United States, he was finally given 12 years in Prison. He escaped from his prison by masquerading as an undercover officer of the Bureau of Prisons. He was once again captured in New York City and returned to jail. After serving only five years of his sentence, the US Federal Government offered him his freedom in return for helping the government against fraud and scam artists without pay.

He currently runs Abagnale and Associates, a financial fraud consultancy company, and is a multimillionaire.

Top 10 Famous Con Men

Jamie Frater
August 28, 2007

A con man is a person who intentionally misleads another person, usually for personal financial gain. In recent history there have been a number of con men who have really stood out for either the wealth they amassed, or the ease with which they tricked people. This is a list of 10 of the most famous con men in recent history.

Credit Repair Services with Advance Fees

Consumers with bad credit ratings are particularly vulnerable to this scam. Everything a credit-repair operation offers an individual can do personally at little or no cost. Credit repair operations cannot ask for money in advance and they cannot automatically remove legitimate negative reports from your credit history.

Foreign Lottery Scams

Any lottery from a foreign country is illegal in the United States. Stating a person can win or is a winner already provides a strong incentive; however, people should never send money to obtain lottery money. Scammers using fictitious addresses will request you send 'fees and taxes' to them through a wire service, take the cash and never provide any winnings because there are no winners.

Office Supplies - Sale by Deceptive Telemarketing

This scam features fake invoices for office supplies being sent to a business, often for only a couple hundred dollars. This relatively low amount makes it easier for company personnel to quickly sign off and feel it is not worth their time to check the invoice's validity, which would be done if it was for a larger amount.

Debt Relief Services (Non-Compliant with FTC rule)

The Federal Trade Commission has established rules for debt relief services (for profit businesses that represent that they renegotiate, settle or alter the terms of payment for an unsecured debt). The FTC rule governs disclosures and representations that debt relief services can make and does not allow advance fees. There are legitimate debt relief companies that comply with the FTC rule and the Better Business Bureau is identifying only the non-compliant companies as scams.

http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/

Matric and Multilevel Marketing and Pyramid Schemes

"MAKE MONEY NOW!" scream their websites!  And do it in your spare time!  Earn big bucks for almost no work.  If that isn't enough to tell you it is a scam, let us explain why it is. These schemes are promoted through websites offering expensive electronic gadgets as free gifts in return for spending about $25 on an inexpensive product, such as a mobile phone signal booster.

Consumers who buy the product then join a waiting list to receive their free gift. The person at the top of the list receives his/her gift only after a prescribed number of new members join up.

The majority of those on the list will never receive the item.

Pyramid schemes offer a return on a financial investment based on the number of new recruits to the scheme.

Investors are misled about the likely returns. There are simply not enough people to support the scheme indefinitely.

Property Investment Scams

Investors attend a free presentation, which aims to persuade them to hand over large amounts of money to enroll on a course promising to make them a successful property dealer, usually involving "no money down".

Schemes can involve the offer of buying yet-to-be built properties at a discount.  Other variations include a buy-to-lease scheme where companies offer to source, renovate and manage properties, claiming good returns from rental income. The properties are generally near-derelict and the tenants non-existent.

900 Phone Number Scams

Postal notification of a win in a sweepstake or a holiday offer in this scam include instructions to ring a premium rate number. This is generally an 900 toll number. Calls to the number incur significant charges, the recorded message is lengthy, and the prize often does not exist. It is a scam that has been around a long time, but it is still in use.
     
Advance Fee Brokers

Often these appear to be very professional operations with attractive websites and advertisements. However, it is illegal for a business to charge a fee prior to providing a loan. Typically, after wiring money to the scammer, the victim never receives the loan. These 'lenders' will use fake physical addresses or the addresses of real companies.

"Passive Residual Income" Scams

Get rich scheme and scam websites - Make $$$ in your spare time! It so EASY once you get their free book or cd and learn their secrets! Sure... These websites are themselves scams; claiming to offer you a good deal, when at best, their products are worthless, they have no real secrets, and worse, some are identity thieves!
     
Counterfeit Checks

You receive a check in the mail - either from a lottery you "won" (without buying a ticker) or from an EBay buyer or other source.  It looks real... but after you try to cash it, you find out it is a fake; and you're arrested for passing a counterfeit check!

FreeCreditReport.com   

What a scam this one is!  The name of the website is freecreditreport.com, but you'll only get a credit report when you sign up for their paid service.  And worst of all there IS a government mandated website where you CAN get a free credit report! 
     
Work At Home Scams

Work-at-home and business opportunity scams are often advertised as paid work from home. After the would-be worker applies, they are asked for money up-front to pay for materials and, after paying, they hear nothing back. A variation of this is, people are asked to invest in a business that has little chance of success.

Other common scams:

Lottery Scams

These include scams which can go under the name of genuine lotteries like the UK National Lottery and the El Gordo Spanish lottery.  Unsolicited email or telephone calls tell people they are being entered or have already been entered into a prize draw. Later, they receive a call congratulating them on winning a substantial prize in a national lottery. But before they can claim their prize, they are told they must send money to pay for administration fees and taxes. The prize, of course, does not exist. No genuine lottery asks for money to pay fees or notifies it's winners via email.

Internet Auction Frauds

Auction frauds (commonly called Ebay or PayPal scams, after the two largest venues) is a misrepresentation of a product advertised for sale through an Internet auction site or the failure to deliver products purchased through an Internet auction site.
     
Nigerian Advance Fee Frauds (AFF)

These frauds take the form of an offer, via letter, e-mail or fax, to share a huge sum of money in return for using the recipient's bank account to transfer of the money out of the country.  The perpetrators will often then use the bank account details to empty their victim's bank account. Often, they convince the victim that money is needed up front, to pay fees or is needed to bribe officials.

Phishing and Pharming for Identity Theft

The victim receives an email that appears to be from a credible, real bank or credit card company, with links to a website and a request to update account information. But the website and email are fakes, made to look like the real website.
     
Online Dating Scams

Fake profiles of scammers posing as attractive men and women, then claiming they need money to help in an emergency, typically when they claim to be out of the country on a business trip.

Facebook Fake Friend Scam

Did you ever get a Friend Request on Facebook from someone you already thought was your Friend? If you hit Accept, you may have just friended a scammer.

Affordable Care Act Scams (ObamaCare)

Scammers love the Affordable Care Act ('Obamacare'), using it as a way to fool Americans into sharing their personal information.

Scam Text Messages

It looks like a text alert from your bank, asking you to confirm information or 'reactivate your debit card' by following a link on your smart phone. But it is just a way to steal personal information.

Do Not Call Scams     

The National Do Not Call Registry (U.S.) or the National Do Not Call List (Canada) offer consumers a free way to reduce telemarketing calls. Scammers call anyway, of course, and they've even found a way to scam consumers by pretending to be a government official calling to sign you up or confirming your previous participation on the Dot Not call list!

Casting Call Scam

Scammers pose as agents or talent scouts looking for actors, singers, models, reality show contestants, etc., and use phony audition notices to fool aspiring performers into paying to try out for parts that don't exist.

Foreign Currency Scam   

Investments in foreign currency can sound like a great idea, and scammers frequently use real current events and news stories to make their pitches even more appealing. They advertise an easy investment with high return and low risk when you purchase Iraqi Dinar, Vietnamese Dong or, most recently, the Egyptian Pound. The plan is that, when those governments revalue their currencies, increasing their worth against the dollar, you just sell and cash in. Unlike previous hoaxes, you may even take possession of real currency. The problem is that they will be very difficult to sell, and it's extremely unlikely they will ever significantly increase in value.

Arrest Warrant Scam

Scammers create a fake Caller ID, which allows them to call you and appear to be calling from a local police, sheriff or other law enforcement agency. They say there is a warrant out for your arrest, but that you can pay a fine in order to avoid criminal charges. Of course, these scammers don't take credit cards; only a Western Union Moneygram, other wire transfer or pre-paid debit card will do.

Invisible Home Improvements

In addition to email, mail and phone, scammers now just show up at your door. Scammers posing as home improvement contractors come door-to-door sale and target seniors, those who live alone, and victims of weather-related disasters are common targets.

Top 10 List of Scams of 2014

Medical Alert Scam

This is a telemarketing scam that promises a 'free' medical alert system, that scam targeted seniors and caretakers. The robocalls claimed to be offering the medical alert devices and system free of charge because a family member or friend had already paid for it. In many cases, seniors were asked to provide their bank account or credit information to 'verify' their identity and, as a result, were charged the monthly $35 service fee. The system, of course, never arrived and the seniors were left with a charge they had trouble getting refunded. Easy rule of thumb - be wary of 'free' offers that require your personal information upfront and always verify with the supposed friend or family member that the caller says paid for the service.

Ebay / Auction Reseller Scam

Scammers posing as buyers convince sellers into shipping goods prior to receiving payment. Usually the fake buyer claims it's an 'emergency' like a child's birthday and asks the seller to ship the same day. The seller receives an email that appears as though it came from PayPal for the payment, but emails like that are easy for scammers to fake.

nasaypan nga cat litter box?

4.1 magnitude quake hit off Davao Occidental coast

INQUIRER.net
Monday, March 10th, 2014



MANILA, Philippines â€" A 4.1 magnitude earthquake jolted off the coast of Davao Occidental before noon Monday, the state seismologist said.

In the latest quake bulletin of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the quake hit 174 kilometers southwest of Sarangani at 10:50 a.m.

The quake has a depth of focus of 326 kilometers.

Phivolcs said it does not expect damages and aftershocks.

Meanwhile, a 3.3 magnitude earthquake hit Tagbilaran city in Bohol at 5:43 a.m. Bohol was hit by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake last October 2013.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/

Karim Raslan

Raslan is the founder, managing director and CEO of KRA Group, a public affairs consulting firm with an ASEAN-wide focus that specializes in stakeholder relations, business advisory, strategic communication solutions, in-depth cross-market research and reputation management.

Raslan is a public affairs expert, with more than fifteen years experience in stakeholder management and socio-political risks analysis specializing in Southeast Asia. The Cambridge - trained lawyer, columnist and writer has developed a deep understanding of business and politics across Southeast Asia, especially of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

His weekly syndicated column Ceritalah, which discusses socio-political developments and current issues in the region, is published in three languages: English, Mandarin and Malay in The Star, Sin Chew Daily and Sinar Harian respectively (all in Malaysia).

Mr. Aquino has shown great foresight, but more importantly, courage in sticking to his bold plans for transformation. This hasn’t been easy for him, and opposition is also coming from his own class, but this hasn’t stopped him or forced him to backtrack from pursuing what he envisions for his country.

In his concluding remarks in Kuala Lumpur, Aquino said: “The Philippines, once the laggard of Asia, is now entering into a sustainable cycle of empowerment and opportunity, and a trajectory of growth where no one is left behind.”

I have a feeling we will be hearing a lot more of the country going forward.

http://www.thestar.com.my/

Of course, the deal still needs the approval of Philippine Congress; and another rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front, maintains a recalcitrant attitude toward the latest peace agreement. But the establishment of the Bangsamoro will be a big boost to security not only in the southern Philippines but also in Sabah. In agreeing to this development, the overwhelmingly Catholic Philippines has shown generosity and innovation in dealing with its minorities.

I’m not saying everything is rosy there. The country’s continuing defiance of China over the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) issue may be unwise, especially with the political tension in the region heating up. Still, it would be foolish to dismiss the Philippines’ latest feats.

Aquino has also defied powerful religious interests, specifically, the Catholic Church, on the controversial Reproductive Health Law, to provide universal access to contraception. This measure is desperately needed given that the Philippines has the highest population growth in Asia at 1.9 percent, exacerbating its poverty.

But his impact has been more than economic. Mr. Aquino’s tenure could see an end to the four-decade-old southern Philippine insurgency. Thanks to a Malaysian-brokered peace deal, plans are afoot to expand the existing Muslim autonomous region there into a “Bangsamoro” entity with more devolved powers, in exchange for the disarmament of the rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Separately, in 2013 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sent $22.5 billion in remittances back home. Of course, the large numbers of OFWs (estimated at nearly 10 million) represent a substantial cost to the nationâ€"the republic’s best and brightest working in other countries, most often leaving behind their children, and in not a few instances resulting in broken families. Nonetheless, the Philippines will be entering a demographic “sweet spot” in 2015, when the majority of the population will reach working age.

Admittedly, corruption remains a major problem. But Aquino has never shied away from taking on those who abuse power. He has not spared even his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Whatever the merits of the charges against her, her prosecution proves beyond a shadow of doubt that Aquino holds no one above the law. Under his presidency, the Philippines’ Corruption Perception Index ranking improved from 134th in 2010 to 94th in 2013.

First, the republic’s economy has been transformed. The Philippines has soared in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report rankings, from 85th in 2010 to 59th in 2013. Its GDP grew by 7.2 percent in 2013 despite the devastation wrought by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: “Haiyan”).

Moreover, its business process outsourcing (BPO) industry generated $13.3 billion in revenues and by 2016 is expected to employ 1.3 million people. The Philippines is also emerging as a tourism hub, having attracted some 4.6 million international visitors in 2013, and raking in $4.8 billion in revenues. This is no accident: Back in that 2010 interview, Mr. Aquino identified BPO and tourism as “critical growth areas” for the Philippine economy. He also mentioned the need for better infrastructure and he has increased spending for this from $7.16 billion in 2013 to $9 billion this year.

But something about him struck me. Perhaps it was, as I wrote back then, his “quiet determination and self-confidence, an inherently rational and deliberate mindset and a determination not to become indebted to entrenched business and political interests… his integrity and intelligence may well propel the Philippines forward and surprise its neighbors.”

Last Feb. 28, listening to him speak in Kuala Lumpur, Mr. Aquino clearly hasn’t disappointed. Speaking of his election, he noted: “The people told us… it’s time to once and for all realize the vast potential of the Philippines.” I think Mr. Aquino has delivered on this score and more. Indeed, Malaysia can learn a lot from the Philippines.

Commentary

What can Malaysia learn from the Philippines?

By Karim Raslan
Tuesday March 4, 2014 MYT

PETALING JAYAâ€"Philippine President Aquino (or Noynoy as he’s known) is a dynast who means what he says.



I first interviewed Aquino back in 2010 while he was still on the presidential campaign trail, and he impressed me immediately. However, many observers had only harsh views of him and dismissed him as little more than a callow political princelingâ€"though the son of the near-sainted former president Cory Aquino and assassinated former senator Benigno Aquino Jr.

All the men and women whom I have faced at that final moment, convince me that in what I have done, I have not prevented a single murder. -Albert Pierrepoint

Albert Pierrepoint (30 March 1905 â€" 10 July 1992) was a long-serving hangman in England. He executed at least 400 people, about half of them war criminals, including William Joyce (one of the men dubbed "Lord Haw-Haw"), and John Amery, whom he considered the bravest man he had ever hanged. (wikipedia)

no, lorenz, please.  human as our law enforcers are (from the police to the judges), we are well aware that it is often only the poor who get the death sentence.  the rich and the powerful can afford the best and well-connected lawyers while the poor cannot.  dying is a one-way ticket; there is no reprieve for those who may be proven innocent after all.

“The US has stated publicly that it has no plans to contain China,” Fu said. “We want to see if words are matched by actions.”

If any country “provokes or undermines security” in the region, Fu said, then China would “respond effectively to safeguard its territorial integrity and regional security.”

Fu did not specifically mention Japan, the Financial Times pointed out, but Beijing and Tokyo are engaged in an increasingly tense dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/

Arrogant response

In an arrogant response to the US strategic security policy of a “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific region, China last week called on the United States to accept its growing security presence in East Asia and warned its neighbors that it would “respond  effectively” to safeguard its territorial integrity amid simmering maritime disputes in the region.

The Financial Times reported from Beijing that Fu Ying, spokesperson for the National People’s Congress, said, “If the US cares about peace and prosperity, it should support China’s aspirations for safeguarding territorial integrity and regional peace.”

The remarks, which came ahead of the parliamentary meeting, reflects China’s growing weariness with US regional dominance, particularly as Washington continues to press its “pivot” to Asia defense policy, which will see 60 percent of US warships deploying to the region by the end of the decade.

Bilateral talks

While the Philippines and the United States have both called for the immediate conclusion of a binding code of conduct through multilateral negotiations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and China to prevent rival claims from erupting into confrontations, China has insisted on bilateral negotiations, a mode that gives it the advantage of picking off its weaker neighbors one by one.

Nothing illustrates China riding roughshod on its neighbors more vividly than a report by the Inquirer on March 7 about Chinese ships harvesting giant clams and corals to fill their black-and-red mother ship at Bajo de Masinloc (Panatag Shoal), off the Zambales coast, with impunity. Nearby, three Chinese Coast Guard vessels stood guard.

An Inquirer photographer took pictures showing the steady presence at Bajo de Masinloc of Chinese vessels, which number from three to five at any given time, indicating how the Chinese have effectively seized the shoal.

There was no Philippine Coast Guard vessel in the area. But the Inquirer reported that while the Naval Forces Northern Luzon regularly monitors the shoal, it does not intervene, raising the question who is guarding Philippine territory and protecting Filipino fishermen.

The Philippines invoked the Unclos in bringing its territorial dispute with China to the United Nations for arbitration in January last year. The petition asked the UN arbitration tribunal to declare China’s nine-dash line claim invalid and to stop Chinese incursions into the West Philippine Sea.

China has refused to participate in the arbitration, insisting it has “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea.

Diplomatic solution

The joint statement called for a “diplomatic” solution and, expressing concern that some “certain assertions” made were “vague,” said claimant nations should clarify their claims.

Without directly referring to it, the Philippines and the United States publicly rejected China’s nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea, saying it “lacked legal basis.”

The statement emphasized that maritime claims in the South China Sea must be derived from land features in accordance with the international law of the sea, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).

Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines claim parts of the South China Sea, but China claims 90 percent of the 3.5-million-square kilometer regional waterway.

Analysis

China rides roughshod on neighbors

By Amando Doronila
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Monday, March 10th, 2014

The Philippines and the United States on Saturday jointly expressed concern over recent incidents in the South China Sea that “threaten freedom of navigation in disputed waters,” an apparent reference to China’s increasing assertiveness in pressing its territorial claims in the region.

In a joint statement at the conclusion of bilateral talks in Washington on March 6-7 ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit to the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region in April, the two allies “emphasized the importance of upholding peace and stability, respect for international law, unimpeded commerce, and freedom of navigation and overflight.”

Although the statement did not directly refer to China and did not specify any “developments,” it clearly referred to China’s enforcement at the start of the year of a new fisheries law requiring foreign vessels to first seek its permission before exploring waters it considered part of its territory and the water cannon attack by Chinese Coast Guard vessels on two Philippine fishing boats on the Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) on Jan. 27.

The Obama visit is expected to determine up to what extent the United States will back the Philippines in defending its territory from further Chinese incursions.

“The simple humanity of Francis has worked its charm,” said Gilda Rey, a Catholic from the southern French city of Toulouse.

“He doesn’t hesitate to mingle with the crowds or even celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day. He’s a very fraternal pope.”

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/

But living in one of the few countries where abortion is still illegal, the 52-year-old added she opposed any moves to soften the Church’s stance on that issue.

Although no one has expected Francis to make radical changes in doctrine, the pope has shown a willingness to encourage greater understanding and pastoral care of Christians who are divorced, single mothers, or homosexuals.

Gay rights groups cautiously welcomed the words as a change in tone, but warned they did not reflect a shift in Catholic Church policy â€" and certainly not a move towards accepting same-sex marriage.

“If homosexuals want to marry, they can do so in a civil ceremony but we cannot change the Church of Christ to suit one’s tastes,” said Aurora Gomez, a Catholic in Mexico.

On the other side of the Pacific in the world’s fourth largest Catholic country, Filipino Nona Andaya-Castillo said she would back moves to ease Church policies on homosexuality.

Among his challenges are the thorny issues of marriage for priests and overhauling the Vatican’s coffers after a string of scandals, including allegations of waste, corruption and even money-laundering.

And the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics are grappling with sensitive and often divisive issues, such as homosexuality and abortion.

In comments that made waves around the world, Francis last July famously asked: “If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?”

Being Catholic is ‘in’

In France, where only three percent of Catholics are identified as practicing their religion, priests say there has been an increase in church attendance since Pope Francis’s election.

“Before it was ‘uncool’ to be Catholic, now it’s ‘in’,” said Vallet.

Still the man who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio has to walk a tight rope in his papacy.

On Twitter too, the 77-year-old pontiff has built up a following of millions of people and his messages are re-tweeted more than those of tech-savvy US President Barack Obama.

Francis became the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years when he was elected by the College of Cardinals a year ago Thursday to succeed Benedict XVI, who chose to retire and is now pope emeritus.

Over the past year, Francis has won accolades and plaudits for powerful gestures such as washing the feet of young Muslim inmates, embracing the handicapped and asking that gay people not be judged.

Maria Angelica Largo, a 50-year-old from Colombia, said she “immediately felt he was closer to the people, more simple and more human.”

“We have never seen a pope become so popular in just a couple of minutes,” said Odon Vallet, a French historian and an expert on religion.

The Argentine-born pope’s humble and homespun style â€" he likes to mingle with the crowds â€" also bowled over Roger Kouassi, a teacher in the west African country of Ivory Coast for whom the main thing is that “Francis is closer to the people.”

Pope Francis: the man who won over the world in five minutes

Agence France-Presse
Monday, March 10th, 2014


Pope Francis AP PHOTO

PARIS â€" Five minutes. That’s all it took to make papal history.

Never has a leader of the Roman Catholic Church become as popular in as short a time as Pope Francis did when he humbly asked the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square on March 13 last year to pray for him.

A year on, Francis, known for his gentle smile and infectious energy, has won over hearts worldwide. Admirers from Manila to Mexico fondly remember his first appearance on the balcony in the Vatican when he began with the simple greeting, “Good evening.”

“China officially notified the world of its nine-dash line claim only in 2009 when China submitted the nine-dash line map to the United Nations Secretary General. Not a single country in the world recognizes, respects, tolerates or acquiesces to China’s nine-dash line claim,” Carpio stressed.

And while the issue has not yet reached the High Court, Carpio said the government should fight China’s claim that puts at stake 80 percent of its exclusive economic zone and 100 percent of its extended continental shelf in the West Philippines Sea.

It was not the first time Carpio publicly defended the government’s claim on the disputed islands and waters.

Last year, the magistrate said he believes the Philippines will win the arbitration case before ITLOS. But at the same time, he was pessimistic as to whether China would comply with a hostile ruling. Because of this, he said international support to the Philippines’ case would be vital.

http://www.philstar.com/

“If the South China Sea were the internal waters or territorial sea of China, then no state could have exercised freedom of navigation and freedom of over-flight over the South China Sea,” he added.

In other words, Carpio said China’s claim to the waters enclosed by the nine-dash line claim does not fall under any of the maritime zones â€" internal waters, territorial sea, EEZ and ECS â€" recognized by UNCLOS that can be claimed by a coastal state. 

Lastly, the SC justice said China failed to satisfy any of the conditions to claim historical rights under the general principles and rules of international law: formal announcement to the international community, continuous exercise of sovereignty over the waters it claims as its own internal waters or territorial sea, and recognition and tolerance from other states.

China’s nine-dash line claim was “never effectively enforced.”

“First, UNCLOS extinguished all historical rights of other states within the 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone of the adjacent coastal state. That is why this 200 NM zone is called ‘exclusive’ â€" no state other than the adjacent coastal state can exploit economically its resources. Fishing rights that other states historically enjoyed within the EEZ of a coastal state automatically terminated upon the effectivity of UNCLOS,” he explained.

“Moreover, UNCLOS prohibits states from making any reservation or exception to UNCLOS unless expressly allowed by UNCLOS.  Any reservation of claims to historical rights over the EEZ or ECS of another coastal state is prohibited because UNCLOS does not expressly allow a state to claim historical rights to the EEZ or ECS of another state. In short, UNCLOS does not recognize ‘historical rights’ as basis for claiming the EEZs or ECSs of other coastal states,” he added.

The SC justice also argued that a state can only claim “historical rights” over waters that are part of its internal waters or territorial sea.

“The South China Sea, beyond the 12 NM territorial sea of coastal states, has never been considered as the internal waters or territorial sea of any state. Since time immemorial, ships of all nations have exercised freedom of navigation in the South China Sea,” he noted.

“China issued this official document to bolster its claim to the Paracels to counter Vietnam’s strong historical claims to the same islands. The astronomical observation point Nanhai was today’s Xisha Islands. It shows that Xisha Islands were within the bounds of China at the time of the Yuan dynasty,” Carpio pointed out.

Carpio, who has apparently been studying the territorial dispute pending before the United Nations International Tribunal on Law of the Seas (ITLOS), also noted that it is puzzling how Guo Shoujing went ashore to “visit” Scarborough Shoal when “it was just a rock, with no vegetation, and did not even have enough space to accommodate an expedition party.”

“Worse, the Chinese historical account that Guo Shoujing installed one of the 27 Chinese observatories on Nanhai Island clearly rules out any possibility that Scarborough is Nanhai Island because no observatory could have possibly been physically installed on Scarborough Shoal at that time,” he added.

Assuming China’s historical claim is valid, it should no longer be honored under international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Carpio said.

China claims that Scarborough Shoal, which it calls Huangyan Island, is the Nanhai Island that 13th century Chinese astronomer-engineer-mathematician Guo Shoujing allegedly visited in 1279 on the order of Kublai Khan, the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, to conduct a survey of the Four Seas to update the Sung Dynasty calendar system.

This supposed visit of Gou Shoujing to Scarborough Shoal in 1279 is the only historical link that China claims to Scarborough Shoal. 

But Carpio stressed that China already used the same claim in another territorial dispute â€" against Vietnam over the Paracels islands.

He cited a January 30, 1980 document titled “China’s Sovereignty Over Xisha and Zhongsa Islands Is Indisputable” published in Beijing Review, saying that China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially declared that the Nanhai Island that Guo Shoujing visited in 1279 was in Xisha or what is internationally called the Paracels, a group of islands more than 380 NM from Scarborough Shoal.

‘No basis in China’s historical right over West Phl Sea’

By Edu Punay (The Philippine Star)
March 10, 2014

MANILA, Philippines - China’s most salient argument in its territorial claim over the West Philippine Sea â€" its historical right â€" holds no water, according to a senior justice of the Supreme Court (SC).

“China’s claim to a historical right to the waters enclosed within the nine-dash lines in the South China Sea is utterly without basis under international law,” Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said, echoing what he said is “almost universal opinion of non-Chinese scholars on the law of the sea.”

In his speech during the 19th National Convention and Seminar of the Philippine Women Judges Association last week, Carpio cited China’s claim of “historical facts” on Scarborough Shoal.

A woman in tears is helped by airport workers to a bus waiting for relatives of the missing Malaysian airliner: AP

http://www.firstpost.com/

The plane was carrying 227 passengers, including:

    2 infants
  12 crew members

152 passengers from China
  38 from Malaysia
    7 from Indonesia
    6 from Australia
    5 from India
    3 from the U.S.

others from France, New Zealand, Canada, Ukraine, Russia, Taiwan and the Netherlands.

By the end of the day Sunday, more than 40 planes and more than two dozen ships from several countries were involved in the search. (http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/09/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/)

the countries helping out are vietnam, thailand, the philippines, japan, singapore, australia, the united states, china...

[The Philippines deployed] naval ships BRP Gregorio del Pilar, BRP Apolinario Mabini and BRP Emilio Jacinto; a Fokker plane, and an Islander plane were sent to help locate the plane.

The Armed Forces Western Command also said the military is using two multi-purpose attack craft and rubber boats for the search. -more at http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2014/03/10/1299141/phl-joins-search-missing-malaysian-jet

other developments according to live blogs:

As friends and family of MH370’s passengers wait anxiously for news of their fate, Associated Press has written about the “rich human tapestry” on the missing Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight.

    There were middle-aged Australians with wanderlust, an acclaimed Chinese calligrapher, a young Indonesian man heading to begin a new career, and two people traveling on stolen passports.

â€" PILOT SUICIDE. There were two large jet crashes in the late 1990s â€" a SilkAir flight and an EgyptAir flightâ€" that are believed to have been caused by pilots deliberately crashing the planes. Government crash investigators never formally declared the crashes suicides but both are widely acknowledged by crash experts to have been caused by deliberate pilot actions.

http://www.philstar.com/

â€" HIJACKING. A traditional hijacking seems unlikely given that a plane's captors typically land at an airport and have some type of demand. But a 9/11-like hijacking is possible, with terrorists forcing the plane into the ocean.

â€" A BOMB. Several planes have been brought down including Pan Am Flight 103 between London and New York in December 1988. There was also an Air India flight in June 1985 between Montreal and London and a plane in September 1989 flown by French airline Union des Transports Aériens which blew up over the Sahara.

â€" FAILURE OF BOTH ENGINES. In January 2008, a British Airways 777 crashed about 1,000 feet (300 meters) short of the runway at London's Heathrow Airport. As the plane was coming in to land, the engines lost thrust because of ice buildup in the fuel system. There were no fatalities.

Loss of both engines is possible in this case, but Hamilton said the plane could glide for up to 20 minutes, giving pilots plenty of time to make an emergency call. When a US Airways A320 lost both of its engines in January 2009 after taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York it was at a much lower elevation. But Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger still had plenty of communications with air traffic controllers before ending the six-minute flight in the Hudson River.

â€" PILOT DISORIENTATION. Curtis said that the pilots could have taken the plane off autopilot and somehow went off course and didn't realize it until it was too late. The plane could have flown for another five or six hours from its point of last contact, putting it up to 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) away. This is unlikely given that the plane probably would have been picked up by radar somewhere. But it's too early to eliminate it as a possibility.

â€" BAD WEATHER. Planes are designed to fly through most severe storms. However, in June 2009, an Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed during a bad storm over the Atlantic Ocean. Ice built up on the Airbus A330's airspeed indicators, giving false readings. That, and bad decisions by the pilots, led the plane into a stall causing it to plummet into the sea. All 228 passengers and crew aboard died. The pilots never radioed for help.

In the case of Saturday's Malaysia Airlines flight, all indications show that there were clear skies.

Some of the possible causes for the plane disappearing include:

â€" A CATASTROPHIC STRUCTURAL FAILURE. Most aircraft are made of aluminum which is susceptible to corrosion over time, especially in areas of high humidity. But given the plane's long history and impressive safety record, experts suggest that a failure of the airframe, or the plane's Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines, is unlikely.

More of a threat to the plane's integrity is the constant pressurization and depressurization of the cabin for takeoff and landing. In April 2011, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff from Phoenix after the plane's fuselage ruptured, causing a 5-foot (1.5-meter) tear. The plane, with 118 people on board, landed safely. But such a rupture is less likely in this case. Airlines fly the 777 on longer distances, with many fewer takeoffs and landings, putting less stress on the airframe.

"It's not like this was Southwest Airlines doing 10 flights a day," Hamilton said. "There's nothing to suggest there would be any fatigue issues."

One of the first indicators of what happened will be the size of the debris field. If it is large and spread out over tens of miles, then the plane likely broke apart at a high elevation. That could signal a bomb or a massive airframe failure. If it is a smaller field, the plane probably fell from 35,000 feet (10,700 meters) intact, breaking up upon contact with the water.

"We know the airplane is down. Beyond that, we don't know a whole lot," Cox said.

The Boeing 777 has one of the best safety records in aviation history. It first carried passengers in June 1995 and went 18 years without a fatal accident. That streak came to an end with the July 2013 Asiana crash. Three of the 307 people aboard that flight died. Saturday's Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 239 passengers and crew would only be the second fatal incident for the aircraft type.



"It's one of the most reliable airplanes ever built," said John Goglia, a former member of the US National Transportation Safety Board.