World/Nation Briefs 5.15.2012
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
Half of Americans think Facebook is a passing fad, according to the results of a new Associated Press-CNBC poll. And, in the run-up to the social network’s initial public offering of stock, half of Americans also say the social network’s expected asking price is too high.
The company Mark Zuckerberg created as a Harvard student eight years ago is preparing for what looks to be the biggest Internet IPO ever. Expected later this week, Facebook’s Wall Street debut could value the company at $100 billion, making it worth more than Disney, Ford and Kraft Foods.
That’s testament to the impressive numbers Facebook has posted in its relatively brief history. More than 40 percent of American adults log in to the site —to share news, personal observations, photos and more— at least once a week. In all, some 900 million people around the world are users. Facebook’s revenue grew from $777 million in 2009 to $3.7 billion last year. And in the first quarter of 2012 it was more than $1 billion.
Just a third of those surveyed think the company’s expected value is appropriate, 50 percent say it is too high. Those who invest in the stock market are more likely to see Facebook as overvalued, 58 percent said so. About 3 in 10 investors say the expected value of shares is fair.
But price worries won’t necessarily stop would-be investors. Half the people surveyed say they think Facebook is a good bet, while 31 percent do not. The rest aren’t sure. Americans who invest in stocks roughly agree, although investors who are more ‘‘active’’ — those who have changed their holdings in the past month —are more negative. Nearly 40 percent say Facebook would not be a good investment.
———
Clock ticking as Alzheimer’s strategy sets 2025 goal for better ways to treat, stall, disease
WASHINGTON (AP) — The clock is ticking: The first National Alzheimer’s Plan sets a deadline of 2025 to finally find effective ways to treat, or at least stall, the mind-destroying disease.
The Obama administration finalizes the landmark national strategy on Tuesday, laying out numerous steps the government and private partners can take over the coming years to fight what is poised to become a defining disease of the rapidly aging population.
But some of the work is beginning right away.
Starting Tuesday, embattled families and caregivers can check a new one-stop website — http://www.alzheimers.govwww.alzheimers.gov — for easy-to-understand information about dementia and where to get help in their own communities.
The National Institutes of Health is funding some major new studies of possible therapies, including a form of insulin that’s squirted into the nose.
———
A guide to how JPMorgan’s surprise $2 billion loss might change financial overhaul
WASHINGTON (AP) — The $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase has renewed calls for stricter oversight of Wall Street banks. Two years after Congress passed an overhaul of financial rules, many of those changes have yet to be finalized.
JPMorgan’s misstep gives advocates of stronger regulation an opening to argue that regulators should toughen their approach.
The Obama administration has argued that it went as hard on banks as possible without further upsetting global finance. Now Democratic lawmakers and administration officials say JPMorgan case proves that more change is needed.
Still, many in the industry warn against reading too much into one trading loss. They say losing money is an inevitable part of taking risk, as banks must.
Some fear that after JPMorgan’s announcement, regulators will greet industry concerns with more skepticism as they flesh out key parts of the overhaul law.
———
Obama shift on gay marriage energizes immigration activists while conservatives see opening
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — President Barack Obama’s shift to support gay marriage is energizing young Hispanic voters who have been working side-by-side with gay activists in their push for immigration reform. The alliance has been growing across the country, helping dispel what many say is an outdated notion that Hispanics are less tolerant of gays than the general public.
‘‘My members are telling me that we need to learn from the gay community,’’ said Dee Dee Garcia Blase, founder of the Phoenix-based Somos Republicans. She is now head of the Tequila Party, which she formed last year with the goal of registering young Hispanics to vote for immigration-friendly candidates like Obama.
‘‘We need to take a lesson from the (lesbian and gay) community with regard to being that loud, squeaky wheel that gets fixed,’’ Blase said. ‘‘We need to be more aggressive, and we realize it.’’
Both the Democratic and Republican parties are focused heavily on winning the Hispanic vote, not just because it holds the key to battleground states but because Latinos make up the fastest-growing minority group. The government projects Hispanics will account for roughly 30 percent of the population by 2050, doubling in size and boosting their political power. Some 600,000 young Hispanics who were born in the U.S. turn 18 each year to enter a widening pool of more than 21 million Hispanic eligible voters.
Conservative Hispanics see the president’s endorsement of same-sex marriage as an opportunity to draw Latinos to the Republican Party. According to a 2007 religion survey of U.S. Latinos by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, two-thirds of Hispanics said their religious beliefs are an important influence on their political thinking. While more than two-thirds of Hispanics identified themselves as Roman Catholic, 15 percent said they were born-again Protestants. Evangelical Latinos, who cite Biblical teaching for their stance against homosexuality, are twice as likely as those who are Catholic to vote Republican.
———
Seeking a soul, and some logic, amid the eeriness of North Korea’s mass spectacles
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — From across the city, they are summoned to pay reverence.
So on a chilly April evening, tens of thousands of people come to honor their new ruler, as towering statues of his father and grandfather are unveiled on a Pyongyang hilltop. The crowds bow before the statues in practiced unison and shake bright, fake flowers in choreographed praise. Some weep with joy to be in the presence of the baby-faced Kim Jong Un, who is now their Illustrious General, their Leader, their Supreme Commander.
For years, this is how the world has seen the people of this secretive nation: as Stalinist automatons in meticulously staged mass spectacles that glorify one-family rule. And there’s plenty of truth in that.
But look closer.
Go downtown on that April evening and mingle among the thousands of people walking to their trolley stops after the ceremony, when the streets are closed to traffic and crowds fill the night with laughter. Most have spent the entire day squatting in a hilltop plaza the size of a small cornfield, waiting to stand on cue and wave their flowers for a few minutes in well-practiced devotion. They should be exhausted.
———
AP PHOTOS: Thousands play their role in North Korea’s parades and other mass spectacles
The world knows North Korea through its gigantic public displays.
There are the immense military parades, with tens of thousands of soldiers pounding thunderous goose-steps through the heart of the capital. The rallies where bureaucrats chant their willingness to die for the ruling family. The autumn festival where 30,000 young people flip small placards with military precision, creating stadium-sized mosaics of political slogans.
For the people of Pyongyang, they are simply a part of life. Residency is tightly restricted for the capital city, where life is far easier than it is for most North Koreans, who live with staggering rates of poverty and malnutrition. For the elite in Pyongyang, though, there is electricity at least part of the time, better schools and even the chance to shop in small department stores.
There are also the mass spectacles. And the people who live here — the generals and bureaucrats, teachers and scientists — all know they have parts to play in them.
Here’s a look at the staged events and the North Korean people participating in them.
———
Francois Hollande becomes France’s new president in Elysee ceremony, 1st socialist since 1995
PARIS (AP) — Francois Hollande became president of France after a ceremony Tuesday at the Elysee Palace in central Paris — the country’s first Socialist leader since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995.
Hollande, 57, was elected to a five-year term earlier this month after voters ousted incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy after only one term. Voters were disappointed over Sarkozy’s handling of France’s economy — which has high unemployment and low growth — and recoiled at his aggressive personality.
Hollande plans to leave shortly on his first diplomatic foray — to Berlin, where he is meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a critical meeting on austerity and growth in Europe.
Arriving Tuesday morning at the 18th-century palace that is the traditional residence of French presidents, Hollande was greeted by Sarkozy on the Elysee’s red-carpeted steps. Following a forty-minute private meeting with Sarkozy, Hollande was declared president after the head of the constitutional court read out the final results of the May 6 election.
In his first presidential speech, Hollande promised to fight financial speculation and ‘‘open a new path’’ in Europe but acknowledged that he inherits huge government debt. He has pushed back against austerity measures championed by Germany amid Europe’s debt crisis and wants government stimulus instead. Hollande also pledged to bring ‘‘dignity’’ to the presidential role — something voters felt that Sarkozy did not always do.
———
Rights group claims secret Baghdad prison remains open despite government promises to close it
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqis are still being held illegally at a Baghdad prison that the government was supposed to have shut down in 2011 after allegations that detainees were tortured and abused there, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
The report by the New York-based rights group raises fresh concerns about the government’s treatment of detainees after Iraqi authorities took over the country’s prison system following the departure of U.S. troops last December.
Iraq’s Human Rights Ministry has denied the Human Rights Watch claim as inaccurate, saying the detention center in question, known by its former U.S. military designation as Camp Honor, was shuttered more than a year ago.
The prison is located inside the Green Zone in central Baghdad, which also houses government offices and foreign embassies.
The HRW report was based on interviews with 35 former detainees and their relatives and lawyers, as well as government officials who described ongoing interrogations at Camp Honor.
———
’Jersey Boys’ to men: Former Four Seasons members to embark on nationwide tour
FAIR LAWN, N.J. (AP) — In a basement in a quiet suburb 10 miles west of Manhattan, the characters of a bygone era in pop music are brought to life in mellifluous four-part harmony.
Sherry is there, deciding whether or not to come out tonight. So are Dawn, the girl from the nice part of town, and Marianne, trying to understand her man.
This is hardly your average baby boomer garage band, though: Made up of former members of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, this weekend they officially launch a nationwide reunion tour as ‘‘The Hit Men’’ that will take them through next May.
The venues are more modest than the sold-out arenas they played to across the globe in the ‘70s, but don’t tell that to drummer Gerry Polci, keyboardist Lee Shapiro and guitarist Don Ciccone — they’re having way too much fun.
‘‘Guys at our age say, ‘Let’s go to a golf course, let’s go and fish,’’’ Shapiro said. ‘‘We get paid to do this, to go out and have our reunion. It’s great.’’
———
Westbrook, Durant lead Thunder to 119-90 rout of Lakers in Game 1 of West semifinals
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — For the second time in less than a week, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers must figure out how to fight back after a humbling loss.
Bryant responded the first time by calling out his teammates for lackluster effort.
It might not be so simple this time.
Russell Westbrook had 27 points and nine assists, Kevin Durant added 25 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder blasted the weary Lakers 119-90 Monday night in the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals.
This blowout came four days after Bryant’s Lakers trailed by as many as 28 in a loss at Denver, then bounced back to win Game 7. They’ll need to find some answers before Game 2 in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night.
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Half of Americans think Facebook is a passing fad, according to the results of a new Associated Press-CNBC poll. And, in the run-up to the social network’s initial public offering of stock, half of Americans also say the social network’s expected asking price is too high.
The company Mark Zuckerberg created as a Harvard student eight years ago is preparing for what looks to be the biggest Internet IPO ever. Expected later this week, Facebook’s Wall Street debut could value the company at $100 billion, making it worth more than Disney, Ford and Kraft Foods.
That’s testament to the impressive numbers Facebook has posted in its relatively brief history. More than 40 percent of American adults log in to the site —to share news, personal observations, photos and more— at least once a week. In all, some 900 million people around the world are users. Facebook’s revenue grew from $777 million in 2009 to $3.7 billion last year. And in the first quarter of 2012 it was more than $1 billion.
Just a third of those surveyed think the company’s expected value is appropriate, 50 percent say it is too high. Those who invest in the stock market are more likely to see Facebook as overvalued, 58 percent said so. About 3 in 10 investors say the expected value of shares is fair.
But price worries won’t necessarily stop would-be investors. Half the people surveyed say they think Facebook is a good bet, while 31 percent do not. The rest aren’t sure. Americans who invest in stocks roughly agree, although investors who are more ‘‘active’’ — those who have changed their holdings in the past month —are more negative. Nearly 40 percent say Facebook would not be a good investment.
———
Clock ticking as Alzheimer’s strategy sets 2025 goal for better ways to treat, stall, disease
WASHINGTON (AP) — The clock is ticking: The first National Alzheimer’s Plan sets a deadline of 2025 to finally find effective ways to treat, or at least stall, the mind-destroying disease.
The Obama administration finalizes the landmark national strategy on Tuesday, laying out numerous steps the government and private partners can take over the coming years to fight what is poised to become a defining disease of the rapidly aging population.
But some of the work is beginning right away.
Starting Tuesday, embattled families and caregivers can check a new one-stop website — http://www.alzheimers.govwww.alzheimers.gov — for easy-to-understand information about dementia and where to get help in their own communities.
The National Institutes of Health is funding some major new studies of possible therapies, including a form of insulin that’s squirted into the nose.
———
A guide to how JPMorgan’s surprise $2 billion loss might change financial overhaul
WASHINGTON (AP) — The $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase has renewed calls for stricter oversight of Wall Street banks. Two years after Congress passed an overhaul of financial rules, many of those changes have yet to be finalized.
JPMorgan’s misstep gives advocates of stronger regulation an opening to argue that regulators should toughen their approach.
The Obama administration has argued that it went as hard on banks as possible without further upsetting global finance. Now Democratic lawmakers and administration officials say JPMorgan case proves that more change is needed.
Still, many in the industry warn against reading too much into one trading loss. They say losing money is an inevitable part of taking risk, as banks must.
Some fear that after JPMorgan’s announcement, regulators will greet industry concerns with more skepticism as they flesh out key parts of the overhaul law.
———
Obama shift on gay marriage energizes immigration activists while conservatives see opening
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — President Barack Obama’s shift to support gay marriage is energizing young Hispanic voters who have been working side-by-side with gay activists in their push for immigration reform. The alliance has been growing across the country, helping dispel what many say is an outdated notion that Hispanics are less tolerant of gays than the general public.
‘‘My members are telling me that we need to learn from the gay community,’’ said Dee Dee Garcia Blase, founder of the Phoenix-based Somos Republicans. She is now head of the Tequila Party, which she formed last year with the goal of registering young Hispanics to vote for immigration-friendly candidates like Obama.
‘‘We need to take a lesson from the (lesbian and gay) community with regard to being that loud, squeaky wheel that gets fixed,’’ Blase said. ‘‘We need to be more aggressive, and we realize it.’’
Both the Democratic and Republican parties are focused heavily on winning the Hispanic vote, not just because it holds the key to battleground states but because Latinos make up the fastest-growing minority group. The government projects Hispanics will account for roughly 30 percent of the population by 2050, doubling in size and boosting their political power. Some 600,000 young Hispanics who were born in the U.S. turn 18 each year to enter a widening pool of more than 21 million Hispanic eligible voters.
Conservative Hispanics see the president’s endorsement of same-sex marriage as an opportunity to draw Latinos to the Republican Party. According to a 2007 religion survey of U.S. Latinos by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, two-thirds of Hispanics said their religious beliefs are an important influence on their political thinking. While more than two-thirds of Hispanics identified themselves as Roman Catholic, 15 percent said they were born-again Protestants. Evangelical Latinos, who cite Biblical teaching for their stance against homosexuality, are twice as likely as those who are Catholic to vote Republican.
———
Seeking a soul, and some logic, amid the eeriness of North Korea’s mass spectacles
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — From across the city, they are summoned to pay reverence.
So on a chilly April evening, tens of thousands of people come to honor their new ruler, as towering statues of his father and grandfather are unveiled on a Pyongyang hilltop. The crowds bow before the statues in practiced unison and shake bright, fake flowers in choreographed praise. Some weep with joy to be in the presence of the baby-faced Kim Jong Un, who is now their Illustrious General, their Leader, their Supreme Commander.
For years, this is how the world has seen the people of this secretive nation: as Stalinist automatons in meticulously staged mass spectacles that glorify one-family rule. And there’s plenty of truth in that.
But look closer.
Go downtown on that April evening and mingle among the thousands of people walking to their trolley stops after the ceremony, when the streets are closed to traffic and crowds fill the night with laughter. Most have spent the entire day squatting in a hilltop plaza the size of a small cornfield, waiting to stand on cue and wave their flowers for a few minutes in well-practiced devotion. They should be exhausted.
———
AP PHOTOS: Thousands play their role in North Korea’s parades and other mass spectacles
The world knows North Korea through its gigantic public displays.
There are the immense military parades, with tens of thousands of soldiers pounding thunderous goose-steps through the heart of the capital. The rallies where bureaucrats chant their willingness to die for the ruling family. The autumn festival where 30,000 young people flip small placards with military precision, creating stadium-sized mosaics of political slogans.
For the people of Pyongyang, they are simply a part of life. Residency is tightly restricted for the capital city, where life is far easier than it is for most North Koreans, who live with staggering rates of poverty and malnutrition. For the elite in Pyongyang, though, there is electricity at least part of the time, better schools and even the chance to shop in small department stores.
There are also the mass spectacles. And the people who live here — the generals and bureaucrats, teachers and scientists — all know they have parts to play in them.
Here’s a look at the staged events and the North Korean people participating in them.
———
Francois Hollande becomes France’s new president in Elysee ceremony, 1st socialist since 1995
PARIS (AP) — Francois Hollande became president of France after a ceremony Tuesday at the Elysee Palace in central Paris — the country’s first Socialist leader since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995.
Hollande, 57, was elected to a five-year term earlier this month after voters ousted incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy after only one term. Voters were disappointed over Sarkozy’s handling of France’s economy — which has high unemployment and low growth — and recoiled at his aggressive personality.
Hollande plans to leave shortly on his first diplomatic foray — to Berlin, where he is meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a critical meeting on austerity and growth in Europe.
Arriving Tuesday morning at the 18th-century palace that is the traditional residence of French presidents, Hollande was greeted by Sarkozy on the Elysee’s red-carpeted steps. Following a forty-minute private meeting with Sarkozy, Hollande was declared president after the head of the constitutional court read out the final results of the May 6 election.
In his first presidential speech, Hollande promised to fight financial speculation and ‘‘open a new path’’ in Europe but acknowledged that he inherits huge government debt. He has pushed back against austerity measures championed by Germany amid Europe’s debt crisis and wants government stimulus instead. Hollande also pledged to bring ‘‘dignity’’ to the presidential role — something voters felt that Sarkozy did not always do.
———
Rights group claims secret Baghdad prison remains open despite government promises to close it
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqis are still being held illegally at a Baghdad prison that the government was supposed to have shut down in 2011 after allegations that detainees were tortured and abused there, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
The report by the New York-based rights group raises fresh concerns about the government’s treatment of detainees after Iraqi authorities took over the country’s prison system following the departure of U.S. troops last December.
Iraq’s Human Rights Ministry has denied the Human Rights Watch claim as inaccurate, saying the detention center in question, known by its former U.S. military designation as Camp Honor, was shuttered more than a year ago.
The prison is located inside the Green Zone in central Baghdad, which also houses government offices and foreign embassies.
The HRW report was based on interviews with 35 former detainees and their relatives and lawyers, as well as government officials who described ongoing interrogations at Camp Honor.
———
’Jersey Boys’ to men: Former Four Seasons members to embark on nationwide tour
FAIR LAWN, N.J. (AP) — In a basement in a quiet suburb 10 miles west of Manhattan, the characters of a bygone era in pop music are brought to life in mellifluous four-part harmony.
Sherry is there, deciding whether or not to come out tonight. So are Dawn, the girl from the nice part of town, and Marianne, trying to understand her man.
This is hardly your average baby boomer garage band, though: Made up of former members of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, this weekend they officially launch a nationwide reunion tour as ‘‘The Hit Men’’ that will take them through next May.
The venues are more modest than the sold-out arenas they played to across the globe in the ‘70s, but don’t tell that to drummer Gerry Polci, keyboardist Lee Shapiro and guitarist Don Ciccone — they’re having way too much fun.
‘‘Guys at our age say, ‘Let’s go to a golf course, let’s go and fish,’’’ Shapiro said. ‘‘We get paid to do this, to go out and have our reunion. It’s great.’’
———
Westbrook, Durant lead Thunder to 119-90 rout of Lakers in Game 1 of West semifinals
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — For the second time in less than a week, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers must figure out how to fight back after a humbling loss.
Bryant responded the first time by calling out his teammates for lackluster effort.
It might not be so simple this time.
Russell Westbrook had 27 points and nine assists, Kevin Durant added 25 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder blasted the weary Lakers 119-90 Monday night in the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals.
This blowout came four days after Bryant’s Lakers trailed by as many as 28 in a loss at Denver, then bounced back to win Game 7. They’ll need to find some answers before Game 2 in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night.
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