Manila to Host International Conference on “Children and Climate Change”

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Hundreds of delegates from the Philippines and around the world are expected to attend the 2nd Asian Children's Museum Conference to be held at the Manila Hotel, from February 2 to 4, 2012.

Organized by Museo Pambata Foundation, Inc. (MPFI), the three-day conference with the theme “Children and Climate Change” is set to discuss how educators, parents, and adults involved in children's welfare can address these pressing environmental issues so that young people can play a strong role in facing climate change. The conference is made possible through a grant from Japan Foundation.

“Global communities are addressing climate change more keenly as we witness environmental havoc - earthquakes, flooding and extreme weather conditions. Children learn about this in school, from their parents and the media. They may also be victims of these environmental changes. It is important to know how the various sectors in society are addressing these issues on climate change. How can we provide fun and exciting learning modules on climate change through programs, interactive exhibits and publications for children? We want the next generations to be champions in their own way, to become “planet savers,” to be a part of the solution and not the problem,” says Nina Lim-Yuson, president and CEO of MPFI.

Foreign and local experts in the fields of disaster preparedness, health and wellness, schools and universities, museums, and children's literature have been invited to talk about their successful and innovative programs which help children understand climate change. “By bringing together these diverse groups, we hope to come up with recommendations that are doable in the Philippine setting,” Yuson continues.

California Academy of Social Sciences' Meg Burke, Lord Cultural Services' Laure Colliex, Learning Innovation Network-Osaka's Keiko Kuroiwa, and Lilibeth LaO of Museo Sang Bata sa Negros will discuss how their museums have developed interactive exhibits to raise children’s awareness of natural disasters, global climate change and other environmental issues. Vanessa Tobin from UNICEF-Philippines and Lorenzo Tan of WWF-Philippines will be presenting their organizations' studies on children and climate change. Jim Sharman of Gamot Cogon School in Iloilo, Thomas Van der Walt from University of South Africa, Froilan Grate of Mother Earth Foundation and Maja Olivares-Co of the Paco Market Redevelopment will talk about their organizations' projects which make children's spaces fun and enjoyable places to visit. Carla Pacis will explore how effective the story book is in educating our children on climate change. Visual artist Alma Quinto will conduct a scrap art workshop, and young pioneers Bryan Mc Clelland (Bamboo Bike Project), Chips Guevarra (Veggie Oil Jeepney Project) and Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte (Plantsahan ng Bayan) will talk about their innovations.

You may get application forms at the Museo Pambata office at Roxas Boulevard corner South Drive, Manila or you may download it from www.museopambata.org/acmc. For more information, call 523-1797 to 98, 536-0595 or 400-7558. You may also email info@museopambata.org.

The conference is co-presented by the City of Manila, with additional support from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Development Bank of the Philippines, WS Family Foundation, and Landbank.

CNN's Hero of the Year 2011 top ten

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The CNN Heroes Initiative has profiled more than 150 heroes and honored 50 everyday men and women from around the world for their tireless efforts to improve the lives of others.  “We hope to empower these selfless individuals to persevere in their humanitarian efforts”, said Jim Walton, President of CNN Worldwide.


2009 Hero of the Year -  Efren Peñaflorida, saw his pushcart classroom model replicated more than 50 times by different organizations and institutions across the Philippines. He can also be seen hosting his own search for heroes on a Philippine television show, which features people working in the Philippines to better the lives of others.

2010  Hero of the Year  -   Anuradha Koirala, was honored for her efforts to end human trafficking.

2011 Hero of the Year  -   Robin Lim, was awarded the 2011 CNN Hero of the Year award by the CNN news network, for helping thousands of low-income women in Indonesia with healthy pregnancy and birth services.

CNN Hero of the Year 2011 top ten (in alphabetical order):

Eddie Canales

Eddie Canales' son was paralyzed during a high school football game in 2001. Today, Canales' nonprofit, Gridiron Heroes, provides emotional and financial support to high school football players who've sustained life-changing spinal cord injuries.

Taryn Davis 

Taryn Davis was just 21 when her husband, an Army corporal, was killed in Iraq. In 2007, she created the American Widow Project. To date, her nonprofit has provided a community of support to more than 900 young military widows.

Sal Dimiceli

Sal Dimiceli has spent decades helping people get back on their feet. Through a local newspaper column and his nonprofit, The Time Is Now To Help, Dimiceli assists about 500 people a year with food, rent, utilities and other necessities.

Derreck Kayongo

Derreck Kayongo's Global Soap Project collects partially used hotel soap and reprocesses it to save lives. Since 2009, the Atlanta-based nonprofit has provided about 150,000 bars of soap for communities in 10 countries.

Diane Latiker

Surrounded by gang violence in her Chicago neighborhood, Diane Latiker opened her home to area youth and started a community program called Kids Off the Block. Since 2003, her program has helped more than 1,500 young people.

Robin Lim

After her youngest sister died from pregnancy complications, Lim became a professional midwife and dedicated her life to offering free prenatal and birthing services to low-income Indonesian women. "Mother Robin," or "Ibu Robin") is a midwife and founder of Yayasan Bumi Sehat (Healthy Mother Earth Foundation) health clinics, which offer free prenatal care, birthing services and medical aid to anyone who needs it. She and her team have been working since 2003 to combat Indonesia's high maternal and infant mortality rates. 

Patrice Millet

After being stricken with cancer, Patrice Millet dedicated his life to helping children in his native Haiti. His nonprofit youth soccer program provides free equipment, coaching and food to hundreds of participants from the slums and teaches them to become responsible citizens.

Bruno Serato

Since 2005, chef Bruno Serato has been serving free pasta dinners to children, many of whom are poor and live in motels with their families. Today, Serato provides dinner seven days a week to more than 300 children at the Boys & Girls Club in Anaheim, California.

Richard St. Denis

Since 2008, Richard St. Denis and his organization, World Access Project, have provided hundreds of wheelchairs and mobility aids to people living with disabilities in rural Mexico.

Amy Stokes 

Amy Stokes is redefining "family" for South African children affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty. Her organization, Infinite Family, has connected almost 500 teenage "Net Buddies" with nearly 300 volunteer mentors from all over the world via the Internet.

Katy Perry , California Dreams Manila Tour on January 22, 2012 at the SM Mall of Asia

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Katy Perry live in Manila on January 22, 2012 at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds

Katy Perry is coming back to Manila for her California Dreams Manila Tour on January 22, 2012 at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds. There are 5 consecutive number 1 Singles on Teenage Dream alone.  Hear California Gurls, Teenage Dream,  Firework, E.T. Last Friday Night (TGIF), Hot and Cold, I Kissed A Girl and many more live!

Beautiful Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, born October 25, 1984, better known by her stage name of Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter and actress.

One of my favorite Katy songs "Firework"  was nominated for Record of the Year and  she's the  Best Pop Solo Performance at the 54th Grammy Awards. In December 15, 2011, Perry was elected the Artist of the Year by MTV.

Perry at 2011 MTV Video Music Awards

Check this out for Ticket Prices:

P10,488 – diamond(reserved seats)
P6,844 – titanium(1st come 1st served seats)
P3,710 – gold(1st come 1st served seats)
P1,620 – silver(standing)
P889 – bronze(standing)
prices are inclusive of 4.48% service charge

Call SM Tickets 470 2222 or visit http://www.smtickets.com or Ticketworld 891 9999 or reserve online here http://ticketworld.com.phLike http://www.facebook.com/mmilive and follow http://www.twitter.com/mmilive
Brought to you by  Music Management International http://www.mmilive.com

Official music video for Katy Perry's "Firework" off her album 'Teenage Dream'

Katy Perry's Songs: 

Firework 

Hot n Cold
E.T. 

Fingerprints 

Hummingbird Heartbeat 

I Kissed a Girl 

I'm Still Breathing 

Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) 

Mannequin 

Not Like the Movies -

One of the Boys 

Peacock 

Pearl 

Teenage Dream 

The One That Got Away -

Thinking of You 

Ur So Gay -

Waking Up In Vegas 

Who Am I Living For? 

Manny Pacquiao camp: No fight with Mayweather on May 5

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Manny Pacquiao's camp says there is no economic sense in setting up a bout with Floyd Mayweather on May 5 after the unbeaten American publicly challenged the Filipino champion via Twitter.

Pacquiao's financial adviser Michael Koncz told The Associated Press on Thursday that a 45,000-seat boxing arena being built in Las Vegas won't be finished before the end of May and staging the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight in a much smaller venue is "foolish from an economic standpoint."

Mayweather challenged and taunted Pacquiao to a May 5 bout in a tweet on Tuesday. Mayweather had said: 'Manny Pacquiao I'm calling you out let's fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see.'

"I'll fight you but not on May 5", says Pacquiao as he responds to Mayweather challenge.

Regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Mayweather has the MGM Grand Garden booked for that date and must fight before June 1 after a judge agreed to postpone his jail sentence for domestic violence.

But while the MGM Grand seats 17,000, which could generate around $20 million in sales, the larger arena could raise an additional $30 million. And Pacquiao's financial adviser Michael Koncz said: 'Why would I tell Manny to fight on the 5th and throw away a percentage of 30 million? That's crazy.

'The purse is not the issue right now, the date is. But we don't have a problem splitting it 50-50.'

Mayweather continued his efforts to tempt the current WBO welterweight champion into the ring on Wednesday when he tweeted: 'I'm ready to put my belt up. What about you Manny Pacquiao? Let's make history.'

Meanwhile, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is confident the fight can still happen before Mayweather begins his stretch in prison.

He said the fight 'could happen very, very easily' at the end of May, enough time to build the outdoor arena 'the fight so badly needs'.

A decision could yet be reached this week as Arum and Pacquiao are meeting in the Philippines this week. Arum has suggested his fighter could meet Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto, Tim Bradley or Amir Khan's conqueror Lamont Peterson instead of Mayweather. The pair hope to reach an agreement before Arum returns to the United States on Saturday.

Philippines to leapfrog to be 16th largest economy by 2050

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The Philippines is forecast to leapfrog and become the 16th largest economy in the world by 2050, according to a study by the HongKong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC).

“We highlight the striking rise of the Philippines, which is set to become the world’s 16th-largest economy, up 27 places from today,” said the report.

The world's top economy in 2050 will be China, followed by the United States. No surprises there -- since China's reforms in the 1980s, economists have said it's not a question of if, but when, China's collective economic might will top the U.S.

The Philippines and Peru will be among emerging economies that become much more prominent in the next few decades, helped by demographics and rising education standards, with the Philippines set to leapfrog 27 places to become the 16th largest economy by 2050, HSBC predicts.

The bank expects China to overtake the United States as the world's biggest economy by 2050, and says strong growth rates in other developing countries will help drive the global economy. "Plenty of places in the world look set to deliver very strong rates of growth. But they are not in the developed world, which faces both structural and cyclical headwinds. They are in the emerging world," the bank said in its report 'The World in 2050'.

It based its forecasts on fundamentals such as current income per capita, rule of law, democracy, education levels and demographic change. HSBC projects the Philippines economy is poised to grow by an average of 7 percent annually over the next 40 years, while Peru should average annual growth of 5.5 percent over the same period. The sheer pace of population growth in countries such as Nigeria and Pakistan means that these economies will swell in size to be included among the 100 biggest economies even if their incomes on a per-capita basis remain low.

HSBC said lower scores for rule of law in Latin America constrained its per-capita inccome projections for the region though it noted that Brazil was making headway in this aspect. "The losers are the small population, ageing economies of Europe," added the bank, which says the demographics in much of Europe underscores concerns about the debt problems faced by many of the continent's governments.

If sufficiently open to modern technology, developing countries could enjoy many years of robust GDP growth although they could struggle for growth drivers once they have adapted to technological advances, HSBC said. "The initial years of development could be described as 'copy and paste' growth, as countries open themselves up and adapt to the world's existing technologies. Once the 'copy and paste' growth is complete ... many economies struggle and get stuck in what is often known as the middle-income trap. But many of the countries we are considering are still at such an extremely low level of development that there are years of this 'copy and paste' growth ahead," it added.

It was here that many of the pessimism about China was misplaced, the bank argued. "One of the most commonly cited reasons for concern about China is the high rate of investment as a percentage of GDP ...(But) we believe the strong rate of investment is entirely justified - providing China with much needed basic infrastructure," it said.

The bank said high levels of education in central and eastern Europe meant that the region could enjoy strong income per capita growth in the coming years before weak demographics eventually sap economic growth. "While education rates are similar (to the West), the average income per capita in the central and eastern Europe block is just one fifth that of the developed world. For this reason ... economies have great scope to catch up in income per capita," it said. "Some of the smaller Eastern European countries - Romania, the Czech Republic and Serbia - (should) all do extremely well, particularly in the coming decade, before demographics prove to be more of a drag."

Source: Reuters, BBC , CNN