INTERNATIONAL
The Morung Express
Saturday 16 November 2013
9
Dimapur
PhiliPPine President feels tyPhoon backlash
mANIlA, NovembeR 15 (ReuteRS): Two days before one of the world’s most powerful typhoons rammed into the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino had a simple but ambitious target for all government agencies: zero casualties. Fast-forward a week: thousands are dead, anger is growing over the slow relief effort and Aquino’s once-unassailable popularity is under threat - along with the reforms that have helped transform the Philippines into one of Asia’s fastest-growing and hottest emerging economies. Aquino faces a challenge that could define and undermine his presidency in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, whose 313 km per hour (195 mph) winds and tsunami-like wall of water turned coastal regions into corpse-strewn wastelands. The 53-year-old heir to a political dynasty appears to have been caught off guard by the magnitude of the devastation and has struggled to quell the growing frustration among survivors. He’s appeared only briefly on TV, including once from the city of Tacloban huddling with local officials and again at the Malacanang presidential palace to announce a national calamity. Other media appearances, from both Manila and the affected areas, have been rare. “He should have grasped the enormity of the crisis,” said Ramon Casiple, execu-
tive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms in Manila. “This could be big. If nothing happens in the next week or so, and the rehabilitation goes haywire, he will have a big political problem.” Aquino spokesman Herminio Coloma both defended the president’s performance but said criticism of the government was understandable. The president had avoided visits to the hardest-hit areas so stretched local government officials were not distracted from relief work, Coloma added. “We do not deny that there may have been shortcomings but that is borne out of severe constraints ... The severity and magnitude of this disaster are unprecedented and unparalleled in our previous experience,” he said.
“WHO’S IN CHARGE HERE?” On Sunday, while in Tacloban, Aquino refused to believe reports that the city of 220,000 people was 95 percent devastated, with looting in some parts, according to an official who was there when the president met local authorities. He complained that disaster officials were giving him conflicting reports, with no reliable information after the typhoon brought down telephone and power lines, said the source, who declined to be identified so he
Typhoon Haiyan survivors ride a tricycle in Guiuan, Philippines on November 15, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced by Typhoon Haiyan, which tore across several islands in the eastern Philippines on November 8. (AP Photo)
could speak candidly. One TV network quoted Aquino as telling the head of the disaster agency he was running out of patience. Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said Aquino was just “discouraged” with the incomplete data he was getting. Compounding Aquino’s problems is the slow delivery of aid. For the first six days, the government distributed only 50,000 “food packs” containing 6 kg (13 lb) of rice and canned goods each day, covering just 3 percent of the 1.73 million families affected, according to government figures As desperation grew, local media have begun to question Aquino’s leadership. “Who’s in charge here?” ran a headline in the Philippine Daily Inquirer
on Thursday. The stakes are high for Aquino - and for the Philippines, whose economy has been one of the most robust in Asia this year. After winning control of Congress in May elections, Aquino plans to lift spending on roads and airports to a record next year to attract more investment. Since he took office on July 1, 2010, the benchmark stock index .PSI has surged nearly 90 percent and foreign direct investment has more than doubled. But Filipino frustration, on the streets of Tacloban and in social media, could change the course of his single sixyear term that ends in 2016. “Some of the concerns will be what this means not so much to his popularity and political stability, but more
on whether this will prove to be a distraction in terms of the reform agenda in the remainder of his term,” said Euben Paracuelles, economist for Southeast Asia at Nomura in Singapore.
toKYo, NovembeR 15 (AP): Caroline Kennedy arrived in Japan on Friday to take up her position as U.S. ambassador with one important strength: She has the ear of the American president. Japan hopes the 55-year-old daughter of late President John F. Kennedy will work closely with President Barack Obama to tackle some urgent U.S.-Japan matters, analysts said. “What’s important here is her strong pipeline with Obama and an ability to be able to pick up the phone and speak with Obama directly in the middle of the night for consultation on urgent matters,” said Ryuichi Teshima, professor of diplomacy at Keio University in Tokyo. Kennedy’s close ties to Obama come from playing a pivotal role during the Democratic presidential primaries in 2008 by endorsing him
when Hillary Clinton was the lead candidate. As the first woman to serve as U.S. ambassador to Japan, Kennedy may also be a role model in a country that traditionally has restricted the role of women, said Toshihiro Nakayama, professor of international politics at Aoyama Gakuin University. U.S. ambassadors to Japan can be grouped into three categories, he said. They are big political names, Japan experts and those with close ties to the president. Former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale and former Senator Mike Mansfield fall into the first type. Edwin Reischauer, President Kennedy’s envoy, would be the second. Nakayama puts Kennedy, an attorney and author, in the third group, along with her predecessor, John Roos, a Silicon Valley lawyer and Obama fundraiser, and Tom
Schieffer, who was George W. Bush’s business partner in the Texas Rangers baseball team. U.S.-Japan relations are generally on an even keel, but Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are not as close as some would like. “The chemistry is off, possibly because Obama does not support the rightwing views Abe holds,” Teshima said. Major bilateral issues include the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks, the relocation of a U.S. military base on Okinawa and a revamp of defense cooperation guidelines between the two countries. “It’s a critical time in U.S.-Japan relations,” Kennedy said at a reception at the Japanese embassy in Washington earlier this week. “The U.S.-Japan relationship is the cornerstone of regional prosperity, stability and security.”
“HELP US” With the military at the forefront of recovery and relief operations, and government agencies struggling to deliver basic services, Aquino’s support base could weaken, something governments before him have endured at their peril. Two Philippine leaders have been ousted in the last three decades, while the previous government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo faced several coup attempts in her troubled nine-year rule.
Kennedy to take up envoy position in Japan
New U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, accompanied by her husband Edwin Schlossberg, arrives at the Narita international airport in Narita, suburban Tokyo on November 15. Japan hopes the 55-year-old daughter of late President John F. Kennedy will work closely with President Barack Obama to tackle some urgent U.S.-Japan matters, analysts said. (AP Photo)
Oceans suffer silent storm of acidification
WARSAW, NovembeR 15 (ReuteRS): Global warming is causing a silent storm in the oceans by acidifying waters at a record rate, threatening marine life from coral reefs to fish stocks, an international study showed on Thursday. The report, by 540 experts in 37 nations, said the seas could become 170 percent more acidic by 2100 compared to levels before the Industrial Revolution. Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, can become a mild acid when mixed with water. Acidification is combining with a warming of ocean waters, also caused by a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and other man-made factors such as higher pollution and overfishing, the report said. “It is like the silent storm - you can’t hear it, you can’t feel it,” Carol Turley, a senior scientist at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in England, told Reuters. The study, released on the sidelines of a meeting of almost 200 nations in Warsaw on ways to slow global warming, estimated that acidity of the oceans had already increased by 26 percent since the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. A 170 percent increase in acidity is equivalent to cutting the Ph level of the ocean, a scale of acidity and alkalinity, to 7.9 from 8.2 on
a logarithmic scale. Battery acid rates about 1 and soap, an alkaline, is about 10. The pace of acidification was the fastest in at least 55 million years, the scientists said. Acidification undermines the ability of everything from corals to crabs to build protective shells and has knock-on effects on the food web. “Marine ecosystems and biodiversity are likely to change as a result of ocean acidification, with far-reaching consequences for society,”
A new international report released on November 13, reports that greenhouse gases are making the world's oceans hot, sour and breathless, and the way those changes work together is creating a grimmer outlook for global waters. (AP Photo)
Scientists warn of hot, sour, breathless oceans
WASHINGtoN, NovembeR 15 (AP): Greenhouse gases are making the world’s oceans hot, sour and breathless, and the way those changes work together is creating a grimmer outlook for global waters, according to a new report from 540 international scientists. The world’s oceans are getting more acidic at an unprecedented rate, faster than at any time in the past 300 million years, the report said. But it’s how this interacts with other global warming impacts on waters that scientists say is getting them even more worried. Scientists already had calculated how the oceans had become 26 percent more acidic since the 1880s because of the increased carbon in the water. They also previously had mea-
sured how the world’s oceans had warmed because of carbon dioxide from the burning of coal, oil and gas. And they’ve observed that at different depths the oceans were moving less oxygen around because of the increased heat. But together “they actually amplify each other,” said report co-author Ulf Riebesell, a biochemist at the Geomar Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Germany. He said scientists are increasingly referring to the ocean’s future prospects as “hot, sour and breathless.” The 26-page report released by the United Nations and several scientific research organizations brings together the latest ocean science on climate change, related to a major confer-
ence of ocean scientists last year. The theory is that species like squid can only live in waters at certain temperature, acidity and oxygen levels, and the sweet spots where the factors combine are getting harder to find, Feely and Riebesell said. The world ocean pH already has gone from 8.1 to 8.0 — it’s considered a 26 percent increase in acidity because scientists measure hydrogen ions for this. But computer models predict the world will hit 8.0 in the next 20 years to 30 years and 7.9 in about 50 years, Riebesell said. At those levels shells of some mollusks, like clams and mussels, start corroding, he said. “This is another loss that we’re facing,” Riebesell said. “It’s going to affect human society.”
according to the summary led by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. “Economic losses from declines in shellfish aquaculture and the degradation of tropical coral reefs may be substantial owing to the sensitivity of molluscs and corals to ocean acidification,” it said. And some studies have found that young clown fish, made famous by the movie “Finding Nemo”, behaved as if drunk in more acidic waters, their brains apparently disoriented. Another study found that rockfish can become more anxious. “A normal fish will swim equally in light and dark areas in a tank ... an anxious one on high carbon dioxide spends more time in the darker side, the more protected side,” said Lauren Linsmayer of the University of California, San Diego. “If society continues on the current high emissions trajectory, cold water coral reefs, located in the deep sea, may be unsustainable and tropical coral reef erosion is likely to outpace reef building this century,” the report said. Deep cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases, from power plants, factories and cars, would limit acidification. The Warsaw talks are working on plans for a global deal, due to be agreed in 2015, to limit climate change.
Political analysts say Aquino’s ratings will likely suffer in the next opinion polls, especially in the typhoon-swept central Philippine provinces that have been bastions of support. Those areas registered the highest regional net satisfaction rating of “excellent” in assessing his performance in polls this year. Across the central Philippines, desperate families appear regularly on TV news programmes, often in tears, some holding signs reading “Help us” or “We need food”. Althoughthegovernment warned of record-breaking winds and a surge of seawater, evacuations were poorly enforced. And the aid, when it came, was slow. Foreign aid agencies said relief resources were stretched thin after a big earthquake in central Bohol province last month and displacement caused by fighting with rebels in the country’s south, complicating efforts to get supplies in place before the storm struck. Aquino has defended the government’s preparations, saying the death toll might have been higher had it not been for the evacuation of people and
the readying of relief supplies. The toll itself has been a point of contention. On Tuesday, Aquino said the number of deaths may have been overstated and could be 2,000 to 2,500, a figure aid agencies and analysts consider too low in the absence of accurate reports from far-flung areas and with thousands missing. Aquino said estimates of 10,000 dead by local officials were overstated and caused by “emotional trauma”. Elmer Soria, a regional police chief who gave that estimate to media, was removed from his post on Thursday. A day later, Tacloban City Hall estimated the nationwide toll at 4,000. “Downplaying the impact of the disaster, including the death toll, does not do anybody any good,” said Mars Buan, senior analyst at political risk consultancy Pacific Strategies & Assessments. Aquino has also stressed that no government could fully prepare for the scale of the disaster, comments that have drawn criticism. “He’s already done a 180-degree turnaround,” said Benito Lim, a professor of political
science at Ateneo de Manila University. “He is trying to exonerate himself from what he said earlier: ‘zero casualties’.” At one point last year, Aquino, the only son of democracy icon and former president Corazon Aquino, enjoyed a 74 percent approval rating. Then a scandal over lawmakers’ misuse of public funds erupted, threatening to undermine the platform that got Aquino into office - curbing corruption. A whistleblower revealed in July that some lawmakers, including the president’s allies, were stealing up to half the money being allocated to local projects from discretionary government funds. Aquino has since been accused of failing to convincingly tackle a culture of political patronage. His popularity rating sank to 49 percent in September. The challenge now for Aquino, a week after Typhoon Haiyan, is to speed up the flow of aid and rebuild the confidence of a nation shattered by one of its worst natural disasters. “I think he will not be popular despite the fact that he is trying his best,” said Lim.
DEPARTMENT OF POSTS: INDIA
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF POSTAL SERVICES NAGALAND: KOHIMA-797 001
No. G-4/Mails Standardization/2013.
Dated at Kohima the 15.11.2013
NOTIFICATION In pursuance of Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Department of Posts, New Delhi the Gazette notification no. 486 dated 23rd Sep’2013, for proper posting of mails/ letters in Post Offices the necessary guidelines and information to general public, bulk mailers and stationery dealers is hereby published. Letter in other than roll form should be in envelope of the following sizes: 1. Envelope should be made of mini1. 140x90mm mum 70 GSM (Gram per square meter). 2. 152x90mm 2. Envelope must be flexible enough 3. 176x100mm to bend into U shape. 4. 230x105mm 3. Use of light coloured envelope 5. 220x110mm preferably white. 6. 162x114mm 4. Metal clips or staples should not 7. 176x122mm be used for closing envelope. 5. Avoid other numbers like phone 8. 229x162mm no. near PIN code. 9. 250x176mm 6. Address of the addressee should 10. 324x229mm be written on the front side and the 11. 353x250mm sender’s address should be written 12. 458x324mm on the back side of the envelope. With tolerance of ± 2mm” Sd/(Som Kamei) Director of Postal Services Nagaland: Kohima-797001
GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND
DIRECTORATE OF INDUSTRIES & COMMERCE IND/DEV/HORN-BILL/314/03
Dated Kohima, the th Nov. 2013
Stall allocation for selected unit at Bamboo Pavilion, Kisama during Hornbill Festival from 1st to 10th Dec. 2013. Sl. No
Name of the Unit
No. of Stall 1 M/s Canal Orphanage Home, Mon. 1 2 M/s Wabangla Weaving Unit, Dmr. 1 3 M/s Onia Weaving Unit, Dmr. 1 4 M/s K.S. Trademark, Kma. 1 5 M/s Heritage Publishing House, Dmr 1 6 M/s Mixture Shop, Kma. 1 7 M/s Modern Customer Clothes, Dmr 1 8 TRIFED, New Delhi. 2 9 M/s Rong Mar Production, Dmr. 1 10 M/s Multi Enterprise SHG, Kma. 1 11 M/s Photo Paste, Kma. 1 12 M/s Wangcha SHG, Kma. 1 13 M/s Ngio Jhom Traditional & Handi- 1 craft, Dmr. 14 M/s Trio MPCS Ltd., Dmr 1 15 M/s Kirap MPCS Ltd., Dmr. 1 16 M/s Chuba Wooden Craft, Dmr. 1 17 M/s Woodland Craft Unit, Kma. 1 18 M/s Naga Indigenous Craft, Dmr 1
Sl. No
Name of the Unit
43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55
M/s Kewalowa SHG, Phenshunyu Village. M/s Kenyphur Lowa SHG, Tseminyu Village. M/s Craft & Development Society, Diezephe, Dmr. M/s Rahel Handloom & House Decorative, Dmr. M/s Andi Chophi Handloom & Weaving Unit, Dmr. M/s Asong & Co. , Kma. M/s Headhunters’ Ink. M/s Avole Shohe Handloom & Handcraft Unit, Dmr M/s Kashini Handloom & Handcraft Unit,Dmr. M/s Knick-Knack, Kma. M/s Agro-Base Marketing Organisation (AMO), Peren. M/s Skills SHG, Dan Village, Pangsha. M/s The Collective, Kma.
56 57 58 59 60
Department of Art & Culture, Kma. M/s Bamboo Products & Dry Flowers, Leshemi Village. M/s Eco-Tek Assortment, Kma. Nagaland State Social Welfare Board. Nagaland Institute of Health, Environment & Social Welfare, Kma. North Eastern Finance Corporation Ltd., Kma. Nagaland Weavers Association, Kma. Nagaland State e-Governance Society, Kma. M/s Pratham Foundation, Dmr.. M/s Atsula Pochury Handloom, Handicraft & Dry Flowers, Dmr. M/s Easterine Kire . M/s Pongener Craft, Dmr. M/s Imtsalar handloom Unit, Dmr. M/s Pusa Cane & Bamboo Craft, Dmr. M/s Vikolie Wood & Handicraft Unit, Dmr. M/s Akhono Naleo’s Creation, M/s Senti Candle, Nuton Bosti, Dmr. M/s Besusayi Woodcraft Unit, Chozuba, Phek. M/s Zulhupra & Vekhotso Woodcraft Unit, Suthozou, Phek. M/s Akumer Craft, Padampukhuri. M/s Chekro Welfare Society, Diphupar Vill. National Mission on Food Processing. M/s Alo Losou Handmade Products, Dryflowers &Naturals, Dmr. State Child Protection Society, Kma. M/s Tepenjem MPCS Ltd.Dmr M/s Bio Resources Mission, Kma M/s Viholi Handloom & Handicraft Dmr Tourism Department, Kma
19 20 21 22 23
M/s Northeast Network, Chizama, Phek M/s Classic Wood Craft, Dmr. M/s Handloom & Handicraft, Aoyimti M/s Tinuajem SHG, Dmr. M/s Local Decorative, Dmr.
1 1 1 1 1
61 62 63 64 65
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
M/s MerangkhuYamgichet Telok, Mkg. M/s Gumtui Society, Peren. M/s Serenity SHG, Dmr. M/s ALS SHG, Dmr. M/s Window Media, Dmr. M/s Putsui Art & Handicraft Unit, Dmr. M/s Wood & Bamboo Craft Unit, Dmr. M/s Aben Handicraft Jewellery, Kma. M/s Tarensen SHG, Dmr.
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74
33 34 35 36
M/s Orchids & Handicraft Items, Kma. M/s Handloom Store, UT Building, Kma. M/s Ava Flowers, Dmr. M/s Sense Ceramics, Dmr.
1 1 1 1
75 76 77 78
37 38 39 40 41 42
M/s Kinny Society, P.Khel, Kma M/s Handloom Centre, Kma. M/s Your Ethnic Signature, Peren. M/s Uniqraft, Kma. M/s Registrar of Co-operative Society, Kma. M/s Bamboo Products, Imphal
1 1 1 1 1 1
79 80 81 82 83
No. of Stall 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 1
The selected Units/ Societies will be allocated their stalls on 30th Nov. 2013. They are directed to report at Bamboo Pavilion, Kisama for further necessary action. Sd(Er. Thekruneituo Kire) Director of Industries & Commerce.