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LATEST STORIES PBA Women’s 3×3 – March 18, 2016 PLAY LIST 35:47PBA Women’s 3×3 – March 18, 201616:08PBA Women’s 3×3 Tournament – December 16, 201500:47Romeo credits coaches, team after 41-point night01:37Protesters burn down Iran consulate in Najaf01:47Panelo casts doubts on Robredo’s drug war ‘discoveries’01:29Police teams find crossbows, bows in HK university01:35Panelo suggests discounted SEA Games tickets for students02:49Robredo: True leaders perform well despite having ‘uninspiring’ boss02:42PH underwater hockey team aims to make waves in SEA Games PSC, Cayetano to meet on SEA Games hosting Read Next WATCH: Streetboys show off slick dance moves in Vhong Navarro’s wedding All eyes, however, are on Romeo, who bailed Gilas out of the woods in two critical games in Beirut, as he returns to a Batang Pier crew badly needing a shot in the arm in a bid to join the frenzied hunt for top four berths and twice-to-beat privileges in the season-closing conference.And about the only thing coach Franz Pumaren is worried about is his prized5-foot-10 point guard getting enough sleep for GlobalPort’s 7 p.m. clash with powerhouse San Miguel Beer, which will welcome back Fajardo.FEATURED STORIESSPORTSWATCH: Drones light up sky in final leg of SEA Games torch runSPORTSSEA Games: Philippines picks up 1st win in men’s water poloSPORTSMalditas save PH from shutout“He practiced (Thursday) but said that he hasn’t had any sleep yet,” Pumaren told the Inquirer over the phone.Romeo arrived with the rest of the PH team on Tuesday night and is battling jetlag, which could hit all the Nationals the hardest on Friday.“That’s the only problem we have right now,” Pumaren added. “Otherwise, he seems to be good. We will be using him (for the game) depending on how he feels. But definitely, he will play.” LOOK: Venues for 2019 SEA Games Brace for potentially devastating typhoon approaching PH – NDRRMC Romeo was the hero in Gilas’ 97-86 victory over China in the group stage and against Jordan, 75-70, in the clash for seventh place in the Fiba Asia Cup, and his return to GlobalPort certainly gives the Batang Pier more teeth against the Beermen.San Miguel is at 3-1 and will play the 6-foot-10 Fajardo limited minutes because of a pulled calf muscle that kept him out of the first three Gilas games.Wright, on the other hand, is sorely needed back at Phoenix Petroleum as the Fuel Masters try to arrest a five-game slide against TNT KaTropa in the 4:15 p.m. contest.The Texters are set to get back Castro and Pogoy.Phoenix will now have two deadly outside guns against TNT with Wright and new acquisition Jeff Chan.ADVERTISEMENT SEA Games in Calabarzon safe, secure – Solcom chief Photo from Fiba.comSleep or no sleep, Terrence Romeo—Gilas Pilipinas’ most explosive scorer in the recent Fiba Asia Cup in Lebanon—is back to give GlobalPort a boost.June Mar Fajardo, Matthew Wright, Jayson Castro and RR Pogoy are returning as well, as teams slowly return to full force with the PBA Governors’ Cup eliminations to enter its second half starting Friday at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.ADVERTISEMENT Catriona Gray spends Thanksgiving by preparing meals for people with illnesses UPLB exempted from SEA Games class suspension Don’t miss out on the latest news and information. SEA Games: PH’s Alisson Perticheto tops ice skating short program MOST READ LIST: Class, gov’t work suspensions during 30th SEA Games View comments read more

India’s Sundar Singh Gurjar made the country proud on Friday when he bagged gold medal in men’s javelin throw event in the opening night of the World Para Athletic Championships in London.Sundar recorded his personal best effort of 60.36 metre to take the top honours and open India’s medal tally in the tournament.Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Priyantha Herath came second with 57.93 metre, while defending champion Guo Chunliang of China was third with a season’s best 56.14 metre.This was nothing less than redemption for Gurjar, who suffered a miserable heartbreak at the Rio Olympics two years ago.He was disqualified for reporting at the registration desk late by only a minute because he failed to understand the accent of the announcers.Meanwhile, Rio Olympic gold-medallist in Javelin Devendra Jhajharia is not taking part at the world meet after failing to achieve the qualifying mark. read more

zoomRolf Habben Jansen; Image Courtesy: Hapag-Lloyd German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd managed to shrink its net loss in the first quarter of this year, however, market headwinds persist, the company warns.The company’s net loss for the period stood at EUR 34.3 million (USD 41 million), almost halved when compared to the last year’s loss of EUR 58.1 million.Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached EUR 219.4 million, also up from last year’s EUR 135.3 million.However, as the figures for the quarter include the contribution from the United Arab Shipping Company Ltd. (UASC), which merged with Hapag-Lloyd last year, the comparison of the figures can be made on a limited basis, the company stressed.“We have had a solid start into the current year, but the market environment is challenging. Freight rates have been under pressure, bunker costs and trucking cost in some important markets were up and we faced a weaker US Dollar, whereas higher transport volumes and synergies supported the result. We expect a gradual improvement of the market throughout 2018 – but most of that will only hit the books in the second half of the year,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, Chief Executive Officer of Hapag-Lloyd.Jansen’s mandate as the company’s CEO has been extended for additional five years.The company’s executive board said that earnings for the period were below expectations, primarily as a result of the significant increase in bunker prices and a changed cost structure due to the new service network.  Volatile freight rates and stiff competition are not making things easier moving forward.Growth has been reported in revenues and transport volume, with revenues increasing from EUR 2.1 billion to EUR 2.6 billion. Transport volume rose by 47.9 pct in the first three months of the year, particularly due to UASC, the company said.The average freight rate of 1,029 USD/TEU in the first quarter 2018 was in line with the last year’s freight rate of 1,056 USD/TEU, reflecting the competitive market environment.“Assuming that the general recovery of freight rates continues, Hapag-Lloyd’s average freight rate in 2018 is likely to be around the same as in the previous year,” the company said, adding that a clear rise in the average bunker consumption price is expected in 2018.“Provided that the expected freight rate is achieved and a significant portion of the synergies from the merger with UASC are realized, along with the expected improvement in the quality of earnings and the anticipated growth in volumes, Hapag-Lloyd is forecasting a clear year-on-year increase in its EBITDA and EBIT in 2018.”This also takes into account the one-off expenses of around USD 10 million resulting from the merger and integration. read more

OTTAWA – After more than two years riding the brakes on a raft of promised reforms to election laws, the Trudeau government is preparing to put the pedal to the metal to get them in place in time for the next federal election in 2019.With Elections Canada generally needing a year to implement changes to the rules governing elections, that leaves the government with just seven months to push at least three bills through Parliament — one of which hasn’t even been introduced yet and another of which has been parked at the introductory stage for 16 months without any attempt by the government to move it along.“The window of opportunity to implement major changes in time for the next general election is rapidly closing,” Stephane Perrault, the acting chief electoral officer, warned a House of Commons committee last month.Appointing a permanent chief electoral officer — a position that’s been vacant for almost 18 months — remains another important piece of unfinished business as the clock ticks down to the next election.During the 2015 campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised a host of changes to the way elections are fought and conducted. He has since jettisoned his vow to replace the first-past-the-post voting system but Liberals insist the others remain in play.Bill C-33, introduced in November 2016, was meant to be the first of two bills to deliver on those promises, reversing what Liberals saw as the most egregious of changes wrought by the previous Conservative government’s Fair Elections Act, which critics had warned would disenfranchise thousands of voters.The bill would make it easier to vote, restoring the use of the voter information card as a valid piece of identification and reviving the practice of vouching for a voter without ID. It would restore the chief electoral officer’s authority to conduct voter education and outreach and move the commissioner of elections, who enforces election laws, back under the roof of Elections Canada.It would also repeal the prohibition on voting by expat Canadians who’ve been out of the country for more than five years.But C-33 has gone nowhere since its introduction, “sitting awaiting second reading, unmoved, unloved, completely stalled,” as Conservative MP John Nater put it recently. And even those who applauded the bill have begun to wonder if the government has lost interest.The Canadian Federation of Students and the Council of Canadians, which launched a constitutional challenge to the Fair Elections Act, had been delighted by C-33. But now with the bill stalled, the case remains before the court and the government must file its responding evidence by March 30.“Students are troubled to see the government’s failure to repeal voter suppression elements of the so-called Fair Elections Act passed under the Conservatives government,” said Justine De Jaegher of the students’ group. “This Liberal government made a promise to repeal these elements and, despite introducing Bill C-33 to do just this, the legislation has been languishing for nearly a year and a half.”Andrea Furlong of the Council of Canadians said the bill, once passed, would enhance the integrity of the entire electoral system.Theirs isn’t the only voting issue before the courts.Last week, the Supreme Court began hearing the case of two expats who are challenging the loss of their right to vote because they’ve been out of the country for more than five years. The top court had initially agreed to the Trudeau government’s request for an adjournment on the basis that C-33 made the matter moot but, more than a year later, the bill is no closer to becoming law so the case is proceeding.However, the government insists it’s now gearing up to push the bill through.“We remain firmly committed to the legislation and we intend to see it debated in the House soon,” said Mark Kennedy, a spokesman for government House leader Bardish Chagger.“This is a priority for the government.”As well, the government is expected to introduce next month a second bill that will encompass the other democratic reform promises Trudeau made in 2015: limiting spending by political parties in the run-up to the official campaign period, possibly stricter spending limits during campaigns and creating an independent commission to organize televised leaders debates.The government has signalled that the bill will also include spending limits on third party advocacy groups and measures to ensure they are not funded by foreign money.And the government may yet introduce another bill to regulate social media giants like Facebook, which is at the centre of the international scandal over the unauthorized use of users’ personal information to manipulate voters. Trudeau has reportedly given them six months — ending this summer — to prove they can police themselves or face government action.While the Liberals have been dragging their feet on the bills aimed at delivering on Trudeau’s democratic reform promises, they’ve acted much more swiftly on legislation prompted by a furor last year over so-called cash-for-access fundraisers featuring the prime minister and cabinet ministers.Bill C-50, which would require parties to publicly advertise fundraising events attended by ministers, party leaders or leadership candidates, was introduced last May. It has already been passed by the House of Commons and is now in second reading in the Senate. read more

B-to-b publishers are going to market with more products than ever—including their own and those of their clients. The advantage they offer, of course, is a narrow, targeted audience. The challenge they face is to avoid tapping out that audience, or allowing their marketing messages to get lost or misdirected in a sea of direct mail and email.For this reason, many publishers are leaning more heavily on telemarketing. Once seen as mostly a cost center, this service is now helping to drive new revenue, especially in lead generation.At Haymarket Media, clients pay an average of $50 to $100 per lead, depending on complexity, according to Tracey Harilal, a circulation marketing manager at the company who works with its Direct Marketing News and Medical Marketing and Media brands. In many cases, specific questions are tacked on to the end of a requalification script. In other, more targeted cases, where an advertiser wants to reach a senior-level executive or a very specific job title, designated lead-generation calls are conducted.While some Haymarket brands—such as SC Magazine—have been running custom lead generation campaigns for a while now, Harilal says her brands just started doing so in August 2011. Since then, she’s seen a significant upswing in advertiser interest; revenue from these campaigns has jumped almost 50 percent in the first four months of 2012, compared to 2011. For Harilal, telemarketing makes up 60 to 80 percent of her overall budget—but the return rates, and her need to meet a 100 percent one-year direct request for the BPA audit, make it essential. For lead generation, the return is at about 80 to 85 percent, versus roughly 10 percent in other channels combined. For subscriptions, the return is about 75 percent, with telemarketing accounting for 50 or more percent of all requalifications.Westerman, who not long ago joined Summit from Ziff Davis Enterprise, says he is currently working to ramp up Summit’s telemarketing approach, to be more in line with how the service was used at Ziff. There, in addition to lead generation, calls were used in conjunction with email for live and digital event recruitment, registration and reminders.Cross-promotion of products and events across the company’s brands is another key use he’d like to carry over. “The Summit brand is not as well known as individual brands we go to market with,” says Westerman. “When we cross-promote, one thing we want to communicate is that [the audience] might be solicited by a sister brand, and why.”Data gathering is a rich opportunity for a variety of reasons, especially in a company like Summit that has data as well as media products. “In addition to a transaction, we have the opportunity to ask two or three research-style questions that we might be paid by a client to ask, or for research we’re doing on our own behalf,” says Westerman. “I think the granularity of the information you can collect on the phone tends to be higher than when people are registering for something like a content syndication on the Web.”These questions—beyond basic demographics such as company size, job title, industry, etc.—are also used for list hygiene and database management. Telemarketers can capture more nuanced information about matters like buying schedules, buying power and budget availability to find out how qualified a person is, and who else at the company might be worth calling.Making it WorkHaymarket recently hired a dedicated staff person to oversee lead generation campaigns. This person monitors the daily activity of campaigns—an absolute necessity—and formats data for the daily or weekly reports that need to be sent to clients.For many publishers, these types of campaigns have led to tighter coordination between sales and circulation. Complementing this are software applications—APIs— that tie a vendor’s system to the publisher’s, automatically uploading and distributing data from calls instantly, without the need to manually update an Excel spreadsheet.More on this topic The Broader Role of Telemarketing The New Backbone of Content and Marketing: Data Finding New Ways to Use Telemarketing Preparing for BPA’s Telemarketing Recording Rules Revitalizing Lead Generation with Analytics and Business Intelligence Q&A: Summit Business Media’s Chief Audience Officer Peter Westerman On His New RoleJust In Bonnier Corp. Terminates Editor-in-Chief for Ethics Breach BabyCenter Sold to Ziff Davis Parent J2 Media | News & Notes The Atlantic Names New Global Marketing Head | People on the Move This Just In: Magazines Are Not TV Networks PE Firm Acquires Majority Stake in Industry Dive Four More Execs Depart SourceMedia in Latest RestructuringPowered by Email or Phone?At Vance Publishing, director of audience development Donna Hansen says telemarketing efforts have been focused on gaining email addresses. “In an ideal world, you’d have an email address for everybody and you’d not have to pay for telemarketing or direct mail,” she says. On the other hand, she adds, telemarketing’s return is much higher—at about 60 to 70 percent, versus 10 percent through email or about 5 percent or less through direct mail.“With budgets being cut back, you have to put your dollars where you know you’re going to make the numbers,” Hansen says.According to Peter Westerman, chief audience officer at Summit Business Media, the common perception of cost savings through email may be off. “I’d almost challenge the assertion that, in b-to-b, email is cheaper,” Westerman says. “Certainly on a direct cost basis, a call center is going to be more expensive. But over time, when looking at the fully loaded cost center of email, with managing lists and deliverability, in a narrow b-to-b market, you’ll find those costs start to get buried and hidden.” Especially for clients demanding more targeted, highly qualified leads, he says, phone is much more effective than email. read more