Two top executives leave Facebook public relations team

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two of Facebook's top executives in its public relations team are leaving the company, stepping away after the most tumultuous period in the history of the social networking giant.

Caryn Marooney put out word on Wednesday that she was quitting her job as leader of Facebook's communications group after 8 years at the social network and that she was working with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on finding a replacement.

Marooney wrote on her Facebook page that "it's time to get back to my roots" but also noted that "I have more faith in Facebook than ever."

Meanwhile, vice president of global communications and public affairs Debbie Frost confirmed that she told the company a while ago she was resigning, with plans to leave Facebook in March after nearly 11 years on the team. 

The departures come with Facebook, following a period of extraordinary growth, under fire in many parts of the world over privacy and data security and for failing to curb manipulation of the platform.

Marooney wrote however: "There is so much good happening on Facebook and the entire family of apps every day. And for our challenges -- we have plans in place and the right people working on them."

Zuckerberg marked the 15th anniversary of Facebook this week with a message saying he sees the social network largely as a "positive" force for society.

Zuckerberg has acknowledged that Facebook needs to do more to restore trust, and ferret out misinformation and abuse, and on Monday repeated his pledge to spend more "on safety and security."

Late last year, outgoing head of Facebook's communications team Elliot Schrage took responsibility for the controversial hiring of a conservative consulting firm accused of using "black ops" style techniques, acknowledging critics including investor George Soros were targeted.

Facebook stumbled from one mess to another last year as it grappled with the continuing fallout from Russia's use of the platform to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election, the Cambridge Analytica scandal in which user data was harnessed in a bid to help candidate Donald Trump, and a huge security breach involving millions of accounts.

British former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, a leading anti-Brexit advocate, was hired as the new head of global affairs and communications at the California-based company.

"With Nick Clegg settled in at Facebook, this felt like the right time to start the transition," Marooney said of timing her departure.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Potential explosives sent to Hillary Clinton, Obama, Time Warner

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK - Police intercepted suspected explosive devices sent to former U.S. President Barack Obama, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the CNN bureau in New York that apparently targeted figures disparaged by right-wing critics two weeks before U.S. congressional elections.

With the country deeply polarized under President Donald Trump, the packages brought a new level of tension to political contests that will decide whether Democrats can challenge the majorities now held by Trump's Republicans in Congress.

The package to Clinton was found late Tuesday while the one addressed to Obama was recovered early Wednesday, both during routine off-site mail screenings, the Secret Service said. Obama and Clinton were not at risk, they said.

A bomb was delivered earlier this week to the suburban New York home of George Soros, a major Democratic Party donor.

The Time Warner Center housing a CNN newsroom in New York was evacuated "out of an abundance of caution" after a suspicious package was received in the mail room, CNN President Jeff Zucker said in a note to employees. He said CNN was checking its bureaus worldwide.

New York police issued an emergency alert urging people around the building, which is on the southern edge of Central Park, to "shelter in place." Police later said they had safely removed the suspicious device from the Time Warner Center.

CNN is a frequent target of Trump, who routinely calls the news media the "enemy of the people" and belittles critical coverage as "fake news."

CNN reported the package it received was addressed to former CIA director John Brennan, a periodic guest commentator on the cable network.

Brennan, who led the CIA under Obama, has been an outspoken critic of Trump, calling the president's performance during a July joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki "nothing short of treasonous."

Trump in August revoked Brennan's security clearance in retaliation for the criticism.

The White House, in a statement, condemned the attempted attacks on Obama and Clinton.

"These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. "The United States Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies are investigating and will take all appropriate actions to protect anyone threatened by these cowards."

Trump was briefed on the suspicious packages "and we're taking it very seriously," said a senior White House official.

In Florida, the building that houses the office of U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a former Democratic Party national chairwoman, was evacuated after a suspicious package arrived in the mail, WFOR-TV in Miami reported, citing Sunrise police.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers condemned the attempted attacks, saying political violence has no place in the United States, even as some Democrats said Trump's rhetoric was escalating tensions.

"Words matter. Leadership matters. This is the country @realDonaldTrump has created, and he must condemn such acts of terrorism in the strongest terms," Democratic U.S. Representative David Price tweeted.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, called the acts "reprehensible," adding, "We cannot tolerate any attempt to terrorize public figures."

The package addressed to Clinton at her home in the New York suburb of Chappaqua was an explosive device, the New York Times reported.

Former President Bill Clinton was home when the device was intercepted at a Secret Service facility not near the Clintons' home, MSNBC reported. It said Hillary Clinton was in Florida attending fundraising events.

A federal law enforcement official told Reuters that more than one of the packages appears to have the same construction or design. Another source told Reuters the FBI was still evaluating whether the suspicious packages contained dangerous or explosive materials.

The Chappaqua Patch, a local news website, citing a law enforcement official, reported the devices sent to Soros, Obama and Clinton appeared to be a pipe bomb. "Not fancy but definitely functional," the official said.

The New York Police Department's bomb squad said the package at the Time Warner Center, which also houses stores and restaurants, appeared to be an explosive device, CNN reported.

The discovery of the packages came after a small bomb was found earlier this week at the home of billionaire liberal donor Soros in the New York City suburb of Katonah, about 10 miles (16 km) from the Clintons' home.

"Nothing made it to their home," Bill Clinton's spokesman said in an email. A spokesman for Hillary Clinton referred queries to the Secret Service statement. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Apple hits record high but leaves some investors in dust

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple shares cruised to a record-high close Monday, helping catapult the S&P 500 stock index over the $20 trillion mark in what amounts to a victory for plain-vanilla mutual funds over a bevy of hedge fund managers who recently backed away from the iPhone maker.

The largest component of the S&P 500 and a core holding on Wall Street, Apple's stock climbed 0.9 percent to end at $133.29, above its record high close of $133.00 hit on Feb. 23, 2015 and giving it a market value of about $699 billion.

Its increase helped balloon the S&P 500's market capitalization on Monday beyond $20 trillion for the first time.

While mutual funds have largely bet on Apple in recent months, some big names missed out on all or part of its recent acceleration.

Hedge fund manager Dan Loeb's Third Point LLC cut its stake in Apple by 26 percent to 1.9 million shares in the fourth quarter, according to regulatory filings, while George Soros and Carl Icahn also shed their Apple shares last year.

In contrast, the number of mutual funds reporting they became Apple shareholders in recent quarterly filings has jumped by 187 percent to 287, while the number of mutual funds liquidating their Apple holdings dropped by 26 percent to 151, according to Morningstar.

Among the big names who backed the stock, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway last August said it had increased its stake in Apple by 55 percent to 15 million shares, now worth $2 billion. David Einhorn's hedge fund Greenlight Capital in January said it still likes Apple.

Apple has climbed 50 percent from lows in the first half of last year and is up 15 percent so far in 2017. It was still short of its all-time intraday high of $134.54, set on April 28, 2015.

Monday's gain came after Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski raised her price target for Apple to $150. She said she is more confident that an upcoming 10th anniversary iPhone will feature augmented-reality technology, which could help boost demand in a saturated smartphone market.

Many investors are betting that Apple will mark the iPhone's 10th anniversary with a dramatically improved model. They also believe that strong sales of the iPhone 6S two years ago have left a larger-than-normal base of customers ready to upgrade.

The Cupertino, California company reported strong December-quarter results on Jan. 31, and although it gave a cautious outlook for the current quarter, Wall Street expects revenue to grow this year after sinking nearly 8 percent in fiscal 2016.

In 1998, when the S&P 500 closed above $10 trillion for the first time, Apple accounted for just under 0.06 percent of the index. It now accounts for about 3.5 percent of the S&P 500, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

The 721 days that have passed since Apple's previous record-high close represent the largest gap between such milestones since the iPhone's launch in 2007.

source: news.abs-cbn.com