REVEALED: The Top Demographic Trends For Every Major Social Network | ||
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The demographics of who's on what social network are shifting — older social networks are reaching maturity, while newer social messaging apps are gaining younger users fast. In a new report from BI Intelligence, we unpack data from over a dozen sources to understand how social media demographics are still shifting. Access The Full Report By Signing Up For A Trial >> Here are a few of the key takeaways from the BI Intelligence report:
The report is full of charts (over 20 charts) and data that can be downloaded and put to use. In full, the report:
For full access to all BI Intelligence reports, briefs, and downloadable charts on the digital media industry, sign up for a two week trial. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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A 23-Year-Old Set A Guinness World Record For Playing A Video Game At 18,569 Feet | ||
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Will Cruz was working at a call center in his home state of Utah when he got the news that he just won Ubisoft's "Quest for Everest" contest. "I was on the phone with a new hire at my company," he said. "My phone beeped, and I looked at it, and I got this email saying 'Congratulations, you won,' and immediately I checked out," he tells Business Insider. "Like, I couldn't understand one thing the guy was saying anymore. I just held my hand in the air and was like, 'F--- this conversation!'" The contest was to promote the game "Far Cry 4," which comes out Nov. 18. The contest was announced over the summer. To enter, people had to make 2-minute videos showing why they were the most qualified. "Far Cry" is a first-person shooter that places its players in some wild locations. In "Far Cry 2," players found themselves in Africa. "Far Cry 3" was set in the wild jungles of an island in the Pacific. "Far Cry 4" takes place in the Himalayas. So it makes sense for the company to promote the game with a trip there. And it doesn't hurt to get a world record in the process. To earn the record, Cruz had to play the game for more than an hour. And he did that at 18,569 feet, climbing to the summit of Kala Patthar. Yikes. "The game ran just fine up there. I was pretty amazed," he says. "The system was running better than I was at that altitude." Ubisoft was prepared for the trip, however. They needed to figure out what kind of TV to bring up there so the LCD wouldn't freeze. They also needed to determine whether it would be OK to take a PlayStation up there that has a CD drive. They didn't have to worry about that part, though. The build that they used of the game was burned onto the hard drive of the console. Cruz also had to leave his wife of two years behind. "She's a little taken aback about the whole thing, but she's been a great sport," Cruz says. Before climbing in the Himalayas, Cruz had never been outside the country. But he's no stranger to hiking, often going on some "risky" hikes in his home state, he says. In fact for his submission video for the contest, he climbed the highest peak in Utah. Because of weather conditions and work schedule, he had a fairly limited amount of time to do it. He also needed to learn how to use his equipment. "I went and hiked it all by myself. It was a 26-mile hike, and it was pretty rough," he said. "I also had to learn how to use a GoPro ... and then I had to borrow a laptop to do the editing for the video, and had to ask a friend how to do it." A trip such as this one couldn't be done alone. He had the help of 15 people, including sherpas and a video crew, as well as the pros at Berg Adventures, to help him on his journey. Ubisoft's Scott Fry said they had extra people onhand to make sure that Cruz was both comfortable and safe throughout his visit. "We had many conversations with Wally Berg, who owns Berg Adventures International, in advance of the contest and the trip, to really go through the logistics of everything that we would need to concern ourselves with, what we would have to have there to make sure Will was comfortable, and that everything would go according to plan," Fry says. That means they had, for example, extra oxygen and more people forecasting the weather. They also had satellite access, so they could contact Cruz and his team if they needed to. "We really planned everything out long and far in advance and with an expert team of people so that we could ensure everything was as safe as possible," Fry says. Cruz still had to sign a waiver. And even with a team of experts helping out, the trek up to 18,569 feet was not easy. The group had to deal with the elements, such as high wind gusts that claimed one of their tents. Cruz also had to get acclimated to the high altitudes. "The altitude made it hard to sleep, it made it hard to keep an appetite," Cruz says. Now that he's back, Cruz says that he's going to go back to work and settle back into normal life. But he can't wait to go back and go on a new adventure. And to everyone who's thinking of trekking through the Himalayas, Cruz has one piece of advice: "Take a good guide." You can check out Cruz's video diary of his journey on YouTube. SEE ALSO: The Maker Of The Game 'Destiny' Gave A Man Recovering From Brain Surgery A Rare Gift Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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I Can’t Stop Playing This Incredible Horror Game, Even Though It’s A Free Demo | ||
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Three months ago, a free downloadable game called “P.T.” showed up on the PlayStation Store — and the horror genre has never been the same. People didn’t know it at the time, but the game, seemingly built by a completely unknown developer called “7780s Studios” (it's actually from Konami, more on that in a bit), is one of the most masterfully created, simple but effective horror games ever released. The game thrusts you into an empty room with a door. Once you open it, you are presented with a simple but eerie and photorealistic L-shaped hallway. There’s a bathroom, a clock, a radio, and a phone. There are also torn up pieces of a photo lying around. As you pick up clues from the environment, you learn that you’re walking through a house where a man lost his mind and killed his wife and children. Every time you leave the hallway through the basement door, you end up back in the same hallway. It’s your job to figure out the puzzle and escape the loop. The demo, which I’ve played twice now, is a true terror. And that’s because it’s consistently unsettling, rather than flat-out scary. Granted, there are one or two memorable “jump scares,” which have inspired countless YouTube reaction videos. But the true appeal to “P.T.” lies in the ambiance: chandeliers slowly sway back and forth, there’s incessant creaking, and occasionally, a baby cries, a woman moans, and a radio announcer offers chilling details about the house in which you’re standing. On a few occasions, he’ll tell you to look behind you. It’s extremely unnerving. We have no idea what to expect from “Silent Hills,” which comes out next year, but Konami, the maker of the franchise, says “P.T.” has zero relation to the main title, in both characters and premise. Here’s the thing: “P.T.” has become an instant cult classic. Some of the puzzles are just flat-out brilliant — one of them has you collecting clues in different languages, so you need to translate them all and then put the phrases in the correct order to figure out what to do next. And it's so effective because there's no exposition, no introduction to familiarize yourself with the characters or the situation; you must learn as you go along. Many wonder what the final game, "Silent Hills," will be. But if Konami wants a success like "P.T.," here’s one idea: Make “Silent Hills” into an episodic game, where gamers play a series of small, standalone games in the same vein as “P.T.,” which can all be loosely tied together since they're set in the same town of Silent Hill. Voidburger, one half of the YouTube team that successfully deciphered the difficult-to-solve final puzzle in “P.T.,” is all about this idea. “There’s some talk of ‘Silent Hills’ being episodic,” she told Polygon. “My biggest hope for the game — and this is something I’ve been craving for years — is that it’s episodic [in the same way] ‘The Twilight Zone’ was. Different writers with different stories being told in the same format, in the same weird universe, tied together by a sense of creepy wrongness. That’d be a nightmare come true!” This might be the best way to address “Silent Hills”: By offering variety without any real overarching plot, the game would deprive players of knowledge about the creepy events that are happening around them, in the same way that “P.T.” forces you to piece together the plot puzzle one little clue at a time. As Voidburger points out, not knowing the plot “makes you really think about what’s going on by obscuring the big picture and providing only little breadcrumbs to follow." "It heightens curiosity, which goes hand-in-hand with horror, in my opinion… It’s beneficial to keep the audience confused, because it amplifies their fear. And nothing destroys fear like knowledge, so it makes sense to keep the facts few and far between in the horror genre, and make the player work for their plot fix." “P.T.” is a true example of how simplicity and withholding information can create a truly memorable experience that feeds on your imagination. Hopefully Kojima’s team at Konami can deliver an equally puzzling but deeply genuine feature-length game that lives up to its sterling playable teaser. SEE ALSO: Don't Watch This Footage From The Next 'Silent Hill' Game Before You Go To Sleep Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Meet The Outlandish Superheroes Of 'Overwatch,' The Latest Game From The Makers Of 'World Of Warcraft' | ||
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Get ready for "Overwatch." It's the first new property in 17 years for Blizzard, the highly esteemed maker of some of the bestselling games of all time, including "World Of Warcraft," "Starcraft," and "Diablo." This time, you'll be playing as one of several superheroes, "an elite international task force charged with ending the war and restoring liberty to all nations." Based on the game's trailer, "Overwatch" features Pixar-looking superheroes with wild abilities and powers going at it with one another. Here's the noteworthy exposition from the trailer: As the world teetered on the brink of anarchy, a new hope arose: Overwatch. Under its steadfast protection, the world recovered. And today, though its watch has ended, its soaring ideals of freedom and equality will never be forgotten. The game won't be out until some time in 2015 (you can sign up for the beta right now), but we can't wait to dive into "Overwatch." To get an idea of the mayhem that can ensue, it's best to familiarize yourself with the heroes themselves. Meet Tracer. She can rewind her steps (useful in case someone is chasing behind you).This is Symmetra. She is covered in technology, which lets her create booby traps in just seconds.Hanzo is a highly skilled, nimble archer.See the rest of the story at Business Insider | ||
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Elon Musk Wants To Build Internet Satellites (TSLA, SCTY, GOOG, GOOGL) | ||
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And now Elon Musk wants to send satellites that deliver internet access into space. According to a report late Friday by The Wall Street Journal's Rolfe Winkler and Andy Pasztor, Musk is working with former Google executive Greg Wyler to build smaller, cheaper satellites that can deliver internet access from space. The report, which cites people familiar with the matter, said that Musk and Wyler want to send 700 satellites weighing less than 250 pounds into space. Musk is the founder and CEO of electric carmaker Tesla Motors, as well as the chairman of solar energy company SolarCity and the founder and CEO of SpaceX. The satellites Musk and Wyler want to send up would be about half the size of the smallest current commercial communications satellites, and this fleet would be 10 times the size of the largest communication satellite fleet, the report said. The report adds that developing this venture is expected to cost at least $1 billion, and said that Musk and Wyler have been in talks with officials in both Colorado and Florida about building a factory to make satellites. The report comes after Musk's Tesla Motors reported earnings last Wednesday night that beat expectations, though the company said it would deliver 2,000 fewer cars than it is on track to produce in 2014. On Tesla's earnings conference call, Musk said that Tesla's issue is not demand, but production. "We have more demand than we can address and levers we can pull to increase demand, and we're not doing it." "It's worth saying that making one of something is quite easy," Musk added. "Making lots of something consistently that's going to last a long time is extremely hard. In fact, it is way harder to make the machine that makes the machine that it is to make the machine in the first place." And now, it seems, Musk may be preparing to try and make something else. You can read The Journal's full report here » Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Facebook Is Giving You More Control Over What You See In Your News Feed (FB) | ||
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SEE ALSO: Apple's Wallet Killer Is Already Making An Impact At Whole Foods Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Meet The Startup That's Using Drones To Change The World | ||
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When Andreas Raptopoulos and his team got stuck in a 20-truck convoy completely marooned in mud while navigating between villages in Papua New Guinea, it was incredibly frustrating. It was also a validation of his work. Raptopoulos is the cofounder and CEO of a startup called Matternet, which makes drones, though he refuses to use that word. He prefers to call them small unmanned aerial delivery vehicles, or UAVs. He started the company after having a "eureka moment" three years ago. He realized one billion people around the world live in areas lacking reliable road systems and that drones could provide a more reliable way to deliver critical supplies, like medicine. That's why Raptopoulos was in tuberculosis-ravaged Papua New Guinea in September, entrenched in mud. Matternet had connected with the international aid organization Doctors Without Borders to test whether its aerial vehicles could provide a good way to transfer TB diagnostics between villages. During the two weeks Matternet conducted its trials, multiple trucks got trapped. "We had to do that trip four times and every time there was an element of fear," Raptopoulos tells Business Insider. "We thought, 'Will we make it?' We talk a lot about the problem, but it became very real for us. What it really means, and all the emotions that go with it." Matternet's trucks may have gotten lodged in mud between launch sites, but its drones navigated their routes without a hitch. Controlled completely via an app, a UAV bearing a spittle sample would take off, fly through the air, and land at a hospital as far as 25 kilometers away. For Raptopoulos, it felt like a series of "pinch me" moments. Every time the team prepped a drone for a take-off, anywhere from 50 to 70 people would surround them. These were often people who live without running water or reliable electricity in their homes, and yet the drones seemed to make sense to them almost immediately. "Most of these people have never seen one of these things, at least in the flesh," Raptopoulos says, "But it’s amazing, the amount of joy it generates. It basically breaks with all your assumptions." That's one of the underlying principles that Matternet builds upon: that its drones be so dead-simple to operate, that someone without significant technological training could instinctively figure out how to send one on a flight. That someone who had even the most minimal knowledge of how to operate a smartphone could direct the drone to deliver medicine, food, or other supplies from one location to another. For that reason, Raptopoulos likes to describe Matternet's UAVs as the Apple products of the drone space. "We want this company to be at the intersection of the best technology and excellence in design," he says. "We want to sell a vehicle to you that you can operate with an unprecedented ease of use." Right now, drones — and delivery drones in particular — are a buzzy topic, but when Matternet first got started, people mainly thought of them in terms of the military or security. Today, they're being used to deliver medicine in Germany and the Federal Aviation Administration recently approved them for use in shooting movie and TV scenes in the US. "Things are changing fast in this space," Raptopoulos says. "A year ago, there was no Amazon drone announcement. A month ago there was no Google drone coming out." Matternet's early start combined with its powerhouse-team has it poised to take the drone space by storm and become one of "the next billion-dollar businesses," according to Matternet investor Ravi Belani, managing director of Alchemist, the startup accelerator Matternet graduated from. Raptopoulos' vision for Matternet first hit him when he was attending Singularity University, a non-traditional, future-focused school that aims to empower its students to apply "exponential technologies to address humanity's grand challenges." Working as part of a larger team, Raptopoulos got hung up on the fact that one-seventh of the Earth's population lacked access to all-seasons roads and that developing a traditional, reliable transportation infrastructure in those places would take crazy amounts of money and upwards of 50 years. He took a map of Africa and overlaid an internet-like network onto it. If he could build machines that could carry cargo short distances, each trip would be small, but the scale could be incredible. He says he got chills: Raptopoulos says when he and co-founder Paola Santana, previously a lawyer in the Dominican Republic, first started pitching the idea around, he got a lot of polite but confused responses. A lot of people thought they was crazy, Raptopoulos says. But the founders of Singularity University — futurist Ray Kurzweil and entrepreneur Peter Diamandis — loved the idea. After graduating from the University, they accepted Matternet into SU Labs, the school's innovation accelerator. Since then, Raptopoulos and Santana have built a lean team of 10 people who specialize in skills ranging from rocket science and engineering to law and regulation. The company has raised $2 million to date from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, Alchemist Accelerator, and even the rapper Nas, but is eyeing a more significant Series A round in the near future. Matternet's plan is to create a full stack product, handling both the hardware and the software themselves, while simultaneously making sure to stay abreast of every new legal hurdle in the drone space. Right now, the FAA bans the use of commercial drones, but it is supposed to release rules for small drones under 55 pounds later this year, in line with its complete plan for “safe integration” of commercial drones by September 2015. Meanwhile, a team at NASA led by Dr. Parimal Kopardekar is developing a drone traffic management program of its own to advise the FAA. Matternet is one of the many UAV-focused companies that has met with Kopardekar's NexGen technology team to discuss different ways to provide a structure to drone traffic. The startup plans to announce its first product in the first quarter of 2015, and start shipping a few months later. The goal is to have concrete agreements with the likes of Doctors Without Borders and the World Health Organization, which it tested with in Bhutan, by the time Matternet's UAVs get launched. Raptopolous couldn't name a concrete price point, but guesses that the Matternet system will go for between $2,000 and $5,000. By launching in areas like Papua New Guinea and Bhutan — where its drones are sometimes flying over swaths of jungle or sparsely populated desert and where there isn't a strict existing aerial infrastructure — Matternet has fewer barriers to entry. "The risk needs to be low if the UAV falls," NASA's Kopardekar tells Business Insider, noting that low-density areas make the most sense for drone testing and operations. "You need to be able to demonstrate the risk is very low and the benefits are high: That's where you will see implementation happening." Although Raptopoulos landed upon the idea for Matternet because of a motivation to provide a transportation solution to parts of the world that lack access to all-season roads, the company has its sights set beyond humanitarian causes. After all, Matternet isn't a service company; it's a product company. "We are pioneering this technology by helping partners find ways to put it in the field now, but our vision is that we should be putting this type of technology into everybody's hands," he says, "Whether their purpose is in Papua New Guinea or Rio or Istanbul or Mexico City or in Palo Alto, San Francisco, and LA." "Sometimes mission-driven entrepreneurs get so hung up on their mission that they're missing the commercial opportunity, which they probably don't emotionally care that much about," Pascal Finette, who heads SU Labs, explains. "I think this duality — the dance between these two worlds — is something social entrepreneurs sometimes get wrong. But Andreas is just perfect. He's phenomenal because he understands, 'Hey, if we get this at scale and we can do this in the US and we become a big company, we can use all this as a force of good to do even more in the world.'" Raptopoulos sees Walgreens using Matternet's drones to deliver prescriptions, or grocery stores using them to deliver milk. Because the startup is small, lean, and fast-moving, he thinks it has a leg up on giants like Google or Amazon. "I think Andreas is a beautiful, bi-focal CEO," says Belani from Alchemist. "He is a true visionary who is always motivated by fundamentally changing the world. But he's very practical in the near term what's required to get things done. He's not a head-in-the-clouds type of visionary. He's incredibly practical with a strong street sense of business." Finette agrees: Raptopoulos and Santana dream big, but know how to actually move steadily forward. He laughs recalling how nonchalantly the team will talk about passing amazing, major milestones. "They talk about it as if it's nothing," he says. That speaks to their capacity as entrepreneurs, he says, because they understand that every achievement is just a small stepping stone towards the big idea. Right now, Matternet's drones weigh well under 5 kilograms, can carry cargo over 0.5 kilograms, and fly over 25 kilometers on a battery charge. Their geo-fenced routes take into consideration weather data and terrain. They are equipped with cameras to help them navigate onto landing pads at their destinations. The entire system gets controlled by a smartphone app. Raptopoulos calls it the "Apple II" of the drone industry: the "most easy to use, desirable, and safest personal flying vehicle" out there. Not that Matternet is the only company trying to achieve that. Besides giants like Amazon and Google, there are other delivery drone companies out there, like Bizzby and Aria. "A drone delivery network will be the most disruptive thing to hit the delivery space," says Brody Buhler, partner at consulting firm Accenture, who focuses on postal issues. "If you don’t have drones on your five-year roadmap, you’re probably too far out." Talking to Raptopoulos, that future feels even closer. He gets almost electrically bright-eyed when he talks about the moments he's had on trials in the Himalayas or Papua New Guinea. But his passion really radiates off him when he talks about what's yet to come. "I’m going to keep on having these 'pinch me' moments," he says. "When we see our first big deployment in a city. When I’m able to see 20-30 crafts doing routine missions. When I’m able to actually see our drones in the sky and nobody will be paying attention, because they’re just an establishment. And we can't wait." SEE ALSO: Why The Guy Behind The Most Popular Smartwatch In The World Isn't Scared Of Apple Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Here's Why Banner Advertising Has Ruined The Web — Podcast (AMZN) | ||
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Here's this week's episode of the "Jay and Farhad Show." As usual, it's New York Times tech columnist Farhad Manjoo and myself running through some of the biggest stories in tech this week. We record this podcast on a weekly basis. You can subscribe to it in iTunes here. You should definitely subscribe. Here's an RSS link to the show. We use SoundCloud as a host, so you can listen to the show over there, too. This week we talk about Manjoo's column bashing banner ads, reports that Uber is raising another $1 billion, and Amazon's new Echo speaker. We recorded this on Friday, November 7, 2014. Enjoy! Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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This Amazon Echo Parody Will Actually Make You Want Amazon's New Voice-Controlled Speaker Even More (AMZN) | ||
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Amazon surprised everyone on Thursday when it introduced its voice-controlled speaker, called Echo. Like Siri or Google Now, Amazon Echo can answer questions, play music, create alarms and reminders, and give you information about the news or the weather. But it's all hands-free, so you can address the Echo from anywhere in the room and it can hear your requests. Of course, people quickly started having fun with Amazon's new futuristic toy. Most notably, YouTube user Barry Mannifold made a few "modifications" to Amazon's introductory video and shared his work with the reddit community. It quickly racked up 1.2 million views in less than a day on the Web. The video is actually quite brilliant. Mind you, Mannifold's parody includes one word that's NSFW, so if you have young kids or coworkers around, maybe throw on a pair of headphones. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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The 20 Hottest Startups Founded By Women | ||
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Women may be underrepresented throughout the tech sector, but they're building some incredible startups. The folks over at Product Hunt have created and curated a list of the best startups and products founded by women. VCs, entrepreneurs, and Product Hunt members have all weighed in on their favorites. From uBeam's innovative wireless charging technology to Hopscotch's program for teaching kids how to code, the products women are making are changing the world. FrontFront lets you collaborate on email responses with your team without cluttering up your inbox with a confusing set of back-and-forth responses. Front also lets you work under a group email address to collaborate on composing emails. In August, the Y Combinator alum told VentureBeat it had already raised $1.5 million of its $2.5 million funding round from a group of anonymous Silicon Valley investors. Front is led by CEO Mathilde Collin.
MattermarkDanielle Morrill, Kevin Morrill, and Andy Sparks are the dream team behind Mattermark. Mattermark is a data platform that helps VC firms keep tabs on up-and-coming startups. Mattermark's software lets users look at information about startups based on news stories, Twitter, SEC filings, AngelList, CrunchBase, and more. The company has raised $3.4 million in three rounds from investors including Great Oaks Venture Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. Mattermark is led by CEO Danielle Morrill. HopscotchHopscotch teaches kids how to code in a way that's fun and not intimidating. It's the first programming language that's designed for mobile, too. Jocelyn Leavitt and Samantha John founded the company in 2011 and have received $1.2 million in two rounds of funding from MESA+, Kapor Capital, Collaborative Fund, and Resolute.vc.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider | ||
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Apple's Wallet Killer Is Already Making An Impact At Whole Foods (AAPL) | ||
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Apple’s foray into mobile payments is less than a month old, but Apple Pay might already be making a mark on one of the country’s biggest grocery chains. Apple Pay may have represented about 1% of all Whole Foods transactions in the 17 days since Apple launched the service on Oct. 20, according to estimates from Mike Dudas, the former mobile commerce lead at Google, PayPal, and Braintree/Venmo. Dudas calculated his estimates off Whole Foods statistics sourced from SEC filings, company statements and various news reports. If accurate, Apple should be very pleased with these numbers. Again, Apple Pay is only available on the latest update of iOS — iOS 8.1 — and the service is only available for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices. Yet despite these limitations, customers have completed over 150,000 transactions over a 17-day span, according to Whole Foods’ CIO. That’s impressive. SEE ALSO: Apple Pay: 1 Million Cards Down, 599 Million To Go SEE ALSO: Apple Is Becoming An E-commerce Beast Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Here's The Real Reason Why Beyonce Doesn't Tweet | ||
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Beyonce hasn't tweeted since August of 2013, but that hasn't stopped her fans from following the account, hoping she'll break her silence. Unfortunately, it's time to give up on that hope, Beyonce's team says, because there's a real reason the star isn't a fan of the social platform. Musically.com interviewed Lauren Wirtzer-Seawood, the woman who handles digital strategy for Beyonce's company: Parkwood Entertainment. Wirtzer-Seawood gave musically the scoop on how Beyonce feels about all social networks, and why she's ditched Twitter for other mediums. “Currently, we don’t use Twitter at all. It is a personal choice. I think as an artist, Beyoncé really prefers to communicate in images. It’s very hard to say what you want to say in 140 characters,” said Wirtzer-Seawood. So Instagram? Facebook? What does the star (and her team) prefer? Wirtzer-Seawood says Beyonce loves Instagram, and you can bet that most of the time, Queen Bey herself is the one posting the shots. And as far as social media pet peeves go, Beyonce won't join a social network just to leave it behind when the platform gets stale. Musically.com reports Wirtzer-Seawood says that, Beyoncé is a bit of a fringe case, and it’s not the same for all artists, celebrities or brands. But I find it really frustrating and annoying to see when somebody launches something new, whether it’s a new Facebook account or a new Snapchat account, and they do it for a period of time, then they go away for six months. It’s frustrating as a fan. I want to make sure if we use them, we use them well, and we use them strategically and we continue to fill the channel for a long time. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Here's How To Be One Of The First To Play The New Game From The Makers Of 'World Of Warcraft' | ||
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At its BlizzCon conference on Friday, Blizzard — the developer behind some of the biggest game franchises ever, including "World Of Warcraft," "Diablo," and "StarCraft" — announced "Overwatch," its first new franchise in 17 years. The game will come out "sooner than you think," the company says, but a beta version will be available next year. Blizzard describes the game as a team-based multiplayer shooter. It features a bunch of stylized characters who all have a variety of looks and skills. During a panel for the game, director Jeff Kaplan Chris Metzen, Blizzard senior vice president of story and franchise development, said that they're not sure yet whether it will be a free or pay-to-play model, GameSpot reports. And whether the game comes to other consoles is also still up in the air. Right now it's just confirmed for PC. "We would love to see Overwatch played on whatever it could be played on," Kaplan said. So if you're a PC user and you're interested in signing up for the beta, it's really easy. First, go to the official page for "Overwatch." At the top of the page, click on the yellow button that says "Beta." You then have to enter your Battle.net account, or create one if you don't have one already. Once you're signed in, click on the "sign up for beta" button. And that's it. It's not a guarantee that you'll be invited to play the beta, but it's worth a shot. SEE ALSO: Watch The Trailer For Blizzard's New Game Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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CHART: Stock Milestones Of Internet Companies In Their First Years On The Market (TWTR) | ||
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It's been exactly one year since Twitter went public. Since that time, the company has more than doubled its revenue to $361 million ... but its losses have also widened to $175.5 million, and the company's stock is currently 9% below its first-day closing price of $44.90. We thought it'd be interesting to look at how internet companies like Twitter have fared on the stock market on the first anniversary of their IPOs. Here, you can see the respective stock price milestones of Pandora, Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn in their first years on the stock market. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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SAME-DAY DELIVERY: E-Commerce Giants Are Battling To Own The 'Last Mile' | ||
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Companies like Google, Amazon, eBay, and Uber are operating and expanding services that allow shoppers to order something online and have it that same day, without ever leaving home. If they manage it, despite the expense and complexities involved in delivering over the "last mile," these companies will grow e-commerce's customer base (as well as its share of retail dollars), and siphon off one of offline retail's last real competitive advantages. In a new report, BI Intelligence takes an exhaustive look at the same-day delivery market, sizing the percentage of people who will purchase goods to be delivered the same-day this year. We uncover the demographics of same-day delivery customers, the markets where these services have the best chance of taking off, and assess how each of the many new same-day delivery entrants compares to the others. We also look at the technology that really could make getting a package delivered to your door hours after you order it a common phenomenon. Access The Full Market Forecast By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >> Here are some of the key points from the report:
In full, the report:
To access the Same-Day Delivery Market Forecast Report and BI Intelligence's ongoing coverage on the future of retail, mobile, and e-commerce — including charts, data, and analysis — sign up of a free trial. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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These Brutal Quotes Allege Dealing With Apple Is Nasty Business (AAPL) | ||
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We're getting an inside look at the way Apple negotiates with its suppliers, thanks to a bankruptcy filing. GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) has gone bankrupt, and it's blaming Apple for the bankruptcy. During the bankruptcy filings, GTAT's COO told the story from GTAT's side of what it was like to deal with Apple. It doesn't sound good: GTAT incurred losses — resulting in the current liquidity crisis — due to Apple's inordinate control over GTAT's liquidity, operations (including control over product specifications), and decision making. With a classic bait-and-switch strategy, Apple presented GTAT with an onerous and massively one-sided deal in the fall of 2o13. When GTAT's management expressed obvious concerns to Apple regarding the deal terms during contract negotiations, Apple responded that similar terms are required for other Apple suppliers and GTAT should: "Put on your big boy pants and accept the agreement." In a separate court document filed by Apple, the company said, "The [Squiller declaration] contained numerous statements about Apple that Apple believes to be untrue, irrelevant, and inflammatory." Apple added that, "Much of the Supplemental Squiller Declaration goes far beyond what was reasonably necessary to describe the Debtors' current financial situation and instead includes gratuitous characterizations of Apple's motives, negotiating tactics, and business practices." Now, this is only one side of the story. And, doing business is often nasty. We've reached out to Apple for comment and will update this if we hear back. SEE ALSO: A Man Invested In An Apple Supplier Wrote A Heartbreaking Letter About The Company's Bankruptcy Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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REPORT: Uber Is Trying To Raise At Least $1 Billion With A Valuation Of Over $17 Billion | ||
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Uber is trying to raise at least $1 billion in new capital at a valuation of over $17 billion, The Financial Times reports. The Times' Tim Bradshaw reports that Uber is in early fundraising talks less than six months after raising $1.2 billion at a $17 billion valuation in a Series D in June. Uber is already Silicon Valley's highest-valued private company, and a new round would bring its total amount raised to $2 billion. A source told Bradshaw that Uber saw strong demand from investors this summer and is seeking the additional fundraise to "build a balance sheet 'proportionate' to the scale of its business." Uber currently operates in more than 228 cities in 45 countries around the world and is looking to continue its expansion into Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Africa. After its last fundraise in June, the company hinted at its ambitions by saying that, four years after launch, it is "just at the beginning of the Uber story." While it focuses on expansion, Uber is also involved in an increasingly tense rivalry with another car-hailing startup, Lyft. The two companies have tried to steal each other's drivers and executives, and CEO Travis Kalanick has admitted that he's tried to squash his competitor's funding efforts in the past by telling investors that Uber would be raising money shortly after. Meanwhile, Uber is also experimenting with package delivery by bicycle in New York City and food delivery in LA. SEE ALSO: Lyft Sues Former Exec Who Allegedly Took Company Secrets To Uber Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Check Out The Google Campus Restaurant Where Waiters Serve Employees Gourmet Indian Food | ||
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With more than 30 cafes serving up a huge variety of cuisine, Google's free food is the stuff of legends. Last year, Bon Appetit Management Company, which operates cafes at Google, eBay, Oracle, and many other tech companies, opened a new Indian restaurant at the Googleplex. "It was in an old cafeteria that they had, and we wanted to change it up," Fedele Bauccio, CEO of Bon Appetit, said to Business Insider. "It's healthy, and the flavors are great." It's the first restaurant at Google to offer full service from a wait staff, and Googlers can make reservations for friends, family, or other team members. The decor at Cafe Baadal is cozy and colorful. Diners can sit on cushions at these corner tables.
Cafe Baadal has become a popular destination for team lunches at Google.
SEE ALSO: How Larry Ellison's Vision For An Italian Sandwich Shop Started A New Era For Food In Silicon Valley WE'RE ON INSTAGRAM: Click Here To Follow Us Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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The Makers Of 'World Of Warcraft' Just Announced Their First New Franchise In 17 Years — And You Need To Watch Its Action-Packed Trailer | ||
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Blizzard, the developer behind some of the biggest game franchises ever, including "World Of Warcraft," "Diablo," and "StarCraft," just announced its first new property in 17 years. It's called "Overwatch." At BlizzCon, the company's annual convention, Blizzard described "Overwatch" as a team-based multiplayer shooter, which features cartoonish but extremely stylized characters with a wide variety of looks, skills, and weapons at their disposal. The best way to get to know what "Overwatch" might be is to check out Blizzard's first trailer for the game. Conflict. As the world teetered on the brink of anarchy, a new hope arose. An elite international task force charged with ending the war and restoring liberty to all nations: Overwatch. Soldiers, scientists, adventurers, oddities, guardians who secured global peace for generation. Under its steadfast protection, the world recovered. And today, though its watch has ended, its soaring ideals of freedom and equality will never be forgotten. The game will be available for PC, but there's no word yet on other consoles and platforms that will support "Overwatch." However, the company says the game is coming "sooner than you'd think," and there will be a beta coming sometime next year. We can't wait. SEE ALSO: The Darkest 'Zelda' Game Ever Made Is Coming To Nintendo's Portable Console Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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These Stunning Screenshots From 'Grand Theft Auto' Look Like Real-Life Photographs | ||
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"Grand Theft Auto IV" has been out since 2008. Since then, PC enthusiasts have tested the limits of the game, installing their own modifications to increase the game's level of detail. Photographer and game enthusiast Raphael Smith has installed a handful of these mods on a PC that only cost him $950 a few years ago. The resulting screenshots are so realistic and lifelike that they can easily be mistaken for photographs, and that's not an exaggeration. You've never seen game graphics look this good. Note: All screenshots used with permission. Smith used a few different "mods" to make sure every little detail was updated.He used two different mods to increase the textures of the city buildings.Another mod added realistic weather to the game.See the rest of the story at Business Insider | ||
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Here's Why NFL Fans Are Getting Screwed When It Comes To Watching Football | ||
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Some 16 NFL games are played every Sunday. Unless you have the DirecTV Sunday Ticket premium service, you will be able to watch only five or six of the games on television. DirecTV has about 20 million subscribers in the US, so the majority of NFL fans are left without access to the games on TV. DirecTV recently signed a deal with the NFL that will keep this system in place for the next eight years. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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We Tried The Fitness Band That Shocks You Into Breaking Your Bad Habits — And It Hurts! | ||
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Most fitness bands claim that they want to help you change your habits and get in shape. But none of them actually go so far as to physically punish you for slipping up on your goals. That's where the $149 Pavlok wristband comes in. The Pavlok, created by startup Behavioral Technologies, uses negative reinforcement in the form of a subtle shock to train your brain. Behavioral Technologies CEO Maneesh Sethi told us all about the psychology behind his company's wristband and how it works back in July, but at this year's Engadget Expand, we actually got to try the wristband firsthand. The version we tried was just a prototype, but the real thing should start shipping in April for Indiegogo backers. Those who preorder the device at a discounted price at Engadget Expand will get theirs in January. Here's an idea of what the final version will look like. A representative at the Pavlok booth strapped a prototype around my arm. Without warning, he tapped the zap button in the wristband's accompanying app and sent a shock to my forearm. The shock feels like a small pinch, and while it's not really painful — it's certainly not pleasant. Don't expect to feel an intense vibration or buzz when wearing the Pavlok; rather, the sensation feels like a quick, sharp pinprick. The unit we tried was only set to 40% in terms of intensity. The Pavlok representative that gave us the demo said he wasn't allowed to let us try the highest setting just yet. You can wear the Pavlok band on either your forearm or your wrist, but you're likely to feel the shock a bit more on your forearm. If you want, you can also take the sensor out of the band and wear it directly on your skin as shown below. You're likely to feel the shock more prominently if you choose to wear it like this. The idea behind the Pavlok is to create motivation for wearers to achieve certain goals. Within the Pavlok app, you can set a goal for yourself, such as exercising on a regular basis or learning a new language. The app will then assess your goal and break it down into actions you can perform every day. If you miss your goals, however, your friends can punish you through the app by forcing you to pay a fine or by issuing a small shock. It sounds like your friends will be responsible for shocking you through the app, but there's also an alarm app that will work with the bracelet. If you snooze too many times, the band will zap you into waking up. Other than its ability to issue small shocks, the Pavlok can track your steps, activity, and sleeping patterns. "You get used to vibrations," Sethi told Business Insider in a previous interview. "You start to notice less and less when something is vibrating in your pocket and on your wrist. But you don't really get used to the shock." SEE ALSO: Silicon Valley Never Talks About The Real Reason You Don't Own A Smartwatch Or Wearable Tech Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Both Of The Men Accused Of Running The Silk Road Made The Exact Same Mistake | ||
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The FBI arrested 26-year-old San Francisco tech worker Blake Benthall on Wednesday, accusing him of running the infamous deep web marketplace the Silk Road. But Benthall wasn't the founder of the site. Instead, his version of the Silk Road was often dubbed "Silk Road 2.0" to reflect the fact that it was a relaunched version of the original site. The first incarnation of the Silk Road was shut down by the FBI in October 2013, after alleged founder Ross Ulbricht was arrested in a San Francisco library. Court documents for the seizure of both the original Silk Road and the Silk Road 2.0 show that the site's two alleged operators made the same error that enabled authorities to link them to the site. Ross Ulbricht, the San Francisco resident accused of creating the original Silk Road, allegedly used a Silk Road user account which was registered to his personal email address. The rossulbricht@gmail.com email account was also posted on the Bitcoin Talk forum as contact information for a poster looking to hire "an IT pro in the Bitcoin community." Ulbricht was caught in part due to the links between his personal Gmail account and other online accounts. It was trivially easy for investigators to string together usernames and IP addresses, with the help of information and IP logs obtained from Google. The records show that Ulbricht regularly logged into a VPN service in a San Francisco internet café. On the same days he was allegedly using the VPN to mask his web traffic to the Silk Road's administrative dashboard, Google's records showed that he also checked his personal Gmail account. After learning of the demise of his predecessor, surely the man behind the Silk Road 2.0 would take better care? It seems not. The FBI briefly took the Silk Road 2.0's servers offline in order to make a copy (known as an "image") of the site. Because of the way the hosting account was set up, it fired off a series of emails to a pre-determined address in order to detail the site's downtime. Those emails, the FBI claim, went to blake@benthall.net, the personal email account of the San Francisco web developer accused of running the site. Benthall used his personal email account to manage the web hosting account that the FBI says was used to keep the Silk Road 2.0 online. Additionally, he used that email address to create an account on a US-based Bitcoin exchange, and received his first transaction on the very day that the Silk Road 2.0 came online. As the Daily Dot reports, Google again turned over IP logs and account information, this time for Benthall's personal email account, to the FBI, revealing Benthall's name and location information. It was obvious who owned the account: The email address was blake@benthall.net, it was registered to "Blake Benthall," and IP logs show that it was accessed from Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe hotel rooms reserved under the name "Blake Benthall." There's no denying that Ulbricht and Benthall were clever men, after all, the FBI accuses them both of running a complex deep web marketplace. Both men are alleged to have used modern anonymity services, and took care to anonymize their currency movements online. But it was the simple mistake of using their personal email accounts for activities related to the Silk Road that made the FBI's job easy, and likely led directly to their capture. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Another Sequel To The Greatest Skateboarding Video Game Of All Time Will Come Out Next Year | ||
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Yay! Pro skater Tony Hawk announced on Twitter Friday that he's working with Activision on a new addition to to his awesome skateboarding video game franchise, "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater," for the latest-gen living room consoles. He's also working on a mobile game. Hawk had been working on a mobile game, called "Shred Session," which was announced in January. According to TouchArcade, the game soft launched but was pulled entirely from the App Store last month. Hawk said on Friday that it's been put on hold indefinitely, presumably so he could focus work on a console game. SEE ALSO: The Maker Of The Game 'Destiny' Gave A Man Recovering From Brain Surgery A Rare Gift Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Bankrupt Sapphire Glass Supplier Reveals New Details Of Its Disturbing Relationship With Apple (GTAT, GTATQ, AAPL) | ||
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GT Advanced, the former Apple sapphire supplier that filed for bankruptcy back in October, never had a chance. In a supplemental declaration by GT Advanced COO Daniel Squiller unsealed on Friday outlining GT Advanced's relationship with Apple, it's clear — at least as Squiller tells it — that Apple and GT's relationship was doomed from the start. We first saw the document after it was posted by the folks at StreetInsider. This document follows a declaration from Squiller unsealed late last month that outlined some of the problems in Apple and GT's relationship. Friday's document offers a bit more color. For one, Apple was supposed to be customer of GT Advanced, but the agreement between the companies didn't require that Apple be GT Advanced's customer. Apple simply became a lender. And the agreement struck between the companies in the fall of 2013 was done via what Squiller called a "classic bait-and-switch strategy." This agreement also stated that GT could not do business with any of Apple's competitors, which would be a reasonable requirement, because presumably Apple wouldn't want to be funding the manufacture of materials that found their way into a competitors' device. But again, Apple wasn't required to buy any sapphire at all. Additionally, GT was required to build sapphire to Apple's specifications, which Squiller said, "continually changed and remain in flux to this day." (Squiller's complaint was given October 8; GT has subsequently said it will be exiting the sapphire business.) The complaint also said that as of October 8, GT had incurred costs of $900 million related to the deal. Ahead of its bankruptcy filing, GT's market cap was about $1.5 billion. Here's the ugly year-to-date chart of GT shares. And the whole arrangement, at least as it's outlined in the declaration, seems foisted upon GT Advanced, and certainly not by the company's choosing. As Squiller says: "[T]he extensive and all-consuming nature of negotiations with Apple would have allowed little time to pursue alternatives. Knowing tht GTAT had no practical choice at that stage other than to concede to Apple's terms, Apple forced a set of agreements on GTAT that, in combination with Apple's economic leverage, put Apple in de facto control of GTAT." Squiller also says Apple advised GT management that they shouldn't "waste their time" trying to negotiate with the company. And when GT management, "expressed obvious concerns to Apple regarding the deal terms during the contract negotiations, Apple responded that similar terms are required for other Apple suppliers and that GTAT should: 'Put on your big boy pants and accept the agreement.'" Some of the terms outlined in the document that GT wasn't too excited about include a $50 million penalty per occurrence that any aspect of GT's agreement with Apple were disclosed, and a $1 billion penalty if GT doesn't honor Apple's 30 day exclusivity window should GT seek to sell its assets, or its sapphire business, or receives interest from a third party. Apple also required GT establish a new wholly-owned subsidiary to implement what Squiller called, "a convoluted and artificial structure that serves no economic purpose—other than protecting Apple—such that GTAT Corp. would be obligated to buy and assemble furnaces for Apple, but the cash and furnaces would then be 'round-tripped' through GT Equipment, a so-called 'bankruptcy remote entity' using an illusory sale and leaseback between GTAT Corp. and GT Equipment." And ahead of inking its agreement with Apple, GT also paid off the remainder of a credit facility with Bank of America, which the complaint says, "was necessary to permit Apple to take a lien on all of the assets of both GTAT Corp. and GT Equipment — yet another deal term that Apple demanded." So Apple basically owned GT Advanced. The document does not paint the picture of a healthy relationship between two business partners, and sounds much more like Apple essentially buying a supplier, but structuring the deal in such a way so as to not assume any of the financial risk. In a separate court document filed by Apple, the company said, "The [Squiller declaration] contained numerous statements about Apple that Apple believes to be untrue, irrelevant, and inflammatory." Apple added that, "Much of the Supplemental Squiller Declaration goes far beyond what was reasonably necessary to describe the Debtors' current financial situation and instead includes gratuitious characterizations of Apple's motives, negotiating tactics, and business practices." We've embedded both documents below. You should read them. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Obama leaves for China, Myanmar, Australia tour | ||
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Washington (AFP) - President Barack Obama headed for China Sunday on a trip that will focus on Washington's often tense relations with the country, and will also see the president visit Myanmar and Australia. The China stop will be dominated by Obama's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, where the White House said it expects "candid and in-depth conversations." The relationship between the two superpowers, which US Secretary of State John Kerry has called the "most consequential" in the world today, has been marred by tensions over the South China Sea, cyberspying and human rights issues. In Myanmar, Obama will meet President Thein Sein and opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi. Washington has raced to normalize ties with Myanmar following reforms there, removing most US sanctions imposed on the military junta. But Suu Kyi warned this week that the pace of change was slowing, and that the US had been "over-optimistic about the reform process" at times. The White House said it remained committed to democratic reform in Myanmar. "We will underscore the United States' commitment to the protection of human rights, tolerance and pluralism, as well as sustaining and deepening the democratic transition," National Security Advisor Susan Rice said. The unrest in Ukraine may also be a focus, and Obama could meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss the issue. No formal meetings have been scheduled, but neither side has ruled out the possibility of informal discussions. The last time the two leaders met face to face was in early June in France. North Korea could also be on the agenda, following the release of two Americans from the closed communist nation Saturday, which Obama called "wonderful." The trip follows a difficult week for Obama, after his party suffered a severe blow in midterm elections that saw Republicans take control of the Senate. Obama will have to convince international partners that he can still assert his presence at home when it comes to steering foreign relations in his final two years in the White House. The US president will also have to convince Asian partners that he intends to rebalance diplomatic ties in the region -- a pillar of of his foreign policy -- amid ongoing crises in Iraq, Syria and Ukraine. The president is set to attend a series of summits, namely APEC in Beijing, ASEAN in Naypyidaw and the G20 in Brisbane, and will meet several leaders, including Indonesia's new president Joko Widodo.
Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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A decade after dying, Arafat still divides Israelis | ||
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Jerusalem (AFP) - For most Israelis, the late Yasser Arafat and his trademark black-and-white keffiyeh represents the embodiment of the "arch-terrorist". But a minority in Israel look back fondly on the former Palestinian leader -- who died 10 years ago this week -- as the man who dared to sign an peace accord with the Jewish state. For decades, any Israeli making contact with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) that Arafat led could be thrown in prison. In 1993, however, all that changed with the Oslo peace accords which transformed the PLO into a legitimate political force. But if the rapprochement brokered by the Oslo treaty was a welcome development for two peoples wearied by decades of war, the second Palestinian intifada, which began in 2000, reminded Israelis that Arafat remained a formidable adversary, experts said. "A large majority of Israelis think of Yasser Arafat as the main culprit behind the violence and he undermined the confidence they had in the Palestinians' desire for peace," said Anat Kurz, research director at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. Uzi Dayan, a former national security advisor during the Arafat era, is more forthright, calling the Palestinian icon a "terrorist" and a "crook". "He was never ready to conclude a deal that would put a final end to the conflict," Dayan said. "He only wanted an arrangement on the borders (of a Palestinian state) before moving on to the real subjects close to his heart: the right of return for Palestinian refugees and east Jerusalem," the military reservist added. "Israel would have no more ammunition after the borders (were set)." The idea that Arafat was not serious about peace is not universal among Israelis, however. "Contrary to what most Israelis think, I consider Arafat as a great leader, a real revolutionary who managed to put the Palestinian issue on the Middle East map and make it important globally," Kurz told AFP. "He had no viable successor capable of making peace," she added. - 'Icon of the revolution' - Uri Savir, co-founder of the Shimon Peres Centre for Peace - named after Israel's former president who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Arafat for the Oslo accords - met the Palestinian leader on several occasions. "I'm one of those rare Israelis who doesn't have a negative image of Arafat," he says. "It doesn't make me popular, but I don't care. "Arafat is an icon of the revolution, he had no taboos," Savir adds. Arafat's strength lay in "surrounding himself with good people," he says. "He chose the best negotiator for the Oslo Accords, in the form of Abu Alaa," he says referring to Ahmed Qorei, who later served as Palestinian prime minister. "He was better as a leader and negotiator than as a builder of modern state institutions. He was not the Palestinian Ben Gurion," he said, referring to David Ben Gurion, who played a major role in Israel's establishment and became the Jewish state's first prime minister. Savir is also critical of Arafat's relaxed stance towards the Islamist Hamas movement. "He didn't understand the strategic danger posed by Hamas. I had long discussions with him on the subject and each time he told me: 'Don't worry.' He was wrong, as events have proved," says Savir, referring to events of 2007 when Hamas forcibly ousted Arafat's Fatah movement from Gaza. - Abbas is no Arafat - In spite of Arafat's perceived shortcomings, he was the one who "really made the breakthrough in relations with Israel" and opened the way for a two-state solution to become reality, Savir adds. Like Dayan, Savir sees clear differences between Arafat and his successor, Mahmud Abbas. "Abbas doesn't have the unifying character that Arafat did," he says. "He's a more moderate, Western-style figure, but he lacks the ability to make decisions." For Dayan, Abbas is "too weak" to make the tough decisions necessary to broker peace with Israel. "It is precisely this fear of Hamas that leaves him even less flexible than Arafat on borders, the right of return (for Palestinian refugees), and Jerusalem," he concluded. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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IMF reforms threatened by Republican electoral sweep | ||
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Washington (AFP) - International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde might need to get to work perfecting her belly-dance. The normally reserved head of the global crisis lender promised in October to perform for the US Congress if that would get it to endorse crucial, much-delayed reforms for the Fund. "I will do belly-dancing if that's what it takes to get the US to ratify," she said. But now the Republican victory in Tuesday's US elections has likely placed ratification further away -- and she will have to work harder to convince the IMF's largest shareholder. "The change in the US political landscape is not a good omen for progress on IMF reforms," said Eswar Prasad, a former IMF official. Since 2012, the Obama administration has sought to convince Republicans in Congress to formally endorse the reform -- decided in 2010 with US support -- that doubles its financial resources and increases slightly the voting power in the IMF of emerging economies like China, Russia and Brazil. As the largest shareholder, the US endorsement is necessary to implement the reforms. All other major economies have ratified them already. But the White House has repeatedly failed to get the ratification through Congress, against opposition from Republicans. Some Republicans have said specifically they do not want to increase the influence of China and Russia in the Fund -- even though the US would remain the dominant IMF power after the reforms. That leaves the emerging economies increasingly impatient. China, the world's second largest economy, only holds 4 percent of the voting rights, barely more than Italy, whose economy is one-fifth the size. In reaction, in July Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa joined hands to create their own monetary fund for emergency needs. They could take the opportunity at the coming G20 summit in Australia this month to pound the table over the issue, according to the Russian representative Svetlana Lukash. "The most important thing for us is the reform of the IMF, a problem which has not yet been solved within the framework of the G20," she said Friday. - Plan B - The IMF, which declined to talk about the issue, is itself anxious. Already under attack over its legitimacy, it has to work with more limited resources as it awaits US action. "The lack of approval will result in the weakening of the IMF as the main anchor of the international monetary system," said Domenico Lombardi, former advisor to the IMF board. If the reform is not adopted by the end of this year, the Fund is to present a "Plan B" to its board, the specifics of which remain vague. That then would require new negotiations among its 188 member-states. Some experts say the Fund should press for US ratification by the end of this year, while the current Congress remains in office and before the new one sits in January. "The advantage is that it's not a new issue," said Ted Truman, former Treasury official. "The current Republican representatives are now better informed about the IMF legislation. I'm not saying that they're perfectly informed, but they're better informed." Douglas Rediker, a former US representative to the IMF board, said the opposition in Congress has mainly been part of "internal domestic political maneuvers that have little to nothing to do with the IMF reform itself". "It's going to take a collaborative effort between the White House, the Senate, and the House to actually work together to understand how important this is." To make that happen, Lagarde could very well have to gear up her belly dance. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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The slow decline of fast food in America | ||
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New York (AFP) - The hospitals of the Truman Medical Centers in Kansas City, Missouri no longer serve fast food in their cafeterias, after ending a contract with McDonald's in 2012 -- two years ahead of schedule. In Kentucky, Kosair Children's Hospital signed up to serve Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets to its patients when it opened in 1986. But it has now followed in TMC's footsteps. The reversals by hospital chains that once embraced McDonald's reflect a waning love affair with fast food in the United States, as consumers become increasingly aware of the benefits of eating better. "Fast foods have their place, but I am not so sure their place is inside the hospital," recalled John Bluford, the former TMC chief executive. "We thought that we needed to change the game a little bit and start creating a culture of health," Bluford told AFP. "It was a health-concerned decision and a mission-driven decision, given our mission to improve the health of our community." - Shifting tastes - Sales of McDonald's in the United States fell 3.3 percent in the last quarter. The consumption of sodas fell last year to 1995 levels, according to the industry specialist Beverage Digest. Americans drank on the average 51 gallons (nearly 200 liters) of soda per person in 1998; last year, it was 44 gallons. The fall is more marked for light sodas, which fell six percent amid concerns sparked by studies suggesting some synthetic sweeteners were carcinogenic. "There's a shift away from the perception of food that is mass-produced towards food that is perceived to be more homemade or artisanal or sustainably produced," said Keith-Thomas Ayoob, associate clinical professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. "Consumers want to feel that they're doing healthier things and eating a healthier diet." More and more Americans are making the link between fast food and sodas, and life-long health problems like obesity and diabetes, said Sriram Madhusoodanan, an organizer of the anti-fast-food campaign "Value [the] Meal" at Corporate Accountability International. Campaigns like theirs are scoring gains against the powerful industry. In December 2011, San Francisco required fast food chains to add more low-sugar, low-salt foods like fruit and vegetables for children. And those campaigns are also showing results. The US Centers for Disease Control said in February that there had been a 43 percent fall in obesity among two- to five-year-olds over the previous decade. Much more needs to be done, according to the organization Trust for America's Health. More than two-thirds of adult Americans remain overweight, it says. Christopher Gindlesperger, spokesman for the American Beverage Association, downplayed the role sodas play in the health problem. Because of the greater popularity of low-sugar sodas, he said, the amount of sugar consumed from sodas has fallen 40 percent in the last 10 years. Sugar-related diseases "are very serious and very complex," he said. "If you look at the government data, you see that calories in the American diet from sodas are just a small piece of the overall (total)... We empower our customers to make the choices that are right for them." - New options - The success of the restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill symbolizes the new face of the American diet. Launched in 1993, Chipotle advertises that it uses hormone-free meat and locally-raised organic vegetables. "From the very beginning, Chipotle has used really high-quality fresh ingredients, and prepares all the foods we serve," company spokesman Chris Arnold told AFP. "So from the beginning, we were doing something which is pretty different than what was happening in traditional American fast food." Fast food chains are reacting to the new social and market pressure. McDonald's has eliminated some of its controls on franchises to allow them to adapt menus to customers' tastes. Last year, Taco Bell phased out its children's menu. And drink companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi are expanding their beverage lines with lower-sugar options. McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Pepsi did not respond to requests for comment from AFP. For Madhusoodanan, the real change will come when McDonald's stops tempting children with toys to sell its "Happy Meals". "They are changing, they're coming around because the public is now demanding it. They have to change," said Bluford. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Estonia aiming to be a global e-commerce superpower | ||
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Tallinn (AFP) - The small Baltic country of Estonia hopes digital innovation will turn it into a global superpower in e-commerce by offering foreigners e-residency IDs, and opening the door to doing business online throughout the European Union. Estonia says it is the first country to offer e-residency identification cards to people worldwide, and the novel venture dubbed "10 million Estonians" is set to take effect in December. "Estonia has reached the limit of growth that can be achieved through savings and efficiency, so in order to keep our country growing, we need to increase the client base with global companies that are connected to the Estonian economy," says Taavi Kotka, a former IT entrepreneur now chief information officer for the EU and eurozone member state. "We can offer them a hassle-free business and administrative environment and a foothold in the EU," he told AFP, explaining the opportunities outlined on Estonia's e-residency website. In theory, anyone could apply for e-residency, and for the equivalent of 50 euros ($62), obtain an Estonian digital ID card providing access to a multitude of government and private sector e-services that slash the cost of doing business -- without conferring citizenship rights. Arne Ansper, a cyber-security expert with the Tallinn-based Cybernetica IT company, describes the e-residency ID card as "a tool for secure and legally binding online communication with other parties". Entrepreneurs from China, India or Saudi Arabia could use e-residency to set up shop in Estonia and do business anywhere in the 28-nation EU via the Internet, says Kotka. All transactions can be done remotely using digital signature, he added. Although the European Union recognises digital signature, most states in the bloc currently do not have a reliable service. So far, nearly 10,000 people have expressed interest in acquiring e-residency, with roughly a third hailing from the United States, followed by Finns, Russians, Britons, Canadians, Indians and Bangladeshis among others. The first IDs are expected to be issued by year's end. Initially, around 7,600 companies with a majority share of foreign capital already operating in Estonia stand to benefit the most. These businesses generate around 60 percent of Estonia's exports and 36 percent of employment. According to Indrek Kasela, a partner at private equity fund Amber Trust, doing business the old fashioned way does not come cheap. - Hi-tech efficiency - "Up to now this has cost our companies tens of thousands of euros a year in travel, legal fees, courier costs and time. E-residency would allow us to handle all administrative work online," he told AFP. Digital IDs are not new to Estonia. Many of the 1.3 million Estonians have embraced using a digital ID for a wide range of government services since 2002. Ninety-five percent of Estonians file their taxes online and the digital signature facility has been used more than 180 million times to endorse everything from bank transactions to contracts. Estonians can also vote online or start up a company with a few mouse clicks and keystrokes within the space of an hour. A range of features has been put in place to ensure security and transparency, including hard-to-crack 2048-bit encryption and so-called X-road-enabled systems requiring two PINs to complete a transaction. Estonian officials maintain that so far, the system has not been hacked or abused. - Application process - To apply for e-residency, an individual needs to explain their connection to Estonia or substantiate their interest in using its digital services. Initially an applicant must come to Estonia in person to provide biometric data like fingerprints to the police and border guards, but plans call for embassies to process applications -- possibly next year. Interior Ministry spokesman Mihkel Loide admitted that while "e-residency itself will not create new risks but may, indeed, amplify the existing ones, such as digital fraud and other cyber-crimes." "The Estonian government is assuming the responsibility to correctly identify people, so we can assume that if there is any doubt, the government will refuse to issue the card," cyber-security expert Ansper told AFP. Officials insist any abuse of e-residency IDs will be nipped in the bud with a revocation notice that is just a mouse click away. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Protesters try to break into Mexico City's National Palace | ||
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Mexico City (AFP) - Protesters angry at the apparent massacre of 43 students tried to break into Mexico City's National Palace late Saturday while others torched several trucks in the south of the country. Thousands of people marched in the capital in the latest demonstration over a case that has repulsed the nation and triggered the biggest crisis of President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration. The violent protests came a day after authorities said suspected gang hitmen confessed to killing the 43 students and incinerating their bodies in the southern state of Guerrero. A small group of protesters used metal barricades as battering rams in an attempt to break open the National Palace door. They briefly set the door on fire and spray-painted the words "we want them back alive" on the 16th-century building. Pena Nieto uses the palace for ceremonies but he lives in the Los Pinos residence in another part of the capital. Protesters loudly counted from one to 43 and held candles during the evening march. Some chanted "Pena Nieto out!" and "the people don't want you!" Hours earlier in Guerrero's capital Chilpancingo, more than 300 students threw rocks and firebombs at the regional government headquarters. They also burned around 10 vehicles, including trucks and a federal police vehicle, and chanted "they took them alive, we want them back alive" outside the building, which was partially torched in a protest over the case last month. Gang-linked police attacked busloads of students in the Guerrero city of Iguala on September 26, in a night of violence that left six people dead and the 43 missing. Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said Friday that three Guerreros Unidos gang members confessed to receiving the students from the police before killing them. The confessions appeared to bring a tragic end to the mystery. But relatives of the missing and fellow students at their teacher-training college near Chilpancingo refuse to believe the authorities until they get DNA results from independent Argentine forensic experts. "It appears that the federal government, with great irresponsibility, is interested in closing this matter because it's all based on testimony. There is nothing definitive," said Meliton Ortega, uncle of a missing student. - 'Tired' of fear - The students had traveled to Iguala to raise funds but hijacked four buses to return home, a common practice among the young men from a school known as a bastion of left-wing activism. Prosecutors say the city's mayor, worried that they would interrupt a speech by his wife, ordered the police to confront them. The officers shot at several buses, leaving three students and three bystanders dead. Authorities have arrested 74 people, including the ousted mayor, Jose Luis Abarca, his wife Maria de los Angeles Pineda, 36 police officers and several Guerreros Unidos operatives. If the confessions are true, the mass murder would rank among the worst massacres in a drug war that has killed more than 80,000 people and left 22,000 others missing since 2006. The Iguala case has undermined Pena Nieto's assurances that authorities were finally reducing the cycle of murders plaguing the country. Mexicans fed up with the unrelenting violence rallied behind the Twitter trending topic #YaMeCanse, or #IAmTired, after Murillo Karam was heard uttering the words at the end of his hour-long press conference on Friday. Protesters spray-painted #IamTiredOfFear on the attorney general's office late Friday. - Parents await DNA tests - Murillo Karam stopped short of declaring all the students dead, and said an Austrian university would help identify the remains. But he warned that evidence indicated it was them. Parents of the missing say they will not accept they are dead until independent Argentine forensic experts deliver DNA results. Last month, two hitmen had already confessed to killing 17 of the students and dumping them in a mass grave near Iguala. But officials later said none of the students were among the bodies. "It hurts to imagine that what they are saying is true," said a mother of a student named Antonio, who like many, refused to give her name. Despite the unrest, Pena Nieto plans to leave Sunday to attend major summits in China and Australia on a trip that has been shortened due to the crisis. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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The One Surprising Thing Behind The Story Of The Americans Just Freed By North Korea | ||
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According To Multiple Sources, as of 12:10 AM EST, The two Americans released seemingly out of nowhere by North Korea have returned to US soil. ABC News and CNN have reported the news via Twitter. Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller, who had been doing hard labor for months in the reclusive country, were being accompanied home by Clapper, his office said. Their release comes less than three weeks after another American was freed by Pyongyang. Bae, a missionary from Washington state, was arrested in North Korea in November 2012 and sentenced to 15 years hard labor for crimes against the state. Miller, who reportedly was tried on an espionage charge, had been in custody since April this year and was serving a six-year hard labor sentence. The United States had frequently called for the men to be freed for humanitarian reasons, especially since Bae was said to have health problems. "He (Clapper) was not there to negotiate. And our position hasn't changed." As Director Of National Intelligence, a job created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Clapper oversees the CIA and some 15 other intelligence agencies, making his involvement in the release surprising. U.S. officials said it was the first time a National Intelligence Director had been involved in such a high-profile diplomatic matter. U.S. officials said it was the first time a National Intelligence Director had been involved in such a high-profile diplomatic matter. An Obama administration official, who declined to be identified, said there was no connection between Clapper's trip and the issue of North Korean nuclear weapons, but that he acted as a presidential envoy with a broader mandate to listen to what North Korea had to say. Arrangements for the release had come together in the past several days and North Korea had asked for a high-ranking envoy to be involved, the official said. Clapper went to Pyongyang but there was no indication that he met personally with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The men were released just hours before President Barack Obama was to start a trip to Asia that will include talks with Chinese leaders about how Beijing can use its influence with North Korea to rein in its nuclear weapons program, U.S. officials have said. "It's a wonderful day for them and their families," Obama said at the White House. "Obviously we are very grateful for their safe return and I appreciate Director Clapper doing a great job on what was obviously a challenging mission." A senior U.S. official said: "The DNI (Clapper) did carry a brief message from the President indicating that Director Clapper was his personal envoy to bring the two Americans home." Bae's delighted son, Jonathan, told Reuters from Arizona that he received a call Friday night and spoke to his father. "The brief time on the phone, he sounded good," Jonathan said. "I'm sure he will be back to his old self in no time." "It came out of the blue. One minute he was doing farm labor and the next minute they are saying, 'You are going home.' Just like everyone else, he was surprised," he said. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Japan's Abe heads to Beijing, eyeing first summit with Xi | ||
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Tokyo (AFP) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday flew to Beijing, where he is expected to hold his first summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping after presiding over two years of animosity between Asia's biggest economies. "I want to improve Japan-China relations," Abe told reporters at Tokyo's Haneda airport. "For a summit (with Xi), the final arrangements still need to be made. But if it is to take place, I would like to give my message that Japan and China -- responsible for the international community's peace and stability -- develop their bilateral ties... as well as starting a maritime communication mechanism to avoid accidental collisions." The meeting with Xi would take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in Beijing, which culminates in a two-day summit of leaders from 21 member-economies starting Monday. Abe heads to Beijing for APEC after Japan and China reached an accord on Friday to tone down tensions over territorial and historical disputes that had fuelled concerns of outright conflict. Tokyo has long been pressing for a meeting. But Beijing has resisted, with the two sides locked in a row over the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku islands -- which China calls the Diaoyus -- and also still at odds over World War II history. Ahead of Abe's departure, the Japanese and Chinese foreign ministers held their first formal talks in more than two years on Saturday on the sidelines of APEC. The talks between Wang Yi and Fumio Kishida were the first at such a level since September 2012, just before the territorial dispute escalated with Japan's nationalisation of the islands. Since then, Chinese vessels and aircraft have regularly approached the islands, with Japan's coastguard in hot pursuit. In the accord between the two announced Friday, each used only their own name for the islands but said they would set up a "crisis management mechanism" to keep the situation under control. The agreement was widely seen as setting the stage for a summit between Xi and Abe, though no official announcement has yet been made. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Americans freed by N. Korea arrive in US | ||
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Joint Base Lewis-McChord (United States) (AFP) - The last two Americans serving lengthy prison sentences in North Korea arrived home Saturday after the reclusive state freed them following a secret mission by US intelligence chief James Clapper. Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller arrived around 9:00 pm (0500 GMT) at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State. Bae disembarked the plane with a suitcase, then smiled as he hugged and embraced family and friends, followed by Miller. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Badminton star Lee vows to clear his name after failed drug tests | ||
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Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Badminton world number one Lee Chong Wei has said he "never cheated" and will fight to clear his name, as he finally broke his silence on positive drugs tests that have shocked the sport. Reports that the Malaysian star tested positive for the banned anti-inflammatory dexamethasone at the world championships in Copenhagen in August have been circulating for weeks, although officials refused to identify Lee. But the shuttler wrote on Twitter late Saturday that he hoped to clear his name, posting a link to an interview in which he describes himself as "devastated" by the allegations. "Thank u for having faith in me. I never cheated nor will I ever rely on banned substances," the 32-year-old wrote in the Twitter post. "There are so many unanswered questions, and I hope to clear my name soon." In the interview, he tells friend and sports blogger Satwant Singh Dhaliwal: "I saw my entire life flash by me, the whole last 15 years just going up in smoke. I was devastated and just did not know what to do. "I have never cheated not even made any attempt to cheat thus this was like a bolt of lightning, destroying everything I had worked so hard for." Fans have been shocked by the allegations against Lee, a hero in Malaysia who is known for his humility and diligence. The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) said Saturday the shuttler had been temporarily suspended after a second test on his urine sample -- conducted in Norway this week and witnessed by Lee -- came back positive, like the first test. Lee -- who is facing a suspension of up to two years, which could mean the end of his career -- is now awaiting a hearing by the Badminton World Federation. No date has been set as yet.
- Positive results 'a mystery' -
BAM and other officials have defended Lee, saying the drug was not performance-enhancing. They are probing if it may stem from treatment of a thigh injury in July, when Lee received stem cell injections. Lee said he was informed that the drug was last injected into him on July 18 but he passed an out-of-competition test on August 15. "So it is indeed a mystery why this substance was found in my system on August 30," Lee told Satwant. "At the moment I am confined to my house and have not even thought of returning to the courts yet." Many Malaysians have rallied behind Lee, the country's most prominent male athlete. "I will always support you and you r not a cheater. You r Malaysian hero," one Twitter user wrote on Sunday. Lee has been at or near the top of the rankings since 2008 though he has never won a world or Olympic title, often losing to his nemesis, the Chinese star Lin Dan, at the last moment. In the world championships in Denmark, where the random test took place, he lost to China's Chen Long in the final. Badminton has seen few doping scandals, with previous controversies mainly stemming from judging inconsistencies and attempts to throw matches. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Injury-hit Juve set for mini-revolution against Parma | ||
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Milan (AFP) - Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri is expected to continue tinkering with his injury-hit side on Sunday when the Italian giants host Parma looking to reinforce their lead over title challengers Roma. Champions Juve opened up a three-point gap at the top of Serie A last week when an unrecognisable Roma succumbed to a 2-0 defeat away to resurgent Napoli. Allegri's men host Parma, who moved off bottom spot with a shock 2-0 win over Inter, on the back of a morale-boosting 3-2 Champions League win over Group A rivals Olympiakos in midweek. However injuries among the defence mean Allegri could again deploy the 4-3-1-2 formation that effectively kept Juve in the race for a place in the last 16 of Europe's premier competition. Ghanaian Kwadwo Asamoah, usually deployed as a wingback, played as a left-back on Tuesday but is still suffering from knee inflammation. He has been "sidelined for two weeks in order to fully recover from the injury he sustained during last Saturday’s Serie A meeting with Empoli", according to the club. With defenders Martin Caceres and Andrea Barzagli and French wingback Patrice Evra still sidelined, Allegri has no choice but to again ditch his trusted 3-5-2 formation for Parma's visit. But the big news from Juve's training ground on Thursday was the prospect of striker Carlos Tevez being moved back a notch to play in the hole behind front pair Fernando Llorente and fellow Spaniard Alvaro Morata. European commitments also proved costly to Roma, who prepare to host Torino at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday with major injury worries. Roma lost defender Jose Holebas (ribs) to injury in a 2-0 defeat away to Bayern Munich on Wednesday, when attacking midfielder Alessandro Florenzi (ankle) hobbled off. Roma are already without defenders Davide Astori, Leandro Castan, Maicon and there are now doubts over Malian midfielder Seydou Keita. Lazio have dropped only two points in their last six games, moving up to third place in the process only six points adrift of Juventus, three behind Roma and one ahead of fifth-placed Napoli. Stefano Pioli's men have banged in a league-topping 20 goals in 10 games, a quarter of which have come from 27-year-old Serbian Filip Djordjevic. The former Nantes striker's form has led to reports of ill-feeling between him and Miroslav Klose. The former Germany striker started in place of Djordjevic last week and hit a brace in a 4-2 win over Cagliari, before he was replaced by the Serbian just after the hour. Ahead of a managable trip away to Empoli, Lazio are firmly back among the fight for next season's European places and Djordjevic has played down suggestions he is now fighting Klose for the number one striker position. "I am really happy to play alongside such a great player. We play in the same position, but there's no jealousy between us," said Djordjevic. Napoli's defeat of Roma last week left Rafael Benitez's men only seven points adrift of Juve and one behind Lazio in the third Champions League qualifying spot. A 3-0 Europa League defeat of Young Boys on Thursday, thanks to a hat-trick from Dutch midfielder Jonathan De Guzman, will only serve to foster confidence ahead of a tricky trip away to Fiorentina, who were held at home by PAOK Salonika. Fixtures (all times 1300 GMT unless stated) Sunday Cagliari v Genoa (1030), Chievo v Cesena, Empoli v Lazio, Juventus v Parma, Palermo v Udinese (1300), Fiorentina v Napoli (1600), Inter v Verona, Roma v Torino (both 1845) Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Dengue's spread flies under the radar amid Ebola scare | ||
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Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - One of the most familiar sounds in Malaysia's capital is the approaching drone of a fumigation fogger spewing thick white plumes of insecticide, part of so-far futile efforts to arrest a spiralling dengue fever outbreak. Malaysia is among several countries across Asia and Latin America grappling with a mosquito-borne virus that is proving tough to eradicate as it infects millions. While the Ebola threat has captured headlines, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that dengue -- while far less lethal -- has become one of the fastest-growing global health threats, contracted by 50-100 million people each year. "The increase in dengue incidence and severity of the outbreaks is a global phenomenon, with a 30-fold increase over the past five decades," said Ahmed Jamsheed Mohamed, a doctor in the WHO's Southeast Asia office, adding that eradication is "not seen as feasible in the near future". The disease is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and causes debilitating flu-like symptoms, headaches, rashes and severe muscle and joint pains that earned its original name "breakbone fever". In serious cases, internal bleeding, organ damage and death can occur. While Ebola has killed nearly 5,000 people this year, mainly in west Africa, with an estimated 13,000 infections, dengue kills up to 20,000 annually, and 40 percent of the world's population live in dengue-risk areas. Endemic to warm, humid zones, dengue's range may also be spreading as infected travellers transport the virus and -- scientists believe -- as global warming expands the Aedes aegypti's range. Japan this year experienced its first domestic outbreak in seven decades, while in the United States dengue remains rare but growing. "Climate change may also affect transmission, as dengue mosquitoes reproduce more quickly and bite more frequently at higher temperatures," Ahmed said. There is no vaccine or specific treatment.
- Cases on the rise -
Dengue spreads via the bite of an Aedes aegypti that previously bit an infected person, making it difficult to control in densely populated tropical cities where standing water is common. Kuala Lumpur and its environs have been the epicentre of a Malaysian outbreak that has filled some hospitals to capacity and become the top public health concern, with residents trading advice on home remedies -- crab soup, coconut milk and papaya leaf juice are currently in vogue. Malaysian cases have topped 85,000 through the end of October, tripling compared to the same period last year. Deaths also have tripled to around 150. Hapless officials have faced mounting pressure as the numbers climb despite campaigns to eliminate standing-water mosquito breeding sites, and copious fumigation. Elsewhere, Indonesia saw 121,000 cases in 2013, up 30 percent, with 871 dead. The virus is spreading from urban to rural areas. "This is a new trend we have seen in the past five years," health ministry official Soewarta Kosen said, adding rural health systems were unprepared. Dengue also is up in southern China, according to media reports there, and has reappeared in Hong Kong after a few years' absence. Brazil leads Latin American infections with seven million since 2000. Some 800 have died in the past five years. Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia have released genetically engineered mosquitoes whose offspring are sterile in hopes of controlling the Aedes aegypti, but the method's efficacy remains unconfirmed. Malaysian officials shelved their own such plans in recent years amid public resistance to the release of large numbers of mosquitos, and questions over the unknown ecological impact of the modified insects.
- Elusive quest for dengue drugs -
Dengue has four strains, and infection with a particular one leaves patients immune to that variety in future. But it also is believed to make some more susceptible to the other three, including a fast-growing strain with more severe symptoms and higher death rate that is gaining ground in Malaysia. Most dengue patients are hospitalised on IV drips and monitored as blood platelet counts drop, which can lead to dangerous internal bleeding. The majority recover within two weeks, but symptoms can persist. "I stayed in hospital for about a week, but even when I was discharged it took about a month to feel normal again," said Malaysian citizen Grace Chin. Development of effective drugs has been elusive, but after 20 years of research French drugmaker Sanofi says it is nearing completion of a vaccine it hopes to make commercially available late next year. Health Minister S. Subramaniam told Malaysian media this week the government was following Sanofi's vaccine "closely" and would "decide as soon as possible" on whether to use it. A National University of Singapore team, meanwhile, is among those working on a possible drug to treat dengue. The researchers say they have managed to isolate dengue antibodies, and hope to start clinical trials in 2016. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Grisly Hong Kong murders spark banker backlash | ||
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Hong Kong (AFP) - The murder of two young Indonesian women in Hong Kong allegedly by a British expatriate has sparked a backlash against wealthy Western bankers accused of treating the financial hub as their own personal playground. The victims were found mutilated in 29-year-old Rurik Jutting's upmarket apartment in Wanchai, streets away from the neon-lit bars of the neighbourhood's famous red-light district -- popular with expats and tourists at all hours. Jutting, who has been charged with the double murder and will next appear in court Monday, was a regular on the strip, and the reported discovery of sex toys and cocaine in his apartment have added to the debauched portrayal of the former Bank of America Merrill Lynch securities trader. The women's brutal murders and the accusations against Jutting have touched a nerve, triggering criticism of privileged foreign workers in the city's famous finance industry. "Just like bankers anywhere, they earn top dollar without having many social responsibilities in Hong Kong," says C.H. Lo, 37, a jeweller who has lived in the city most of his life. "Their disposable income and immoral lifestyle creates a demand for high-end drugs and prostitution. "The Chinese believe the greatest virtue is to take care of one's own parents when they grow old. But expat bankers generally display a 'work hard, play hard' attitude." English and Chinese language social media in Hong Kong has lit up with criticism of the behaviour of some Westerners in the wake of the killings. "A lot of losers from the West think they are God once they come to Asia. Too bad they give all western expats a bad reputation," said one response to a news story of Jutting's arrest posted online. "Some expats get to Asia and develop a huge ego and superiority complex, thinking they are above the law, doing things they would never consider in their home countries," said another. Foreigners also expressed fear for their own reputation. "Agree, expats should behave better, I can feel our reputation going down year after year because of these scumbags," one post said.
- Growing divide -
With ongoing pro-democracy protests in the city spurred on by its increasing wealth disparity, there are also those who see well-paid bankers as part of that wider problem. Hong Kong has one of the largest wealth gaps in the developed world, and a fifth of the population lives in poverty, according to charity Feeding Hong Kong. "Expat bankers are overpaid and that has contributed to the wealth gap," said 31-year-old media worker Maggie Ho. "I think locals have been rather wary of bankers following the Lehman Brothers crisis," she added, referring to the 2008 collapse of the US banking giant. Jutting's case has also sparked an outpouring of confessional tales from those inside the industry -- stories which fuel its critics. "The hardest thing to do is to ask corporations and people for money. That's the essence of banking. We had to entertain people a lot," one Hong Kong banker, who declined to be named, told AFP. "Here, you have access to a broader range of prostitution and it's at a fraction of the price than in New York. "At one bachelor party in a (hotel) penthouse suite, we would have prostitutes performing a soapy strip dance in the bathroom, while other prostitutes would be performing oral sex on the couch. That's the essence of being a trader -- it's a rock star fantasy and mentality," he said. "I remember one banker who had so much money that at one recreational softball game, he was just handing out a lot of cocaine."
- 'Emotional and chemical' highs -
The city offers an intoxicating new world for many young Westerners, but some are unable to handle the adjustment, said another Hong Kong banker who also did not want to be named. "It's easy for the dorky kid in high school to suddenly find himself in the cool crowd at the hottest nightclub, and to keep this high -- emotional as well as chemical -- he's more than willing to throw his inflated disposable income at whoever can keep it going," he said. But while there are those who go to extremes, bankers should not all be tarred with the same brush, he added. "There are many bankers who choose not to be a complete jackass... Alcohol is the only thing I consume and in moderation." Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Germany cheers 25 years since Berlin Wall's fall | ||
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Berlin (AFP) - Germany marks 25 years since the euphoric fall of the Berlin Wall Sunday with more than a million people expected to join tributes, festivities and an open-air party with freedom icons and rock stars. Chancellor Angela Merkel leads commemorations for those killed trying to flee communist East Germany, ahead of a giant festival to celebrate the peaceful revolution that ended Europe's Cold War division on November 9, 1989. Merkel, 60, who grew up under the repressive eastern regime, said in her weekly podcast Saturday that the reunified capital of Berlin had become "almost a symbol of Europe's unification after the Cold War". "This city has written history," she said later at an event held at Berlin's modern art museum, the Neue Nationalgalerie. "The human urge for freedom cannot be subdued in the long run." A highlight is expected to be the symbolic release of nearly 7,000 illuminated white balloons, pegged along a 15-kilometre (nine-mile) stretch of the Wall's former 155-kilometre path, around 1820 GMT. The glowing orbs will begin floating into the night sky from the iconic Brandenburg Gate, the symbol of German unity, to the stirring strains of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", the anthem of the European Union. It is due to be watched by Merkel, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, 83, former Polish president and freedom icon Lech Walesa, 71, as well as German head of state Joachim Gauck, 74, a former pastor and rights activist in the East, and Hungarian ex-premier Miklos Nemeth, 66. Gorbachev warned Saturday that the world was on the "brink of a new Cold War", amid tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine. He complained of a "breakdown of trust" in recent months, adding: "Let us remember that there can be no security in Europe without German-Russian partnership." Unlike events for the 20th anniversary, no visiting heads of state or government are due, with the organisation this time more grassroots. Entertainment will range from the Berlin State Orchestra under the baton of Daniel Barenboim to a fireworks display and performances by East German rock band Silly and techno musician Paul Kalkbrenner. British singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel will perform the Wall anthem "Heroes", which David Bowie recorded when he lived in then West Berlin. Also on stage will be veteran German rock singer Udo Lindenberg, whose 1983 hit "Sonderzug nach Pankow" (Special train to Pankow) mocked East German leader Erich Honecker for denying him permission to perform. - 'Oppressive feeling' - More than a million visitors from Germany and abroad are expected to descend on Berlin over the weekend, tourism group Visit Berlin said. Many people have gathered at historic points along the Wall since Friday, watching video images of the "we are the people!" protests in 1989, admiring the balloon art installation or posing for photos in front of remnants of the Wall. Others paused to read information boards about the grim reality of life during Berlin's 28-year division. At Potsdamer Platz, once spliced in two by the detested Berlin Wall, student Florian Baschin, born the year after Germany's reunification on October 3, 1990, said imagining life behind a closed border was an "oppressive feeling". Former easterner Ronny Kraft, 34, told AFP that the commemorations were of "great importance" for him because "the fall of the Wall marked my personal history". At the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing where an East German guard made the snap decision on the night of November 9, 1989 to open the barrier, an elderly woman was reduced to tears, while parents explained to young children about the Wall. Harald Jaeger, the guard who, overwhelmed by large crowds, finally gave the order to open the barrier in 1989, told AFP last week that he planned to attend Sunday's events. Merkel on Sunday will also open a major exhibition on Bernauer Strasse, a street divided by the Wall that saw harrowing scenes of families and neighbours ripped apart when the Wall went up overnight. The East German authorities built the Wall, which they called an "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart", in August 1961 to halt a mass exodus to the West. At least 389 people lost their lives trying to escape communist East Germany, according to an official toll, although victims groups put the figure much higher. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Chelsea not invincible, says Mourinho | ||
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Liverpool (AFP) - Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho refused to entertain talk of an unbeaten season after seeing his side strengthen their position at the Premier League summit by winning 2-1 at Liverpool. Diego Costa's 67th-minute goal gave Chelsea victory at Anfield on Saturday, helping his side extend an unbeaten league run stretching back to March and fuelling comparisons with Arsenal's 2003-04 'Invincibles'. But Mourinho believes that suggestions his team could emulate that Arsenal side by going through an entire season without losing a game are fanciful. "No chance," he said when asked about his side's prospects of avoiding defeat between now and May 24. "It's possible to be champions. We want to play for that, but in modern football I don't believe in going unbeaten all season. "One day we will lose, but the next game we will win again. We will play badly, but we will recover our game because we are a strong team. "We are a stable team, but I have been in the game so long I know the defeat will arrive and the bad moment will arrive. We will be ready for that. We believe in everyone. We are a happy camp. We believe in the players." Victory moved Chelsea 15 points above Liverpool, who finished runners-up in the league last season and had appeared likely to win the title before losing this corresponding fixture late in the campaign. However, Mourinho is not ready to discount the threat posed by Brendan Rodgers' club or claim that the title race will be a comfortable one. "If this was the Spanish league or German league or Portuguese league, when you have two teams trying to become champions, then you are almost there with 15 points," he said. "But this is England. Every match is difficult. In England, you can lose points in every game. It's not (just) about Liverpool; it's Man City, Man United, Arsenal, it's about Tottenham, it's about Southampton. "We are in a good situation. We have played the four games in Manchester and Liverpool -- at Everton, Liverpool, City, United. Four very hard matches. But it's only the start of November."
- Rodgers booed -
Mourinho saw Gary Cahill cancel out Emre Can's opening goal before Costa slammed home the winner and he paid special tribute to midfielders Ramires and Cesc Fabregas, both of whom played through injury. Rodgers, whose side failed with a strong late penalty claim against Cahill for handball, has endured a difficult week that also featured a league loss at Newcastle United and Champions League defeat at Real Madrid. He was widely criticised for resting key players in the game at Madrid with a view to the Chelsea encounter, but he insisted he would do the same thing again if the situation arose. "I'd hopefully win all three games," said Rodgers when asked if he would do anything differently if given the chance. "But we plan the players and the team the best we can, so I wouldn't do anything differently at all. "We just didn't get the results. Hopefully, this will be an experience for us and we will use that to be better going forward." Rodgers was also booed by large sections of the Anfield crowd when he replaced the popular Philippe Coutinho in the second half, in a rare sign of disapproval by home supporters towards their manager. "I didn't feel we were creating enough and had to change the momentum," he explained. "The supporters here are a big part of what we're doing. Of course they will be frustrated. They have seen us lose three games this week. "I totally understand that, it is not an issue. They give us great support and it is just frustration all round." Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Catalonia holds independence vote in defiance of Spain | ||
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Barcelona (AFP) - One of Spain's biggest and richest regions, Catalonia, will on Sunday hold a much-disputed symbolic vote on whether it should break away as an independent state, in defiance of the central government. Spain's conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government has vowed to defend the unity of the country, as it recovers from a steep economic downturn, and has mounted a series of constitutional appeals to try to block the vote. But Catalans have pushed ahead defiantly, fired up by the independence referendum held in Scotland in September, even though Scots voted not to break away from Britain. Rajoy says his country cannot hold an independence referendum like Scotland because, unlike Britain, it has a written constitution that forbids it. He downplayed the significance of the poll, at a party rally on Saturday in the eastern city of Caceres. "What will take place tomorrow, we can call it whatever one wants, but it is not a referendum, not a consultation, nor anything that resembles it, I can't even qualify it. What is certain is that it will not have any effect," he said. Proud of its distinct language and culture, Catalonia, a region of 7.5 million people, accounts for nearly a fifth of Spain's economy. Demands for greater autonomy there have been rumbling for years, but the latest bid by the region's president Artur Mas has pushed the issue further than ever before. Catalonia took a step towards greater autonomy in 2006 when it formally adopted a charter that assigned it the status of a "nation". But in 2010 Spain's Constitutional Court overruled that nationhood claim, fuelling pro-independence passions. Spain's recent economic crisis has increased unemployment and hardship in the region and swelled its debts, but in 2012 Rajoy rejected Mas's request for greater powers for Catalonia to tax and spend. In response, Mas vowed to hold an official yet non-binding vote on independence, but the Spanish government's legal challenges forced him to water that down. Sunday's polls will be staffed by volunteers. Some 41,000 have signed up for the job. There is no official electoral roll but the regional government says 5.4 million Catalans and resident foreigners aged 16 and over are eligible to vote. The ballot papers will put two questions to voters: "Do you want Catalonia to be a state?" and if so, "Do you want that state to be independent?" Ballot boxes were set up on Saturday at schools and town halls across Catalonia even though the central government has warned the regional government that it can not use public resources to stage the vote. The Spanish government has not specified what legal consequences, if any, Catalan leaders, volunteer poll workers or voters might face Sunday when they go to vote. Spain's Justice Minister Rafael Catala on Thursday said that as long as the Catalan government takes a back seat, "no one will prevent citizens from exercising their freedom of expression". Critics say Sunday's symbolic vote is meaningless since those who take part will be overwhelmingly in favour of independence. But a big turnout would strengthen the hand of Mas, 58, in trying to get Rajoy to negotiate with him. The regional government says results are expected on Monday. Mas has said he will later write to Rajoy to ask for fresh talks on a possible fiscal pact -- or even an authorised referendum. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Intense fighting in Ukraine rebel bastion Donetsk | ||
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Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Intense artillery fire broke out early Sunday in the separatist bastion of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, according to AFP journalists in the area. Firing close to the town centre began at 02:00 am (2300 GMT Saturday), and could still be heard at the same intensity two hours later. It is the first fighting on this scale since a barely-observed ceasefire was signed in September. The OSCE security organisation voiced concern Saturday after its monitors witnessed columns of tanks, howitzers and troop carriers moving through east Ukraine. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Mexican students torch cars after 43 feared massacred | ||
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Chilpancingo (Mexico) (AFP) - Furious protesters burned several vehicles and threw firebombs at a southern Mexican state's headquarters Saturday after authorities indicated that gang hitmen slaughtered 43 missing students. More than 300 students, many wearing masks, descended on the Guerrero government headquarters, threw rocks at its windows and burned around 10 vehicles, including trucks and a federal police vehicle. "We are asking the same thing as usual. We want to see our comrades alive," a masked student told AFP. The case has revulsed Mexico since gang-linked police attacked busloads of students in the Guerrero city of Iguala on September 26, in a night of violence that left six people dead and the 43 missing. Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said Friday that three Guerreros Unidos gang members confessed to receiving the students from the police, killing them and incinerating their bodies. But parents of the missing and fellow students at their teacher-training college near Chilpancingo refuse to believe the authorities until they get DNA results from independent Argentine forensic experts. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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OSCE 'very concerned' by tanks, convoys in Ukraine | ||
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Kiev (AFP) - The OSCE said it is "very concerned" after its monitors witnessed columns of tanks, howitizers and troop carriers moving through east Ukraine in territory held by pro-Russia separatists. Monitors from the European security organisation said in a statement late Saturday they had "observed convoys of heavy weapons and tanks" in the area of the rebel-held city of Donetsk and nearby Makiivka. The OSCE report came a day after Ukraine's military said it had spotted a large column of tanks and other heavy weapons entering the country from Russia across a section of border that has fallen under control of rebel fighters. Russia denies being involved in the fighting, although it openly gives the rebels political and humanitarian backing. "More than 40 trucks and tankers" were seen driving on a highway on the eastern outskirts of Makiivka, the OSCE representatives, who are monitoring a barely observed ceasefire signed in September, said. "Of these, 19 were large trucks –- Kamaz type, covered, and without markings or number plates –- each towing a 122mm howitzer and containing personnel in dark green uniforms without insignia. Fifteen were Kraz troop carriers," the report said. There were also six fuel tankers and an armoured personnel carrier. Separately, the OSCE monitors said they had seen "a convoy of nine tanks –- four T72 and five T64 -– moving west, also unmarked," just south-west of Donetsk. The OSCE said all the forces were on territory controlled by the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, which is fighting Ukrainian troops in a war that has already killed at least 4,000 people, according to UN figures. The Swiss foreign minister and OSCE chairperson-in-office, Didier Burkhalter, said he was "very concerned about a resurgence of violence in the eastern regions of Ukraine." "He urged all sides to act responsibly and to do all in their power to further consolidate the ceasefire," the OSCE said in a statement. Despite the nominal ceasefire, there is daily shelling across the separatist zone and a steady loss of life among soldiers and civilians. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Magnus Carlsen Is In Great Shape After Game 1 Of The World Chess Championship | ||
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Game 1 of the 2014 World Chess Championship was played on Saturday and ended in a draw (you can watch it here). I know that sounds boring, but it was a fascinating draw and should set the tone for the rest of the match. Current World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway and challenger Vishy Anand of India both left the board with half a point. The match consists of 12 regular games (with tiebreaks as needed) and runs through the end of the month. It's being played in Sochi, Russia. You never know what to expect at events like this. Carlsen is the world number one and Anand is number six, Carlsen is 23 and Anand in 44, and Carlsen is rated at 2863, while Anand is at 2792. Carlsen took the title from Anand convincingly in 2013. He should win. Unlike last year, when the players started with a fairly quick and rather boring draw, this year's Game 1 was an engrossing example of elite Super-Grandmaster chess (although for the rematch, Anand got to start with the white pieces). It consumed 48 moves, numerous hours, and was a great display of attacking and defending at the highest level. A QUICK BIT ABOUT OPENINGS First, a quick bit about the most popular first moves in chess, even for top players. If you already know all about this stuff, just skip down to the recap. The first moves set up what's called the "opening" — the critical initial 10-15 moves of the game. Most amateurs and even many professionals open by moving the pawn in front of their king two squares forward. In algebraic chess notation, this is called "e4" and that's how a player will write it on his or her scoresheet. It's also known as a "King's Pawn" game. Anand, a smooth player who can bring powerful, attacking chess to the board seemingly at will, has often played e4 — aggressive players love to play e4 because it achieves a chess fundamental, staking a claim to the center, and supports another fundamental, creating a line for the light-squared bishop to be developed while preparing the white king for castling. But it also sets up some excellent attacking chances for white. Unfortunately, e4 can lead to an opening called the "Berlin Defense," now often called the "Berlin Wall" because at the Grandmaster level, it gives black a great chance to secure a draw. This was a problem for Anand last year; he couldn't break through the Berlin Wall in the three games in which it arose, even losing one game as white. The premier GM opening these days that evolves from e4 is the famous Ruy Lopez, or "Spanish Game" (named for the Spanish priest who devised it). It's been around for centuries — and sadly in 2013 the Berlin Defense took the teeth out of it. THE GRUNFELD! So Anand opened with d4 instead. This is the other popular pawn opening: the pawn in front of the white queen is moved forward two squares, and unsurprisingly when not called "d4" the opening is referred as a "Queen's Pawn" game. Unlike e4, which claims a piece of the center with an undefended pawn, d4 aims for center control with a pawn that's defended by its queen from the get-go. Carlsen responded by moving his knight to the f6 square. The following sequence of moves led to an opening called the "Grunfeld Defense," named after the early 20th century Grandmaster Ernst Grunfeld of Austria, who popularized it. The Grunfeld has become one of the top replies to d4 in modern GM play. It was supercool to see it rolled out by Carlsen, who isn't known for playing it all that much — his idea seemed to be to confuse Anand, but as we'll see, Anand had a trick up his sleeve. It was also cool to see the Grunfeld because the Russian GM Peter Svidler (world #18) is providing commentary for the official WCC webcast (Game 1 is archived here), and he's a total Grunfeld geek — an expert in the opening. Plus, while I'm very, very far from a master chess player, I play the Grunfeld as black (if I can) pretty much exclusively against d4, so I felt that I could follow along pretty easily for the first 10-15 moves or so. The main idea with the Grunfeld is for black to let white have a lot (but not total) center control but to work later to undermine it. As such, it's what's know as a "hypermodern" opening, but as you can see from the diagram above, it doesn't allow white to build up an utterly imposing center because the pawn comes to d5 (preventing white from playing e4 unopposed) to complete the characteristic opening sequence. GAME 1 RECAP Enough with the technical analysis and opening theory: What went down in the game after we established that it would be the Grunfeld? Anand briefly confused Carlsen — or at least made him spend 15 minutes thinking about an obvious move — by countering Carlsen's Grunfeld with a single offbeat move that proved he knew what Magnus was up to. Susan Polgar, one of the strongest female GMs in the world, in her commentary suggested that Anand, who is comfortable in the Grunfeld, threw Carlsen a curveball to test his preparation. Carlsen got himself back together and later attempted to trade queens on move 19, taking Anand's most powerful piece out of the game. Anand, playing at this point to maintain the initiative, declined. (As an aside, you can see from the diagram below that Anand had a funky arrangement of pawns on the right side of the board, something he had to accept to get the game he wanted.) The players had castled on opposite sides of the board, a setup that can lead to some ferocious chess. But it didn't materialize, as Anand was never able to get his pawn on the critical attacking h-file going, although Carlsen did make things interesting when he launched his pawn on the a-file down the board and coordinated his queen and remaining rook. Anand had to find a very resourceful move after making what he later admitted were some sloppy decisions when his got short of time (the players had two hours for the first 40 moves, then another hour for the next 20, almost all of which they used up). He put his queen on the h1 square:
With Carlsen unable to mount a threat against Anand's king, the challenger slipped out of an uncomfortable endgame by putting Carlsen into an endless or "perpetual" check — the same position would have been repeated three times, so the players called it a draw.
Anand couldn't get the attack he wanted on the kingside — his h pawn was more often a target than a threat — and Carlsen was aiming for a grueling endgame, his specialty. Magnus has to feel great because he grabbed a draw as black, was never truly losing and at times looked like he was winning, and made Anand play a long game. Anand didn't really uncork anything dazzling, only perplexed Carlsen in two or three positions, and looked weak toward the end the first time control. Interestingly, the game ended in a draw by repetition just as Game 1 in 2013 did, but this draw took far, far longer. Anand can't be happy about that — but he has to be stoked that he played great chess when he needed to. WHAT NOW? My theory about this rematch is that Anand can't afford to let it go the distance — he crumbled last year after four draws to start the match. He needs to go for wins as white and black. Carlsen has already seen enough after Game 1 to know that he can get a pressure-packed draw with the Grunfeld and always fall back on the Berlin Defense if Anand tries to open with e4 rather than d4. What's tough about Carlsen is that he's able, when playing black, to negate white's first-move advantage and sometimes turn draws into wins after white runs out of gas on what might look like a winning attack and has to craft a draw — which if your goal was to win is the same as admitting defeat! In Sunday's game, I'll bet that Carlsen opens with e4 Anand plays c5, which sets up another famous opening called the "Sicilian Defense." Anand played it once last year, when he had to win or lose his crown (the game was a draw and Carlson took the title). As it turns out, I've been looking closely at the Sicilian lately — even though I never play it as black — because my 9-year-old son, who plays scholastic chess, loves it. It can create a very strong winning position for black and stymie white's efforts to contain some of the wildness and generate his own attack. Why would Carlsen invite this? Because he knows that by refuting an Anand attack, as he did in the Sicilian last year, he can frustrate him that much faster. The "winning" draw in Game 10 last year took 61 moves. In 2013, the big complaint about the WCC was that, initially, it showed everything that's supposed to be wrong with Grandmaster chess: now that the players can use computers to analyze positions into the ground, many of the games are boring draws, sometimes even agreed to very early on when it's clear where play is headed. The vibe is already completely different this year. First, fans got to see Carlsen and Anand play a game that was defined by one of the systems that's right at the center of GM competition — d4 leading to the Grunfeld is going to produce chess of the highest order, even if there isn't a ton of fireworks. Second, even though Carlsen looks fine, Anand looks a lot sharper this year than last year — losing the title and then unexpectedly returning for the rematch has focused his mind. You can review the game at ChessBase, with superb comments by GM Alejandro Ramirez. SEE ALSO: Here's What To Watch For In The World Chess Championship Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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REVEALED: The Top Demographic Trends For Every Major Social Network | ||
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The demographics of who's on what social network are shifting — older social networks are reaching maturity, while newer social messaging apps are gaining younger users fast. In a new report from BI Intelligence, we unpack data from over a dozen sources to understand how social media demographics are still shifting. Access The Full Report By Signing Up For A Trial >> Here are a few of the key takeaways from the BI Intelligence report:
The report is full of charts (over 20 charts) and data that can be downloaded and put to use. In full, the report:
For full access to all BI Intelligence reports, briefs, and downloadable charts on the digital media industry, sign up for a two week trial. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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CHARLIE RANGEL: It's 'Insulting' To Say Boots Aren't On The Ground In Iraq | ||
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Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-New York) is fuming mad over the White House's claim that the thousands of troops being deployed against the Islamic State (also called ISIS or ISIL) doesn't count as "boots on the ground." "I think this is an insult to combat veterans to try to explain how we have already lost over 6,000 lives, spent over $7 trillion, in a war that has not been declared," Rangel told Business Insider on Saturday afternoon. "The whole theory that we can say, 'We're not at war because there's no boots on the ground,' is an insulting thing to say." Rangel made the comments while addressing President Barack Obama's decision to send an additional 1,500 troops to fight the Islamic State, to a total of 3,000. Administration officials insisted Friday that the White House is "not going to be putting US men and women back into combat," but Rangel again called the claim "insulting" to veterans like him. Echoing other liberal stalwarts like Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-New York), Rangel further said the Constitution demands an official vote to go to war and Congress was abdicating its duty by not more forcefully demanding the president go through this process. "The Congress is guilty of allowing this to happen. If indeed our national security is threatened, then Congress should debate it ... Congress should vote on it. There should be a universal draft. And we should set aside money or more taxes to pay for it. But how in the hell we can go to the funerals, and go further into debt, and say, 'We're not at war,' challenges common sense," said Rangel, who has long called for a draft. Rangel would vote against such a resolution, however. He said the Islamic State did not constitute enough of a national security threat. The group's militants have beheaded multiple US hostages but have largely focused their violence in Iraq and Syria. "I just want to make it clear that if our great country's security is being threatened, then we ... should do everything we can to defend our country. I don't know anyone who goes to sleep at night thinking ISIL and ISIS is a threat to our national security. The bigger threat they are [is] to the countries in the surrounding areas, and they don't even have boots on the ground either!" Rangel exclaimed. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Coalition planes strike IS leaders near Mosul: US | ||
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Washington (AFP) - Coalition forces launched airstrikes targeting Islamic State leaders near their northern Iraqi hub of Mosul, the US military said Saturday, without confirming whether the group's chief was killed. The strikes, which destroyed a vehicle convoy of 10 IS armed trucks late Friday, targeted a "gathering of ISIL leaders" near Mosul, US Central Command said. "We cannot confirm if ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was among those present," CENTCOM said in a statement, using another acronym by which the group is known. "This strike demonstrates the pressure we continue to place on the ISIL terrorist network and the group's increasingly limited freedom to maneuver, communicate and command." The strikes came as President Barack Obama unveiled plans to send 1,500 additional troops to Iraq to help Baghdad government forces strike back at the extremist fighters, roughly doubling the number of US soldiers in the country. To fund the growing war effort, Obama plans to request $5.6 billion from Congress, including $1.6 billion to train and arm the Iraqi forces, officials said. The move marked a deepening US commitment in the open-ended war against the IS group, three months since American aircraft launched air strikes against the Sunni extremists. It also extends the US training and advising mission to new areas as Iraqi and Kurdish forces prime themselves to recapture ground lost to the IS group, including in the volatile Anbar province in the west where the Iraqi army has been on the retreat. Obama had resisted keeping troops in Iraq earlier in his term, vowing to end the American presence that began with the 2003 invasion and continued as an occupation through 2011. IS militants briefly held Mosul dam in August but Kurdish forces and Iraqi army troops -- backed up by US air strikes -- succeeded in retaking the structure later that month. The large dam in northern Iraq is a crucial piece of infrastructure and IS has repeatedly tried to seize it back. The dam is the country's largest and if destroyed or dismantled, it could unleash major flooding of the city of Mosul and the capital Baghdad. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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A 23-Year-Old Set A Guinness World Record For Playing A Video Game At 18,569 Feet | ||
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Will Cruz was working at a call center in his home state of Utah when he got the news that he just won Ubisoft's "Quest for Everest" contest. "I was on the phone with a new hire at my company," he said. "My phone beeped, and I looked at it, and I got this email saying 'Congratulations, you won,' and immediately I checked out," he tells Business Insider. "Like, I couldn't understand one thing the guy was saying anymore. I just held my hand in the air and was like, 'F--- this conversation!'" The contest was to promote the game "Far Cry 4," which comes out Nov. 18. The contest was announced over the summer. To enter, people had to make 2-minute videos showing why they were the most qualified. "Far Cry" is a first-person shooter that places its players in some wild locations. In "Far Cry 2," players found themselves in Africa. "Far Cry 3" was set in the wild jungles of an island in the Pacific. "Far Cry 4" takes place in the Himalayas. So it makes sense for the company to promote the game with a trip there. And it doesn't hurt to get a world record in the process. To earn the record, Cruz had to play the game for more than an hour. And he did that at 18,569 feet, climbing to the summit of Kala Patthar. Yikes. "The game ran just fine up there. I was pretty amazed," he says. "The system was running better than I was at that altitude." Ubisoft was prepared for the trip, however. They needed to figure out what kind of TV to bring up there so the LCD wouldn't freeze. They also needed to determine whether it would be OK to take a PlayStation up there that has a CD drive. They didn't have to worry about that part, though. The build that they used of the game was burned onto the hard drive of the console. Cruz also had to leave his wife of two years behind. "She's a little taken aback about the whole thing, but she's been a great sport," Cruz says. Before climbing in the Himalayas, Cruz had never been outside the country. But he's no stranger to hiking, often going on some "risky" hikes in his home state, he says. In fact for his submission video for the contest, he climbed the highest peak in Utah. Because of weather conditions and work schedule, he had a fairly limited amount of time to do it. He also needed to learn how to use his equipment. "I went and hiked it all by myself. It was a 26-mile hike, and it was pretty rough," he said. "I also had to learn how to use a GoPro ... and then I had to borrow a laptop to do the editing for the video, and had to ask a friend how to do it." A trip such as this one couldn't be done alone. He had the help of 15 people, including sherpas and a video crew, as well as the pros at Berg Adventures, to help him on his journey. Ubisoft's Scott Fry said they had extra people onhand to make sure that Cruz was both comfortable and safe throughout his visit. "We had many conversations with Wally Berg, who owns Berg Adventures International, in advance of the contest and the trip, to really go through the logistics of everything that we would need to concern ourselves with, what we would have to have there to make sure Will was comfortable, and that everything would go according to plan," Fry says. That means they had, for example, extra oxygen and more people forecasting the weather. They also had satellite access, so they could contact Cruz and his team if they needed to. "We really planned everything out long and far in advance and with an expert team of people so that we could ensure everything was as safe as possible," Fry says. Cruz still had to sign a waiver. And even with a team of experts helping out, the trek up to 18,569 feet was not easy. The group had to deal with the elements, such as high wind gusts that claimed one of their tents. Cruz also had to get acclimated to the high altitudes. "The altitude made it hard to sleep, it made it hard to keep an appetite," Cruz says. Now that he's back, Cruz says that he's going to go back to work and settle back into normal life. But he can't wait to go back and go on a new adventure. And to everyone who's thinking of trekking through the Himalayas, Cruz has one piece of advice: "Take a good guide." You can check out Cruz's video diary of his journey on YouTube. SEE ALSO: The Maker Of The Game 'Destiny' Gave A Man Recovering From Brain Surgery A Rare Gift Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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Bale on target in Real win, Suarez inspires Barca revival | ||
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Madrid (AFP) - Gareth Bale scored on his return to the Real Madrid starting line-up for the first time in a month as the European champions beat Rayo Vallecano 5-1 on Saturday. Barcelona remain just two points behind the league leaders thanks to two assists from Luis Suarez as they came from behind to snap a two-game losing streak in La Liga with a 2-1 win at Almeria. Bale took just nine minutes to make his mark as he slid in to turn home Toni Kroos's low cross before Sergio Ramos's fortunate looping effort doubled Madrid's lead. An awful attempted backpass from James Rodriguez gave Rayo hope just before half-time as Alberto Bueno reduced the arrears, but Kroos restored the hosts' two-goal advantage with his first goal for the club. Karim Benzema added a dubious fourth despite being clearly in an offside position before Cristiano Ronaldo registered his 23rd goal of the season thanks to some generous goalkeeping from Cristian Alvarez. A pelvic muscle injury had kept Bale on the sidelines for five games prior to his return as a second-half substitute against Liverpool in midweek, and there were positive signs for Welsh boss Chris Coleman as he looked back to his best ahead of his country's crucial Euro 2016 qualifiers against Belgium and Israel. Bale was on hand to prod home the opener from close range after a neat one-two between Kroos and Ronaldo as Madrid started brightly. Ronaldo then uncharacteristically blazed over from inside the area and Alvarez did well to turn a curling effort from Rodriguez wide. However, from the resulting corner Ramos made it 2-0 when the ball fortunately ricocheted off his thigh into the top corner. Rayo were gifted a reward for their neat possession football two minutes before the break, though, as Rodriguez passed the ball straight to Leo Baptistao and the on-loan Atletico Madrid striker squared for Bueno to slot into an empty net. Baptistao thought he had brought Rayo level 10 minutes into the second period, but the goal was ruled out for a marginal offside call and within seconds Madrid had put the game to bed. Ronaldo cut the ball back for Kroos 25 yards from goal and the German World Cup winner bent home his first goal for the club with a low precise finish. Four minutes later it was 4-1 as Benzema turned home Ronaldo's miscued shot and this time the goal did stand despite the Frenchman being clearly in an offside position. Bale was denied a sensational second of the night when Alvarez turned his thunderous volley onto the bar, but the 'keeper undid his good work when he allowed Ronaldo's weak effort through his body to round off a 13th consecutive victory in all competitions for Madrid. Earlier, Barca were bailed out by a superb second-half performance by Suarez after he and Neymar had been left on the bench by boss Luis Enrique as he made five changes from the side that defeated Ajax 2-0 in midweek. Yet, despite his team's reaction after the break, Enrique was less than impressed by their display. "The second-half was better for the ambition and attitude shown by the players rather than for good football," he said. "To have a good season, though, you have to win even when you don't play well in games like today." The visitors were caught out eight minutes before half-time as Lionel Messi lost possession deep inside the Almeria half and with one pass Barca were undone as Fernando Soriano released Thievy Bifouma and he raced past Marc Bartra before calmly slotting past Bravo. Enrique had seen enough in the first 45 minutes and swiftly introduced Suarez and Neymar for Munir El Haddadi and Pedro Rodriguez at the break. It took 15 minutes for the substitutes to make an impact as Suarez acrobatically volleyed against the bar at the back post from a corner. Suarez was the creator when Barca did eventually level as he turned his marker just inside the area and squared for Neymar to turn the ball home via a deflection off Ximo Navarro 18 minutes from time. The Uruguayan was inches away from his first Barca goal moments later as he spun and sent a low shot just beyond Martinez's far post. Suarez then teed up Messi to sent another looping header off the crossbar as the pressure from the Catalans continued. And they found the winner eight minutes from the end when after another burst from Suarez down the right he picked out the late arriving Alba from left-back to bundle home his first goal of the season. Join the conversation about this story » | ||
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