Uber Gave A Woman £20 After A Driver Asked To Perform Oral Sex On Her | ||
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An Uber driver in London allegedly invited a passenger who was feeling unwell into the front of his vehicle, before offering to drive to a side street and perform oral sex on her. Newsweek reports that a female Uber passenger in London sent multiple emails to Uber to complain of a driver's conduct after he made repeated advances towards, and the company responded by sending her £20 in credit to be redeemed on future Uber rides. Here's part of the email that the passenger sent to Uber about her experience: Towards the end of the journey he was asking if I liked blow jobs, saying that he was very good at going down on girls or giving "sucky sucky" to girls and did I want him to do it to me. He even suggested that he could pull over into a side street and do it now if I wanted, which was I think the scariest part of the drive. Newsweek claims that the woman would have gotten out of the car at this point, but she "trusted the Uber name" so stayed inside the vehicle. The woman says that various Uber employees responded to the emails, referring to the incident as an "intrusive experience," and an "un-Uber experience." Uber told the woman that its driver operations manager was investigating the incident, and gave her £20 in Uber credit. In a statement to Newsweek, Uber said that the driver involved had been suspended while the company investigated, saying "We take all allegations incredibly seriously, any driver who is accused of acting inappropriately is suspended from the platform while an investigation is undertaken. We would of course refund a trip if an incident had occurred or the rider was not happy.” We reached out to Uber for comment on this story and will update this post if we hear back. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Spotify Just Made It Easier Than Ever To See What All Your Friends Are Listening To | ||
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Spotify is rolling out a new way to show you what music your friends are listening to, the company announced on Thursday. "Because we think music is inherently social, we think that what your friends are listening to could be a really, really compelling path to [music] discovery," Spotify product manager Miles Lennon tells Business Insider. Lennon says one of the most common ways he's seen people use Spotify is by looking at its playlists. Spotify already lets you see lists of top songs in your country or in the world. But starting Thursday, Spotify users will see a new playlist, Top Tracks in your Network. The list, updated daily and displayed in Spotify's Browse section under Top Lists, shows you the most popular songs among the people you're following on Spotify from the past seven days. The more popular a song is with your friends, the higher it is up the chart. The playlist also shows you a drop-down menu of all your friends listening to those songs. If you have Spotify Premium, you can select and listen to those songs. If you use Spotify for free, you can shuffle the playlist. "What we've been searching for is something as frictionless as seeing what people are listening to with all the meaning of receiving a song right from a friend directly," Lennon says. Spotify is rolling out the Top Tracks in Your Network feature on mobile and tablet first. If you use Spotify on a computer, you can visit an artist or album page and see which of the people you're following are plugged in and listening. “Discovering music through friends has always been core to what we do at Spotify,” says Charlie Hellman, VP of product at Spotify. “One out of every five Spotify streams comes from a user listening to another user’s music, whether that’s checking out an artist you saw your friend listening to, or seeing that your gym buddy has created the perfect workout playlist.” This is just the latest social push by Spotify. A few weeks ago, Spotify announced a partnership with Uber, allowing Uber users who also have Spotify Premium accounts to DJ their own Uber rides in 10 cities: London, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, Mexico City, San Francisco, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney and Toronto. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Palestinians mourn official as Israel braces for unrest | ||
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Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Thousands of Palestinians gathered Thursday to mourn a senior official who died in a confrontation with Israeli troops, as the army sent reinforcements to the West Bank and braced for unrest. The Palestinian leadership blamed Israel for the "killing" of 55-year-old Ziad Abu Ein, as tensions threatened to boil over into another round of violence in the occupied territories. Officials and onlookers streamed into the Ramallah headquarters of president Mahmud Abbas in the late morning, ahead of a planned funeral procession to a nearby cemetery, an AFP correspondent said. Uniformed Palestinians carried Abu Ein's coffin, draped in a Palestinian flag, into the courtyard, as nationalist songs blared and mourners chanted "Revenge!" and "Your blood will not be spilled in vain!" Schools were closed in a day of mourning and posters of Abu Ein were plastered on walls throughout the West Bank city. A short distance away, additional Israeli troops and border guards were being deployed in anticipation of clashes with mourners and protesters, an army spokeswoman said, especially given the cemetery's proximity to the Jewish settlement of Psagot. Abu Ein died Wednesday after a confrontation with Israeli soldiers during a protest march against settlements by some 300 Palestinians who intended to plant olive trees as a symbolic act, an AFP photographer said. Troops fired tear gas, three soldiers grabbed Abu Ein and he was struck in the chest during the confrontation. Videos circulating online showed the soldiers pushing Abu Ein firmly in the chest and neck. He collapsed and was treated by an Israeli army doctor, but died later in hospital.
- Israel 'fully responsible' - "After hearing the results of the post-mortem, the Palestinian government holds Israel fully responsible for the killing of Ziad Abu Ein," government spokesman Ihab Bseiso told reporters in Ramallah on Thursday. A Palestinian minister said the post-mortem, which was carried out by a Palestinian, an Israeli and Jordanian doctors, had shown that Abu Ein was killed by the actions of Israeli troops. "The reason for the death of Abu Ein was his being hit by (Israeli) occupation troops and because of the heavy use of tear gas," Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein al-Sheikh told AFP. Sheikh said Israeli forces had prevented Abu Ein from getting to a hospital quickly enough to save his life. Israel's health ministry said the death was caused by a "blockage of the coronary artery" which "could have been caused by stress", adding that Abu Ein suffered from poor health including heart disease. The incident prompted Abbas to threaten measures in response. "All options are open for discussion and implementation," Abbas told an emergency session of the Palestinian leadership late Wednesday, amid speculation that crucial security cooperation with Israel could be shelved. Islamist movement Hamas, rivals of Abbas's West Bank administration and de facto rulers of the Gaza Strip, urged the Palestinian Authority (PA) to cease security coordination immediately.
- High tension -
Israel's government urged calm, with Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon expressing regret for the death and saying a military inquiry had been launched. "Security stability is important for both sides," he said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a message through one of his aides to Abbas in which he "pointed to the need to calm the situation and act responsibly," his office said. The death of Abu Ein, who was a former PA deputy minister and was responsible for dealing with the settlement issue, follows months of tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and a wave of unrest in the West Bank and Arab east Jerusalem. Israelis are on edge after "hit-and-run" car attacks by Palestinians that killed five people, as well as an assault last month that saw two Palestinians burst into a Jerusalem synagogue, leaving four rabbis and a policeman dead. The tensions have been heightened by Israeli announcements of new settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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ISIS Is Reportedly Trying To Sell James Foley's Remains For $1 Million | ||
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People with ties to Islamic State are reportedly trying to negotiate the sale of American hostage James Foley's remains, according to BuzzFeed News. ISIS is reportedly attempting to sell the body and deliver it across the Syrian border to Turkey, sources in contact with the terror group told Mike Giglio at BuzzFeed. One source told BuzzFeed that an ISIS leader approached him about the sale of Foley's body and asked if he could get in contact with someone within the US government or Foley's family. ISIS executed Foley on camera and posted the video online in August. He was captured in northwest Syria on Thanksgiving Day 2012. The terror group makes millions of dollars from its hostages. They typically demand ransoms from the countries the hostages are from, but some countries, like the US, refuse to pay up. Selling Foley's remains seems to be a way for ISIS to make money off of him in lieu of a ransom. Since Foley's death, ISIS has executed three other Western hostages — US journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid worker Alan Henning, and US aid worker Peter Kassig. The executions seem to be retaliation for airstrikes in the Middle East. SEE ALSO: 3 Big Sources Of Revenue Help ISIS Make Millions Each Day Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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A 'Weather Bomb' In The UK Forced A Waterfall To Go Uphill | ||
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A "weather bomb" that brought strong winds and ginormous waves to parts of the UK on Wednesday was powerful enough to push a falling waterfall in the opposite direction. The 30-foot cascade in Stainmore, Cumbria, was blown upward as the county was pounded by 80-mile-per-hour winds, London's Metro reports. ITV.com has footage of the event, and you check out an animation of the backward-blown water below. It looks pretty cool.
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Uber Gave A Woman £20 After A Driver Asked To Perform Oral Sex On Her | ||
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An Uber driver in London allegedly invited a passenger who was feeling unwell into the front of his vehicle, before offering to drive to a side street and perform oral sex on her. Newsweek reports that a female Uber passenger in London sent multiple emails to Uber to complain of a driver's conduct after he made repeated advances towards, and the company responded by sending her £20 in credit to be redeemed on future Uber rides. Here's part of the email that the passenger sent to Uber about her experience: Towards the end of the journey he was asking if I liked blow jobs, saying that he was very good at going down on girls or giving "sucky sucky" to girls and did I want him to do it to me. He even suggested that he could pull over into a side street and do it now if I wanted, which was I think the scariest part of the drive. Newsweek claims that the woman would have gotten out of the car at this point, but she "trusted the Uber name" so stayed inside the vehicle. The woman says that various Uber employees responded to the emails, referring to the incident as an "intrusive experience," and an "un-Uber experience." Uber told the woman that its driver operations manager was investigating the incident, and gave her £20 in Uber credit. In a statement to Newsweek, Uber said that the driver involved had been suspended while the company investigated, saying "We take all allegations incredibly seriously, any driver who is accused of acting inappropriately is suspended from the platform while an investigation is undertaken. We would of course refund a trip if an incident had occurred or the rider was not happy.” Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Three Ukraine soldiers dead in first casualties since ceasefire | ||
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Kiev (AFP) - Three soldiers were killed and eight injured in the past 24 hours, a Ukraine military spokesman said on Thursday, marking the first casualties since a ceasefire was introduced earlier this week. "We lost three soldiers and another eight were wounded in the past 24 hours," said spokesman Andriy Lyssenko. Previous reports had said the truce that went into effect on Tuesday between government and rebel forces in eastern Ukraine had been largely holding. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Russia central bank raises key rate from 9.5% to 10.5% | ||
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Moscow (AFP) - Russia's central bank on Thursday raised its key rate by one percentage point to 10.5% in yet another bid to shore up the plunging ruble and stem a sharp rise in prices. The bank's board "decided to raise the Bank of Russia key rate to 10.5 percent per annum," a decision published on the official website said, adding that it will continue raising the rate "in case of further aggravation of inflation risks." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Hollywood spotlight on Golden Globe nominations | ||
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Los Angeles (AFP) - Hollywood is set to unveil the Golden Globe nominations Thursday after dark comedy "Birdman" received an early pre-Oscars boost as Tinseltown's annual awards race gets into high gear. All eyes will be on the Beverly Hilton hotel at 5:30 am (1300 GMT) Thursday, when the Golden Globe shortlists are announced by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). The 72nd Golden Globes show will be held on January 11. "Birdman" -- the tale of a washed-up superhero movie star (former "Batman" Michael Keaton) trying to resurrect his career -- scored four nominations from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), which were announced Wednesday. Coming-of-age drama "Boyhood," the Stephen Hawking biopic "The Theory of Everything" and "The Imitation Game," the story of World War II codebreaker Alan Turing, each won three SAG nods. All four films were nominated for best overall cast, along with quirky comedy "The Grand Budapest Hotel." The SAG nominations are the first major awards announcement of Hollywood's annual race for trophies and glory -- a clutch of red-carpet ceremonies that climaxes with the Academy Awards on February 22. - Oscars indicators - The SAG awards -- which will be given out in Los Angeles on January 25 -- are often an early indication of Oscars hopes, as members of the actors union represent 20 percent of the 6,000-odd voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Although more high-profile than the SAGs, the Golden Globes are seen as less of an indicator of Oscars glory, as a relatively small group of non-US journalists chooses the winners, rather than the industry itself. "Birdman" -- which has won rave reviews for Keaton -- scored SAG nominations for best actor, best supporting actor and best supporting actress, along with a nod for best ensemble. The movie also topped nominations for the Independent Spirit awards announced last month with six nods. - Snubs at SAGs - Among those snubbed by SAG voters were Bradley Cooper in Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper," Jessica Chastain in "A Most Violent Year," and the well-reviewed Martin Luther King historical drama "Selma." All of those movies are set for release later this month. For best actor at the SAGs, Keaton is up against Benedict Cumberbatch ("The Imitation Game"), Steve Carell ("Foxcatcher"), Eddie Redmayne ("The Theory of Everything"), and Jake Gyllenhaal for "Nightcrawler." "The Theory of Everything" also scored a best actress nod for Felicity Jones as Hawking's wife Jane in the tale of the groundbreaking physicist's early life and descent into disability with motor neuron disease. She faces fellow nominees Jennifer Aniston ("Cake"), Julianne Moore ("Still Alice"), Rosamund Pike ("Gone Girl") and Reese Witherspoon ("Wild"). In the best supporting actor category, "Boyhood" co-star Ethan Hawke is up against veteran Robert Duvall ("The Judge"), Mark Ruffalo ("Foxcatcher"), J.K. Simmons ("Whiplash") and Edward Norton ("Birdman"). For best supporting actress, Patricia Arquette ("Boyhood") is up against Keira Knightley ("The Imitation Game"), Meryl Streep ("Into the Woods"), Naomi Watts ("St Vincent") and Emma Stone ("Birdman"). Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Spotify Just Made It Easier Than Ever To See What All Your Friends Are Listening To | ||
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Spotify is rolling out a new way to show you what music your friends are listening to, the company announced on Thursday. "Because we think music is inherently social, we think that what your friends are listening to could be a really, really compelling path to [music] discovery," Spotify product manager Miles Lennon tells Business Insider. Lennon says one of the most common ways he's seen people use Spotify is by looking at its playlists. Spotify already lets you see lists of top songs in your country or in the world. But starting Thursday, Spotify users will see a new playlist, Top Tracks in your Network. The list, updated daily and displayed in Spotify's Browse section under Top Lists, shows you the most popular songs among the people you're following on Spotify from the past seven days. The more popular a song is with your friends, the higher it is up the chart. The playlist also shows you a drop-down menu of all your friends listening to those songs. If you have Spotify Premium, you can select and listen to those songs. If you use Spotify for free, you can shuffle the playlist. "What we've been searching for is something as frictionless as seeing what people are listening to with all the meaning of receiving a song right from a friend directly," Lennon says. Spotify is rolling out the Top Tracks in Your Network feature on mobile and tablet first. If you use Spotify on a computer, you can visit an artist or album page and see which of the people you're following are plugged in and listening. “Discovering music through friends has always been core to what we do at Spotify,” says Charlie Hellman, VP of product at Spotify. “One out of every five Spotify streams comes from a user listening to another user’s music, whether that’s checking out an artist you saw your friend listening to, or seeing that your gym buddy has created the perfect workout playlist.” This is just the latest social push by Spotify. A few weeks ago, Spotify announced a partnership with Uber, allowing Uber users who also have Spotify Premium accounts to DJ their own Uber rides in 10 cities: London, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, Mexico City, San Francisco, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney and Toronto. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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River Plate win Copa Sudamericana | ||
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Buenos Aires (AFP) - River Plate won their first continental title in 17 years on Wednesday when they beat Colombian side Nacional Medellin 2-0 in the second leg of the final of the Copa Sudamericana. The first leg in Medellin had ended in a 0-0 draw and the sides were still deadlocked at half-time in Buenos Aires. But two goals in five minutes after 54 and 59 minutes from defenders Gabriel Mercado and Germán Pezzella set River Plate on course for the trophy considered to be South America's second most prestigious after the Copa Libertadores. Coached by former Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marcelo Gallardo, it was River Plate's first continental title since 1997. The club hit rock bottom in 2011 when they were relegated from the top flight, but they battled their way back under coach Ramon Diaz and topped the league in June of this year. Diaz was subsequently named as coach of Paraguay's national team and Gallardo was named to take over from him. "I am really proud to have played at this club and now to have come back and to savour this victory from the bench," he said. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Japan's Abe set to win powerful majority: poll | ||
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Tokyo (AFP) - Japan's ruling coalition headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to sweep elections this weekend, retaining its unassailable two-thirds majority and crushing a divided and demoralised opposition, polls showed Thursday. Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner Komeito will likely secure 317 of the 475 seats, giving them the super-majority they need in the powerful lower chamber to force through legislation, a poll published by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said. That would insulate the nationalist prime minister even if his coalition loses control of the upper house in an election expected in 2016. The LDP is projected to win between 290 and 318 of the available seats, while Komeito could bag between 29 and 35, the Asahi poll showed. Before last month's dissolution, the LDP held 295 seats and Komeito had 31. The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), whose three years of disorganised government between 2009 and 2012 disappointed voters, will likely adorn its current parlous tally of 62 seats with a couple of dozen more but remain neutered. Abe's gains are expected to come partly from the carcasses of now-defunct minor party groupings that have split in two or dissolved since his 2012 win. However, the liberal-leaning Asahi noted, around 40 percent of voters have not decided how they will cast their ballots, and could -- theoretically at least -- change the results. Observers expect a poor turnout at polling stations on Sunday, with many voters unenthusiastic about a general election just half way through the usual four-year term. Despite growing disenchantment with Abe, whose "Abenomics" reforms are having an uneven effect, many voters feel there is no feasible alternative, leading some commentators to say the prime minister will win by default. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Russian Central Bank Hikes Rates To Halt Rouble Collapse | ||
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The Russian central bank has raised rates to 10.5% from 9.5% in its latest attempt to halt the collapse of the rouble. The currency has been hit by a combination of collapsing oil prices, which the country's economy is heavily dependent on, and Western sanctions over Russia's role in supporting anti-government rebels in Ukraine. So far the move has not had the intended impact. The rouble dropped to a new low of over 55 roubles to the dollar following the announcement. The central bank has tried to use shock tactics before to limited effect. At the end of October it raised rates from 8% to 9.5% in a widely unexpected gamble that higher rates will halt the rouble's slide against the dollar and the euro. Unfortunately, while the economic outlook certainly declined as expected the move failed to prevent the rouble from sliding further as oil prices continued to slump. As you can see from the chart below, rouble falls against the dollar (orange line) have closely tracked drops in the price of oil (green line):
Market analysts were forecasting a hike of the central bank's key interest rate of 9.5% by anything from 25 basis points to as much as 250 basis points, according to the Wall Street Journal. That is, people expected anything from 9.75% to 12%.
The rate of price rises and ongoing falls in the value of the currency has put pressure on the central bank to increase interest rates in order to slow the pace of spending in the economy by encouraging people to save more of their money. However doing so risks worsening the already parlous state of Russia's economy, which is now expected to fall into a recession next year. After growing at an average pace of around 6.9% between 1999-2008 Russia has struggled to regain its momentum since the Great Recession. According to the Bank of Russia, the annual GDP growth rate in 2014 was 0.6% with the central bank forecasting growth will remain close to zero between 2015-2016 (though, if the Economic Development Ministry prediction of a 0.7% contraction next year is right, close to zero here could mean a mild recession).
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Inflation in Russia hit 9.4% last month as sanctions on imports and the collapsing rouble drove up prices in the country — well above the central bank's target of 5.5% for 2014. The Bank of Russia forecasts that inflation may exceed 10% in the first quarter but is expected to decline after that.
Putin Handed Over $8 Billion In Contracts To His Russian Oligarch Friends | ||
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The deals included a 228-billion- rouble project to build a bridge to Crimea from the Russian mainland as well as a large chunk of the 770-billion-rouble Power of Siberia gas pipeline. The two men were sanctioned due to their links to key Russian industries. Rotenberg, a childhood friend of Putin's, owns SMP bank along with his brother Boris. The US Treasury claims the brothers "have provided support to Putin’s pet projects" by winning and completing "approximately $7 billion in contracts for the Sochi Olympic Games and their personal wealth has increased by $2.5 billion in the last two years alone". SMP Bank, which is also subject to sanctions and unable to trade with companies in the EU and the US, received a 10-year state loan of about 100 billion roubles at an interest rate of 0.51%, according to Bloomberg. The money was provided under the condition that Rotenberg's firm rescue another Russian bank, Mosoblbank, which had fallen into difficulties. Timchenko meanwhile is one of the founders of Gunvor, one of the world’s largest commodity trading companies. He also appears on the US sanctions list as the Treasury claims his "activities in the energy sector have been directly linked to Putin...[and] Putin has investments in Gunvor and may have access to Gunvor funds". Bloomberg reports that Anton Kurevin, a spokesperson for Volga Group that manages his holdings, said contracts won by Timchenko "were obtained fairly through a competitive process". Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Companies linked to Russian billionaire Arkady Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko, both close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, were given contracts worth 309 billion roubles (£3.6 billion, $8.1 billion) since western sanctions were imposed on the men in March, 