What I learned by reading Businessweek's incredible 38,000-word article on code | ||
| | ||
Bloomberg Businessweek has devoted an entire issue to a single article: Paul Ford's "What is Code?" I read the whole thing online this afternoon, and it's remarkable. I could see it being taught in journalism classes years from now, like Gay Talese's "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" or John Hersey's "Hiroshima." It takes something both very important and hard to understand, and makes it understandable to an audience of smart but non-expert readers. It does this incredibly well. It mostly feels like fun, not work. It also contains the best use of interactive elements in a story that I've ever seen. The demos aren't just there to show off. They're embedded in the story and make it better — anybody who lived through desktop computing in the 1990s will laugh out loud at the Java "demo." But it's long! 38,000 words or so. It took me 82 minutes to read. (Yes, the article keeps track of your activity and tells you how long it took you to get through it.) You should read the whole thing anyway. But if you don't have time right this second, here are some highlights.
There's so much more to it, though. Now go read the whole thing--> SEE ALSO: The Stress Of Being A Computer Programmer Is Literally Driving Many Of Them Crazy Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: These guys are behind one of the greatest software breakthroughs of all time  | ||
| |
Microsoft's skill is translating computer science into business. The essay touches only very briefly on Microsoft, claiming the company has lasted so long because it knows how to " Snowden may have some clarifying to do after bombshell reports that Russia and China accessed NSA files | ||
| | ||
"Western intelligence agencies say they have been forced into the rescue operations after Moscow gained access to more than [1 million] classified files," The London paper, citing senior UK officials, reports. A senior UK government source told the BBC that China and Russia "have information" that led to agents being moved, adding there was "no evidence" any officers had been harmed. The source added that the information included "knowledge of how we operate" and had obstructed the UK from getting "vital information." If the reports are true, then Snowden has some explaining to do — especially given that he has repeatedly said that Russia and China could not have possibly received documents. Snowden told former US Senator Gordon Humphrey in July 2013 that "no intelligence service - not even our own - has the capacity to compromise the secrets I continue to protect. ... I cannot be coerced into revealing that information, even under torture." The 31-year-old told James Risen of The New York Times in October 2013 that there was “a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents.” Risen also reported, citing an encrypted chat with Snowden, that the former CIA technician "gave all of the classified documents he had obtained to journalists he met in Hong Kong." (ACLU lawyer and Snowden legal adviser Ben Wizner subsequently told me that the report was inaccurate.) Snowden would later tell NBC that he "destroyed" all documents in his possession before he spoke with the Russians in Hong Kong. "The best way to make sure that for example the Russians can't break my fingers and — and compromise information or — or hit me with a bag of money until I give them something was not to have it at all," he told Brian Williams of NBC in Moscow in May 2014. "And the way to do that was by destroying the material that I was holding before I transited through Russia."
The heistSnowden allegedly stole up to 1.77 million NSA documents while working at two consecutive jobs for US government contractors in Hawaii between March 2012 and May 2013. The US government believes Snowden gave about 200,000 "tier 1 and 2" documents detailing the NSA's global surveillance apparatus to American journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras in June 2013. The US also believes that Snowden also took up to 1.5 million "tier 3" documents, including 900,000 Department of Defense files and documents detailing NSA offensive cyber operations, the whereabouts of which are largely unknown. Snowden flew to Hong Kong on May 20, 2013. After staying at an unknown location, Snowden reportedly checked into the Mira Hotel on June 1 and subsequently met with Poitras, Greenwald, and the Guardian's Ewen MacAskill. Two days after checking out of the Mira Hotel on June 10, Snowden showed The South China Morning Post (SCMP) an unknown number of documents revealing "operational details of specific [NSA] attacks on [Chinese] computers, including internet protocol (IP) addresses, dates of attacks, and whether a computer was still being monitored remotely." "If I have time to go through this information, I would like to make it available to journalists in each country to make their own assessment, independent of my bias, as to whether or not the knowledge of US network operations against their people should be published." Eleven days later, advised by WikiLeaks, Snowden got on a plane to Moscow (click graphic for larger version).
'Very poor information security practice'If the UK government is correct that Russia and China obtained information from files Snowden stole, then it's possible that data came from journalists working with Snowden. The cache given to Poitras and Greenwald allegedly included 58,000 "highly classified UK intelligence documents," The Telegraph reported in August after the UK government detained David Miranda, Glenn Greenwald's partner, as he traveled through London's Heathrow Airport. Authorities say they confiscated electronic devices in which classified documents were stored as well as a password. “Much of the material is encrypted. However, among the unencrypted documents ... was a piece of paper that included the password for decrypting one of the encrypted files on the external hard drive recovered from the claimant," the UK government stated to the court. “The fact that ... the claimant was carrying on his person a handwritten piece of paper containing the password for one of the encrypted files ... is a sign of very poor information security practice.” In any case, senior UK officals allege that Moscow gained access to more than 1 million classified files, and the journalists are believed to have received about 200,000. And it's still unclear what happened to the documents not given to journalists. So if the Sunday Times and BBC reports are accurate, Snowden statement that there was "a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents" requires serious clarification. SEE ALSO: We Now Know A Lot More About Edward Snowden's Epic Heist — And It's Troubling Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Why Putin is the most powerful man in the world  | ||
| |
The Sunday Times 
Brilliant management advice from Google's former CEO on how to build a $300 billion company (GOOG) | ||
| | ||
To be successful in the technology-driven internet age, a company has to attract "smart creative" employees and then create an environment where they can thrive. At least that's the argument that Google's Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg make in "How Google Works." In the book, executive chairman and former CEO Schmidt and former SVP of product Rosenberg outline what they learned while building Google into a company now worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The duo created a fun, illustrated presentation to highlight the main principles of the book. Google gave us permission to republish those slides here.    See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
| |
The head of the new 'YouTube built for gamers' dishes on why it's not just copying Amazon's Twitch | ||
| | ||
YouTube dove much deeper into the gaming world Friday with the announcement of a new gamer-focused site and app. Although YouTube has long been chock-full of gaming videos, YouTube Gaming puts all that content in one place, giving over 25,000 games their own branded channels, and, more importantly, giving users a new, simpler way to stream their gameplay live. With the new live-streaming feature, YouTube Gaming joins the ranks of the hugely popular gaming site Twitch.tv, which Amazon acquired for nearly $1 billion last year (Google reportedly tried to buy it, too). Twitch hosts both live-streamed and video-on-demand (VoD) content, but its real-time broadcasts are what users flock to. At the time it was acquired, Twitch accounted for more than 40% of all live video streaming traffic online. Because YouTube Gaming will soon take on live-streaming — the site launches this summer — it's easy to pin the launch as YouTube trying to demolish Twitch. But Ryan Wyatt, YouTube's head of global gaming content, told Business Insider that he thinks the "YouTube vs Twitch" narrative is overblown. "I think it’s sensationalized because it’s a fun story to write, talking about YouTube vs. the only other significant gaming platform," he says. "But I don’t look at it that way." One of the things that sets YouTube Gaming apart, he says, is the breadth of content it will include.
"Gaming content can be scripted animation, live-streaming, original programming, eSports, people doing cosplay for a champion in a game, and more," he says. "We want to be all inclusive to everything that fits under 'Gaming,' broadly." Sure, YouTube is launching new live-streaming features, but Wyatt thinks the most valuable part of the new gaming app is that it will be bolstered by all the other videos users have uploaded over the years. "You’re going to be able to go to League of Legends game page and see all the great content that’s there," he says. "VoD, eSports, live-streams, the top-five plays. There’s no place on the Internet where you can do that, other than the YouTube Gaming app." Twitch, for its part, didn't seem particularly worried about new competition either. SEE ALSO: Google is starting a new company to improve cities Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's what happens when you drop an Apple Watch face down on cement  | ||
| |
For example, popular YouTuber France is trying to force Google to make a massive global change the search giant hates | ||
| | ||
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The 12 best new features coming to the iPhone  | ||
| |
New programs from Walmart and eBay prove that e-commerce membership is the most important new retail trend | ||
| | ||
By most measures, Amazon's membership program, called Amazon Prime, has been a runaway success for the e-commerce giant. The Prime model — of asking customers to pay an upfront fee in exchange for free two-day shipping and other benefits — has helped Amazon pull shoppers away from competing retailers and establish loyal online customers. But now Amazon's competitors are fighting back.
In a new report from BI Intelligence, we track the e-commerce membership program trend and look at how e-commerce retailers are taking the Costco model and updating it for the online shopping age. We also assess the advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce membership programs for the retailer, as well as what consumers might look for in these programs and what incentives are needed to get people to sign up. And we provide an outlook for other retailers and product categories that could benefit from employing the membership model. Access the Full Report By Signing Up For A Trial Membership Today >> Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:
In full, the report:
To access the full report from BI Intelligence, sign up for a 14-day trial here. Members also gain access to new in-depth reports, hundreds of charts and datasets, as well as daily newsletters on the digital industry.
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This is what happens to your brain and body when you check your phone before bed  | ||
| |
These are the 10 best green cars of 2015 | ||
| | ||
. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants  | ||
| |
This is why Apple knows you'll eventually give up listening to Spotify free and pay for Apple Music instead | ||
| | ||
READ: Apple Music and the vinyl conspiracy. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Two models in Russia just posed with a 1,400-pound bear  | ||
| |
10 of the most common optical illusions and how they work | ||
| | ||
The human brain is perhaps the most complex biological structure in evolutionary history. Yet, it's surprisingly easy to trick our brain into perceiving something one way, when in reality it's another. And scientists are only just now figuring out how some of these tricks work. They're called optical illusions, and they can teach us a great deal about how our brain and eyes work together to understand the world around us. Here are 10 of the craziest optical illusions and how they work: 1. Peripheral drift illusion
The human brain, although highly sophisticated, processes information in a very basic way: As we move our eyes from left to right, we pick up visual cues both directly and in our peripheral vision that our brain then processes piece-by-piece — not continuously. And because our brains process high-contrast elements, like black on white, faster than low-contrast ones, like black on grey, that lapse in mental read time is ultimately what causes the apparent motion. In a 2012 study, researchers at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, reported that subjects looking at the picture above only saw apparent movement if their eyes were actually moving. When the subjects maintained a steady stare at a single point, the apparent motion ceased. 2. Ames room
Almost any room we enter is either square or rectangular-shaped, meaning opposite walls are parallel to each other and meet at 90 degree angles. However, an Ames room is shaped like a trapezoid. The far-left corner is farther from the camera than the far-right corner. So, as the man walks across the room he appears to grow in size when in reality he's just moving closer to the camera. 3. Hybrid image
This is an example of what is called a hybrid image that imposes one image on top of another. So, in fact, you are seeing both Monroe and Einstein. The trick is that the image of Einstein shows more detail than the image of Monroe. The farther an object is from us, the blurrier it appears. Therefore, our brains instantaneously process the blurry image of Monroe when the object is small and apparently far away, but as it comes closer, our eyes and brain recognize the more detailed image of Einstein. 4. Geometrical optical illusion
In case you're wondering, the only thing changing in this picture is the addition of the diagonal lines. The plank is not actually tilting to the right, despite what your brain is telling you. There's no single explanation for why we perceive an imaginary tilt here. One possible reason could be related to a theory that researcher Mark Changizi of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York first proposed in 2008: Rensselaer suggests that in the 0.1 seconds it takes our brains to process the light that hits our retinas, humans actually predict what we think we should see. Although, this does not clearly tell us why we only perceive the tilt once the diagonal lines are introduced, Rensselaer's "foresight theory" can explain another type of geometrical optical illusion called Hering illusion. 5. Dragon illusion
This type of optical illusion, similar to the Ames room, plays with our brain's sense of perspective: the dragon's face looks like it's sticking out toward us because, after all, we know from a life time of experience that faces stick out instead of cave in. But the exact opposite is actually the case here, as Slate science writer Phil Plait explains on Bad Astronomy. Regardless of what you perceive, the entire face of this dragon is inverted making everything backwards: For example, the right eye is actually farther away from us than the left eye, and it's this inversion that confuses our brains and makes us think the dragon is constantly, hungrily staring us down. You can make this illusion yourself very easily. There are numerous templates online where you simply print and cut out the shape and then fold it according to the directions. 6. Shades of gray illusion
His experiment suggests that the human brain has a hard time perceiving slight changes in shade of the same color, like gray in the above example. Therefore, the brain is forced to guess or interpret the color we either think we see or want to see. The best way to do this is through context, by comparing the color in question with other surrounding colors. Obviously, it's easy to trick our brain with the right setting. 7. Reversible image
Because we can easily perceive the figure to be spinning one way and then the next, this is called a reversible illusion – the most famous of which is the Necker cube. What makes it possible is the fact that the twirling figure is completely black and offers no sense of depth such as shading or shadows on her body. Both her arms and legs seemingly pass through her body, so a distinct direction of motion is ambiguous. Some people have a harder time seeing her change direction than others. One way to see the change is to take your direct gaze off of the figure so you can only see her in your peripheral vision. 8. The Dress
It's this difference in opinion that had the entire internet talking and wondering about this optical illusion. Like the twirling woman in the previous example, this is an example of a reversible image where some people can see both sets of colors while others can only perceive one set. However, this optical illusion is unique because it's the only known reversible image that deals with colors. Plus, there's a right answer to this illusion whereas there is none for the spinning dancer. Neurologists are now trying to understand the reason behind this shocking phenomenon. So far, a few papers that explore possible explanations, have been published. 9. Curious cat illusion
To answer the question, people again use their brain's sense of perspective as well as draw from a lifetime of experience with stairs. For example, people examine dark smudges in the grainy image that could be shadows that would position of the cat's body. Business Insider's Megan Willett, for example, is certain that the cat is going downstairs and you can all about her detailed argument in her post "The cat is definitely going down the stairs — here's how you can tell." 10. Flattened moon illusion
When the moon and the ISS are on opposite sides of the Earth, the sunlight that bounces off of the moon and heads toward the ISS must first travel through Earth's atmosphere. During its journey, the light interacts with particles in the atmosphere that bend the light, similar to how water distorts light and why objects underwater look larger. But light from the top-half of the moon travels through less atmosphere than the bottom half, which is physically bent upward to reach astronauts' eyes and is why the moon appears squashed from the bottom-up. CHECK OUT: Shocking photos of the flying 'Devil Ray' fish that completely mystify scientists READ MORE: Epically awesome photos of Mars Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This colorful chameleon is actually a stunning optical illusion  | ||
| |
Despite the swirling and twirling you think you see, this is a completely still image. It's an example of 
This is an example of an Ames room that was first invented by American ophthalmologist Adelbert Ames, Jr. in 1934. This room toys with our brain's sense of perspective.
The longer you see this image the more it looks like Albert Einstein instead of Marilyn Monroe, so you might think it's just a skewed photo of the famous physicist. 
This example is just one of many types of 
Originally designed by the late American magician and writer 
In 1995, an MIT professor of vision science, Edward Adelson, proved with his 
If you look at this infamous optical illusion long enough, you should actually see the woman change the direction that she's spinning and the leg she's standing on. This mesmerizing optical illusion was first made in
You're probably familiar with this infamously confusing dress that first appeared on 
Is the cat going up or down the stairs? That's the big question 
Believe it or not, that's a real photo of the full moon taken in 2012 by an astronaut on board the International Space Station (ISS). This is a different type of Everything you need to know about 'greige,' the color that's taking over Pinterest | ||
| | ||
Keep reading to find out more about 'Greige" >> Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This 26-year-old accidentally signed up for a poker tournament and won $973,683  | ||
| |
How a 10-month-old startup's founders convinced investors to give them millions of dollars to buy a 93-year-old German razor factory | ||
| | ||
Not many companies can convince investors to give them $100 million before their first birthday. But Jeff Raider and Andy Katz-Mayfield, the cofounders of shaving startup Harry's did just that — and then they used the money to buy a 93-year-old German factory. Raider and Katz-Mayfield became friends more than a decade ago, when the two were interns together during college. Raider then went on to help found glasses company Warby Parker with three of his classmates at UPenn. (Today, Raider is still on Warby Parker's board of directors.) It all began with an annoying trip to the drug storeA frustrating visit to a pharmacy in October 2011 would eventually lead the two to start their own company together. "I went into the drug store. I'd run out of razor blades and just had a really frustrating purchase experience," Katz-Mayfield recalls. "They were locked in a case, which I found to be a little bit absurd. I was buying razor blades — not diamond jewelry. And I wound up spending over $20 for four razor blades and some shaving cream, and I didn't have a good feeling as a consumer. I knew I was getting taken advantage of, and I didn't really have any choice in the matter." He left but returned to the store, frustrated. Katz-Mayfield looked at the branding and design of the razor blades on display, and he didn't like what he saw. "It didn't really speak to me as a consumer. It's really deeply rooted in this kind of futuristic technology. There's literally a package with a razor blade flying over the moon," he recalls. "And I understand what they're trying to convey, but to me it almost felt like I was being treated like a child and being sold children's toys." The next day, Katz-Mayfield called up Raider, who immediately empathized with his friend's experience. The two started thinking about a company that could take the pain out of buying quality razor blades and shaving cream. "The question that Andy posed that was really exciting was, can we do this better? Can we create a better experience around incredibly high-quality products at really reasonable prices delivered to people in a way that they actually want to buy it, and in doing so, make the whole process of shaving better for guys?" Raider says.
Then reality set in: making good razor blades is actually really hardThe first thing the cofounders learned: Great razor blades are important but they're not easy to make. They started out by trying to shave with every single razor blade out there. "It was a physically and emotionally scarring experience to shave with the lower-end products on the market," Raider told Business Insider. After trying every razor blade out there, Raider and Katz-Mayfield discovered a 93-year-old German razor blade manufacturer called Feintechnik. The company is "steeped in the tradition of making, literally grinding steel into exceptionally sharp and stable razor blades that then give you a really clean shave," Raider says. "We got to know the folks there, and we created a product with them that was a custom product for Harry's. At that point we were like, 'Okay, we have a product that we're really proud to sell.'" The two cofounders launched Harry's in March 2013 and were "blown away by the initial response. It far exceeded our expectations, which were pretty high," Katz-Mayfield says. "The brand resonated with consumers. People really loved the product."
Harry's isn't the only player in the startup razor game. Michael Dubin founded Dollar Shave Club in early 2012 with the promise of sending men one razor per month for a buck. It has raised just over $70 million from investors. Early Foursquare employee Tristan Walker founded another razor competitor in April 2013, Walker & Co, which actually uses the same German factory as Harry's to produce its product, Bevel. How a 10-month-old startup was able to buy a 93-year-old companyIn January 2014, 10-month-old Harry's announced it had raised a $122.5 million investment round from Tiger Global, Thrive Capital, Highland Capital, and SV Angel. At the same time, Harry’s announced it would be shelling out $100 million to purchase Feintechnik — both the company and its 93-year-old factory — in the sleepy German town of Eisfeld.
Vertical integration is an increasingly common strategy: Startups like Harry's, Bonobos and Warby Parker work with manufacturers to make eyeglasses and clothes, which are then sold online directly to customers. This lets companies have more control over the quality of their products and manufacture items for less. Harry's sells most of its wares online, but it also sells some in its own branded barbershop in New York City. But why would a 93-year-old company, which fondly refers to the Harry's founders as the "American internet boys," agree to sell itself to such a young, inexperienced startup? In order to buy Feintechnik, Harry's had to earn the respect and trust of the German company. "We always did what we said we would do — like order and pay for a large order (one million razor blades) ahead of our launch," Raider told Business Insider. "So when we approached them with the idea, they believed we would follow through." From start to finish, the deal took about eight months of negotiation. "We started the process when we were just two months old as a company and ended when we were 11-months-old," Raider says. "It was an exciting time. At the end, we were incredibly excited to have created HF, the combination of Harry's and Feintechnik, and the only fully vertically integrated grooming brand in the world." It's not easy to acquire a Germany factory into an American startup. Before the acquisition, the Harry's founders secured its financing — the $122.5 million round from Tiger Global, Thrive Capital, Highland Capital, and SV Angel — by telling investors about the model they wanted to create.
Raider and Katz-Mayfield wanted Feintechnik's senior management to stay with the company. To that end, the founders and their investors spent a lot of time talking about their global vision. Raider says they learned about the 93-year-old company's history and planned to take over the German company in a way that was fair to the factory's seasoned employees, who stayed on as part of the deal. At the time Harry's purchased Feintechnik, the company had 30 people on its team in New York and 420 on its new team in Germany. The average Feintechnik employee has worked at the company for 13 years and knows the ins and outs of making high-quality razor blades by hand.
Today, the Harry's founders say they're growing both businesses — the Harry's brand and Feintechnik — rapidly. The founders say Harry's revenue grew five times in 2014, and they're growing faster than they could have anticipated. Now Harry's employs 80 people in its NYC office and 450 in Germany, though the company will continue growing its German operations. In total, the company has raised $211 million in venture capital funding. "We're investing a ton right now in growth there, basically doubling the capacity of the factory over the next couple years, which is no small feat," Katz-Mayfield says. "It's a large investment — we need to hire over 100 people in the next couple of years there." SEE ALSO: Teens are going crazy for YouNow, a livestreaming app with 100 million monthly user sessions Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The Secret To Grooming The 10-Day Beard That Women Find Sexiest  | ||
| |
Harry’s sells shaving kits, individual razors, and bottles of shaving cream. For $15, you can get a shaving kit complete with a five-blade razor, three replacement blades, and shaving cream. When you consider that just a razor and a couple replacement blades from Gillette will run you anywhere from $10 to $15, Harry's kits look like a pretty good deal.
Purchasing Feintechnik was a strategic move — it let Harry's become a vertically integrated company and to control manufacturing. "It is incredibly difficult to manufacture razor blades. There's very few places in the world that can do it," Katz-Mayfield said. "And so it was kind of serendipitous timing where the guys that owned the factory were thinking about potentially selling it, and we had just launched and we were young, but we were fortunate that we had some investors who believed in the vision and understood the importance of controlling manufacturing. They agreed to back us to go buy it."
"We then convinced a German bank that they should believe in our vision and lend to the company," Raider says. "We were able to do so with the help of the existing management at Feintechnik and were fortunate to find incredible partners in Germany who were excited about lending to us to help us grow."
"We spent a lot of time in Germany speaking with the team there, making them feel like they were part of one company," Raider told Business Insider. "I remember the first time, right after we bought it; we stood up on some wood crates on the factory floor, and we spoke to the entire production staff. And this factory's in a very small town in Germany; it felt like half the town was there. We looked at each other, and we were like, 'wow, this is a lot of responsibility.'" 23 places you should visit in 2015 | ||
| | ||
We looked at major developments, cultural trends, and global festivals to find the hottest places to travel around the world in 2015. From the Philippines to Peru, here are the best places to travel this year. Japan will continue to be a bargain destination for travelers. Tourism in Japan has taken a hit since the 2011 tsunami hit the country's coast and ricocheted into a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Since then, the Japanese government has cleaned up the countryside and launched a massive public-relations campaign encouraging tourists to come visit. Pair that with a sharp decline in the value of the Japanese currency, and you get a country that's ripe for tourism. Traditionally one of the most expensive countries in the world, Japan is quickly becoming a bargain destination that's luring in travelers looking for a deal. More than 16 million visitors traveled to Japan last year, with more expected this year. Most tourists are heading to Tokyo, which is also busy preparing for the 2020 summer Olympics, but there are plenty of incredible attractions all over the country. Lima, Peru, will maintain its status as the foodie capital of South America. Lima, Peru has been slowly building its reputation as a city for foodies, cementing its status most recently when the Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants Awards gave the coveted top spot to the city's Central restaurant. (The restaurant also ranked at No. 4 on the venerable list of the World's Best Restaurants.) In total, eight of 50 restaurants on the prestigious list were in Lima. The Peruvian city is home to everything from Michelin-starred restaurants to hole-in-the-wall cevicherias that will continue to draw in foodies from around the world. "Frozen" fans will continue to flock to Norway to seek out Elsa and Anna's fictional Arendelle. "Frozen" became the highest-grossing animated film of all time, and with its increased merchandising and announcement of a sequel, the "Frozen" craze will only continue to grow. Set in Arendelle, a fictional kingdom in Norway, "Frozen" shows a gorgeous landscape of lakes, waterfalls, mountains, and fjords. Fans of the animated film are now seeking out real-life Arendelle in Norway. The country has seen a huge growth in tourism since the release of the film, with tour operators reporting a 40% increase in sales. Bergen, a city on the west coast, was the inspiration for the film. Voss is also popular with fans for its nearby fjords, glaciers, rivers, and lakes. With its small fishing villages and breathtaking cliffs, the Lofoten Islands will also attract Frozen fans. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
| |
Even though it's halfway through 2015, there is plenty of time left to book an amazing trip this year. This budget airlines is doing something really smart with drones — and big airlines should pay attention | ||
| | ||
Engineers at EasyJet, a UK budget airline, are developing a way to use automated drones to inspect aircraft and find damages. By reducing the amount of workers and machinery needed to check the airplanes, EasyJet aims to save time and money and pass the savings on to their customers. Produced by Monica Manalo. Video courtesy of Associated Press. Follow BI Video: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
The US Navy just tested a giant electromagnetic catapult | ||
| | ||
The US Navy has just tested their new electromagnetic aircraft launching system. The Navy hopes the new launching system will be able to replace existing steam based systems used to launch planes. The weighted sled was launched into the James River where it was recovered for additional test launches. So far the new system has shown that it can pull up to 80,000 pounds and has a much smoother acceleration than the current system. Video courtesy of US Navy Follow BI Video: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff thinks his $47 billion company failed in one very important area (CRM) | ||
| | ||
When Marc Benioff first started Salesforce back in 1999, he had three big agendas in mind: to create a "cloud" software delivered over the web; to build a subscription business model charged monthly; and to implement a philanthropic culture where 1% of the equity, profit, and employee time were given to charity. Over the past 16 years, Benioff has largely been able to achieve all three goals, turning Salesforce into one of the most powerful enterprise software companies in the world. Salesforce is now the largest employer in San Francisco with over 15,000 employees, and is worth about $47 billion. Yet, Benioff says he wishes he could go back to the very beginning and add one more important goal to the founding agenda: achieving women's equality at work. "I wish honestly that I could rewind time and go back and put that women's equality issue into the culture from the beginning," Benioff told CNN's Poppy Harlow. "Looking back 16 years, that was as big an issue as the philanthropy issue is for me now." As a first step, Benioff is making sure women are paid equally as men at Salesforce. He's already shared his plan to get to 100% equal pay back in April, but he reiterated his position during the CNN interview, saying, "I would really like to achieve that within 12 months...we’re committed to women having the same executive roles and all possibilities for them as well." For what it's worth, Benioff added Salesforce's inequality issues are not as bad as some of its peers in the tech industry. The 20 highest paid women make more than the 20 highest paid men at Salesforce, he said, while adding male employees account for about 71% of total workforce — slightly better than the 80% average in tech. Salesforce isn't the only tech company to push for gender equality, but it's certainly one of the most vocal companies about it. For example, its "Women Surge" program is designed to ensure managers seek out female job candidates while including at least 30% women in meetings. In fact, Benioff believes gender equality should be one of the performance metrics for every CEO in the country. "Just like a CEO might have a market share goal, or some other type of revenue goal or EPS goal, it has to be a metric that every CEO manages," he said. SEE ALSO: Salesforce just invested in a startup that can make gadgets like the Apple Watch useful at work Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants  | ||
| |
YouTube's biggest star makes over $4 million a year playing video games | ||
| | ||
Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg also known as "PewDiePie" is a foul-mouthed Swedish video-game commentator. With over 37 million subscribers he's by far YouTube's biggest star. Produced by Devan Joseph Follow BI Video: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
A former Apple employee describes what it was like to work on the design team under Steve Jobs (AAPL) | ||
| | ||
Former Apple CEO and cofounder Steve Jobs had high standards for his employees. This was especially true for the design team, according to one person who previously worked at Apple. Jobs didn't work closely with every team at the company — but he kept close tabs on the Human Interaction division. He met with the team every other Monday, which many considered to be a perk. But it also meant the Human Interaction team was constantly under pressure to impress Jobs, and had to work every other weekend to prepare for their meeting with him. Here's an account of what those meetings were like, which we heard from a former Apple employee who spoke with another employee on the Human Interaction team: Every two weeks, we meet with Steve Jobs and it's on a Monday. So that means every other weekend, I don't get. No matter what's going on, whether it's a deadline or new ideas for the future. We have to work every other weekend all the time no matter what ... And then you meet with him, and he craps on all of it. He might like one or two ideas, and usually he wants you to re-do those one or two ideas. And so that whole next week, you're re-doing those one or two ideas plus coming up with new ones. That's all year, all the time, every two weeks. Jobs liked to test people, and he had a reputation for doing so. There's an old myth that's told around Apple that said Jobs once shared an elevator with an intern. He asked the intern what he or she does, and that person didn't give a clear answer by the time the two had reached their floor. The intern was fired soon after. It's unclear if that actually ever happened, but it's been told around the company, a former Apple employee said. Steve Wozniak, the cofounder of Apple who was a close friend of Jobs, said that some of his best friends from Apple said they would never work with Jobs again given the chance. SEE ALSO: Apple isn't being very nice to some of its biggest fans Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Kids settle the debate and tell us which is better: an Apple or Samsung phone  | ||
| |
16 tech titans who are giving away most of their money instead of leaving it to their families | ||
| | ||
Some entrepreneurs who have made billions off of their tech ventures like to spend them in some pretty extravagant ways, whether it be on private planes, summer homes, or even an entire island. Others turn to more-philanthropic efforts, choosing to donate their wealth to different causes through foundations and trusts. We've rounded up some of the most generous people in tech, all of which have decided to donate large portions of their wealth to charity rather than leave all of it to their children. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates Gates has been open about his decision not to leave his $84.9 billion fortune to his three children. They will reportedly inherit just a small slice, about $10 million each. "I definitely think leaving kids massive amounts of money is not a favor to them," he said in a Reddit AMA in February. He founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 1994, and it currently has more than $36 billion in assets. Gates also teamed up with longtime friend Warren Buffett to start a campaign called "The Giving Pledge," which encourages other billionaires to donate at least half of their fortune to charity. AOL cofounder Steve Case Case helped millions of Americans get online, and now he's donating much of his wealth to developing other technologies. He founded the Case Foundation in 1997, which focuses on using technology to make philanthropy more effective. He also started an investment firm called Revolution, which invests in startups outside of Silicon Valley, and signed the Giving Pledge. "We share the view that those to whom much is given, much is expected. We realize we have been given a unique platform and opportunity, and we are committed to doing the best we can with it," he and wife Jean wrote. "We do not believe our assets are 'ours' but rather we try to be the responsible stewards of these resources." Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Benioff recently launched a campaign called SF Gives, which challenged tech companies to raise $10 million for San Francisco-based nonprofit programs in just 60 days. He's encouraged other corporations to follow his 1/1/1 model, which says that a company should donate 1% of its equity, 1% of its employees' time, and 1% of its resources to philanthropic efforts. He and wife Lynne have also personally given a total of $200 million to the children's hospital at UCSF.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
| |
Fresh funding and more departures at Quirky, the New York startup that burned through $150 million | ||
| | ||
Quirky, the New York City startup with the goal of "making invention accessible," is close to closing a new round of funding, even as more employees leave. CEO Ben Kaufman told Business Insider in April that he planned on raising more money, and that close is "just days away," Fortune's Dan Primack and Stacey Higginbotham report. The funding comes at a crucial time for the company, which has had an incredibly tumultuous year. In the past seven months it gone through multiple rounds of lay-offs, burned through tens of millions of dollars, and discovered that its founding business model broke at scale. Now, Business Insider has learned, Quirky's chief technology officer, Steven Heintz, has left the company to work at Bay Area-based Flextronics Invention Lab, and Quirky appears to have shut down the San Francisco office where he was based. We also heard from a former employee that Quirky's "Internet of Things" subsidiary Wink was almost sold, but the would-be buyer backed out after a major malfunction of Wink's products in April. (Quirky did not initially respond to a call and multiple emails for this story. If they do, we'll update it.) A recap of how things went wrongWhen Kaufman founded Quirky in 2009, it allowed ordinary people to become inventors by submitting ideas that Quirky would turn into real products and sell at stores like Target, Staples, and Bed Bath & Beyond. As the company grew, it started accepting more complex product ideas, which not only cost more to manufacture, but often sold far fewer units than its simpler, cheaper items. Meanwhile, the company created a subsidiary "Internet of Things" business called Wink, which it launched after striking a deal with General Electric in 2013. The partnership gave Wink access to old GE patents and it was an impressive vote of confidence from a major company in a young startup. But Wink's first product launches in 2014 were far from smooth. Disappointment is rife in forum posts about various software products and Gizmodo ran an extremely harsh review of the Wink system earlier this year. Wink's financials were such that in February, Quirky decided to hire bankers to help it either sell Wink or raise new outside investment. "There’s a point where it doesn’t make sense for one unprofitable startup to keep funding another unprofitable startup," Kaufman told Fortune. As that process got started, Quirky decided to scale back in a few ways. It had a round of layoffs (which, compounded with cuts in November and December, amounted to more 20% of the company), decided to stop making so many products, and shut down its ecommerce site. A new initiative, called Powered By Quirky, would align the startup with major brands like Mattell and headphone maker Harmin and help those corporations figure out new products to launch. Quirky itself would only manufacture products in three categories: "connected home," "electronics," and "appliances." That process was "moving along," Kaufman told Fortune, but then disaster struck.
In May, Quirky's chief technology officer, Steven Heintz, left the company to work at Bay Area-based Flextronics Invention Lab. In early June, sources told Business Insider that Quirky had laid off between 20 and 30 more employees. Several former Quirky employees tell Business Insider that the remaining people in Quirky's San Francisco office either followed Heintz to Flextronics, started working at Wink, or lost their jobs. Kaufman declined to comment at the time of that report (and Quirky hasn't answered Business Insider's phone calls or emails for this story), but three former employees say that the office also sold all of its machine equipment, like 3D printers and a plastic injection molding machine, to Flextronics. What's next?Selling off that machinery would make sense, because Kaufman tells Fortune that Quirky will stop making any of its own products at all. It's looking for Powered By Quirky partners for the "electronics" category it had decided to stick with in February. As for the "appliance" category, Quirky announced in March that it would start making smart appliances through a partnership with Amazon, but Kaufman says that a formal announcement will come about that soon, given its decision to stop manufacturing. Kaufman also told Fortune said that Wink is now "closing in" on a round of outside funding, separate from the funding that Quirky is raising. Both rounds will have new lead investors — Quirky has previously raised $185 million from GE, Andreessen Horowitz, Keiner Perkins, Caufield, RRE Ventures, and Norwest Venture Partners. "The Powered by Quirky business is going really well, but we’ve definitely shifted some things around and had to say goodbye to some great people who had been here for a long time," Kaufman tells Fortune. "The investors we’ve been talking to about the new round know about what we’re doing, and are excited by it." So far, the company hasn't announced to the inventor community whether any of their product ideas have been picked up by Powered by Quirky partners In a blog post today, a Quirky community manager wrote that the team is "hustling out there pitching new business leads," and that it's holding an internal workshop with Mattel brand Little People. READ OUR MORE IN-DEPTH PIECE ON THE COMPANY: How a quirky 28-year-old plowed through $150 million and almost destroyed his start-up Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Kids settle the debate and tell us which is better: an Apple or Samsung phone  | ||
| |
In April, the company had to do an expensive nationwide recall of its Wink products because of 19-year-old who turned down Goldman Sachs says other students are just 'lazy' | ||
| | ||
The Wharton undergraduate student who hustled his way into a Goldman Sachs internship in his freshman year and then turned it down for a hedge fund has some strong words for his fellow Ivy League students: "Most people at target schools are really lazy," he said. Target schools are prestigious institutions, like the Ivy Leagues, where Wall Street banks usually focus their recruiting efforts. SEE ALSO: How to get a job at Goldman Sachs from a non-Ivy League school in 8 steps Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Syrian refugees take fast-track to new life in Sweden | ||
| | ||
Stockholm (AFP) - Since opening its doors to Syrians fleeing war, Sweden has welcomed record numbers of refugees and a small but growing group are taking fast-tracks to jobs, bucking unemployment trends. Rami Sabbagh, an energetic 31-year-old financial analyst, fled the Syrian capital Damascus after the regime of President Bashar al-Assad put his name on a wanted list for helping refugees from the city's bombed-out suburbs. Just over two years later -- clad in dark jeans and a leather jacket -- he leads the way to a plush meeting room in Spotify's sleek Stockholm headquarters. The music streaming giant hired him in March after a four-month job placement. "Four years ago I would never have imagined ending up in Sweden," he told AFP, recalling how his life was changed by the civil war that erupted in his country in 2011. "My career was moving forward, I'd been promoted at my bank, I had my own apartment, my own car and my family there. I had a life," he added. "But some things force you to move forward, just leave everything behind and try to start a new life." When he arrived in the southern Sweden town of Malmo in December 2012, migration authorities placed him in a village 1,200 kilometres (800 miles) farther north where he waited for his residence permit, struggling with boredom and longing to get to the city. Papers in hand eight months later, he used family contacts to find a room in Stockholm and spent a year studying Swedish, working in odd jobs and applying for positions at English-speaking companies before starting Korta Vagen (Short Cut), a fast-track state-funded programme for university graduates that led to Spotify.
- More qualified refugees -
In September 2013, Sweden threw its doors open to Syrians, granting them near automatic residency and boosting overall asylum applications -- the highest per capita in the EU according to Eurostat -- to record levels. Since then, more than 40,000 Syrians have arrived -- including 30,000 out of last year's 80,000 refugees -- amid growing concerns over housing shortages and lengthening queues at employment offices. Jobless rates among non-Swedish born residents are about double the national average of 7.8 percent and triple for refugees from Africa and the Middle East -- fuelling support for the anti-immigration far-right in a country which has long enjoyed a reputation as Europe's most liberal when it comes to welcoming asylum seekers. The majority of newcomers lack higher education and struggle to find work, hit with the double barrier of the Swedish language and a shortage of low-skilled jobs in a high-tech economy. All of that has often made it difficult for immigrants to integrate. But that picture looks set to change, as Syrian refugees come with much higher qualifications. "Ever since the Syrian situation started we've seen the education level of people in introduction (programmes) continually rising," said Johan Nylander, head of refugee integration at the Swedish Public Employment Service. A quarter of refugees in 2014 had higher education -- up almost five percent on the previous year. More than two-thirds of them had skills which matched graduate job vacancies. "It's easy to get stuck on problems and challenges, but it's also a great possibility for Sweden," said Nylander, adding that the country was dependent on foreign labour to meet labour shortages in its ageing population. A 2010 government reform put his agency in charge of integrating new refugees -- previously handled by local councils. One major change was that newcomers now start job programmes in parallel with state-funded Swedish classes, instead of waiting years to master the language first.
- Housing shortages -
But regardless of skills, housing shortages are a major obstacle for all newcomers. More than 10,000 people remain stuck in refugee centres months after getting residency; thousands more stay with relatives and friends in cramped conditions. "We have rising numbers waiting to find a place to live and during that time the integration process halts... Everything indicates that long waiting periods only affect your future employment prospects in a bad way," said Nylander. George Zedan, a 45-year-old pharmacist from Hama in central Syria -- a province which saw brutal executions by Islamic State forces in late March -- stays with friends in Upplands Vasby, a Stockholm suburb, along with his wife and three small children. In February he paid people smugglers $25,000 (23,000 euros) for a hair-raising boat trip from Turkey to Greece and a flight to Sweden. Now he works as an apprentice at a local pharmacy on a government-funded scheme while he waits for his qualifications to be recognised. "I ran my own pharmacy for 10 years but before we left I couldn't work at all. Terrorists surrounded our village, there were bombs in the street and when we went to town for supplies we never knew what would happen," he said. "I'm very happy to return to what I know... to refresh my knowledge," he added with a tired smile, running a hand over his thinning fair hair. Sweden's pharmacists' union has complained to the government about long delays in certifying an estimated 200 to 400 Syrian pharmacists, desperately needed to replace the one in four currently close to retirement. "There is work here, I know I can work and make a good life," said Zedan, as his expression gradually darkened. "Everything would be okay now if we could just find accommodation. We need stability, to be able to focus on work and learning Swedish."
Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Burundi to take centre stage as African leaders meet | ||
| | ||
Johannesburg (AFP) - Leaders meet in Johannesburg on Sunday for an African Union summit which will be dominated by the political unrest in Burundi and the migration crisis in the continent. Burundi has been plunged into a period of instability sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza's push to run for a third five-year term. Violent protests have left around 40 people dead and 100,000 people have fled the country, raising peace and security concerns in the region. Other crises like the threat posed by Islamist militant groups are also on the agenda in Johannesburg. "The situation in Burundi is still unresolved... and Nigeria, which is supposed to be an important player, still has challenges around Boko Haram," said Tjiurimo Hengari, research fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs. "I see the next two years being very challenging, especially in light of a new threat that is emerging on the horizon -- the issue of constitutional revisions to allow sitting heads of state third terms and fourth terms." But the summit, which often fails to grapple with thorny issues, is likely to be overshadowed by the expected presence of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir. Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court over war crimes charges, faces arrest if he lands on South African soil, and has not visited the country since his indictment by the court in 2009 and 2010. As a signatory to the Rome Statute which established the ICC, South Africa is obliged to arrest the Sudanese leader. AU spokesman Molalet Tsedeke told AFP Saturday that he had been informed that Bashir was expected to attend the meeting. "He is coming," said Tsedeke. - Divided on ICC - African leaders remain divided on the ICC statute, with AU chairman Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe urging African leaders in January to pull out of the treaty. Mugabe and South African President Jacob Zuma are among those scheduled to speak on Sunday. Also attending is Nigeria's newly-appointed President Muhammadu Buhari, whose country is battling the onslaught of Islamist group Boko Haram. The leaders of Africa's other major economies, Egypt and Angola, are absent. The summit in South Africa's economic capital comes two months after a wave of xenophobic violence swept parts of Johannesburg and Durban as African immigrants were hunted down and attacked by gangs. At least seven people died in the unrest, which badly strained relations between South Africa and many countries in the region that were outraged at the targeting of their citizens. In what African Union analyst Liesl Louw-Vaudran said is an unusual move, the subject of xenophobia will be tackled in a closed session before the opening ceremony on Sunday morning. The session will also discuss migration -- and will likely focus on the flood of African and Middle Eastern migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean. Mass drownings have claimed nearly 1,800 lives so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. The two-day summit comes only five months after the last gathering of AU heads of state in Addis Ababa in January. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
What I learned by reading Businessweek's incredible 38,000-word article on code | ||
| | ||
Bloomberg Businessweek has devoted an entire issue to a single article: Paul Ford's "What is Code?" I read the whole thing online this afternoon, and it's remarkable. I could see it being taught in journalism classes years from now, like Gay Talese's "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" or John Hersey's "Hiroshima." It takes something both very important and hard to understand, and makes it understandable to an audience of smart but non-expert readers. It does this incredibly well. It mostly feels like fun, not work. It also contains the best use of interactive elements in a story that I've ever seen. The demos aren't just there to show off. They're embedded in the story and make it better — anybody who lived through desktop computing in the 1990s will laugh out loud at the Java "demo." But it's long! 38,000 words or so. It took me 82 minutes to read. (Yes, the article keeps track of your activity and tells you how long it took you to get through it.) You should read the whole thing anyway. But if you don't have time right this second, here are some highlights.
There's so, so much more to it, though. Now go read the whole thing--> SEE ALSO: The Stress Of Being A Computer Programmer Is Literally Driving Many Of Them Crazy Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: These guys are behind one of the greatest software breakthroughs of all time  | ||
| |
US data better, but Fed likely to hold off on rate rise | ||
| | ||
Washington (AFP) - Evidence is piling up that the US economy is rebounding from the past few months' stall, with consumers spending more, a rebound in job creation, and wages beginning to rise. But analysts believe the Federal Reserve will want to see more when it meets in the coming week to again weigh hiking interest rates. The Federal Open Market Committee meets on monetary policy on Tuesday and Wednesday, about the very time that, a year ago, it expected to be announcing a rise in its benchmark federal funds rate. The rate has sat at an extraordinarily low zero percent since 2008 in an effort to rebuild the US economy from the Great Recession with a flood of cheap dollars. Persistent underemployment, extremely low inflation and weak wage growth has kept the rate in place, with the Fed worried the economy could still be vulnerable to tighter monetary conditions, six years after the recession ended. The surprise economic contraction of the first quarter put any action on hold, though the FOMC has said that it views the causes of the stall of the past few months as "transitory." Since April, though, key data which the FOMC looks at to decide whether the economy can handle higher rates -- inflation, employment and wages -- have all shown signs of improvement. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has repeatedly stressed the need for signs of firm tightening in the jobs market, even if inflation stays low. Released on June 5, the May job creation report was surprisingly strong, with the jobs market absorbing a surge of returnees, and wages turning up at the same time, all signs of tightening.
- Good new numbers -
Data this week backed that up: job vacancies rose and employers said they are and expect to be paying people more. But the other data is mixed. Consumer spending has risen, but mainly on cars; otherwise, US shoppers seem very cautious. Prices are weaker than the Fed -- which wants to see inflation around two percent -- favors. Analysts say that because the FOMC needs to see steady improvement over time, it will likely wait a couple months more to move, even if Fed policy-makers seem anxious to get past the initial increase. "The June FOMC (policy) statement will largely be a placeholder for what we continue to believe will be a September rate hike," said Deutsche Bank Friday. "A June rate hike is not entirely off the table, but is highly unlikely. September is more likely, but that first hike is data-dependent," said economists at IHS.
- Normalizing hikes down the line -
When it does, it will likely be the first in a series of increases aiming to "normalize" US monetary policy, the Fed says. That prospect has driven volatility in global markets for two years now, pushing the dollar higher and spurring capital flows out from emerging markets, which has left many struggling to shore up growth. Partly for that reason, in the past two weeks both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have encouraged the Fed to hold off rate increases until 2016. Worried about the impact of higher interest rates on poorer countries, the IMF said the Fed "should remain data-dependent and defer its first increase in policy rates until there are greater signs of wage or price inflation than are currently evident." "Barring upside surprises to growth and inflation, this would put lift-off into the first half of 2016."
Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Computer in Merkel's office hit by cyberattack: report | ||
| | ||
Berlin (AFP) - A computer in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's legislative office was hit by a cyberattack that targeted the country's lower house of parliament in May, the Bild newspaper reported on Sunday. The daily, which did not cite its sources, said the cyberattack was broader and greater than originally anticipated and the Bundestag struggled to control it. The attack "infected" one of the computers in Merkel's Bundestag office. Bild said the computer was one of the first on which the Trojan Horse-style attack was discovered. According to the newspaper, the discovery was made on Friday, with officials finding the Trojan Horse software on five computers in the Bundestag. A spokesman for Merkel's conservative CDU bloc told the newspaper he could "not confirm nor deny" the report. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the cyberattack. Merkel's official website, as well as those of the government and the Bundestag, were blocked in January in an online attack claimed by a pro-Russian group. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Paraguay fightback stuns Argentina at Copa | ||
| | ||
La Serena (Chile) (AFP) - Argentina's dreams of a first major title in 22 years were given a reality check as Paraguay came from behind to snatch a last-gasp 2-2 draw in a Copa America classic. English Premier league star Sergio Aguero and captain Lionel Messi looked to have put Argentina on the road to a routine victory in Group B after firing the tournament favourites into a 2-0 first-half lead. But a long-range strike from Nelson Valdez hauled Paraguay back into the contest before Argentine-born forward Lucas Barrios grabbed a dramatic 90th-minute equaliser. The stunning comeback left Argentina in shock and could complicate their route through the knockout rounds in Chile. "It is a sin," to give away an equaliser in the final minute, Argentina coach Gerardo Martino said afterwards, lambasting his team's "neglect." "We lost control and the other team had four or five chances to get a draw," Martino told a news conference. "We had many chances to win," he added, saying that the team in the second half were "totally different from the side that played in the first half." "I do not think we need to change anything. What we have to look back at the two games we played in the 90 minutes today."
- 'Like a victory' -
Paraguay goal hero Barrios was jubilant after his team's heroics. "This group is so tough that getting a draw in the last minute against Argentina is like a victory," said Barrios, who plays for Montpellier in France. Paraguay's other goalscorer, Valdez, paid tribute to the spirit shown by his team-mates. "Individually we are less than Argentina, but as a team we are better than them," he said. "We needed a slap in the face at half-time." Argentina, runners-up in the World Cup final last year, are aiming to win their first major tournament since victory in the 1993 Copa America. They now face a crucial second match on Tuesday against holders Uruguay, who struggled to impress in a lacklustre 1-0 win over Caribbean minnows Jamaica earlier Saturday. Uruguay, the defending champions, badly missed their suspended striker Luis Suarez, who is still serving a ban for biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.
- Improvement demanded -
La Celeste captain Diego Godin demanded improvement on Saturday after a solitary goal from Cristian Rodriguez saved their blushes against the Reggae Boyz. "It's a good result to start with, now we need to correct some mistakes," Godin told Chilean television. "It's very important to win the first game in the Copa America, as it is in any big tournament," the Atletico Madrid defender added. "We have to go game by game, but we will have to improve and keep working hard." Uruguay barely created a chance against Jamaica, one of two teams from the North America, Central America and Caribbean zone (CONCACAF) invited to take part in the Copa America, along with Mexico. Uruguay finally broke the deadlock seven minutes after the break with a cleverly worked set-piece routine. Boca Juniors midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro floated a free-kick from wide on the left for defender Jose Maria Gimenez, who lost his marker to head back into the area for Rodriguez, on loan with Brazilian side Gremio from Atletico Madrid, to finish. Sunday's Copa America action sees the entrance of five-time world champions Brazil, who face Peru in Group C. Colombia play Venezuela in the other match on Sunday.
Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
South Korea reports seven new MERS cases | ||
| | ||
Seoul (AFP) - South Korea reported seven new cases of the MERS virus on Sunday, in an outbreak that has killed 14 people, as one citizen was hospitalised in Slovakia after being suspected of carrying the disease there. The seven new cases put the total number of infections of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in South Korea at 145, the health ministry said Sunday. Three of the new cases were infected in Samsung Medical Centre in Seoul, one of the country's largest hospitals where more than 70 people have contracted the virus, it said. Among them was a paramedic who helped transport a MERS patient to Samsung hospital on June 7. On Saturday, authorities announced that the ambulance driver also involved in transporting the patient -- who died three days later - had also been infected. One of the other new patients was infected in the central city of Daejeon and another in the city of Hwaseong, about 43 kilometres (26.7 miles) south of Seoul. The ministry reported no new fatalities, and said 10 patients so far had recovered and been released from hospital. As the outbreak continued to expand, a South Korean man thought to have contracted MERS was hospitalised in the Slovak capital Bratislava on Saturday. The man reportedly arrived in Slovakia on June 3 and works for a subcontractor of Seoul carmaker Kia, which runs a plant in the central European country. There is no vaccine or cure for MERS which, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) data, has a fatality rate of around 35 percent. The outbreak in the South began when a 68-year-old man was diagnosed on May 20 after a trip to Saudi Arabia. The virus since then has been spreading at an unusually fast pace, sparking widespread alarm in the Asia's fourth-largest economy. A team of WHO experts who visited Seoul warned that the outbreak in the South was "large and complex" and more cases should be expected. But it also said it had found no evidence of transmission of the virus in communities outside hospitals. The outbreak also sparked alarm elsewhere in Asia including Hong Kong, which advised last week its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to the South. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Safarova seeks to take French form into grass season | ||
| | ||
London (AFP) - Lucie Safarova, who nearly became a sensational French Open champion eight days ago, hopes to make it clear that she is a front-line Wimbledon contender too during the coming week. The late-developing Czech is among a host of leading players entered into the Women's Tennis Association grass court warm-up tournament at Edgbaston in Birmingham, central England, which has ten of the world's top 20 on show after being promoted to a Premier event with $665,900 (£427,818, 591,176 euros) in prize money. Safarova burst into the top ten for the first time this week following her victory over French Open champion Maria Sharapova and a thriller with Serena Williams in which she took the world number one to three sets on the red clay of Roland Garros before losing to the American star in the final. In the process the 28-year-old Brno-born, Monaco-based Safarova appears to have gone some way to overcoming her main shortcoming, a tendency to become too nervous on big points and thus a tendency to squander strong positions. "It took me quite a few years to get to this point,” said Safarova, who has been on the WTA tour for 12 years. "I hope it's not a finish point and that I can still improve this." Her optimism may be partly based on her new coaching partnership with Canadian Rob Steckley, who seems to be helping her reach more of her potential. Added to a well-known capacity for inflicting super-hard punishment with her left-handed forehand, which helped her to the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year, this improvement could make Safarova a more serious grass-court contender than ever before this year. Even her ground strokes seem to have become weightier with Steckley’s help, though it is the use of visualization to improve her focus, and a consequent increase in self-assurance, which seem to be the most crucial factors in her progress. Safarova will be some people’s unofficial favourite for the Birmingham title, but she will not be the number one seed. That is Simona Halep, the world number three, who also reached last year’s Wimbledon semi-final. However, the 23-year-old Romanian has disappointed in each of her last three Grand Slam tournaments, particularly at Roland Garros, where she lost to the 70th-ranked Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in straight sets in the second round a fortnight ago. Another front runner should be Ana Ivanovic, the former French Open champion who has just risen to world number six, her highest ranking since 2009, after reaching the Roland Garros semi-finals, and who captured the first grass court title of her career in Birmingham last year. Two former world number ones could pose threats to the leading seeds. Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, a two-time Grand Slam winner who is working her way back after a series of injuries, is seeded 12th and is in the same quarter of the draw as Karolina Pliskova, the young Czech with the steep serve who is sixth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, another former Edgbaston champion, is seeded 15th and is in the same section as Angelique Kerber, the fourth-seeded German.
Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Britain pulls spies as Moscow cracks Snowden files | ||
| | ||
London (AFP) - Britain has been forced to remove some of its spies after Russia and China accessed the top-secret raft of documents taken by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, British media reported. The BBC and the Sunday Times cited senior government and intelligence officials as saying agents had been pulled, with the newspaper saying the move came after Russia was able to decrypt more than one million files. "It is the case that Russians and Chinese have information. It has meant agents have had to be moved and that knowledge of how we operate has stopped us getting vital information," a Downing Street source said, according to the newspaper. The BBC said on its website, meanwhile, that a government source said the two countries "have information" that spurred intelligence agents being moved, but said there was "no evidence" any spies were harmed. Snowden fled to Russia after leaking the documents to the press in 2013 to expose the extent of US online surveillance programmes and to protect "privacy and basic liberties". The Sunday Times said other government sources claimed China had also accessed the documents, which reveal US and British intelligence techniques, leading to fears that their spies could be identified. Snowden worked as a contractor at the CIA and National Security Agency, where he was able to download 1.7 million secret documents that showed how hundreds of millions of people had been surveilled by the authorities. He previously claimed that "no intelligence service" could crack the documents, saying he was able to "keep such information from being compromised even in the highest threat counter-intelligence environments". But an intelligence source told the Sunday Times: "We know Russia and China have access to Snowden's material and will be going through it for years to come, searching for clues to identify potential targets." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Snowden may have some clarifying to do after bombshell reports that Russia and China accessed NSA files | ||
| | ||
"Western intelligence agencies say they have been forced into the rescue operations after Moscow gained access to more than [1 million] classified files," The London paper, citing senior UK officials, reports. A senior UK government source told the BBC that China and Russia "have information" that led to agents being moved, adding there was "no evidence" any officers had been harmed. The source added that the information included "knowledge of how we operate" and had obstructed the UK from getting "vital information." If the reports are true, then Snowden has some explaining to do — especially given that he has repeatedly said that Russia and China could not have possibly received documents. Snowden told former US Senator Gordon Humphrey in July 2013 that "no intelligence service - not even our own - has the capacity to compromise the secrets I continue to protect. ... I cannot be coerced into revealing that information, even under torture." The 31-year-old told James Risen of The New York Times in October 2013 that there was “a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents.” Risen also reported, citing an encrypted chat with Snowden, that the former CIA technician "gave all of the classified documents he had obtained to journalists he met in Hong Kong." (ACLU lawyer and Snowden legal adviser Ben Wizner subsequently told me that the report was inaccurate.) Snowden would later tell NBC that he "destroyed" all documents in his possession before he spoke with the Russians in Hong Kong. "The best way to make sure that for example the Russians can't break my fingers and — and compromise information or — or hit me with a bag of money until I give them something was not to have it at all," he told Brian Williams of NBC in Moscow in May 2014. "And the way to do that was by destroying the material that I was holding before I transited through Russia."
The heistSnowden allegedly stole up to 1.77 million NSA documents while working at two consecutive jobs for US government contractors in Hawaii between March 2012 and May 2013. The US government believes Snowden gave about 200,000 "tier 1 and 2" documents detailing the NSA's global surveillance apparatus to American journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras in June 2013. The US also believes that Snowden also took up to 1.5 million "tier 3" documents, including 900,000 Department of Defense files and documents detailing NSA offensive cyber operations, the whereabouts of which are largely unknown. Snowden flew to Hong Kong on May 20, 2013. After staying at an unknown location, Snowden reportedly checked into the Mira Hotel on June 1 and subsequently met with Poitras, Greenwald, and the Guardian's Ewen MacAskill. Two days after checking out of the Mira Hotel on June 10, Snowden showed The South China Morning Post (SCMP) an unknown number of documents revealing "operational details of specific [NSA] attacks on [Chinese] computers, including internet protocol (IP) addresses, dates of attacks, and whether a computer was still being monitored remotely." "If I have time to go through this information, I would like to make it available to journalists in each country to make their own assessment, independent of my bias, as to whether or not the knowledge of US network operations against their people should be published." Eleven days later, advised by WikiLeaks, Snowden got on a plane to Moscow (click graphic for larger version).
'Very poor information security practice'If the UK government is correct that Russia and China obtained information from files Snowden stole, then it's possible that data came from journalists working with Snowden. The cache given to Poitras and Greenwald allegedly included 58,000 "highly classified UK intelligence documents," The Telegraph reported in August after the UK government detained David Miranda, Glenn Greenwald's partner, as he traveled through London's Heathrow Airport. Authorities say they confiscated electronic devices in which classified documents were stored as well as a password. “Much of the material is encrypted. However, among the unencrypted documents ... was a piece of paper that included the password for decrypting one of the encrypted files on the external hard drive recovered from the claimant," the UK government stated to the court. “The fact that ... the claimant was carrying on his person a handwritten piece of paper containing the password for one of the encrypted files ... is a sign of very poor information security practice.” In any case, senior UK officals allege that Moscow gained access to more than 1 million classified files, and the journalists are believed to have received about 200,000. And it's still unclear what happened to the documents not given to journalists. So if the Sunday Times and BBC reports are accurate, Snowden statement that there was "a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents" requires serious clarification. SEE ALSO: We Now Know A Lot More About Edward Snowden's Epic Heist — And It's Troubling Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Why Putin is the most powerful man in the world  | ||
| |
Alves fires Brazil into World Cup last 16 | ||
| | ||
Montreal (AFP) - A first half Andressa Alves' goal booked South American giants Brazil their ticket to the last 16 of the Women's World Cup on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Spain. Brazil become the second team to advance to the knock-out rounds after defending champions Japan secured their berth on Friday night. Marta nearly added to her record World Cup tally of 15 goals on 43 minutes off a corner. But the star of the night was Alves who pounced on a defensive error by the Europeans a minute later to keep the 2007 runners-up unbeaten after the opening 2-0 defeat of South Korea. It was the tenth international goal for the 23-year-old midfielder and puts Brazil top of Group E with six points from two games. Spain have one point after drawing their opener with Costa Rica 1-1. Costa Rica play South Korea later Saturday. Brazil next play Costa Rica in the final group game on Wednesday with Spain up against South Korea. The top two teams in each group advance to the knock-out round along with the four best third-place finishers. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
England rekindle World Cup hopes with 2-1 Mexico win | ||
| | ||
Moncton (Canada) (AFP) - Fran Kirby and Karen Carney rekindled England's World Cup campaign with a 2-1 win over Mexico at the women's tournament on Saturday. Mark Sampson's side desperately needed a win in their Group F tie after losing their opening match to France 1-0 in Moncton. But the three-time quarter-finalists got back on track in New Brunswick when Kirby fired past Mexican goalie Cecilia Santiago on 71 minutes for her third international goal. Their first goal of the tournament ignited England with substitute Carney heading in the second off a pinpoint Alex Greenwood cross eight minutes from time. Substitute Fabiola Ibarra got one back for the Mexicans one minute into injury time after England goalie Karen Bardsley spilled a shot. Colombia lead Group F with four points after two games, following their 1-1 draw against Mexico with a shock 2-0 defeat of France earlier on Saturday. England and France now have three points with 25th-ranked Mexico on one. England next play Colombia in the final group game next Wednesday with Mexico taking on France. The top two teams in each group advance to the knock-out round along with the four best third-place finishers. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Ronaldo, Lewandowski hit hat-tricks, Greece hit rock bottom | ||
| | ||
Paris (AFP) - Yet another Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick propelled Portugal to a crucial 3-2 win in Armenia in Euro 2016 qualifying on Saturday while Poland's Robert Lewandowski hit one of the quickest triples in the competition's history. Andre Schuerrle also bagged a hat-trick in Germany's 7-0 thrashing of Gibraltar but former European champions Greece's embarrassing campaign continued as they were beaten 2-1 in the Faroe Islands. Real Madrid superstar Ronaldo scored his third hat-trick in his last three games for club and country as Portugal held on with 10 men for the final half-hour in Yerevan to claim a crucial win in Group I. Brazilian-born Marcos Pizzelli gave Armenia the lead but Ronaldo equalised from the penalty spot before adding two more in the space of four second-half minutes. Fernando Santos' side then had Tiago Mendes, the Atletico Madrid midfielder, sent off and were left to hang on after Hrayr Mkoyan pulled a goal back for the hosts. Portugal have now won four games in a row since starting their campaign with a 1-0 home defeat to Albania and they top Group I by two points from Denmark, who beat Serbia 2-0 in Copenhagen thanks to a goal in each half from Yussuf Poulsen and Jakob Poulsen. Poland remain top of Group D ahead of World Cup holders Germany after Lewandowski's late hat-trick sealed a 4-0 win against Georgia in Warsaw. Arkadiusz Milik put the Poles in front before captain Lewandowski doubled their lead in the 89th minute. The Bayern Munich striker added another in the 92nd minute and completed a remarkable treble in the third minute of stoppage time to secure a handsome win. It is the second-fastest hat-trick in the history of European Championship qualifying, bettered only by Arif Erdem, who scored three in three minutes for Turkey against Northern Ireland in the qualifying campaign for Euro 2000. Poland are a point clear of Germany, who won 7-0 against minnows Gibraltar in Faro, southern Portugal, despite Bastian Schweinsteiger having an early penalty saved. Schuerrle set them on their way and six more goals followed in the second half, including two more from the Wolfsburg forward, a brace from Max Kruse and one each for Ilkay Gundogan and Karim Bellarabi.
- Scotland deny Ireland -
Scotland remain third, two points better off than the Republic of Ireland, after coming from behind to draw 1-1 in Dublin, Shaun Maloney's shot deflecting in off home skipper John O'Shea to cancel out Jon Walters' opener for Ireland. The prospect of seeing all four British sides qualify together for a major tournament for the first time since the 1958 World Cup remains a very real one, with Northern Ireland still second in Group F after a 0-0 draw at home to leaders Romania at Windsor Park. Michael O'Neill's side are a point behind the Romanians and two better off than third-placed Hungary, who boosted their own chances by winning 1-0 in Finland thanks to a late goal by Zoltan Stieber of Hamburg. However, Greece's disastrous campaign continued as they were beaten 2-1 by traditional minnows the Faroe Islands in Torshavn. A goal in each half from Hallur Hansson and Brandur Olsen secured a famous win for the hosts, with Sokratis Papastathopoulos of Borussia Dortmund getting one back in vain for Greece. It is the second time the Euro 2004 winners have lost to the Faroes in this campaign -- coach Claudio Ranieri was sacked after a 1-0 loss at home in November. There has been no improvement yet under his Uruguayan successor Sergio Markarian, and Greece are rock bottom of the group with just two points from six games. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
There's another conflict brewing in Iraq that 'could get get quite nasty' | ||
| | ||
There's a simmering conflict between two groups that are fighting the Islamic State terror group in Iraq. Last week The Daily Beast reported last that in Jalawla, a town near the Iranian border, Kurdish fighters have kicked out Shia militias they fought alongside to retake the territory from the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh). "Our relationship [with the Kurds] was good, but now our relationship has problems," Ali Khorasani, the commander of Shia militias that Kurdish forces expelled from Jalawla, told the Beast. Kurdish fighters and Shia militias backed by Iran have stepped in to spearhead the fight against ISIS militants where Iraqi security forces have been insufficient. And now it appears there is a conflict brewing between what many regard as the two most competent fighting forces on the ground in Iraq. "It’s going to be a simmering problem for some time," Phillip Smyth, a researcher at the University of Maryland and expert on Shia militias, told Business Insider. "If there was another major conflagration that did occur … then it would probably be the Shia militias versus Kurdish forces." He continued: "I don’t think either side really wants it to blow up into something that will be a major conflagration … but there’s always the potential that something can light up and it could get quite nasty." There's been talk of an independent Kurdistan for some time, and it seems that Kurds, an ethnic group, have been seizing on the opportunity to take over territory that they expel ISIS from.
But a fully independent Kurdistan still isn't necessarily imminent, Smyth said. "Technically they’re already an autonomous quasi-entity but they need to get a few more ducks in a row to put everything together," he said. In any case, it seems the Kurdish fighters are willing to defend land they see as theirs. "This area is ours now, and that’s not changing," Brigadier General Mahmoud Sangawi, who commands Kurdish Peshmerga forces, told the Beast in Jalawla. "For me, if [ISIS or Shia militias] attack me I will attack them, because this is my land. If they come to this land, of course I will fight them." In February, the Associated Press described the relationship between the Shiites and the Kurds in Iraq as "a marriage of convenience" forged from their willingness to fight a common enemy — ISIS. How long that lasts depends on what happens going forward. In any case, independence for some of the Kurds is a internationally thorny issue. To get an idea of the stakes at play here amid wars in Syria and Iraq, here's a look at where ethnic Kurds reside:
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Why Putin is the most powerful man in the world  | ||
| |
Stade Francais beat Clermont for Top 14 title | ||
| | ||
Paris (AFP) - Stade Francais beat Clermont 12-6 to win the 2014-15 Top 14 title at the Stade de France on Saturday. Stade's South African fly-half Morne Steyn kicked three first-half penalties to one from Camille Lopez. Australian Brock James pegged Stade back before Steyn booted his fourth to ensure victory in the dying seconds. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Schuerrle nets treble as Germany thrash Gibraltar | ||
| | ||
Faro (Portugal) (AFP) - Andre Schuerrle scored a hat-trick as Germany eased to a 7-0 win over minnows Gibraltar in Euro 2016 qualifying on Saturday. In a game played in Faro in Portugal's Algarve, the World Cup holders answered coach Joachim Loew's calls to improve on the finishing that had let them down in their 2-1 friendly defeat at home to the United States on Wednesday. And the win keeps Germany in second place in qualifying Group D, a point behind leaders Poland and two points above Scotland in third position. Their evening did not start well, Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger having a penalty saved by Gibraltar goalkeeper Jordan Perez in the 10th minute. The breakthrough eventually arrived courtesy of Wolfsburg forward Schuerrle in the 28th minute before the massive gulf between the sides was finally laid bare in the second half. Max Kruse, the Borussia Moenchengladbach forward who will be a team-mate of Schuerrle's at Wolfsburg next season, replaced Mario Goetze late in the first half and made it 2-0 two minutes after the restart. Ilkay Gundogan and Karim Bellarabi added further goals before the hour mark and Schuerrle netted twice more to complete his hat-trick, leaving Loew relaxed enough to concentrate on filing his fingernails in his seat in the dugout. Kruse added his second of the evening to make it 7-0 with nine minutes left, leaving Germany well placed before a double-header of games at home to Poland and away to Scotland that is likely to prove decisive. Gibraltar have now lost all six matches in their first ever qualifying campaign for a major tournament, scoring just once and conceding 34 goals. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Why money is suddenly leaving the emerging markets | ||
| | ||
This week was terrible for emerging markets. Investors pulled $9.3 billion from emerging-market funds — the most since the financial crisis of 2008. It almost feels a little like 2013, when the Fed warned of the ending of its quantitative easing bond-buying program and emerging markets suffered a massive outflow of funds back into US bonds in what's now called the "taper tantrum." Some experts anticipate we could relive that move once the Fed begins raising US interest rates. But not quite yet. Ankur Patel, chief investment officer at R-Squared Macro, says there are a number of factors that played into this week's shock, and the Fed is only one of them. Those include: 1. ChinaThe majority of this week's outflows (about 70%, according to Patel) came from one country: China. That's most likely due to the global-index compiler MSCI's decision not to include Chinese shares in its benchmark index this week. Billions of passive money dollars would have been "forced" to buy Chinese shares if they had been included, according to the Financial Times. 2. The World BankAlso earlier this week, the World Bank downgraded its 2015 growth outlook for global markets, including emerging markets. It warned that emerging markets, which had helped drive global recovery for years following the financial crisis, are now facing a "structural slowdown." "Anytime there’s a big multinational agency that has a downgrade ... it certainly has a role to play," said Patel, be it the World Bank, IMF, or OECD. 3. German bundsAnother important factor was the jump in bond yields in developed markets, particularly the German bund, this week. Earlier in the year, the German 10-year bund had hit an extreme low and has been on the rebound ever since. The European Central Bank had essentially been flooding the market with euros by buying up German bunds, and asset managers were investing their euros all around the world, including in emerging-market assets. But as that trend begins to reverse, and investors begin to cash out, "all this liquidity moved back into just plain cash — plain euros," Patel said. 4. CurrenciesLastly, as a Goldman Sachs note put it, "currency is a major culprit." The strong US dollar has essentially led to a depreciation of emerging-market currencies. According to Patel, it's like a negative wealth effect. EM investors "experience a loss of capital because their currency’s now worth considerably less," he said. "And to maintain their purchasing power, they’re being forced to sell some of the liquid assets, which happen to be some of their equity and bond holdings." That, he says, is what we're seeing in the flows data. And it's not just an emerging-market problem, Patel notes. As the dollar rises, all currencies have been depreciating against it. But it is especially hard on the EM currencies. Not yet Taper Tantrum Round 2.Patel says it's "a little too soon" to be calling the next "taper tantrum." "As of this moment, the taper tantrum thing is still just one of the smaller factors — it’s not a full-blown phenomenon," he said. But he did admit that while recent market jitters have stemmed from technical things, there could be a negative contagion effect down the road. SEE ALSO: Emerging markets have one last chance to shape up Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This guy absolutely loses it as he bungee jumps off a tower in China's beautiful Qing Long Canyon  | ||
| |
The US is considering a move to deter Russia not seen since the Cold War | ||
| | ||
The Pentagon is poised to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 troops in several Baltic and Eastern European countries to deter any possible further Russian aggression in Europe, The New York Times reported on Saturday. Citing US and allied officials, the newspaper said that if approved the proposal would mark the first time since the Cold War that Washington has stationed heavy military equipment in the newer NATO member states in Eastern Europe that were once part of the Soviet sphere of influence. "It's like taking NATO back to the future," Julianne Smith, a former defense and White House official who is now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a vice president at the consulting firm Beacon Global Strategies, told The Times.
The proposal calls for enough equipment for about 150 soldiers to be stored in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and enough for about 750 soldiers to be stored in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and possibly Hungary, according to The Times. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and the White House still have to approve the proposal, which will likely encounter significant political hurdles, The Times reports, primarily the hesitance to provoke Russia with a military buildup. "This is a very meaningful shift in policy," James G. Stavridis, a retired admiral and the former supreme allied commander of NATO, told the newspaper. "It provides a reasonable level of reassurance to jittery allies, although nothing is as good as troops stationed full-time on the ground, of course."
Despite not calling for boots on the ground in the Baltics, experts say the plan would be effective nonetheless. "Tanks on the ground, even if they haven't people in them, make for a significant marker," Mark Galeotti, a professor at New York University and expert on Russia's military and security services, told The Times. After Russia invaded Crimea last year, the US Army promised to expand the amount of military equipment it stored at the Grafenwöhr training range in southeastern Germany. NATO also adopted temporary plans to increase air patrolling and training exercises in Eastern Europe. Recognizing that Russia's aggression in Ukraine is unlikely to diminish anytime soon, however, NATO has proposed a more permanent plan in the hopes of sending a stronger message to the Kremlin. "This is essentially about politics," Professor Galeotti said. "This is about telling Russia that you're getting closer to a real red line."
SEE ALSO: Russian-backed separatists are sowing chaos in a crucial Ukrainian steel city Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Reddit banned a community dedicated to hating fat people and now users are furious | ||
| | ||
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Kids settle the debate and tell us which is better: an Apple or Samsung phone  | ||
| |
