There are no signs of a turnaround for the euro zone after six straight quarters of recession, and even once mighty Germany is struggling, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland’s latest World Economy Barometer. “Germany is looking less like Bayern Munich and a bit more like a mid-table laggard,” RBS economist Marcus Wright said, referring to…
Even Mighty Germany Looking ‘Like a Mid-Table Laggard’
KIEV, Ukraine — Dozens of journalists are rallying outside the Interior Ministry headquarters in the Ukrainian capital after the police initially refused to investigate the beating of two journalists covering an opposition rally. Olha Snitsarchuk, a journalist with the Channel 5 television channel and her husband Vladislav Sodel, a photographer with the Kommersant daily, were punched and…
Ukrainian Media Protest After Journalists Beaten
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had some optimistic words for the class of 2013 this past weekend, and they had far more to do with technology than they did monetary policy.
During a commencement address at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Bernanke advised graduates not to worry too much about current economic headwinds or concerns that the current information technology revolution won’t have the same transformative effect on the economy that previous revolutions have.
“As trade and globalization increase the size of the potential market for new products, the possible economic rewards for being first with an innovative product or process are growing rapidly,” Bernanke said. “Both humanity’s capacity to innovate and the incentives to innovate are greater today than at any other time in history.”
And those who fail to recognize that, those who argue our latest technological revolution in computers and IT will not transform our lives as dramatically as, say, the modern industrial era — well, according to Bernanke, they’re perhaps a little short-sighted. “I’m sure that I can’t imagine all of the possibilities,” Bernanke said. “But historians of science have commented on our collective tendency to overestimate the short-term effects of new technologies while underestimating their longer-term potential.”
Have Faith in Innovation, Fed Chairman Tells Graduates
(Source: Honda Motor Co Ltd) 20.05.2013 Honda Aircraft Company today announced a number of achievements and significant milestones in the development of the HondaJet, the world’s most advanced light jet, at the 2013 European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva, Switzerland. “The HondaJet program is steadily approaching the final phase of flight testing, and manufacturing has transitioned to production of customer aircraft,” said Michimasa Fujino, president and CEO of Honda Aircraft Company. “I’m committed to bringing new value to aviation by introducing the HondaJet. At the same time, Honda Aircraft Company continues to build the infrastructure and talent to design,…
Honda Aircraft Company Achieves Several Significant HondaJet Milestones and Provides Program Update at 2013 EBACE (Honda Motor Co Ltd)
Tweet New Delhi, May 20 (IANS) India and China favour early resolution of their border dispute and want peace to be maintained on the frontier until then, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday. Manmohan Singh also told the media along with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that they had “wide ranging and candid discussions” on all matters of mutual concern and realised there was “a great deal of meeting of minds”. The two leaders addressed the news conference a day after Li arrived in India on a three-day trip, his first visit abroad since…
India, China seek early end to border dispute: PM
These are dark days for David Cameron and his government. Today’s newspapers, in company with TV and radio news bulletins, are dominated by disputes within his party over same-sex marriage and the European Union. In addition, the claims about one of the prime minister’s aides having referred to party activists as “swivel-eyed loons” is the subject of several leading articles and surely adds to the air of gloom in Downing Street. Every national daily carries reports on the determination of a significant proportion of Tory MPs to wreck Cameron’s plans to legalise gay marriage. Three splash on the issue: “Tory rebels set to inflict new defeat on Cameron” (The Times); “Meltdown on gay marriage”…
David Cameron, the ‘loons’ and gay marriage – what the national papers say
A British man yesterday confessed to killing his two children, aged five and 10, by cutting their throats, police sources said. The children’s bodies were discovered in a flat in a suburb of Lyon, France, on Sunday afternoon. The man, aged 48, who has not been named, was divorced from…
Briton confesses to slitting his two children’s throats in Lyon flat
The latest retail report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) warns that the rise in empty shops in towns across the U.K. is a “major concern.” The footfall and vacancies monitor, carried out by the BRC trade association and retail analysts Springboard, showed that shop vacancies in U.K. town centers had risen to 11.9 percent in April 2013, up from 10.9 percent in January 2013. The vacancy rate is now at the highest since the survey began in July…
UK Shop Vacancies at Highest Since July 2011
Despite largely anecdotal media speculation, it’s not clear how the acquisition of Tumblr by Yahoo for $1.1 billion will be greeted by users of the New York blogging service.
But rival blogging service WordPress’ co-founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg posted a blog last night that said that imports from Tumblr to his service on Sunday had risen from a typical 400 to 600 blog posts an hour to over 72,000.
Whoa!
Plus he thinks the high price paid by the Silicon Valley Internet giant was low.
“I think we’re at the cusp of understanding the ultimate value of web publishing platforms, particularly ones that work cross-domain, and while Yahoo’s all-cash deal by some metrics, like revenue, is very generous, I think it’s a tenth of the value that will be created in these platforms over the coming years,” wrote Mullenweg.
Here’s his post:
It now looks pretty certain that Yahoo has pulled off a deal to buy Tumblr for 1.1B. The relationship between WordPress and Tumblr has always been pretty friendly: Tumblr’s own blog used to be on WP, WordPress.com supports Tumblr as a Publicize option alongside Twitter and Facebook, our Akismet team sends them daily emails of splogs on the service, and there’s healthy import and export traffic both ways. (Imports have actually spiked on the rumors even though it’s Sunday: normally we import 400-600 posts an hour from Tumblr, last hour it was over 72,000.)
News like this, whether from a friend or a competitor, is always bittersweet: I’m curious to see what the creative folks behind Tumblr do with their new resources, both personal and corporate, but I’m more interested to know what they would have done over the next 5-10 years as an independent company. I think we’re at the cusp of understanding the ultimate value of web publishing platforms, particularly ones that work cross-domain, and while Yahoo’s all-cash deal by some metrics, like revenue, is very generous, I think it’s a tenth of the value that will be created in these platforms over the coming years.
WordPress’ Mullenweg Claims 72,000 Blog Posts Imported From Tumblr in Just One Hour on Sunday
An independent Scotland is at risk of a Cyprus-style banking crisis, as its banking sector would be “exceptionally large” compared to the size of its economy, a U.K. government report has said. “An independent Scotland would have an exceptionally large banking sector compared to the size of its economy – with banking assets of more than 1250 percent of Scottish [gross domestic product] – making it more vulnerable to financial shocks and the volatility of the sector,” the Treasury report said on Monday. The report pointed out Scotland’s banking…
Scotland Independence Could Lead to Cyprus-Style Banking Crisis
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Soeldner Soeldner – Gesetzlos und gefuerchtet Soeldner werden durch Werber angeworben und leisten Militaerdienst, d. h. sie tragen eine Art Uniform oder Kennzeichnung. Es gibt einen Vertrag, der ihnen Sold oder Gehalt in Aussicht stellt.
“Soeldner” by Karl Laemmermann
SINAN SALAHEDDIN Associated Press= BAGHDAD (AP) — A wave of car bombings across Baghdad’s Shiite neighborhoods and in the southern city of Basra killed at least 34 people on Monday, Iraqi officials said. The attacks are the latest in a recent spike of bombings that has hit both Sunni and Shiite civilian targets over the past week. The bloodshed has raised fears of a return to the widespread sectarian violence of…
Car bombs in Baghdad, south Iraq kill at least 34
The beleaguered coach has once more pointed to the Nerazzurri’s injury problems this term and has remained coy on his future Andrea Stramaccioni feels it would be unfair to judge Inter without taking their injury problems into consideration after they finished the 2012-13 campaign in…
Stramaccioni: Circumstances must be taken into account when judging Inter
STOCKHOLM — Gangs of youth apparently angered by the police shooting death of an elderly man have hurled rocks at police and set cars and buildings on fire in a Stockholm suburb, forcing the evacuation of an apartment block. Police spokesman Lars Bystrom says around 50 youths were involved in the riots early Monday in the suburb of Husby, west of Stockholm. He says…
Riots in Stockholm Suburb Over Police Shooting
Dir: Guillame Canet. France. 2013, 144mins There’s ‘70s design porn and there’s Blood Ties, director Guillame Canet’s ambitious foray into hard-boiled Brooklyn crime drama which boasts impeccable costume and production design credits. When Blood Ties lifts, such as during a bank heist sequence on the streets, it positively soars. At 144 minutes, however, Blood Ties is too sprawling, its fractured narrative cut far too many ways for the film to succeed. A [longer] remake of Les Liens Du Sang written by Canet with Brooklyn’s finest James Gray, it’s an extravagant, bumpy ride – Heat meets Mesrine via Cain and Abel – which hits more than its fair share of potholes on the way. Overweight cops…
Blood Ties
By Tom Bergin LONDON (Reuters) – The opposition Labour party, tapping into widening public anger over corporate tax avoidance, wants the government to push for new international rules to force companies to report profit and tax payments country-by-country. Campaigners say the move, which is receiving increased support internationally despite strong opposition from business, would deter companies from shifting…
Labour party calls for country-by-country tax reporting
A whistleblower has revealed extraordinary information on the U.S. government’s support for international terrorist networks and organised crime. The government has denied the allegations yet gone to extraordinary lengths to silence her. Her critics have derided her as a fabulist and fabricator. But now comes word that some of her most serious allegations were confirmed by a major European newspaper only to be squashed at the request of the U.S. government. In a recent book Classified Woman, Sibel Edmonds, a former translator for the FBI, describes how the Pentagon, CIA and State Department maintained intimate ties to al-Qaeda militants as late as 2001. Her memoir, , published last year,…
Al Qaeda: Enemy or Asset?
A British man yesterday confessed to killing his two children, aged five and 10, by cutting their throats, police sources said. The children’s bodies were discovered in a flat in a suburb of Lyon, France, on Sunday afternoon. The man, aged 48, who has not been named, was divorced from…
Briton to face court after confessing to slitting his two children’s throats in Lyon flat
There’s no point in engaging in a perpetual global war on terror From both the left and the right, three common misper-ceptions have emerged about US foreign policy: First, that the Global War on Terror has become a perpetual state of affairs; sec-ond, that no strategy is available to end this conflict in the near future; and third, that “the Obama approach to that conflict is just like the Bush approach.” I disagree with all three propositions. I disagree with all three propositions.First and most important, the over-riding goal should be to end this For-ever War, not engage in a perpetual “global war on terror,” without geo-graphic or temporal limits. Second,…
End the ‘forever’ war
By THOMAS CATAN and MARCUS WALKER Unemployment in Spain is at 27%. Young people are fleeing Portugal and Ireland. One-in-four Greeks say they have difficulty paying for food. Despite the Depression-era conditions, however, Europe has no crash plan to get people back to work. Under the German-engineered strategy to escape the euro crisis, struggling southern European members must continue to cut public spending, lower wages and grind down prices until they’re competitive again. At current rates, it could take a decade or more to complete the process, according to studies by Goldman Sachs. All the pain being endured raises the question: Is there a breaking point at which Europeans simply say,…
Thinking the Unthinkable: Quitting a Currency
Pro-government Syrian forces backed by Lebanese Hezbollah militants stormed the rebel-held town of Qusair on Sunday, following a fierce aerial and artillery bombardment. The town is seen as of high strategic value by both regime and rebel forces. By FRANCE 24 (text) Syrian troops backed by Lebanese Hezbollah militants on Sunday entered the town of Qusair – a strategic rebel stronghold linking Damascus to the coast and seen as key to the battle for control of the country. The advance into the town began early on Sunday morning with a heavy bombardment using artillery and warplanes, which the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said left at least 52 people…
Hezbollah-backed Syria troops take key town Qusair
Actress Noomi Rapace and director Khurram Longi were in Cannes to talk up their new feature Alive Alone, which Protagonist is selling internationally. CAA reps US rights and Thunder Road produces. Bullhead’s Matthias Schoenarts also stars in the story a former detainee from Guantanamo Bay who meets a woman on the run. Have your say You must sign in to make a comment. Email Save Email Share Save Most popular The Selfish Giant Screen’s Cannes Competition Blog: Borgman Secret Cinema: G.O.O.D. times Future Leaders: Producers 2013 Cannes 2013:…
Noomi Rapace pushes Alive Alone at Cannes
More than 8,000 French households’ tax bills topped 100 percent of their income in 2012, a French newspaper reported. Citing data from France’s finance ministry, the business newspaper “Les Echos” reported on Friday that in addition to those taxed at 100 percent last year, almost 12,000 households…
Some French Households Taxed at 100%
ANKARA, Turkey — An official says a hot air balloon has crashed in central Turkey, killing one person and injuring 24 others on board. Hasan Unver, the mayor Nevsehir province told NTV television that the balloon was flying above volcanic cones of the Cappadocia region when it crashed on Monday. He said none of the injured passengers…
Turkey: 1 Killed, 24 Injured After Balloon Crashes
By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Izumi Nakagawa TOKYO (Reuters) – The Japanese government upgraded its assessment of the economy on Monday, as emerging signs of an upturn in exports and factory output added to growing evidence that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s aggressive polices are beginning to reignite growth. The world’s third-biggest economy is gradually recovering, according to the government’s monthly report released by the Cabinet Office. The upgrade was the first in two months, and an improvement from April when it said the economy was showing signs of recovery but still had some weak spots. The government’s latest take on the economy came ahead of the Bank of Japan’s two-day meeting ending…
Japan upgrades economic outlook as Abe’s policies take hold
Portugal’s top bankers have called on Europe’s leaders to stop “playing with fire” and moderate their stance towards the euro zone periphery, or risk instilling alarm among bank depositors in future. In separate interviews, the heads of the country’s two biggest banks – Millennium BCP and Banco Espírito Santo – said they were concerned that the precedent set by Europe’s treatment of Cyprus’s recent troubles had increased…
Portugal’s Banks Fear ‘Cyprus Virus’
NEW DELHI: Indian mobile telephone companies have come a long way and no longer perceive lowering prices and increasing subscribers as tools for survival. To ensure their sustenance, telecom players in India are slowly hiking call rates and doing away with promotional offers. “The reason behind increasing call rates is that none of the players has a serious incentive to lower prices. The intensity of competition has come down after many players left the Indian market following cancellation of some licences after 2G scam,” Mahesh Uppal, director, Com First telecom…
Your phone bill may soon go up
In a month's time it will be Bloomsday, which celebrates a day in the life of the fictional Leopold Bloom, the main character in James Joyce's famous novel Ulysses. In the build-up to the day there have been public readings of the book in venues associated with it. Most public readings of revered texts are rather restrained, sometimes stiff, affairs. but the one I was at most certainly wasn't. It was more like James Joyce's Ulysses meets the Rocky Horror Picture Show with different people reading a chapter from the novel, but with lots of added heckles, sound effects and some in early twentieth century costume. Jessica Yates is one of the…
Finding joy in James Joyce as Leopold blooms once more
I was just at an interesting lunch with Garry Kasparov, the man who became the youngest world chess champion in history in 1985 at the age of 22. He held the title as the world’s top player for 20 years before retiring to pursue other chess and non-chess related interests. Over our meal, Kasparov was vehemently arguing that we no longer take risk the way we once used to. There was once a time when a new ground-breaking invention or discovery was made every decade, which could either directly, or via…
Central Banks in Focus: Time to Risk It?
