Posts - Americans

Google Posts Largest One Day Gain In U.S. Stock Market History

Finance

Following the release of its quarterly earnings report on Friday, Google posted a 16% jump in its stock, which translates to $65.1 billion for the company. This barely beat the previous record of $65 billion in 2000 by Cisco Systems Inc. The windfall occurred after the earnings report beat analyst estimates, which had not occurred since the end of 2013. Also prompting the run up in its stock price were promises by the company that it would be curtailing its spending on risky investments.

Google CFO, Ruth Porat, stated that Google will control its costs more diligently in the future. This came as welcome news to investors who had been dissatisfied with Google’s diversification away from its core business of internet search and advertising. Investment in other projects such as its self-driving cars and the unpopular Google glass eyewear, had begun to increase the growth rate of its operating expenses beyond that of the company’s revenue.

The change in strategy by Google follows its recent hire of Ruth Porat as CFO from Morgan Stanley. Google CEO Larry Page and co-founder Sergey Brin had resisted scaling back the company’s R&D projects until Porat came on board.

Google’s meteoric rise in stock price did not allow it to take Apple’s position as the most valued U.S. company. The two companies currently stand at market values of $469 billion for Google and $747 billion for Apple. The fortunes of Page and Brin each rose by over $4 billion following Friday’s events. Although some may be disappointed to learn that Google will be cutting back on its research into interesting projects, shareholders may be few among them. With revenue growth accelerating in light of new cost controls, some analysts foresee several more quarters of Google beating earnings estimates.

China Is Now Arming Rebels In Proxy War Against India

Entertainment News

Chinese meddling is suspected in the recent deaths of 18 Indian military personnel. India’s counterterrorism group, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), have also discovered more evidence linking China’s involvement with north-east rebels in the Chandel district of Manipur. Such Chinese support of anti-Indian terror is not unusual. On June 25, 2015 China blocked a movement by India in the UN sanctions committee over the release of terror group leader Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Lakhvi’s group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, was responsible for the 2008 Mumbai hotel attack which claimed 160 lives.

The recent attack was carried out by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang or NSCN(K) along with help from the United Liberation Front (UNLF). These are part of an umbrella group known as the United Liberation Front of Western South Asia, which India suspects is supported by China. The attack took place on June 4 following NSCN(K)’s breaking of a decade long cease fire with New Delhi. The NIA has been informed that the chief of the UNLF’s Manipur group has been in contact with China as of 2008.

NIA sources have also reported that in 2009, the UNLF leader had been involved in arms dealing along the Chinese-Myanmar border. China will sometimes use front companies as a cover for their intelligence operations, one example being Aye Kyi Kaung Co Ltd. This company was used in a meeting with the UNLF in order to discuss Indian troop and missile deployment in the northeast.

According to former member of NSCN(K), N Kitovi Zhimomi, these reports of Chinese involvement are accurate. Kitovi left the group after suspecting Chinese support was for purely selfish reasons, and not in pursuit of his group’s cause.

China’s ambassador to India in 2014 stated that, “China, India, and Pakistan ought to work together to deal with the problem of terrorism and root out the cause of terrorism.” The recent release of Lakhvi along with last month’s attack in north-east India show how empty these statements are.

Australia Takes Steps To Stop Being World’s Extinction Leader

Culture

After years of neglect and reckless inactivity toward the saddening loss of animal species, the Australian government is stepping up activity to save dozens of species at the brink of extinction. Australia already has the worst extinction record in the world. For a species, being classified as close to extinction in the country is as good as hammering the last nail on the coffin. The government’s response to calls for their increased presence in the preservation of wildlife is a welcome relief but will it be enough to save an entire species?

Australia’s Department of Environment recently launched the Threatened Species Strategy on Thursday. The strategy which was launched in Melbourne at the Threatened Species Summit seeks to protect animals and plant species nearing extinction.

Reports indicate that 20 species of mammals together with 20 birds and another 30 plants run risk of extinction in the country. An additional 1800 species have been classified as under threat.

Since 1788, Australia has lost a shocking 29 mammal species. The government’s hands off approach to preservation of wildlife has been cited as the reason for the loss of animal diversity. The Australian authorities, however, see things differently. According to them, feral cats, altered fire regimes, pests and weeds and the agricultural industry’s expansion are to blame for the spate of extinctions.

During the summit, Environment Minister Greg Hunt detailed a five year strategy to save the country’s wildlife. The minister revealed that the strategy will involve the killing of 2 million feral cats and the creation of secure havens where habitat conditions can be monitored.

Hunt said, “We are drawing a line in the sand today which says ‘on our watch, in our time, no more species extinction. It’s tough, it’s a challenge, we can do much and we can do better.”

Hunt also called upon local partners to help out where possible. He said, “This Action Plan starts now. Success will depend on strong partnerships, given we all have a role to play in the fight against extinction. The Australian Government cannot succeed without the community joining us.”

Environment groups welcomed the government’s long overdue intervention in the protection of species in Australia. Through concerted efforts between the two partners, Australia’s days as the country with the worst extinction record will be buried in the past and many threatened animals will have an opportunity to live.

European Cities Quickly Ditching Cash For Smart Payment Systems

Finance

Despite a number of concerns, European cities are now far ahead of the U.S. in the transition to a cashless economy with everywhere from hotels to grocery shops to the kindergarten kids selling cookies in the neighborhood accepting cashless forms of payment. While using hard currency is fast becoming outdated, not everyone is happy with the turn of events. Money offered the convenience of anonymity and full custody of one’s funds while with cashless systems, individual card information can be accessed by anyone including a grocer, jeweler or even the local tailor raising the prospect that this could be the end of privacy as we know it.

Europe’s fast transition to a cashless society has been heralded as the dawn of a new age. Traditional monetary operations were both time wasting and financially constraining. Grocers spent a lot of time ringing purchases and processing cash transactions, taxi drivers stalled beside roads for up to half an hour counting money and looking for change, banks handling bills and coins were forced to spare a huge chunk of employee turnover time in physically accounting for money. With the cashless system, Europe has been thrust into a new era of increased productivity and business efficiency.

Cashless transacting is exploding in Europe and the tap-and-go contactless credit card model is the most preferred. Finextra, a leading news service in Europe, put it ideally, “contactless is the new normal in Europe, with more than a billion tap-and-go purchases worth €12.6 billion on Visa cards in the last 12 months.”

However, all is not rosy with the new system. Worried Europeans are increasingly becoming alarmed over the massive amount of data companies are collecting on them. Retail chains give a unique number to new card buyers and build data on the buyer’s buying habits. Through the data, retailers can figure out intricate details such as if a buyer is married, their drinking habits, when they shop, their favorite cologne, if they are pregnant and if so, how far along they are. The cashless system has basically eroded all privacy and laid individual persons bare before all.

European citizens have had to make a tough call, choosing between the convenience of paperless transactions and their inherent right to privacy. With companies hoarding mountains of information on unaware citizens, unease is being directed toward just how much information can be gathered from individual spending habits and just how identifiable people have become.

Just what do companies do with all this personal info? Is it sold to the highest bidder? Are individual rights to privacy being breached on a global scale? Does the freedom from intrusion still hold meaning in a cashless economy? As much as a cashless system is intended to benefit the end consumer, these concerns must be addressed before its full benefits can be enjoyed.

Study Finds Summer Makes Us Lazy

Health & Wellness

Ever wonder why you often feel a little lazy, unproductive but nicer to be around in the summer?

The answer may lie in a series of studies that have been made over recent years which have found that quite figuratively, and like flowers left in the summer sun without water, our brains wilt on warm, summer days

An American Time Use Survey taken in 2008 found that on a rainy day we worked on average 30 more minutes than we did on sunny days.

Similarly, a 2012 combined University of North Carolina and Harvard University study of bank workers in Japan, found they were more productive on bad weather days than sunny days. The study involved the time workers processed loan applications, regardless of how often they had done the task.

The findings of both studies are not actually rocket science – both concluding humans lacked motivation on warm sunny days, while on unpleasant days, unless one was a rain freak, people did not want to venture outside.

The 2012 study also tried to determine why weather had an affect on production. The Harvard researchers randomly assigned study participants data entry tasks. Before beginning work, some participants were shown six photos of nice weather, outdoor activities, and were asked to note their daily routines. The researchers found participants produced less work when they viewed the fine weather photos, focusing less on their work and more on what they could be doing other than working, regardless of what the weather was like outside. Just thinking about sunny day activities before commencing work, dropped production.

Back in 1994, a study on ambient mood altering showed that pleasant weather lead to noticeable and measurable lapses of concentration. That study involved 122 undergraduates who were required to participate in higher education surveys. On fine weather days, study participants were easily persuaded to agree to less than solid arguments put forward, while on bad weather days, there was much more thought given to survey questions with answers based on free thinking rather than persuasion. The study concluded that good weather made people more open to suggestion at the expense of analysis.

Other studies have even found that the hotter the weather, the less likely people were to question what they were told. Renowned psychologist Uri Simonsohn found that potential students were more inclined to enroll in colleges that were famous for their academic workload if they visited them on a bad weather day.

A 2013 study conducted by economist Marie Connolly even concluded that on days with temperatures over 90 degrees, people were more likely to feel less saddened by the prospect of divorce or being widowed than on days with lower temperatures.

The natural question that arise from these studies is whether pollsters and advertisers take into consideration the weather when planning.

Three Year Old Girl Becomes First To Receive Artificial Skull Transplant

Health & Wellness

A three-year-old girl in China has received the first ever artificial skull thanks to cutting edge 3D printing technology. The young patient, known as Han Han, received three 3D printed titanium mesh skull implants, replacing the entire top portion of her skull.

Having received the first ever full skull reconstruction surgery via 3D printing technology Han Han will now be able to lift her head off of her pillow for the first time. At the Second People’s Hospital of Hunan Province in China, the little girl underwent the 17 hour surgery after having suffered from a rare disorder causing her head to grow four times larger than normal size. Translated from Chinese as “whole brain shrinking plastic surgery, the procedure involved the reconstruction and printing of a new titanium skull in 3D in order to reposition her brain.

“CT results showed that Han Han’s brain was filled 80 percent with water,” stated Dr. Bo of the Second People’s Hospital of Hunan Province. “If she was not sent to hospital for treatment, Han Han would not have survived the summer. We had to first eliminate the infection in Han Han’s head because the brain wound area was too large, and we needed to do skin graft surgery and insert a shunt to help eliminate the infection, and remove the fluid from her brain.”

Han Han’s father, Chen Youzhi, was strapped for cash when the child’s mother left her at 1 year old. Youzhi was able to scrape together donations of 100,000 Chinese Yuan from friends and family in order to reach the goal of 400,000–500,000 Chinese Yuan (approximately $64,000–$80,000) for his daughter’s surgery. It was via donations online that Youzhi was able to get this life-saving surgery his daughter that would change her life.

Surgeons used 3D data along with a CT scanner to develop models for 3D printing of three mesh skull implants made out of titanium that would replace the entire top portion Han Han’s skull. The process consisted of peeling her scalp from the skull and attaching it to protective saline pads. Then, drainage tubes were placed in her head, slowly releasing the CSF. Finally, the surgeons took their three 3D-printed titanium implants and placed them into her head, recreating a new skull for her.

The very first 3D printer full skull reconstructive surgery in the world was a success after Han Han was breathing and opened her eyes prior to being transferred for recovery to the ICU. As Han Han continues growing, her own bone will continue to grow and surround the titanium implants, leading to the top of her skull becoming stronger. It is expected Han Han will make a full recovery.

3D printing has aided in the improvement of many infants’ lives besides Han Han, such as Gabriel Manderville. Baby Gabriel suffered from epileptic seizures and began to forget the fundamentals he had learned. Gabriel underwent a successful hemispherectomy treatment in which a 3D-print brain replica ensuring further mental development as well as allowing him to be free of seizures.

The 3D printing revolution has led to rapid innovation in the medical world. Medical 3D printing first started with devices such as the hearing aid. Now there are 3D-printed bone replacements, implants, and soon human tissue. 3D printing advancements have helped people change how they perceive medical illnesses.

Lack Of Funding Means Thousands Of Rape Kits Sit Untested

News

Across the nation, kits taken from rape victims shortly after the horrific crime is committed are sitting on shelves without being tested. These rape kits are obtained during a four-hour invasive examination whereby medical practitioners collect DNA samples from the victim’s body. In theory, this DNA evidence should then be tested, entered into a national database, and matched to known samples in an effort to assist police in catching the rapist. At about $1,500 a pop to test each rape kit, the expense and backlog of tests prohibit some police departments from testing the kits as often as they should. In fact, records obtained from 800 police agencies reveal that they are storing more than 70,000 untested rape kits. The failure to test these kits in a timely manner result in criminals going free.

Congress recently approved $41 million in grants to assist police departments in clearing rape kit backlogs. However, evidence shows that much of these funds are not reaching local and state police authorities where the stored test kits could be tested and the backlog program reduced. Scott Berkowitz, president of the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network stated that the current issue is not the amount of federal funding, but that it is not reaching the intended targets. Over the past 10 years, nearly $1.2 billion has been allocated towards addressing the country’s DNA testing needs, including the taking of inventory and testing of sexual assault kits. However, many of these funds have been spent on more general DNA testing improvements and administrative expenses.

In cases of rape, one break in the case can have exponential effects. For example, Laura Neuman was raped at gunpoint when she was 18 years old. Her rape kit sat on the shelf for years and the crime went unsolved for 19 years. Finally, Neuman insisted that police reopen the case and just days later, fingerprints resulted in the arrest of her rapist. If Neuman’s rape kit was tested right after her attack, countless women could have been saved from being brutally raped. In fact, police obtained fingerprint matches on 12 more cases, cases that never would have been solved if Neuman had not persisted that her case be reopened.

The very least agencies can do is test the rape kits that are invasively collected from rape victims after being attacked. These rape kits have the power to provide evidence identifying unknown assailants, exonerate the wrongly accused and confirm the accounts of rape victims.

International Space Station Survives Brush With Dangerous Space Pollution

Entertainment News

The International Space Station crew was ordered to take cover for a short period of time in an escape vehicle on Thursday as a small piece from an old Russian satellite almost collided with them. The latest brush with space garbage highlights the fact that as more countries send satellites and humans into orbit the amount of debris generated by these activities is becoming a serious concern for those already in orbit.

In Houston, NASA Mission Control officials were able to determine that the space junk would float near the space station at approximately 7:01 AM CT. In order to ensure crew safety, flight engineers Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly were ordered by ISS Commander Gennady Padalka to board a Soyuz escape vehicle.

The crew was instructed to go back to work once the space debris passed by without contact.

Kelly, one of the flight engineers, tweeted about the incident saying, “Happy there was no impact. Great coordination with international ground teams. Excellent training”.

No ISS systems were negatively affected as the NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonauts waited within the Soyuz pod.

As there are an estimated 500,000 pieces of space junk trapped in Earth’s orbit, NASA must weigh the risk-reward scenario when it comes to spending prolonged time in space. Although most pieces are only 2 inches across, the debris ahs to the potential to harm the space station as well as satellites. Moving at a speed of 17,500 mph, the debris can cause damage to all that lies in its path.

NASA said that this incident marks the fourth time the crew of the space station had to move to the Soyuz in order to avoid a possible collision with space junk.

In the spirit of Shark Week, after the incident, Van Cise made a suggestion in reference to Austin Powers tweeting, “We need to launch a #SpaceSharknado where sharks have freakin’ laser beams on their heads #pewpewpew,”

Both Kornienko and Kelly are on a yearlong deployment in the space station to help anticipate some issues with sending a human mission to Mars. Interestingly, Kelly, along with his twin brother Mark Kelly who is a former astronaut who last flew aboard the Endeavour Space Shuttle, is a part of twin experiment.

The space station is scheduled to receive three new crewmembers on July 22 from Japan, Russia and the US.

Hotel Staffed By Robots Offers Glimpse Of Japan’s Future

Entertainment News

The new Henn-na hotel near Nagasaki, Japan offers guests a unique experience as most of the hotel staff consists of robots. The name of the hotel fittingly means “strange” in Japanese as the hotel is a combines an amusement park with a standard business hotel. The hotel is located north of Nagasaki in Sasebo and is a part of a Holland-based amusement park called Huis Ten Bosch. The hotel featuring androids and dinosaur robots is set to open today. It features 72 rooms and a 20 member staff, half robots and half humans.

When first entering the hotel, guests are greeted with a giant robot arm used in industries. Supplied by Yaskawa electric, this robotic arm serves a cloakroom for those interested. Guests place their belongings inside a receptacle in the wall from where the robotic arm can reach. From there, the arm places the luggage in one of 30 different cubbyholes. Another interesting feature is the facial recognition for door entry. Guests can be scanned at the front desk and use their face in the place of a key. A robot concierge is also available to answer questions, in English and Japanese, for guests about the surrounding amusement park.

The rooms, designed by associate professor at the Institute of Industrial Science in the University of Tokyo Yoshiyuki Kawazoe, have a minimalist appeal to them and come complete with a personal android robot on a bedside table. This robot can pull practical information from the Internet such as weather forecast and can wake up guests. Vending machines can also be seen throughout the hotel. During a press review earlier this week, there was some minor malfunctioning with the robots.

The hotel is built to accommodate the growing number of visitors to the Huis Ten Bosch amusement park. Also, the Henn-na hotel is one of the cheapest options in the area as it offers rooms for around $73, which is half of the price of other hotels in the area. Replacing human staff with robots in an attempt to keep prices down is a reoccurring trend in Japan. Some are excited about the move towards a more automated experience while others are worried about the loss of jobs and the effect that will have on the economy. Yet Japan’s population is increasingly elderly and the birth rate is falling, meaning in order to stay productive the country must quickly adopt the widespread use of robots.

CDC Warns Of Rapid Spread Of Lyme Disease Across The Country

Health & Wellness

A new report by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that Lyme disease is spreading across the country. In addition to the disease’s expansion throughout the nation, it is also becoming more prevalent in known hotspots along the East coast. So, as the numbers of counties with a high incidence of Lyme disease has increased more than 320%, the disease is also appearing in states where it was never previously recorded.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. This bacteria is found on and transmitted by the blacklegged deer tick, Ixodes scapularis.

According to the CDC, there are apparently two main reasons to explain the rapid expansion of the disease: 1) climate change; and 2) reforestation/suburbia. Warmer climates cause the life cycle of the tick carrying the culprit bacteria to speed up. This means that the tick will survive long enough to breed and spread the bacteria to more ticks. As ticks can be active any time the temperature is above freezing, warming climates throughout the country means more areas for the ticks to thrive.

The expansion of suburbia, including the forest clearing and reforestation that goes along with it, has resulted in an increase in the number of favorable habitats for the offending ticks. Specifically, white mice are the natural predators of deer ticks. As people clear forests that are homes to white mice, thereby killing them off, the deer tick population has soared. Moreover, the newly established neighborhoods are often built along the new forest lines, placing humans in close proximity to the ticks’ habitats.

Lyme disease, identified in 1975, can cause a number of health problems. Patients treated with antibiotics right after infection are usually cured without any residual problems. However, left untreated, Lyme disease can cause symptoms affecting the skin, nervous system, heart and/or the musculoskeletal system.

In the majority of cases, a bull’s eye rash, about two inches wide, will appear and expand around the bite site. Early symptoms include chills, fever, headache, stiff neck, joint/muscle pain, fatigue and swollen glands. As the disease progresses and if left untreated, symptoms such as severe fatigue, stiff neck, tingling/numbness in the extremities or facial paralysis can occur.

As ticks attach to humans only as a result of direct contact, it is important to be aware of your surroundings when outside and near the woods. Search yourself, your children and pets for ticks after the day’s adventures and be attuned your body. If you experience the aforementioned symptoms, it would not hurt your doctor and express your concerns.

Creepy Apple Patent Reveals Plans For Ad Targeting Based On What’s In Your Bank Account

Finance

A patent filing by Apple Inc. has revealed a creepy new plan to show iPhone users ads based on the amount of money available in your their bank account. The idea is to show only ads for products a user can afford.

The system that Apple secured with the patent advertises “goods and services to users of mobile terminals, based for example on the users’ profile.” According to the patent, the profiles of users may be based from their available pre-paid credit, meaning the system would connect to a bank account or other sources of financial information.

Apple filed the patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last year.

Although Apple already keeps important user bank details with Apple Pay, this new patent will have the company storing even more information about bank accounts and the income of its user, essentially building a financial fingerprint of everyone who has an Apple account.

Profiles created for users will include information such as target telephone type, sex, age, income level as well as available credit. Advertisers who post ads on through the new service will then be able to target users based on this highly personal data.

Apple claims this is to be an opt-in service and that the advantage of having the system will mean users only seeing ads of things that they can afford rather than things out of their price range, though what starts as opt-in only usually doesn’t stay that way.

With only a patent in the works, there is no guarantee that this system will ever make it to the market. As with Apple Pay, it is highly unlikely that Apple would sell the information gathered from users to advertising companies though that wouldn’t prevent them from using the information if it was provided through Apple’s interface.
As technology increases and becomes more personalized, users will have to decide whether the added convenience and customization is worth the invasion of privacy as companies like Apple begin to have access to more and more personal information. Although Apple and it’s advertisers may have good intentions with the information the mass harvesting of data can lead to negative unforeseen consequences for users, such as from data breaches and discriminatory business practices.

Six Years And Millions Of Miles Later, Google’s Self Driving Cars Finally Involved In Injury Causing Accident

Finance

After six years of testing and millions of miles travelled, one of Google Inc.’s self-driving prototype cars was finally involved in its first accidents with injury on Thursday in Mountain View, California. Google, better known for its ubiquitous search engine, is quickly emerging as a leader in the self-driving car industry and regularly tests on public roadways. Thankfully only minor injuries were reported to its passengers and employees.

Google stated that the three employees involved in the July 1st rear-ending complained of minor whiplash and were examined and released to go back to work. The other car’s driver also complained of pain in his back and neck.

In California, an individual has to ride behind the wheel of any self-driving vehicle tested on public roadways in order to take control in an emergency situation. Typically, Google sends an additional employee out in the passenger seat in order to record information concerning the ride on a laptop. In this instance, there was a passenger in the back seat too.

Google has heavily invested as a leader of self-driving vehicles; technology it feels will ultimately be more efficient and safer than human drivers.

Google stated that in six years of testing and 1.9 million miles, this was the 14th accident. Google also stated that its cars have not been the cause of any accidents, even though in 2011 a car was taken out of self-driving mode and used on an errand by an employee who was rear-ended by another vehicle.

Google also said that its cars were rear-ended in 11 out of 14 of the accidents.

Chris Urmson, head of Google’s self-driving car program, wrote in a blog post on Thursday that his cars “are being hit surprisingly often” by distracted drivers, perhaps people looking at their phones.

“The clear theme is human error and inattention,” Urmson wrote. “We’ll take all this as a signal that we’re starting to compare favorably with human drivers.”

Urmson said in a telephone interview that his team was looking in to whether its cars could somehow alert distracted drivers prior to a collision. Honking is one possibility, but Urmson stated he did not want to annoy the residents of Mountain View.

In an accident report filed by Google with the California Department of Motor Vehicles concerning the July 1 crash:

Google’s SUV was travelling behind two other vehicles at approximately 15 mph in self-driving mode as the vehicles approached a green light at an intersection.

The first car slowly came to a stop in order to avoid blocking the intersection — traffic was completely stopped on the far side. The Google car along with the car in front of it stopped.

Within approximately a second, a fourth vehicle rear-ended the Google vehicle at approximately 17 mph. The other car failed to brake according to on-board sensors.

The other car’s driver reported “minor neck and back pain.” The SUV’s rear bumper suffered minor damages, and the vehicle that hit it losing its front bumper.

While Mountain View police responded, an accident report was not filed.

The collision puts the company into interesting legal territory about just who takes the blame if fault must be assigned in a crash. Given Google’s vehicles are not piloted by humans, who merely observe the actions of the computer, there are questions of liability – is it the vehicle’s owner or Google itself that should be blamed?

The rarity of human harm caused by the vehicles has thus far not fully opened this can of legal worms but this is expected to be a significant hurdle for the industry to cross as the technology becomes more widespread.

Domestic Terrorism In Tennessee Leaves Four Marines Dead

News

Thursday afternoon, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, suspect Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez began a shooting rampage that would take the lives of 4 U.S. Marines. Abdulazeez was driving a rented Ford mustang convertible when he pulled up to a National Guard recruiting agency in a small shopping mall. Suspects say they saw Abdulazeez raise his hand out of the car and begin shooting countless shots into the windows at the recruiting center. Reportedly, the suspect was using an AK-47 style weapon and had enough ammo to keep police at bay as his attack continued for 30 minutes.

After finishing at the National Guard recruiting center, where there were no fatalities or injuries, Abdulazeez drove more than 7 miles away to a Naval Reserve center where the altercation with police continued. After exchanging some gunfire, police were able to stop the suspect, who ended up dying from gunshot wounds.

Four marines were killed in the firefight.

The suspect, Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez was a 24 year old naturalized U.S. citizen who had a Jordanian citizenship but was born in Kuwait. Not much is known about the suspect, and little has been officially reported.

Involvement with ISIS is being investigated as, according to people who knew Abdulazeez, the suspect returned home to the Middle East for some time earlier this year following an arrest for driving under the influence in April and was scheduled to appear in court later this month.

All people interviewed who knew the suspect were surprised of the news and had nothing but good things to say about Abdulazez.

Officials are thus far treating the situation as an act of domestic terrorism. Ed Reinhold, the FBI special agent in charge of the crime scene told reporters, “We will treat this as a terrorism investigation until it can be determined that it is not”.

Several military related centers around the area were heavily secured after the shooting as tensions rose. Very little about the suspect or his plot has been reported. President Obama commented on the issue promising that the investigation will be “thorough and prompt.” He sent his condolences to the victims and their families and said that there must be patience until enough evidence is gathered to make assessments about the crime and about further precautions to take later on.

Jeh Johnson, Homeland Security Secretary said authorities were taking no chances as security was increased at several government related facilities.

Deadly ISIS Sponsored Attack In Nigeria Kills 48, Wounds 60

Entertainment News

The Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, which has pledged its allegiance to ISIS, is likely the culprit behind yesterday’s bomb blasts in the northern Nigerian city of Gombe. According to Red Cross officials, these bombings killed at least 48 people and injured 60 others. A female suicide bomber was responsible for one of the blasts while a suicide bomber carried out the second bombing. The second attack took place merely five minutes after the first strike. The attackers were killed in the blasts.

Although no one has officially claimed responsibility for the attacks, officials state that it is more likely than not that Boko Haram is the culprit. This is a reasonable conclusion given that Boko Haram has attacked Gombe and other northern Nigerian cities several times during the past decade, killing thousands.

The extremist group has recently amped up its violent activity in Nigeria with attacks coming more frequently. Earlier this week, Boko Haram terrorists barricaded a road that links the Nigerian city of Damaturu to neighboring towns and, in doing so, killed more than 20 motorists.

As Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer, and because the northeast region is predominantly Muslim, Boko Haram is trying to create and maintain a state adhering to strict Sharia law in the region. Sharia law is an extreme version of Islamic law.

The Nigerian military has been unsuccessful at preventing Boko Haram’s bombings and raids taking place in the country’s northeastern region. Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, who was inaugurated into office on May 29th, has placed crushing Boko Haram on the top of his to-do list. Yet, despite his attempts to step up Nigeria’s campaign against Boko Haram, hundreds of Nigerian citizens have been killed in bombings and attacks by the terrorist group since his inauguration. Earlier this week, Buhari replaced his defense chiefs in order to hopefully reach better results.

Study Finds Keeping Weight Off A Multi Year Effort For Dieters

Health & Wellness

New research show just how unlikely it is for men to keep weight off after losing it.

According to a study conducted by experts at King’s College London, overweight males only have a one in 210 chance of having a healthy body weight. The study suggests that current exercise and diet systems simply aren’t efficient when it come to fighting obesity. Women who are obese have a one in 124 chance of overcoming the epidemic. These numbers have led experts in the UK to admit that a majority of weight loss programs in the UK are simply not effective.

The American Journal of Public Health posted these findings, which are based from patient health records of 279,000 UK patients between 2004 and 2014. From the data, it was found that for men, a five percent loss of bodyweight is a 1 in 12 possibility. For women, this statistic rises to about 1 in 10.

Most patients who were able to lose five percent of their bodyweight simply regained that weight after a few years. In fact, more than fifty percent of the patients who lost five percent of their body weight gained it back it within a year. Only 22 percent of the patients had kept the weight off after five years. The statistics were even worse for individuals categorized as severely obese.

The data clearly suggests that once an individual reaches the obesity range, it is highly unlikely that they will achieve a healthy body weight thereafter.

Dr. Alison Fildes, a member of the King’s Division of Health and Social Care Research, states, “New approaches are urgently needed to deal with this issue. Obesity treatments should focus on preventing overweight and obese patients gaining further weight, while also helping those that do lose weight to keep it off.”

The study excluded patients who had weight loss surgery. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is encouraging the NHS to increase the number of patients eligible for weight loss surgery.

Many scientists are in agreement that his positive correlation between an increase in body weight and an increase difficulty to lose weight is due to the biological changes the body undergoes the drastic changes.

Dr Fildes admits that the Western environment doesn’t help the situation as it has a tendency to encourage a diet consisting of unhealthy foods as well as a sedentary lifestyle. Fildes continues encouraging patients not to be discouraged by the findings but having people realize that he critical key is to prevent obesity in the first place.

Senior author, Professor Martin Gulliford, admits that current strategies in place to help patients lose bodyweight simply aren’t effective enough. In order to combat this epidemic, Gulliford suggests attacking the problem before patients are affected by it.

Apple Employees Win Right To Class Action Lawsuit Against Their Employer

Finance

In what is an extremely rare occurrence, Apple employees working at its retail stores have sued the company for back pay for the time it took to have their bags search when leaving the stores after work.

On Thursday, a federal judge certified a case as a class-action on behalf of employees at 52 of the iPhone maker’s outlets in California.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup handed down the ruling in San Francisco, all part of a lawsuit filed in 2013, in which it is alleged Apple should be required to compensate thousands of its store employees for the time required for their bags to be searched to ensure they did not steal any of the valuable merchandise the stores sell to consumers.

Two Apple retail store employees directly complained to Chief Executive Tim Cook that the company’s policy of inspecting employees’ bags as a security measure was not only demeaning but also embarrassing, according to public court documents.

When a lawsuit has been certified as a class action, it allows for the plaintiffs to sue as a group instead of individually and usually grants them more leverage when negotiating a settlement. Members of the class action in the bag search case are inclusive of over 12,000 current and former employees, according to the ruling.

A representative for Apple declined to comment.

Dean Pelle and Amanda Frlekin, plaintiffs, claim that bag searches or “screenings”, implemented to discourage theft, are performed every time a sales rep leaves the store, this includes for meal breaks.

One employee, whose name was redacted from the court document, reported to Cook in a 2012 message that managers at Apple “are required to treat ‘valued’ employees as criminals.”

The message was forwarded by Cook to top executives with the question: “Is this true?” The responses Cook received were not included in the court filing.

Apple had argued in court documents that the case was not appropriate for class action status due to the fact that all stores did not perform bag searches, and the searches that did occur took a very small amount of time, undeserving of compensation.

Alsup ruled those issues could be argued at trial.

Dissention within the ranks at Apple is extremely rare, with most employees only hired because they show near-fanatical devotion to the brand and exclusively use its products.

U.S. Chip Giant Qualcomm Faces EU Antitrust Investigation

Finance

Qualcomm, an American icon and world leader in the manufacturing of chips necessary for smartphones, tablets and cellphones is now the topic of not one, but two investigations, for the potential misuse of its market dominance.

On Thursday, it was announced that two investigations have been opened by the European Commision looking into chipmaker Qualcomm Inc.’s possible misuse of market dominance, just a recent string of tax and antitrust inquiries into several major U.S. companies.

The initial investigation will look into whether or not Qualcomm, leader in the market of chips used for the transmission of voice and data in smartphones, other mobile devices and tablets, offered monetary incentives to customers on the grounds that they purchased exclusively or almost so from Qualcomm.

The second investigation will look into whether or not Qualcomm took part in “predatory pricing” with charging lower than cost in an attempt to force competitors from the market.

“We are launching these investigations because we want to be sure that high-tech suppliers can compete on the merits of their products,” according to European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

“Many customers use electronic devices, such as a mobile phone or a tablet, and we want to ensure that they ultimately get value for money.”

Other U.S. companies that have shown up on the EU’s radar for potential market abuse are Google, Apple and Starbucks.

Qualcomm stated their disappointment in hearing of the EU investigations.

“We have been cooperating and will continue to cooperate with the Commission, and we continue to believe that any concerns are without merit,” Qualcomm stated.

This year, Qualcomm was able to pay a $975 million fine and put an end to a year long investigation by the Chinese government into potential anti-competitive practices..

Companies that the EU does find to be guilty of abusing the market can potentially be fined as much as 10 percent of their worldwide earnings. No specific deadline is set for completing an investigation into conduct that is anti-competitive.

Doctors Can Tell If You’re Depressed Just By Looking At Your Phone

Health & Wellness

Feeling blue? Your smart phone has the answer. According to researchers, doctors can now determine if patients are depressed by only looking at their smart phones. No more questionnaires for patients to lie in and random interviews that are prone to inaccuracy, detecting depression is now as easy as logging in on a patient’s smartphone.

Scientists from a Northwestern University have revealed that the key to early detection of depression is through smart phones. Through a study, the researchers discovered that phone usage data and GPS were sufficient information to tell whether a person was depressed.

Modern methods of diagnosing depression usually involve question-answer interrogations between doctors and their patients and then extending to the patients’ family and friends. The tests have been criticized for lacking systematic behavioral analysis and being culpable to inaccuracy when people lie. Majority of psychological disorder symptoms occur outside an individual’s knowledge, sublimely in everyday actions that interviews cannot possibly reveal but phone usage can.

The study found that the more a user spent his time on the phone, the higher the chances that the user was depressed. According to the study, average daily usage of phones by depressed individuals totaled 68 minutes. Comparatively, persons without symptoms averaged a distant 17 minutes; an incriminating contrast.

The scientist went further to reveal that where people chose to use their phones was another indicator of depression. Through GPS location monitoring, it was found that participants who spent most of their time in limited locations such as at home, were more prone to depression, unlike their counterparts who visited multiple locations.

According to lead author Sohrob Saeb, the findings reinforced scientific depression facts known in the medical world. He said, “The data showing depressed people tended not to go many places reflects the loss of motivation seen in depression. When people are depressed, they tend to withdraw and don’t have the motivation or energy to go out and do things.”

Based on the results, researchers indicated smart phone usage could determine depression with an accuracy of 87%. Mohr was very enthusiastic about the results. He said, “The significance of this is we can detect if a person has depressive symptoms and the severity of those symptoms without asking them any questions.”

Figures from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) put the number of depressed Americans at six per cent of the population. The number, though, could be higher due to gaps present in the clinical diagnosis of the mental condition. Through smart phone usage, early detection of the condition can be done and treatment received before it is too late.

ISIS Claims Responsibility For Sinking Egyptian Warship

Entertainment News

Islamic State (ISIS) militants claimed responsibility for a high impact rocket attack on a packed Egyptian navy vessel which completely destroyed the ship. The attack illustrated just how technologically advanced and confident the jihadist terror group, responsible for the deaths of thousands across the world, has grown and why new methods of fighting them are needed.

“The Sinai Province”, an Islamic State affiliate operating in Egypt, just off the coast of Israel and Gaza, was the group behind Thursday’s attack on a docked Egyptian ship. In claiming responsibility for the attack, the affiliate posted photos on social media depicting a rocket just moments before it crashed into the ship, causing a huge explosion and inferno that razed the navy vessel to ashes. Crew members scrambled overboard to save themselves and were reportedly picked up by other navy vessels.

Egypt’s military command did confirm the attack, adding that the coastal guard exchanged fire with the “terrorist elements.” They confirmed that there were some casualties but no lives were lost.

“The Sinai Province” has proven to be the most lethal militia group operating in the Northern African country. The group has stepped up attacks on the Egyptian government, spurring an insurgency that has claimed the lives of many innocent civilians. On July 1, the group killed 17 soldiers on the Egyptian peninsula. Earlier, it claimed responsibility for the murder of Egypt’s top state prosecutor Hisham Barakat and the killing of 21 soldiers in Sheikh Zuwaid, a town in Sinai.

The latest attack was the first attack at sea in over two years of the group’s extremist activities. It was intended to showcase the group’s growing military prowess and make a statement. One that has drawn the attention of the whole world and gotten the Egyptian military worried. Egyptians have been left worried over how long these terror attacks will continue before someone puts an end to them.

Islamic State backed terror groups have devolved terror activities to places once considered safe. Their growing military might and brazen display of muscle are intended to cause terror and panic among the ordinary citizens. More effort is required in stemming the growth of terror groups and their affiliates before more lives are lost.

Uber Hit With $7.3 Million Fine For Passenger Safety Violations

Finance

Popular transport networking company Uber has been slapped with a hefty $7.3 million fine for not disclosing essential information to ensure the safety of their taxi users. The car transportation company, which has seen protests against it rock revenues in many parts of the world, was found guilty of failing to ensure user safety and abide by state operational requirements, adding on to the list of problems and accusations the company, which transports millions of Americans every year, has been facing.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) found against Uber for its regulatory naughtiness. The company was fined $7.3 million for its failure to disclose information on vehicle accessibility, drivers’ accident history and geographic information for taxis and information beneficial in determining whether users were being discriminated against on the basis of locality.

Presiding California judge Karen V. Clopton, though admitting that a few filings had been made, ruled that the car transport company had not fully disclosed all the information necessary to comply with state requirements that the company had in fact committed to abide by.
The $50 billion company now has 30 days to pay the fine to local authorities at its home turf or risk being denied an operational license.

Uber’s driver location system has been faulted for a number of reasons previously, all of which revolve around the safety of the passengers. In August 4 2014, the company was compelled to announce the scheduled removal of a driver who had failed a medical review and had suffered an epileptic seizure while driving, hitting three cars and injuring two people, including the passenger. It is these records that Uber keeps locked away from the public, possibly endangering their lives.

The California based company has insisted that they would appeal the ruling, consequentially postponing the deadline for the payment of the $7.3 million fine.

Even though Uber has access to the accident histories of their taxi drivers and has in the past pledged to uphold higher standards of ethical business practice, the company has failed and neglected their responsibility to ensure the ultimate safety of their passengers. The fine should prompt the company into developing a higher benchmark for consumer safety lest the loss of human lives serve as a harsher wake-up call.

Adidas Creates Shoe Entirely Out Of Plastic Ocean Garbage

Culture

Every year, millions of plastic waste materials and illegal fish nets find their way into the ocean, not only polluting our waters but killing millions of marine mammals and birds. Their impact on the environment is catastrophically hazardous to life on planet earth, something Adidas hopes to change for good through their latest running shoe that is made entirely from ocean trash.

Adidas proposed to make a complete functional shoe using nothing but ocean trash. The shoe maker even proceeded to make a prototype of the shoe and exhibit it to the public last week. The upper shoe was made from recycled plastic while the colorful accent was created from the threads from green gill nets.

To make the shoe, Adidas partnered with Parley for the Oceans, a conservation organization that advocates for cleaner oceans by reduced waste dumping. The basic materials for the shoe were retrieved after a 110-day excursion into the ocean, just off the coastline of Africa. The plastic was collected from the ocean depths while the gillnets were tracked down much closer to the coast line, indicating a rampant use of illegal gillnets.

Water pollution has reached unprecedented highs in the recent years. Researchers have estimated that over 4.8 billion metric tons of harmful plastic waste get dumped into the ocean every year. UNESCO, in a 2006 report, estimated that there were over 75,000 pieces of plastic debris floating per square mile of ocean cover.

As the non biodegradable waste keeps piling up year after year, our seas and oceans have become death traps for millions of marine mammals and birds. UNESCO estimates the fatalities at over a million seabirds and over 100,000 sea mammals yearly. The figures are staggering! Should the situation persist, it would only be a matter of time before future generations grow up in a world devoid of fish, something Adidas and Parley for the Oceans hope to avoid with the new ocean trash shoe.

Cyrill Gutsch, founder of Parley for the Oceans said, “We’re going to end ocean plastic pollution only if we’re going to reinvent the material. Plastic doesn’t belong in nature, it doesn’t belong in the belly of a fish, it doesn’t belong out there. The ultimate solution is to cut into this ongoing stream of material that never dies, is to reinvent plastic.”

Awareness is growing for the plight of our oceans. In this day and age, focus has moved from getting the waste out of the oceans but also finding useful ways of using the waste, without harming the environment. The Adidas ocean trash shoe is a classic example of how human genius can be directed toward conservation of the environment rather than destroying it.

Russia Latest To Mandate ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ From Internet Search Engines

Entertainment News

Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently signed into law a new order requiring internet search engines to delete links that lead to false or old information relating to Russian citizens, if requested by them. The legislation mirrors a similar EU policy called the Right To Be Forgotten and marks a change in attitude towards the responsibilities of big data gatherers to rights.

Press for the Kremlin stated that “under the new federal law search engine operators must on request delete the links to pages that allow access to the internet information about private persons if spreading such information violates Russian laws, if it is false or has become outdated due to subsequent events or actions.”

This new law does not regulate information that describes criminal prosecutions where the statute of limitations have yet run and convictions that have been removed or have yet to be served.

The information systems that are conducting these searches for both government and state work and services will not fall within the regulations of this law as other web services developed for the execution of other tasks for the benefit of the society under any federal laws already in existence.

The restrictions will be placed only on links produced by search engines and the law does not require that the information actually be deleted.

If a search service refuses to delete certain links, the individual who filed the complaint can then obtain a warrant from the court.

The media has dubbed this bill as the ‘right-to-be-forgotten bill,’ which was drafted by the four caucuses of the State of Duma in May of this year. The sponsors behind this bill allege that it is in line with recent decisions made by European legislators and courts, similar to that of the 2014 Luxembourg court ruling which allowed for the very first time for internet users to “be forgotten” and request links onto personal information by search engines be deleted.

The bill was passed with an almost unanimous vote in the first reading, however, causing a wave of criticism from the media and internet professionals, promoting serious revisions in the two readings that followed.

Particularly, the Duma revised the order in regards to the deletion of links to information concerning users that is not inclusive of information that is true and current. An additional important revision was removing a portion of the bill ordering search engines to delete links to data that is three years and older, regardless of the truth of the information.

Lawmakers also expanded the timeframe that a search engine has to meet users’ requests from three to ten days.

On January 1, 2016, the right-to-be-forgotten bill will be in full force for those internet companies who do business in Russia.

Bacon Flavored Seaweed Could Be The Next Superfood

Health & Wellness

Many people know that kale is an incredibly healthy food loaded with protein. However, most people do not know that there is a superfood seaweed out there with twice the nutritional value of kale . . . and it tastes like bacon!

Dulse (Palmaria, sp.) is a seaweed that grows in the wild along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. It is harvested and usually sold for up to $90 per pound in its dried form as a nutritional supplement or cooking ingredient. Recently, however, researchers from Oregon State University have created and patented a new strain of the seaweed which looks like red translucent lettuce and is an excellent source of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants, and contains up to 16% protein in dry weight.

The initial goal of OSU researchers was to create a highly nutritious and palatable food for abalone because high-quality abalone fetches high prices, especially in Asia. Researchers’ interests then turned to the possibility of growing dulse for human consumption.

Because dulse grows rapidly, has high nutritional value and can be used in dry or fresh form, the Oregon Department of Agriculture gave a grant to OSU researchers to explore dulse as a “specialty crop.” This variety of dulse has the potential to become a new industry for Oregon.

The researchers at OSU are working with the university’s Food Innovation Center and renowned chefs to creating products where dulse, in either its dry or fresh form, is the main ingredient. As fresh high-quality seaweed is generally hard for chefs to obtain, the theory is that researchers can provide the dulse and the chefs do the creative part.

Although there is currently no commercial operations growing dulse for human consumption in the United States, OSU researchers and chefs are confident the seaweed superfood has a great chance of success.

Arctic Superpowers Agree To Polar Fishing Ban In Newly Open Waters

Culture

The United States, Russia, Canada, Norway and Denmark signed an agreement today to block their own ships from fishing in the central Arctic Ocean until a full scientific evaluation of the fish stocks is completed. Specifically, scientists must assess the fish stocks and how they can be harvested sustainably before the countries will allow fishing in the seas around the North Pole.

The signing of the agreement comes more than one year after the signatory countries actually agreed on the terms. The delay in signing occurred as a result the countries’ disagreement over the Ukraine crisis. Russian president Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea in March 2014, a move that prompted the boycott of both the United States and Canada from a meeting of the Arctic Council last year in Russia. Additionally, by the spring of 2015, Canada sent troops to train Ukrainian soldiers to fight Russia-supported rebel soldiers. As recently as this month, Canada signed a free-trade deal with Ukraine, a move that is likely irritating Russia.

Despite their political differences, the signatory countries all agree that this newly-emerged ocean must be protected from overfishing and environmental degradation. These waters, which have not been accessible for greater than 800,000 years, are becoming accessible due to the melting of sea ice. Some scientists forecast that before mid-century, the sea ice in this region will be melted completely. The sea will therefore be open to influx of foreign ships, which may lead to the degrading or destruction of the environment.

As little is known about this remote area of the ocean, the agreement seeks to prevent problems before they arise. While the agreement cannot prevent boats from China, Japan, South Korea and the European Union from entering the region, the signatories hope their agreement will form the basis for an international agreement. Until that time, it is up to the signatory countries to try and protect international waters.

Netflix Looks Set To Dominate Worldwide Online Video Streaming

Finance

Thanks to aggressive International expansion and popular programming Netflix, Inc. appears to be emerging as the vastly dominant player in online video streaming market. The wildly popular video streaming service reported that its number of subscribers recently passed the 65 million mark largely due to its launch in Australia and New Zealand. The company’s expansion to Japan, Spain, Italy and Portugal is expected to take place this year, raising expectations of subscriber and revenue growth. The strategy is paying off for Netflix as its shares traded up 10.2% at $108.11 per share before today’s market opened.

In addition to its international expansion, Netflix recently rolled out a series of new content including Sense8, Daredevil (its first Marvel series), Bloodline and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. These series have all received critical acclaim and a strong positive reaction from viewers. Furthermore, Netflix brought back the popular shows House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. The comprehensive growth strategy should result in an increase of at least 5 to 6 million subscribers in 2015 and 2016, and some analysts project that the number of subscribers should reach approximately 174 million by 2020 and greater than 200 million by 2021.

One of Netflix’s major competitors, HBO, entered the subscription video marketplace earlier this year by launching HBO NOW, it’s first offering without a cable subscription. The subscription costs $15 monthly. Netflix, however, does not appeared dazed by HBO’s latest move. Netflix has stated that Netflix and HBO are not substitutes for one another given the different content offered by each service.

In addition to different content offered, Netflix and HBO also have very different cost structures. In 2014, the companies earned nearly identical revenues. Netflix, however, made approximately $266 million in annual profit whereas HBO made a profit of about $1.8 billion. Netflix ended 2014 with about 57.4 million subscribers whereas HBO had 138 million total subscribers.

Despite the contrasting numbers, Netflix is growing much faster than HBO. Once Netflix reduces the amount of capital spent on international growth, its profits will likely increase dramatically.

Clinton Comments Show Both Parties Supporting Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Reform

News

Yesterday, former U.S. President Bill Clinton spoke at the annual meeting of the NAACP where he discussed criminal justice system reform where he announced his support for new legislation that would reform his own mandatory minimum sentencing bill he signed into law in 1994. He told the audience that when he signed the bill into law in the ‘90s, the country was in the middle of a drug-and-crime wave and fears of urban violence were very real. While the law included provisions for an increased police presence on the streets and enacted gun control measures, it also included provisions for lengthy sentences for nonviolent offenses. This resulted in harsh sentences that disproportionately affected the poor and minorities.

The 1994 bill, including the federal “three-strikes” provision, led to a drastic decrease in crime throughout the United States. However, so many people were put into jail, there was very little money left to educate and train these prisoners while serving their sentences. Having little chance to reform their ways, many prisoners were reincarcerated soon after their release.

President Clinton’s speech came one day after President Obama addressed the NAACP, where he proclaimed his intention to end mass incarceration. Obama further called for legislation that would reduce or eliminate minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. He claimed that in many places, black and Latino boys and men are treated differently under the current justice system. He further claimed that once prisoners enter the prison system, conditions of many of the facilities are deplorable.

The speeches given by Clinton and Obama came after Obama commuted federal prison sentences of 46 non-violent drug offenders (bringing his tally of commuted sentences to about 90, the most since President Lyndon B. Johnson). Several of the prisoners whose sentences were commuted by Obama were incarcerated for crack cocaine violations. Under the 90’s legislative reform, crack cocaine violations included drastically greater mandatory sentences than sentences given for powdered cocaine violations. As crack cocaine has less street value than powdered cocaine, the discrepancy in laws directly and disproportionately affected minorities and the poor.

It appears that both Republicans and Democrats are committed to reforming the U.S. criminal justice system. members on both sides of the aisle have proposed plans allowing prisoners the ability to reduce their sentences by participating in jobs and other constructive programs. Plans have also been proposed to retroactively apply changes in crack cocaine sentencing laws to prisoners incarcerated several years ago. The issue will likely be a hot topic during the 2016 presidential election.

New App Helps Memory Loss Patients Upload Their Memories To The Cloud

Health & Wellness

Memories lost might not stay that way any more thanks to a newly developed app called MEmory. With MEmory, individuals suffering from memory loss have the ability to keep track of their memories and sort through them at a later time using computers instead of their brains.

With the help of Blackstone LaunchPad and Urban Maps and AppsStudios, two resource centers for young tech entrepreneurs of Philadelphia led by Temple University and Blackstone, memory loss sufferer Thomas Dixon is now able to turn his personal catastrophe into a success.

Dixon suffered a traumatic brain injury in November 2010, which caused him to suffer from episodic memory loss. Prior to his injury, Dixon had dreams of becoming a child medical psychiatrist. When his memory became compromised, Dixon decided he could not responsibly treat patients.

“I tested the waters first with my system for recording my memories digitally,” Dixon said. “I travelled abroad for some time and then took classes at a community college. In the end, I got a master’s in Educational Psychology [from Temple]. I decided to study that because no one’s life would be at risk.”

In order to accomplish many of the goals he had prior to the accident, Dixon has been able to effectively outsource his memories to the cloud. However, he has met some limitations with the externalization of his memories with his digital system.

With Twitter, if Dixon outsources memories with his phone he is unable to search through them. Instead, he has to download his Tweets to a computer and sort through them that way. After spending years using a variety of different digital communication tools, Dixon has now developed a mobile app, MEmory, which has the ability to help someone keep track of memories.

“I’d wanted to make MEmory for years,” according to Dixon. “I used [Blackstone Launchpad] as a connection hub to put me in contact with others — they were a conduit.”

With this app, users have the ability to sift through their memories, allowing them to track down when and where a memory occurred, how they felt and anything else they would like to record about that memory. MEmory’s analytics allow users to track how they felt about different situations, people and places.

Dixon is able to bring his quest for a more sufficient digital memory tool alive because of Blackstone Launchpad.

Before Dixon consulted with the company, he spent a long time struggling to find a team to develop his vision that was not only reliable, but also cost effective. Julie Stapleton Carroll of Blackstone Launchpad was able to connect Dixon with Jumpbutton Studio, a group of young developers and designers who took part in Apps Studios and Urban Maps.

That program assists high schoolers, both develop and design technology-based civic startups, by giving them mentoring, training and opportunities for internships. A cofounder of Jumpbutton Studio, Nicodemus Madehdou, who is only 17, had been working alongside Blackstone Launchpad in order to incorporate the business and further develop market exposure. Madehdou is joined by Kevin Ngo and Matthew Auld at Jumpbutton, who are working on MEmory as well.

Madehdou supported MEmory because, “It was an interesting concept and I was curious to see where it would lead in terms of people having a tool that is built to their advantage.”

Dixon, with the help of Blackstone Launchpad at Temple, Temple’s Urban Apps and Maps and Jumpbutton Studio is able to turn his personal struggle with memory loss into a beneficial mobile app.

There is a growing amount of research that now suggests that a heavy reliance on technology could be impairing and damaging on our working memory. MEmory might just be as important for us as it is to Dixon.

Saudi Arabia Forced To Borrow Funds As Low Oil Prices Impact Economy

Finance

Saudi Arabia has opened sales of sovereign bonds for the first time in eight years in order to maintain its public spending levels as a result of low oil prices. In the past year the government borrowed $4 billion, and will seek to combine this with spending some of its foreign reserves in order to meet its obligations. Current deficit forecasts for the year are $130 billion. The current oil price of $58 is close to half of what Saudi Arabia needs in order to maintain its current spending levels ($105 per barrel). Trouble in Chinese markets and weak signals from the US show no signs of prices meeting that level in the near term.

Analysts were surprised that Saudi Arabia resorted to borrowing to meet the shortfall. In the late 1990s the government debt level hovered around 100% of GDP. This fell to 1.6% of GDP in 2014 due to years of high oil prices. The oil price decline may also be more significant than initially thought. GDP growth forecasts have fallen from 3.5% last year to 2.8% for 2015. Saudi citizens are accustomed to government largesse and this year is no exception. Extra public spending is in fact a normal occurrence, and king Salman did not change this trend despite budget shortfalls. Salman has made two months bonus salary pay to all state employees as well as pension to retired government employees. This was in addition to payments to students, professional organizations, and public works projects.

These actions are in contrast to IMF recommendations to cut public sector spending. At current deficit levels, the country will run out of its reserves by 2018 or 2019. With an economy that is over 90% dependent on oil revenues, structural reforms will have to be made or risk returning to debt levels not seen since the 1990s.

Iran Nuclear Deal Likely To Cause Sustained Drop In Oil Prices

Finance

Terrible days lie ahead for oil exporters after the Iran nuclear deal opened the world to additional oil supplies from the oil rich country. Already blessed with some of the deepest oil reserves in the world, Iran’s comeback in the oil market will further tilt oil prices downward, spelling liquidity problems for exporters and greater travel options for end consumers.

Oil prices dipped on Wednesday after the news of the Iran nuclear deal hit the wires. The deal would see decades old sanctions imposed by the U.S., the E.U. and the UN, against the Middle East country eased in exchange for curbing their nuclear program. The sanctions effectively locked out a key player from international oil markets, crippling the country’s export capability and gradually reducing its contribution from over 4 million barrels per day (bpd) at its peak to only 1 million bpd.

With the sanctions lifted, oil prices face an inevitable widening glut that will most certainly mean a negative price hit and in turn a positive boost to the global economy. Officials from the National Iranian Oil Company reported that Iran’s oil would see an increased production up to 600,000 bpd, confirming an oncoming supply ramp-up. Adding to the report, officials expressed optimism that the country could hit its initial pre-sanctions 4 million bpd if demand were present. For oil marketers, such news could not have come at a worse time.

Already, without a vibrant Iranian supply, the international markets are oversupplied by 2 million bpd thanks to an increased production by Russia, Iraq and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Economic problems in China, one of the largest energy consumers in the world, have only served to bring down demand, lending dominance to the economics of the free market and sending oil prices to record lows.

A deal with Iran would mark the entrance of a powerful player starved of a piece of the international market and more than eager to compensate for their years of absence. The markets would definitely immediately respond to the news, and they did.

Brent crude went down 50 cents by 1104 Wednesday to close at $58.01 a barrel while U.S. oil futures fell 35 cents to close at $52.69.

Analysts agree that Iran’s oil could reach the market by early 2016. Goldman Sachs analysts estimated Iran’s supply at an additional 200,000-400,000 bpd at the start of 2016, together with the release of an additional 20-40 million barrels in floating storage. In a note to clients, the firm stated, “We view the 2016 prospects for higher OPEC production, including from Iran, as a growing downside risk to our oil price forecast.”

As analysts predict a ballooning oil production glut, marketers brace for tougher times ahead. A fierce battle for the oil importing consumers will see prices plummet, benefitting countries which have long been exploited by unreasonably high oil pricing.

Controversial TTIP Trade Deal Exposed As Major Gift To Obama-Backing Corporations

News

A recent boost in lobbying for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has been occurring by both pharmaceutical and finance corporations, further confirming the controversial trade deal amounts to a parting gift from the Obama administration to major U.S. corporations.

SumOfUs and Corporate Europe Observatory, two think tanks that have carefully examined the public parts of the deal, have witnessed a “dramatic corporate bias” in the Commission’s approach on the trade deal with bigger influence versus a dramatic change since 2014 when Cecilia Malmström took the position of EU Trade Commissioner.

Research shows that the Commissioner, as well as her director general of DG Trade and members of her cabinet held 122 closed door meetings wherein TTIP was a topic of discussion.

Research also attempted to determine how TTIP’s “agenda-setting” had been “driven” by U.S. and Western European businesses, while businesses from Portugal, Cyprus, Malta, Greece and Eastern Europe are not lobbying.

Also, of the corporate lobby groups that are meeting with the Commission’s trade department concerning TTIP, one in five are not present from the EU’s Transparency Register. Among those large companies are Levi’s, Aon and Maersk, as well as the Big Pharma Lobby group PhRMA and the world’s biggest biotech lobby group BIO.

Corporate Europe Observatory’s trade campaigner Pia Eberhardt stated, “This data justifies millions of citizens’ concerns about the threats posed by TTIP. While big business lobbyists are kept firmly in the loop and exert a powerful influence over the negotiations, public interest groups are kept at bay.

“The result is an agenda for TTIP that calls into question key standards and rights for citizens and the environment while dramatically expanding business power over politics in both the EU and the US.”

The study alleges that throughout TTIP’s early phases of negotiations, throughout 2012 – 2014, DG Trade conducted 597 closed door meetings to discuss negotiations with lobbyists.

A portion of the 528 meetings (88%) were alleged to be held with business lobbyists with only 53 (9%) being held with public interest groups.

“So, for every meeting with a trade union or consumer group, there were 10 with companies and industry federations,” according to CEO.

It continues on, “This pattern hasn’t changed significantly since the new Commission took office in November 2014. In the first six months of the job, Cecilia Malmström, members of her Cabinet and the director general of DG Trade had 122 one-on-one lobby meetings behind-closed doors in which TTIP was discussed. 100 of these meetings were with business lobbyists – but only 22 with public interest groups.

“So, for every meeting with a trade union or a consumer organization, Malmström and her staff had 5 get-togethers with companies and their lobby groups.”

SumOfUs and CEO also allege that the corporate lobby groups that “lobbied hardest” in the early phases of the negotiation process for TTIP are: the Transatlantic Business Council (which represents over 70 EU and U.S.-based multinationals), the European car lobby ACEA, the chemical lobby CEFIC, the European Services Forum, BusinessEurope, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Digital Europe (with members consisting of all big IT names, such as Apple, Blackberry, IBM, and Microsoft).

They stated: “These business sectors have lobbied most for TTIP in the early phases of the negotiations: agribusiness and food, cross-sectoral lobby groups such as BusinessEurope, telecom & IT, pharmaceuticals, finance, engineering & machinery, automobiles, health technology, chemicals, express & logistics.”

CEO and SumOfUs go on to allege that multiple sectors have “significantly stepped up” their lobbying for TTIP within the pharmaceutical sector by significantly increasing its lobbying for TTIP.

“While only 2.4% of DG Trade’s one-on-one lobby meetings on TTIP were with Big Pharma in the early phases of the negotiations (January 2012 to March 2013), the sector’s share in lobby meetings jumped to 16.5% in the period after (April 2013 to February 2014). The engineering and machinery sector has tripled its TTIP lobbying effort in the same period (from 3.0% to 9.5% of the behind-closed-doors meetings with DG Trade). Financial sector lobbying also doubled (from an 5.1% share in the total amount of corporate lobby meetings on TTIP to 10.8%).”
They allege that, “One in every 5 corporate lobby groups which have lobbied DG Trade on TTIP are not registered in the EU’s Transparency Register, amongst them large companies such as Maersk, AON, and Levi’s.

“Industry associations such as biotechnology lobby BIO, pharmaceutical lobby group PhrMA and the American Chemical Council are also lobbying under the radar. More than one third of all US companies and associations which have lobbied DG Trade on TTIP are not in the EU register.”