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U.S. Chip Giant Qualcomm Faces EU Antitrust Investigation

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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

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

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

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ISIS Claims Responsibility For Sinking Egyptian Warship

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

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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

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Adidas Creates Shoe Entirely Out Of Plastic Ocean Garbage

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

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

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

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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

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Arctic Superpowers Agree To Polar Fishing Ban In Newly Open Waters

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

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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

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Clinton Comments Show Both Parties Supporting Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Reform

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

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

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

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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

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Iran Nuclear Deal Likely To Cause Sustained Drop In Oil Prices

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

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

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.”

Food Crisis Looms For China As Years Of Mismanagement Take Their Toll On Crop Yields

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Food Crisis Looms For China As Years Of Mismanagement Take Their Toll On Crop Yields

In northern China, the overuse of fertilizers and other unsustainable farming methods are causing farmland to dry out and, according to an international study, posing a significant threat to the country’s food and water resources.

The leader of the study, Yaling Liu said that that the overuse of fertilizers in China, which currently rates high above the global average, dates back to the 1980’s. Liu, a research associate at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory said that “A lot of Chinese farmers are not well educated … they’re unwilling to risk reducing fertilizer; traditional thinking is that more fertilizer leads to higher yield”.

Despite these traditional ways of thinking, research has shown that excessive use of fertilizer not only has little effect on crop yield, but also has a range of negative effects on the environment.

Researchers from Beijing’s China Agricultural University and Purdue University looked at data gathered from farmland across northern China. They found that throughout the last three decades, soil moisture had decreased significantly.

Not only was the moisture level well below the optimal level of 40 to 85 percent of the water-holding capacity of the soil, but also levels in northern China seem to only be getting drier. By 2090, Liu predicts that the soil won’t be sustainable for any crop growth. With this region accounting for 65% of China’s farmland, this prediction raises a lot of concern.

This research proves that these damaging farming methods, namely overuse of fertilizer, are the main factors for the dry soil. From 1978 to 2013, the amount of fertilizer used in this region has increased more than six times its original amount.

By compiling data from meteorological monitoring stations, the research team was able to find a correlation between the moisture reduction in soil with the increased use of fertilizer between 1983 and 2012.

Liu says that the main purpose of the study is to educate farmers on the damage that these methods of farming can cause to the environment as well as to encourage the use of more sustainable methods. Liu understands this will be a long-term goal that will take time and patience to achieve.

China’s ruling Communist party is hyper-aware of food security issues and the damage the country has done to its natural resources. China no longer fishes in its own waters due to pollution and overfishing which makes feeding its population more expensive than it otherwise would be. Beijing has recently launched crackdowns on illegal meat sellers and previously conducted similar raids on infant formula makers in efforts to improve the country’s food supply chain.

Cell Phone Use By Parents Shown To Greatly Impact Children’s Mental Health

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Cell Phone Use By Parents Shown To Greatly Impact Children’s Mental Health

In what seems to be an obvious conclusion, research indicates that parents’ seemingly endless use of their cell phones, computers and tablets is negatively impacting their children’s mental well being. Specifically, a recent international study found that one-third of children feel that their parents spend as much or more time with their mobile devices than they do with them. In addition to the negative effects to children’s psychology, out-of-control usage of mobile devices has caused approximately a 22% increase in preventable accidents with young children and their caretakers.

Simply put, children of all ages feel angry and sad that they have to compete with mobile devices for their parents’ attention. The study found that more than half of children feel their parents check their electronics too often and greater than one-third of children claimed that they feel unimportant when their parents are constantly distracted by their phones.

Studies show that mobile devices are actually addictive to their users. They are constructed by manufacturers to notify people in an instant manner and to trigger a dopamine surge to the brain that results in instant reaction. Rather than waiting until a set period of time to check email, messages and voicemails, people are increasingly feeling the need to check instantly upon notification, a behavior that contradicts parents’ instructions to children to be patient and wait for gratification.

Psychologists also point out that when parents are looking at their screens, they are likely to respond more harshly to their children for interruptions. Oftentimes parents feel like their children, rather than their mobile devices, are the inconvenient distractions.

This sobering reality should hopefully convince some parents to limit their screen time around their children and during family time. Going off the grid for a while can allow parents to do as they say and say as they do. While psychologists say that it is not an issue of parents giving their children undivided attention, it is about setting limits, especially during times in the car, mealtimes, bath time and bedtime. Parents should refrain from checking their phones as soon as they walk in the door after work and should really give their children their full attention when greeting them at the end of the day. One dad was quoted as saying “if you feel like your kids are nagging you when you are checking your Facebook account, then put down Facebook.”

Social Media Throws Shade On The Idea That ‘Sex Sells’

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Social Media Throws Shade On The Idea That ‘Sex Sells’

The advertising motto of “sex sells” has been around forever. The shock value of sex always causes debate, and debate means awareness of a company’s brands and products. Despite this traditional advertising tactic, it appears that the prevailing attitude on social media is that quality and substance reign supreme over sex and sensationalism. The result of this shift in attitude is that companies and advertisers are changing their social media campaigns in an effort to attract and keep customers.

An example of this shift in consumers’ attitude is prominently illustrated in the recent events surrounding the “Beach Body Ready” advertising campaign utilized by the company, Protein World. The ads, first placed throughout the London Underground, featured a beautiful, slim woman in a tiny yellow bikini, posing the question whether commuters were beach body ready. Critics of the advertisements were quick to respond stating that the ads imply that only a slim figure could qualify to head to the beach.

Despite the huge backlash, which included a protest in London’s Hyde Park, several complaints to the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority (the “ASA”) and a petition on Change.org that included greater than 70,000 signatures, the ASA concluded that the ads did not breach any U.K. rules relating to harm and offense or responsible advertising. Therefore, the ads “were not irresponsible.” Interestingly, the agency did state that the ads cannot run again because it found that the campaign improperly claimed the product’s health and weight loss abilities.

Regardless, Protein World remains unapologetic for its advertising campaign stating that the ads invited viewers to consider whether they were in the shape they wanted to be, and did not imply that everyone should look like the (likely photoshopped) model. Protein World chief executive officer, Arjun Seth, likened the feminists protesting the advertisements to terrorists and Sun columnist Katie Hopkins called the protesters “angry chubsters” on Twitter.

The advertising campaign and its resulting backlash and debate illustrates the point that social media created the awareness for the ads to be banned. This is a victory for social media, as it continues to demonstrate its ability to bypass government agencies that fail to delve into the issue of whether something is socially acceptable. It appears that substance and quality is gaining leaps and bounds over the quick sell of sex.

Canadian Court Challenge Seeks To Clarify Right To Be Cryogenically Frozen After Death

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In British Columbia, a unique law is being challenged that prohibits sale services that use use ultra-low temperatures to preserve human bodies after clinical death in a process known as cryonics. In short, the Canadian province is banning the prospect of being frozen just after death and eventually being brought back to life sometime in the future.

The challenge is taking place in provincial court as Keegan Macintosh and the Lifespan Society of British Columbia filed a civil claim to the Supreme Court of B.C. on Tuesday. They argue that parts of the Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services act are unconstitutional as they prohibit the sale of cryonics. In fact, British Columbia is the only jurisdiction in the world to prohibit the sale of cryonics services.

The society’s legal counsel, Jason Gratl states, “Here what we’re really talking about is the right to a third method of disposition of remains.” Gratl goes on to explain the plaintiff’s are asking whether there is significant validation to deny a person the right to have their bodies preserved in ultra-low temperatures.

As the plaintiff’s allegations are yet to be examined in court, Macintosh nor a government spokesperson was available for comment.

According to the notice, one of the services Macintosh intends to purchase includes vitrification, which replaces the liquids within a corpse with a cooling substance that leads to a process known as suspension. This practice is outlawed by the act in Section 14 which covers the sale or arrangement of “preservation by storage.” Violators of this law can spend up to 12 months in prison, be fined up to $10,000 or receive both penalties. Companies who well these services can be fined up to $100,000.

Although the act doesn’t clearly define cryonics, it prohibits any form of long-term preservation of a body with the intent of future resuscitation, which effectively bans the practice.

Lifespan only offers the possibility of resuscitation in the future yet does not guarantee or embellish the idea of such a result. Gratl says that their needs to be incredible advancements in the future of medical science in order for this practice to become a potential possibility.

The provincial court in British Columbia has about 21 days to respond once they receive the notice from the two parties involved.

Hack Of Italian Cyber Mercenaries Exposes Shadowy World Of Commercial Cyber Spying

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Without the proper security in place, even the hackers can get hacked and that is exactly what happened to the Hacking Team, an Italian group of cyber mercenaries who sold advanced hacking tools to the highest bidder regardless of how they would be used. The Hacking Team was exposed for all of the online world to see by rival hackers, who revealing shocking information when they dumped virtually all the group’s tools and communications online for all to see.

Even though the dangerous world of modern state surveillance has justly been exposed by whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden, the majority of forces that allow this wrongful type of internet spying have somehow managed to go unnoticed. In fact, a world that has yet to be explored. The morally and legally questionable world consists of private sellers secretly collaborating with intelligence agencies in order to assist in the maintenance of their wide range of methods for spying. These security agencies rarely receive any type of scrutiny due to their privileged relationships with influential groups that generally lack any type of mainstream media coverage. However, this month, the dark world of sordid exploit sales at last had its Snowden moment.

An activist hacker known as “PhineasFisher” in early July was able to infiltrate the systems of the Italian company.

PhineasFisher was able to dump 400 Gigabytes of information online for the world to see. At this time, the trove was able to confirm what had long been suspected, as well as shocking revelations that the Hacking Team held business relationships with several different governments, including Russia and the United States, sold spyware to ruthless dictatorial regimes, and sold items directly targeting software developers, journalists, and activists for monitoring and surveillance.

The Hacking Team hack was able to provide significant lessons concerning the vast security ecosystem as well as the diminishing line between public and private entities as we are adapting to the age of hacking lacking borders.

Hacking Team is able to profit by selling and exploiting popular computer software to important groups under the disguise of “cybersecurity.”

When a firm offers to locate and report any vulnerabilities so that they can be patched or improved, this can generally be both a legitimate and beneficial trade. Unfortunately, these groups just sell government entities different ways to either spy on or manipulate innocent citizens and political enemies.

Indeed, there is a difference between these types of groups and the stereotypical hacker-for-hire who dress hoodies, is more often an individual of style instead of ethical substance. Both groups have the ability to make money by purchasing or locating computer bugs that have yet to be discovered and then selling them to terrorist groups, political parties and governments with a significant price increase.

The industry in software exploits trade to additional government surveillance is scary enough as far as privacy is concerned. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Reporters Without Borders, both activist groups, have criticized these practices for the violation of human rights as well as the expansion of the worldwide net of digital surveillance.

For $1 million, a ruthless sociopath sells it to Ethiopia in an effort to wreak havoc on significant portions of the Internet as well as crack down on journalists in the U.S.

In an attempt to determine what software vulnerabilities the Hacking Team was trying to sell in order to keep the public warned concerning which products were in need of updates or needed to uninstalled, security researchers scoured over their dump of data on WikiLeaks. Individuals who keep good cyber hygiene will be able to keep themselves safe from such exploits, the majority of individuals who are less savvy Internet users will likely remain vulnerable to attacks that are sold as “exploit kits”.

It is obvious “security” was not the most important to the Hacking Team as their security was insufficient. Hacking Team lacked sophistication in their own cybercastle as their password was simply “P4ssword.”

During a sensitive email discussion with an associate, Giancarlo Russo, COO of Hacking Team asks, “Do you have PGP [email encryption] by the way? We really do need to encrypt these emails.”

Hacking Team was essentially asking to be attacked by not-so-secretly hoarding lethal exploits and participating in significant bragging. Their one-stop-shop cyberweapons lacked sufficient protection proved too tempting even for competing hackers. CEO of Hacking Team, David Vincenzetti should have been better prepared. In 1992, Vincenzetti was responsible for the development of a “file tampering detector” that was able to repel and identify intruders just like the Hacking Team from computer systems.

Regardless of his early support of email-encryption software, Hack Team’s emails show PGP was hardly used at all.

The Hacking Team’s angle of “freedom hacker turned government tool” is revealing of the disastrous incentive structure given to the small group of elite hackers that are able to build, or break the surveillance network that is able to track all of our online activities. They can decide to fight or expose the system, running the risk of foreign asylum, media demonization or spending the rest of the lives in prison for the brutal crime of defending our online freedoms. Or, they can choose to sell out and enjoy large retirements as dealers of cyberweapons for the repressive states of the world.

Either way, this is a crucial reminder that the open Internet’s enemies are not limited to just the state.

China’s Military Investing Heavily In Long Range Nuclear Bomber

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China’s aggressive military expansion has led the country to develop a new stealth bomber that is capable of penetrating the air defenses of their enemies, possibly even the United States. The new, all-Chinese design, will now be able to make longer flights and carry more bombs than its current soviet-era bombers.

China’s state-run newspaper, China Daily, last week dedicated an entire page to an article on military talks concerning the future advancements of the People’s Liberation Army along with its air force (PLAAF).

The article stated that “The air force does need an intercontinental strategic bomber capable of penetrating an enemy’s air defenses.”

The most important requirements for this new development is the ability to transport 10 tons of missiles and bombs and travel approximately 5,000 miles without having to refuel.

This would allow the new bomber to travel the approximate 2,500 miles to Darwin, Australia from China’s most southern Hainan province, as well as to Perth, which is approximately 3,500 miles away and to Sydney at approximately 4,500 miles away. This will also allow for easier travel to the U.S. military base located in Guam.

Once multiple new military air bases have been completed on newly constructed islands in the disputed Spratly Islands, the distances for this travel will be significantly decreased, allowing the Chinese to strike every-closer American interests.

Rumors have been circulating for some time now on Chinese military blogs of a newly designed Chinese stealth bomber that are similar to the B-2 “Spirit” of the United States, a 25-year old heavy bomber featuring both speed and stealth.

With the unofficial classification H-X, or at times referred to as H-20, the only element concerning design that is certain is stealth and the role it will play in an aircraft that is able to carry a “triad” of nuclear weapons.

The importance of this has been demonstrated with the PLAAF having been labeled a “strategic force” by the Chinese government. This title had only previously been applicable to the PLA’s Second Artillery Corps, who is responsible for the country’s intercontinental ballistic missile supply.

The article in the China Daily also recognized the difficult task that lies ahead, making note that this type of an aircraft requires “a state-of-the-art structure and aerodynamic configuration as well as a high-performance turbofan engine”.

“All of these are major problems facing the Chinese aviation industry,” according to deputy editor Wang Yanan. “I don’t think these difficulties can be resolved within a short period of time.” China has had notorious difficulty reproducing relatively simple Russian jet engines and has been forced to import then despite years of painstaking research and a hacking spree designed to reveal every last secret of the Russian process.

In recent years, China has been quickly growing and modernizing its navy, adding the ability to field their first aircraft carrier as new warships and submarines steadily enter into service.

According to several news reports, it appears that the air force will gain similar attention.

The U.S. and its constant cuts in budget, is beginning to run the risk of falling into a similar economic trap as the former Soviet Union in which they engaged in unaffordable arms races in order to stay in front of rapidly developing technology. The defense cuts, in light of China’s increasing military development, will likely face review when a new President is elected in 2016.

The United States Air Force is currently investing in a similar yet far more advanced replacement to the old and fragile B-2 as well as a wide array of carrier based attack drones.

Congo Shows World The Way By Eating Edible Insects

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Congo Shows World The Way By Eating Edible Insects

A bowl of termites for breakfast, a healthy plate of slithering mealworms for lunch and a dinner table full of twitching crickets, protein has never come in a healthier form. Welcome to the world of edible insects. Many Americans would quickly swat anything that crawls but in the Democratic Republic of Congo, they are a popular delicacy that could prove to be the answer to food insecurity.

In Kinshasa, the Democratic republic of Congo’s capital, insects are sold in abundance. The crawling creatures fill labeled blue and silver trade bowls and are considered the fastest moving consumer products in the market.

Edible insects, still struggling to find acceptance in the U.S., are more popular than pizza or popcorn in Congo. “This is the main food of Congolese. I’m proud to eat that food,” says Marie-Colette Bena, a trader at one of the markets.

It is through this delicacy that the UN, together with the Congolese government, plans to eradicate hunger in the giant Central African Republic.

Reports from the World Food Program (WFP) put the number of Congolese citizens suffering under the yoke of food insecurity at a whooping 6.5 million. The large figure has been as a result of drastically low agricultural productivity coupled with widespread violence in the east. The country’s government has struggled to provide sufficient food for its people. Insect farming offers a welcome relief from the vain burden of farming in harsh terrains.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has established an initiative to promote insect cultivation in the country in a bid to stem the rampant food insecurity. The project that is set to begin in October, will see 200 people trained to cultivate crickets and caterpillars. According to country oversight project manager Laurent Kikeba, such a program would be the first of its kind and would mark the first step toward a hunger-free Congo.

Already, the average home in Kinshasa consumes 10.5 ounces of caterpillar weekly, as per a UN study. However, the insects tend to be pricy because of seasonal supply variations. A kilogram of crickets for instance, retails at $50, twice the price of beef!

Even though the country is estimated to consume more than 14,000 tons of edible insects each year, a crippling lack of insect farms has suffocated market supply of the delicacy. The potential to reap handsome benefits from harvesting insects is enormous, so is the opportunity to put an end to food insecurity.

FAO expects the increased harvesting of edible insects will drive up supply, in turn bringing down demand and making food cheaply available for majority of Congolese citizens.

Curbing food insecurity is one of the biggest challenges of the UN. Through the insect harvesting program in Congo, FAO seeks to make sure no living human being should suffer the torture and indignity of going hungry, in turn eradicating hunger one household at a time.

IBM’s Breast Milk Delivery Service Makes Life A Whole Lot Easier For Working Moms

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IBM may have just redefined the concept of employee satisfaction after it announced that it is launching a breast-milk-delivery service for all of the company’s working moms. Those in need, who are frequently on the road and away from their newborns, will be given access to a free breast milk delivery which will ship their milk back home at no cost whatsoever.

With the growing advocacy for breastfeeding by health experts and the fact that most companies only offer paid maternal leave for a grossly short three months, mothers across the country have been forced into making a tough call between the best interests of their child and the careers. More often than not, they end up sacrificing their professional careers.

IBM, one of the largest technology companies in the U.S., has sought to ensure their moms do not have to give up breastfeeding for work. The company will offer working moms private spaces in the workplace where they can pump breast milk and a storage device for the breast milk to keep it at optimum temperatures while it is being transported back to their toddlers at home. All of this at no cost to the parent. The convenience being offered is unimaginable.

Buildings in the 21st century were not made for breastfeeding, neither was the work environment in most parts of the U.S. In case your profession involves plenty of travel, as is often the case in IBM, airports do not have breast feeding spaces. Further complicating matters, most airports do not allow more than 10 ounces of breastmilk past the security check points. Working moms simply had no way to pump milk for their babies and send it back on time and at the right temperature. When IBM decided to put their working moms first, it was a godsend.

Executives at the Big Blue revealed that they saw the effort as a huge benefit for their women who form 29 per cent of their workforce.

The company intends to launch the service in the U.S. first before making it global. It will be interesting to see which other companies follow suit.

Employers across North America had long been deaf to the requests of working moms and it was only until Obamacare recently made it a requirement for workplaces to include breastfeeding spaces did employers start paying attention to their female workforce. IBM has set the bar high with their added free breast milk delivery service. For other companies that have been neglecting their female employees, change is inevitable. No longer are working moms asking if they will get breast feeding spaces, but when they would.

Proposed Chinese Acquisition Of Chipmaker Micron Will Face Tough National Security Review

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Proposed Chinese Acquisition Of Chipmaker Micron Will Face Tough National Security Review

A bid by China’s largest computer chip maker to take over Micron, one of the largest American computer chip companies, has raised a large number of eyebrows in Washington. China’s offer to buy out the American company that produces millions of chips used in smartphones all over the country will severely compromise U.S. security and ultimately the safety of the everyday American according to many who have analyzed the deal.

Tsinghua Unigroup, a Chinese state owned company, is proposing a $23 billion buyout of Micron, the fourth largest semiconductor maker in the world. The deal was reported on Tuesday, pricing each share of Micron at $21. Though experts determined the valuation as being too low, concern was also leveled towards implication Chinese control over the chipmaker would have on national security.

China’s emerging economy has seen the country’s appetite for technological advancements grow enormously, along with it appetite for hacking. The Chinese navy has more than doubled, military bases have been built on artificial islands in the ocean and an expanding air force set to bring the U.S. within are reach are but some of the advancements that have caused plenty of unease in Washington.

More notably, the recent theft of employee records of every U.S. government employee was traced back to China, which has waged an unprecedented cyberwar against American targets in both government and industry.

But where do computer chips come in? War machines now all run on computers, which in turn run on computer chips. Tsinghua’s planned acquisition of Micron, which incidentally also makes chips used in smartphones across North America, raises fears that the chips would be used in manufacturing military weapons or embedded with backdoors that would allow Chinese hackers to easily control a variety of military and civilians computer-enabled devices.

Mergers and acquisitions experts say the proposed deal will require the notoriously strict approval of the Committee of Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS). CFIUS is an inter-agency committee consisting of more than a dozen highly specialized agents from across all departments of the United States government. The committee is responsible for determining whether potential mergers and acquisitions involving U.S. companies do pose a threat to national security.

Anne Salladin, special counsel at Stroock & Lavan, said the deal would likely come under the sharp scrutiny of the CFIUS. She said, “It appears to have all the hallmarks – China, foreign government control and US high-tech – which can often result in heightened scrutiny by CFIUS.”

Transactions covered by CFIUS undergo a 30-day review. Should security concerns be realized, the case would undergo a 45-day probe after which the committee would ask the U.S. President to make a determination.

Experts believe the deal, which comes amid heightened worry over cyber attacks attributed to Chinese hackers, will not be approved. Senior analyst Mark Newman, Bernstein Research, said the bid “would have a high risk of not going through due to the national security concerns of selling advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology to China.”

Tsinghua’s acquisition of Micron would hand China unlimited access to NAND and DRAM memory chips used in computers and mobile devices for data storage across the U.S.. To say the American people’s security and right to privacy would be compromised would be an understatement. Concern over the major acquisition is well placed. Washington must act in the best interests of the country.

Zimbabwe To Give Back Some Properties Stolen From White Farmers Decades Ago

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Zimbabwe To Give Back Some Properties Stolen From White Farmers Decades Ago

Fifteen years ago the African state of Zimbabwe, led by ruthless dictator and known xenophobe Robert Mugabe, pushed for the brutal overtaking of property owned by white Zimbabweans.
Over a decade later Mugabe has recently announced that certain properties within the African country will be returned to their original owners.

According to the Zimbabwe Mail, 10 leaders, one from each of the country’s 10 provinces, will create a draft list of farms from their own district that they decide to be “of strategic economic importance.” The current Zimbabwean government is also establishing a commission, backed by the European Union, to assess the frequently violent land grab practices from the 2000’s.

Mugabe’s government took nearly 4,000 farms from white families who had been operating the farms for decades and proceeded to mismanage them, plunging the country into economic chaos. While many families had come to make a fortune from the political system in the British colony of Rhodesia built on racial hierarchy, the attempt to rid the country from its colonial legacy backfired as it sent the country spiraling into economic crisis and left many civilians dead.

Currently, only 300 white farmers are still operating on their original farms. Zimbabwe, in an effort to ward off starvation, has had to import food, because several of the seized farms have ceased production and operation for many of the 15 years after the government ordered the seizure.

In the face of the Zimbabwean situation and the obvious failure on the government’s part to promote agricultural success on the seized farms, president Mugabe still unapologetically stands by the decision he made more than a decade ago. Yet recent actions may show he has, on some level, had a change of heart.

During a recent meeting of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriot Front, Mugabe warned, “Don’t be too kind to white farmers. They can own industries and companies or stay in apartments in our towns, but they cannot own land. They must leave the land to blacks”.

Yet president Mugabe still seems to publicly maintain the same ill-will and distrust of white farm owners that he did in the past, despite the disastrous consequences of this stance suffered by millions of his people.

Russian President Putin Advocates For ‘Minimal’ Internet Restrictions

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Russian President Putin Advocates For ‘Minimal’ Internet Restrictions

At the National Education Youth Forum held Tuesday, Russian president Vladimir Putin told young IT professionals that he favored only “minimal” Internet restrictions for Russian citizens, bucking a worldwide trend that sees western nations increasingly trying to restrict the online activities of their citizens.

However, he further stated that he expects Russian citizens to respond to any “hostile” online publications with a forceful promotion of Moscow’s views and policies. Opponents of Putin’s Internet restrictions argue that said measures have the potential to chill speech on the Internet, could restrict the free flow of online information and access to information, could damage the universality of the Internet and eventually allow private entities to restrict content.

At the Forum, Putin also promised to consider delaying the implementation of a Russian law requiring online companies to store Russian users’ data in Russia. The law, which as of now will become effective on September 1st, is vehemently opposed by certain Internet freedom proponents. These supporters of Internet freedom argue that the law is only one part of Putin’s more expansive goal to tighten control over Internet communications.

In discussing his policies, Putin reiterated that Internet restrictions should be minimal but that people, especially young people, must be protected from detrimental or hostile influences. On one hand he states that Russian citizens should not be prohibited or forbidden from reading, viewing or listening to something on the Internet, but on the other hand, citizens should be prepared to receive any type of information and be able to respond in a “harsh, timely, beautiful and talented manner” regarding and supporting Russian views.

In addition to the Russian user data storage law, another law signed by Putin this week will require search engines to delete the personal information of Internet users upon request if the personal information is “in violation of Russian Federation law, is false or outdated.” This “right to be forgotten” law contains no criteria for evaluating the veracity of the disputed information but rather that users can seek the assistance of Russian courts if search engines deny their requests to remove their information.

Opponents of the right to be forgotten law claim it is arbitrary and will allow Russian politicians the ability to prevent the public from learning about their past actions or lies.

In response to the criticism of the restriction laws, Putin countered that Russia’s Internet restrictions are similar to those being implemented by Germany and Great Britain. However, many activists denounce Putin’s claim and argue that unlike those countries, Russia can simply pass any law it chooses and will continue to expand its already tight restrictions on its citizens’ access to the Internet.

Canadian Harassment Case Has Vast Implications For Online Freedom Of Speech

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Canada and the rest of the world are awaiting the ruling on what is believed to be Canada’s first case of alleged criminal harassment, via Twitter. As serious as the ramifications of the ruling could be for the accused, they could also have an enormous impact on free speech on the Internet.

The case began in 2012, where Greg Elliott was accused and charged with criminally harassing two Toronto feminist political activists, Stephanie Guthrie and Heather Reilly. Elliott and Guthrie met online in 2012 when she advertised for someone to create a free poster for an event she organized for the Women in Toronto Politics, a group she co-founded. Elliott responded to the advertisement and the two even met for dinner. Although Guthrie claims she was supposedly “creeped out” by Elliott, she continued her professional relationship with Elliott.

The two had a major falling-out, however, over how Guthrie treated a man named Bendilin Spurr. Spurr had created a violent video game where users could “punch” an image of feminist video blogger Anita Sarkeesian until the screen turned red. Guthrie, in her own words, sicced the Internet on Spurr. She Tweeted to prospective employers to warn them about Spurr and even sent the local newspaper a link to the story about the video game. Elliott disagreed with Guthrie’s tactic of public shaming stating that her actions were “every bit as vicious” as the video game.

Guthrie then blocked Elliott on Twitter, but he continued to watch the hashtags she followed and kept himself apprised of the events she organized. She supposedly believed he was obsessed with her politics.

During the trial, Elliott’s attorney, Chris Murphy, asked Guthrie to point to just one Tweet that had instilled fear in her, to which Guthrie responded her feelings developed over time. Murphy argued that Guthrie and Reilly simply hated Elliott and were determined to silence him because he disagreed with their feminist politics. In fact, the supposed victims met in 2012 to discuss how they would deal with Elliott, such as bombarding their followers with furious Tweets and re-Tweets about Elliott. Murphy likened the case to a high school spat and was astonished that the courts were acting as a referee in an online political debate. He stated that Reilly, an anonymous Twitter user who directed several hateful Tweets at Elliott, was abusing the system by alleging she was criminally harassed.

In Canada, criminal harassment is defined as any unwanted conduct- whether actually following someone or barraging him or her with unwanted Tweets- which causes the target to reasonably fear for his or her safety. Moreover, the perpetrator must know that his or her conduct made the target feel harassed or be reckless as to whether he or she felt harassed or not.

Murphy argued that the alleged victims never felt afraid but rather that they disagreed with Elliott’s politics.

After Guthrie’s accusations, Elliott, a graphic artist and father of four children, lost his job and could now face up to six months in prison if the court rules in Guthrie’s favor. As dire as those consequences are for Elliott, they could be even more dire for online free speech. Fear of being prosecuted for disagreeing with someone’s point of view or politics could greatly chill people’s ability to communicate on the Internet as a whole and not just Twitter.

Twitter’s Stock Falls Victim To Modern Day Pump And Dump Scam

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In a twist on the old stock scam known as the “pump and dump,” Twitter’s stock briefly spiked yesterday as a result of a fake buyout story. Specifically, a false story claiming that Twitter had received a $31 billion buyout offer appeared on the website ‘www.bloomberg.market’, which is in no way affiliated with Bloomberg or its newspage bloomberg.com. As a result of the false report, Twitter shares rose a whopping 8.5% and the stock was heavily traded for a short period of time. Once the story was confirmed fake, the stock dropped and closed up only 2.6% at $36.72 per share.

The fake report seemed believable to many investors due to Twitter’s recent financial struggles. The messaging service went public in 2013 but as of yet, it is not profitable and its user growth is sluggish at best. As of Monday’s close to the stock exchange, the value of Twitter shares was down 31% since April 27th. The stock plummeted after Twitter’s first quarter report showed dismal revenue and a forecast lower than Wall Street expected.

The fake Twitter buyout story comes in the wake of another scam involving Avon Products. In that instance, a fake document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission claimed there was a bid for the cosmetics company. As a result of the bogus report, Avon’s shares soared as much as 20% before falling.

Following the Avon scam, the SEC sued Nedko Nedev, a Bulgarian man who claimed he and a few others worked together to violate United States securities laws by creating fake takeover offers. The SEC reported that Nedev and his cohorts made fake bids for Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Tower Group International in addition to Avon.

In these scams, known as pump and dump schemes, investors of a particular stock mislead people into buying shares with fake news or false “insider information.” The duped individuals buy shares, the share price goes up, and the deceitful investors sell their stock at a profit. The value of the shares then plummets and the unwitting purchasers lose money. Such scams are the basis for Hollywood movies such as Boiler Room and The Wolf of Wall Street.

The recent scams further demonstrate the important lesson that retail investors must be careful when trading in the stock market and that any such stories influencing stock prices must be verified beforehand.

Cutthroat Chinese Smartphone Industry May Foreshadow Future Of Western Markets

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One startup smartphone maker has become so popular, now everyone is trying to make a smartphone. In a market that has recently started to slow down, there are questions about what red-hot Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi need to do in order to remain profitable.

In China, entrepreneurs are finding the world’s largest market for smartphones hard to resist.  Even the construction workers and rock musicians are mimicking Xiaomi , a local trailblazer, with their own smartphones.

Yet for the first time in six years, the Chinese smartphone market started to shrink in early 2015, with sales falling for the one-time leader Xiaomi. This sudden about-face has started to raise questions as to whether there was any hope for companies such as Gree Electric Appliances Inc. of Zhuhai, SANY Group Co. Ltd. and Cui Jian, a veteran rockstar.

This market slowdown could prove to be too much for everyone but the biggest handset makers, much less the wide array of me-toos, according to analysts. In an already crowded market, filled with price wars, those entering the market will have to convince shoppers to leave the already established brands, with handsets that outperform even the high end models, according to Gartner, a U.S. research firm.

“It’s not that easy to go bankrupt making phones, but it’s also not easy to be profitable,” said Gartner analyst CK Lu. “If you don’t have good differentiation, you’re putting yourself in a saturated market.”

As of the end of March, China had 155 different brands of smartphones selling more than 1,000 each month, up from 110 just two years ago, according to Neil Shah, analysis for Counterpoint Research. In India, there were 103 different brands, with more than half being Chinese.

Gartner states that the smaller players who compete only get one-fifth of the market, with the remaining being held by the 10 largest incumbents – including Lenovo, Apple and Samsung.

It could cost a few hundred thousand dollars to bring a smartphone market to China, with the money going towards designs from manufacturers and licensing. For even larger scale the design involvement, offline sales distribution and marketing can send costs soaring to the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Shah.

Few companies are likely to survive without big sales, such as Xiaomi , or other companies who show support for the smartphone divisions that are losing money, such as Lenovo.  Their best hope is to link the smartphones to new divisions such as smart home appliances and wearable devices.

Xiaomi and its fairy tale success have enticed new hopefuls into the market. Xiaomi was valued by investors in December at $45 billion, this just five years after it was founded, making the company one of the most valuable startups in the world.

Smartisan, a Chinese startup established in 2012, has become very popular just as Xiaomi has due primarily to focusing on marketing by word of mouth and on social-media, rather than advertising.

“Xiaomi’s phones were definitely already successful (in 2012),” according to a Smartisan spokeswoman. “Because of that, getting investment and bringing in talent for smartphones became much easier… Before Xiaomi, this would have been very difficult.”

“Xiaomi does so many products now,” Chen Xudong President of Lenovo Mobile Group. Xiaomi has expanded its market from being an online smartphone vendor to manufacturing other home appliances and consumer electronics.

Instead of replicating Xiaomi’s original model, Nicole Peng, Chinese research director of Canalys, stated that the opportunities for these entrants lie in the manufacturing of smart appliances and wearables along with smartphones, similar to the current strategy of Xiaomi.

“I think no more than three new brands can be commercially successful in the short term, any others will only acquire a tiny portion of the market,” stated Peng. “But if they want to be profitable just selling phones, the chances are very, very low.”

The trends in China may bode poorly for global smartphone makers, who are both trying to enter the Chinese market and also may soon be competing with Chinese makers at home. Xiaomi, for instance, already has stores in the United States and United Kingdom meaning that consumers will soon have access to its full line of high quality low price phones. Its surely only a matter of time before other rivals invade western markets, meaning already thin margins will likely become even thinner.

Iran Nuclear Deal Could Lead To $2 Per Gallon Gasoline

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Later this year, drivers in the U.S. can anticipate gas prices dropping into the $2 range due in part to the Iran nuclear deal that was announced Tuesday. Once the Iranian oil markets are open, gas prices will only drop a few cents in the beginning. However, huge savings could be seen as early as September according to analysts.

According to Oil Price Information Service’s chief analyst Tom Kloza, “Once we get past Labor Day, we should see gas falling by 10 to 15 cents a month. By December a lot of places are going to see gasoline at $2 or less”.

In an attempt to inhibit Iran’s plans to have nuclear power, several Western countries, the U.S. included, imposed sanctions on Iran. For this reason, it has been almost 20 years since Iran has sold oil to the U.S. Rather than the U.S., Iran has been selling to Turkey, China and India.

It is still unknown how the sanctions will be lifted or what the trade relationship will be like between the U.S. and Iran.

Despite some criticism in Congress pushing for the preservation of the sanctions, President Obama has made clear his intentions to veto these moves. Global oil market prices will go down regardless of these sanctions when Iran begins selling more oil to Europe.

Experts at a Credit Suisse conference revealed that 500,000 barrels of oil could be added daily to the worldwide market by Iran. After the sanctions are lifted, it is projected by the International Energy Agency that Iran could provide around 800,000 barrels daily. FACTS Global Energy says an estimated 30 million barrels are in storage and awaiting sale.

Massive amounts of oil have recently been added to the worldwide market. Countries such as North America, members of OPEC, Russia and now Iraq have ramped up production of oil as demand in China and Europe is being curbed. According to Kloza, Iran’s oil industry infrastructure that worsened under the sanctions, will improve as more Iranian oil is added to the markets next year.

Investigation Reveals Government Agencies Subsidizing Google’s Private Jets

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Investigation Reveals Government Agencies Subsidizing Google’s Private Jets

A recent investigation of federal documents suggests that the Department of Defense and NASA have been selling millions of dollars worth of below market price jet fuel to a company owned by the Google founders. Reportedly, the fuel was used by the company H211 to fly Google’s private jets around the world.

According to officials in Santa Clara County, local tax rolls of roughly $500,000 per airplane per have been lost because no property taxes were being paid on the airplanes. H211 keeps their two helicopters and seven airplanes on land that taxpayers own at Moffett Field at NASA’s Ames Research Center.

A deal was struck between NASA and H211 under a NASA Space Agreement. H211 agreed to pay around $100,000 a month in return for letting NASA use some the planes for science.

NBC Bay Area uncovered records that proved only 155 of the over 1,000 flights were used for science. The flights were proved to have used below-market fueling to fly to vacation destinations such as Cancun, Paris, Hawaii and Tahiti. Conveniently, Google’s worldwide headquarters is only 3 miles from the hangar.

Just as these investigations by NBC Bay Area were beginning, the Department of Defense claimed the government would stop selling fuel to H211 starting August 31, 2013. Some members of Congress are pushing for further investigation as the deal between H211 and NASA was a bit fishy to begin with.

Charles Grassley, Iowa Senator, is encouraging NASA’s and the Department of Defense’s Inspector General to investigate further into this case. After NBC Bay Area’s report, Grassley began to speak out about this issue. Grassley stated “If there’s one dollar of taxpayers’ money that is being wasted– and people know it when it‘s being wasted that obviously is not only a fiscal issue, that’s a moral and ethical issue and probably a violation of law”.

With below market priced fueling purchases totaling just shy of $8 million, many people wonder whether the deal between NASA and H211 is fair. As taxpayers were essentially being used for this deal, it seems ridiculous to have millionaires be flying around in private jets on cheap fuel flying from a hangar with no taxes. Many people are concerned the whole deal between NASA and H211 is just used to have a cheap landing strip and hangar for vacations.

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