Twitter has announced it is cutting 336 jobs, roughly 8% of its global workforce, as part of a restructuring of the business.
The job cuts will cost between $10 million and $20 million in severance pay, while the restructuring will cost between $5 million and $15 million, Twitter said.
Twitter shares rose 2% in pre-market trading following the announcement.
The move comes just days after Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was confirmed as the company’s permanent CEO.
Jack Dorsey had served as Twitter interim CEO for three months after Dick Costolo stepped down on July 1.
Dick Costolo, who was Twitter CEO from 2010 to 2015, had been under pressure from investors unhappy with the company’s user growth.
In a letter to Twitter employees, Jack Dorsey wrote: “We have made an extremely tough decision – we plan to part ways with up to 336 people from across the company.
“We are doing this with the utmost respect for each and every person.
“Twitter will go to great lengths to take care of each individual in providing generous exit packages and help finding a new job.”
Environmentally minded Leonardo DiCaprio will produce a movie about Volkswagen’s emissions scandal following a deal with Paramount Pictures.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way and Paramount Pictures have bought the rights to an as-yet-unwritten book about the scandal, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
It is not known whether Leonardo DiCaprio will star in the new movie.
Last month VW admitted 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide are fitted with software that beat emission tests.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that many VW cars being sold in America had devices in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, changing the performance accordingly to improve results.
The “defeat device” allows cars to pass lab testing even though they actually emit 40 times the emissions standard.
VW CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned after the scandal broke.
Volkswagen has recalled almost 500,000 cars in the US alone and it has set aside €6.5 billion to cover costs.
The book proposal about the scandal is by New York Times journalist Jack Ewing and it will reportedly explore the “more, better, faster” ethos and how it played into the scandal.
Leonardo DiCaprio has produced a number of environmental documentaries including the 2014 films Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret and Virunga, about the battle to save the last of the world’s mountain gorillas.
The actor’s environmental foundation has given $30 million in grants since it was founded in 1998.
In 2013, Leonardo DiCaprio announced he would enter a team in the new electric motor racing championship Formula E.
Leonardo DiCaprio, an environmental campaigner, said: “The future of our planet depends on our ability to embrace fuel-efficient, clean-energy vehicles.”
VW will cut investment by €1 billion ($1.1 billion) a year as a result of the growing scandal over cheating on emissions tests.
Volkswagen said efficiency and technology would be the company’s watchwords as it “repositioned itself for the future”.
The automaker added that all new diesel cars would be fitted with the “best environmental technology”.
There will also be greater focus on hybrid and electric cars.
“We are becoming more efficient, we are giving our product range and our core technologies a new focus, and we are creating room for forward-looking technologies by speeding up the efficiency program,” said Chairman of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Dr. Herbert Diess.
The automaker said it would now be fitting the kinds of clean diesel technologies needed to meet stricter US standards across all its cars in both the US and Europe.
VW also revealed that its flagship Phaeton model would in the future be purely electric, capable of driving long distances on a single charge.
According to the Dutch Safety Board report, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed in Ukraine as a result of a Russian-made Buk missile.
MH17 flight crashed in Ukraine in July 2014 killing 298 people.
The missile hit the front left of the plane causing other parts break off..
The West and Ukraine say Russian-backed rebels brought down the Boeing 777, but Russia blames Ukrainian forces.
The report does not say who fired the missile, but says airspace over eastern Ukraine should have been closed.
The plane – flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur – crashed at the height of the conflict between government troops and the pro-Russian separatists.
Among the victims were 196 Dutch nationals.
The report says the three crew members in the cockpit were killed by the missile explosion instantly.
However, the report adds, it was unclear at which point the other occupants died, and the possibility of some remaining conscious for some time during the one-and-a-half minutes it took for the plane to go down could not be ruled out.
The Dutch Safety Board presented its findings first to the victims’ relatives before briefing reporters at the Gilze-Rijen military base in the Netherlands.
The board showed parts of the aircraft that had been brought back from the rebel-held Donetsk region and reconstructed.
Dutch Safety Board President Djibbe Joustra said the impact pattern on the plane showed a missile was responsible – not a meteor, air-to-air missile or internal explosion.
Djibbe Joustra said paint had been found on metal fragments within the plane that matched with missile fragments on the ground.
The evidence pointed to a 9N314M warhead, which can be fitted to a 9M38M1 missile launched by the Buk surface-to-air missile system, the report found.
Djibbe Joustra said there was sufficient reason to have closed off Ukrainian airspace to commercial traffic but Ukraine did not do that – and on the day of the crash, 160 flights flew over the area in question.
The board does not have the authority to apportion blame, under the rules governing international crash investigations.
Djibbe Joustra suggested that the aircraft is most likely to have been brought down by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile – which experts say both Russian and Ukrainian armies possess.
The government in Ukraine and several Western officials have said the missile was brought from Russia and launched from the rebel-held part of Ukraine.
A separate Dutch-led criminal investigation is under way. Dutch Prosecutor Fred Westerbeke on Tuesday said a number of “persons of interest” had been identified, but there was still much to be done and the inquiry would not be finished this year.
Russian officials from Almaz-Antey – the state company which manufactures Buk missiles – once again rejected those accusations.
During a presentation timed to pre-empt the Dutch report, officials said the evidence suggested the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air Buk missile fired by Ukrainian forces.
Using video footage of their own mock-up of shrapnel hitting the fuselage of an aircraft, the officials said trajectory evidence showed the missile had been fired from Ukrainian-controlled territory. They argued the missile used was a decades-old model no longer in use in the Russian arsenal.
Russia says Dutch investigators have not taken account of its findings.
In July, Russia vetoed a draft resolution at the UN Security Council to set up an international tribunal into the MH17 air disaster.
President Vladimir Putin said at the time the establishment of such a tribunal would be “premature” and “counterproductive”.
Giant beer producer SABMiller accepted an increased takeover offer from rival Anheuser-Busch InBev.
SABMiller said it had agreed “in principle” a £44-a-share offer, after four previous attempts from AB InBev.
AB InBev’s brands include Stella Artois, Budweiser and Corona, while SABMiller produces Peroni and Grolsch.
If the deal, worth about £70 billion ($112 billion), goes ahead, the newly-created company will make about 30% of the world’s beer.
SABMiller has a workforce of close to 70,000 people in more than 80 countries, and global annual sales of more than $26 billion. AB InBev has a workforce of 155,000 and global revenues of more than $47 billion.
Photo Reuters
AB InBev had made four previous bid approaches for SABMiller – at £38, £40, £42.15, and £43.50 per share – but they had been rejected by SABMiller, which argued they undervalued the company.
In a statement, the boards of the two companies said they had now “reached agreement in principle on the key terms of a possible recommended offer”.
The two companies have not yet formally finalized the terms of an offer, but the latest development means they have extended the City deadline for a firm offer until October 28.
The latest proposal comes a day before the original deadline, by which AB InBev had to make a formal bid for SABMiller or walk away for six months.
The offer represents a premium of about 50% over and above SABMiller’s share price in mid-September, before the bid battle started.
On October 13, SabMiller’s share price rose 9% to £39.48 in London trade, while shares in AB InBev were 2.85% higher at €101.15 in trading in Brussels.
According to Israeli police, at least three Israelis have been killed and many injured in shooting and stabbing attacks in Jerusalem and central Israel.
Two were killed and 16 others were wounded when two assailants opened fire and stabbed passengers on a bus in Jerusalem.
Another died in a vehicle and knife attack elsewhere in the city.
Near-daily stabbings by Palestinians have left dozens of Israelis dead and wounded over the past two weeks.
Several attackers and at least 17 other Palestinians have been killed in the upsurge of violence.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will convene an emergency session of the security cabinet on October 13 to discuss the surge in violence.
The militant Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip, praised the “heroic operations in Jerusalem and greets the heroes who carried them out”.
In the bus attack, the two assailants shot several passengers and stabbed others after boarding the vehicle in East Talpiot, a district in East Jerusalem also known as Armon HaNetziv, police said.
A security guard was able to overpower one of them and shoot him, Israeli media said. The second assailant then reportedly locked the bus doors in an attempt to stop police from boarding it and passengers from escaping, but police opened fire from outside and shot him.
Police said one of the attackers was killed and the other seriously wounded.
Minutes later, a man ran over three people with his car at a bus station in the Geula district of West Jerusalem. He then got out of the car stabbed them with a knife, police said. The attacker, identified as a resident of East Jerusalem, was shot by police. His condition is unclear.
Earlier in the morning, a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli man, moderately wounding him, at a bus stop in Raanana, a town north of Tel Aviv, police said. The attacker was captured and reportedly beaten and seriously injured by passers-by.
Not long afterwards, at least four other people were wounded in another knife attack in Raanana, police said. The assailant fled, but was then arrested by police.
Police identified both of the attackers in Raanana as residents of East Jerusalem.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have escalated since last month, fuelled by clashes at a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem, in the West Bank, and across the Gaza border, as well as the wave of stabbings.
Asian stock markets have traded lower on October 13 following the release of disappointing Chinese trade numbers.
China’s latest economic data showed that imports in September fell by a more-than-expected 17.7% in yuan-denominated terms, while exports fell 1.1% from a year earlier.
The sharp fall in imports raised concerns on weakening domestic demand.
The Shanghai Composite ended up 0.2% at 3,293.23, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed down 0.6% at 22,600.46.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index ended down 1.1% at 18,234.74 after being closed for a public holiday on October 12.
Shares in electronics maker Sharp rose 6.5% on reports a government-backed fund may make an investment in the struggling firm.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.9% at 5,202.9, dragged down by oil-related stocks following a sharp fall in crude prices on October 12.
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi finished lower by 0.13% at 2,019.05.
Donald Trump is making a splash in politics this year. The loud-mouthed reality TV star and casino mogul has rocketed to frontrunner status in the Republican primary race. Touting his business experience, Trump believes he can “make America great again”.
A cursory examination of his record proves somewhat troublesome, however. Particularly interesting is Trump’s propensity to file his businesses for bankruptcy. How can Trump call himself a successful businessman with so many bankruptcies under his belt? The answer, as you might expect, lies with “The Donald” himself. As it turns out, Donald Trump has a very different perception of bankruptcy than the general public does.
“I have used the laws of this country,” Trump told the audience at a debate, “the [bankruptcy] chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family.”
In short, Trump has used bankruptcy laws strictly to restructure his businesses, many of which he was keeping afloat with his own personal stash of cash. When you’re a business mogul like Trump, the people working under you are bound to make some poor decisions, but if anything—Trump’s dedication to doing whatever it takes to keep his projects above the water is actually somewhat admirable. Still, you can’t help but feel Mr. Trump’s success might have more to do with having a good bankruptcy attorney than business sense.
Let’s take a look at Trump’s four biggest bankruptcy blunders, and how he handled those situations.
Trump Taj Mahal, 1991
The Trump Taj Mahal is a sprawling casino and resort located in Atlantic City. When it hit hard times financially, Trump invested a lot of his own money to save it. To come up with the needed funds, he sold off his 282-foot party yacht. He also ditched his private jet, the so-called “Trump Shuttle”, which carried him between Washington D.C., New York, and Boston.
In the end, Trump gave up half of his ownership stake in the Casino. His efforts paid off, however, as the Trump Taj Mahal still stands. Funnily enough, Trump’s largest creditor at the time of the bankruptcy was Carl Icahn, who Trump says he’ll pick for secretary of Treasury if he wins the presidency.
Trump Castle Associates, 1992
Unfortunately, about a year after winning the fight for the Trump Taj Mahal, his other Atlantic City properties experienced some severe financial difficulties. The Trump Plaza Hotel in New York city was also struggling. In all, the Trump Castle Casino Resort, the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, and the Trump Plaza Hotel in New York (Trump sure likes to put his name on things) filed for bankruptcy.
The restructuring meant Trump had to give up half his interest in the New York Plaza Hotel to his debtor, Citibank. He was able to retain majority ownership of the casinos, however.
Photo Source: counterpunch.org
Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts, 2004
Trump managed to stay out of bankruptcy court for over ten years, but decided it was time to shed some debit in 2004. Over the course of the proceedings, Trump’s enterprises threw off some $500 million in debt. Trump once again gave up majority ownership of some of his properties but remained in control of his casinos.
Trump Entertainment Resorts, 2009
Now here’s something “The Donald” may not have been completely straightforward about during the Republican debate. He claimed he left Atlantic City due to foreseeing a future financial crisis, but he may have been forced out after his businesses again suffered financial hardship and had to file Chapter 11.
“I had the good sense, and I’ve gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered,” he told the debate audience.
In 2009, however, Trump simply resigned from the board of his Atlantic City casino properties. Though many of them still bear his name, he gave up his remaining stake in the companies.
Now it seems Trump doesn’t want to be involved with Atlantic City at all. When two of the casinos that still bore his name again filed for bankruptcy in 2014, Trump sued them to have his name removed.
China’s imports fell a more-than-expected 17.7% in yuan-denominated terms in September 2015, while exports fell 1.1% from a year earlier, official figures show.
The new figures leave China with a trade surplus of 376.2 billion yuan ($59.4 billion).
The steep fall in imports compares with a fall of 14.3% in August and continues to reflect lower commodity prices globally.
China recently revised down its 2014 economic growth from 7.4% to 7.3%.
The revision marks its weakest growth for almost 25 years. After decades of double-digit growth, the government is expecting to see growth of about 7% in 2015.
China is attempting to shift from an export-led economy to a consumer-led one.
Exports in September held up better than expected, after some had forecast a fall of as much as 7%.
However, the significant fall in imports means domestic demand is not as strong as the government would have hoped.
China’s official trade numbers in US dollar denominated terms were reported shortly after the yuan-denominated numbers.
They showed exports fell a less-than-expected 3.7% in September, while imports slumped 20.4% from a year earlier. The numbers leave the country with a surplus of $60.34 billion for the month – which the government said was higher than expected.
Currency conversion factors based on US dollar and Chinese yuan movements over the last year mean some official numbers from the mainland are now reported in both currencies.
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH, saw an 18% rise in revenue in the nine months to September 2015 – to €25.3 billion ($28.7 billion) – compared with the nine months prior.
The French multinational luxury goods conglomerate posted organic revenue growth of 7% for Q3 of 2015, against forecasts of about 5.5%.
Organic revenue growth strips out the effects of currency movements.
A weaker euro as well as strong wine and spirits sales boosted Q3 revenue.
LVMH noted overall growth in Europe and the US as well as an “acceleration” in Japan.
Overall revenue for Q3 of 2015 rose 16% to $9.76 billion.
LVMH is the world’s biggest luxury group.
It sells the likes of Louis Vuitton handbags, several Champagne brands, Hennessy cognac and fashion labels Fendi and Marc Jacobs. It also sells perfumes, cosmetics, watches and jewellery.
Wine and spirit sales in China, which had been hurt by the country’s anti-corruption drive, saw a “notable acceleration in the third quarter”, the firm said.
“Hennessy cognac …benefited in the third quarter from a strong rebound in shipments to China and continued excellent momentum in the United States,” it stated.
Sales in LVMH’s fashion and leather business were slower than expected.
This year’s Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded to Prof. Angus Deaton “for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare”.
Angus Deaton from Princeton University said he was delighted to have won the prize.
The 69-year-old described himself as “someone who’s concerned with the poor of the world and how people behave, and what gives them a good life”.
His research focuses on health, wellbeing, and economic development.
Torsten Persson, secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences award committee, said that Prof. Angus Deaton’s work has had “enormous influence”, particularly in India where the government had reshaped its measurement of poverty.
It had also been very influential in the academic community by reshaping various branches of economics, he said.
While Angus Deaton expected extreme poverty to continue decreasing, he did not want to be “blindly optimistic” because “tremendous health problems among adults and children in India” still existed.
Photo NobelPrize
Prof. Angus Deaton said that half of Indian children were still malnourished: “For many people in the world, things are very bad indeed.”
The academy said that individuals’ consumption choices must be understood before economic policy aimed at reducing poverty could be formulated.
“More than anyone else, Angus Deaton has enhanced this understanding. By linking detailed individual choices and aggregate outcomes, his research has helped transform the fields of microeconomics, macroeconomics, and development economics.”
The work for which Angus Deaton has been honored revolved around three questions: How do consumers distribute their spending among different goods? How much of society’s income is spent and how much is saved? How do we best measure and analyze welfare and poverty?
“His research has uncovered important pitfalls when comparing the extent of poverty across time and place,” the committee said.
The British academic, who had been in the running for the prize several times in past years, was previously at Cambridge and Bristol universities.
The award includes prize money of 8 million Swedish kronor ($950,000).
The economics award was not created by Alfred Nobel in 1895, but was added by Sweden’s central bank in 1968 as a memorial to the Swedish industrialist.
The Nobel prizes will be given to winners on December 10 at ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo.
Dell has agreed a deal to buy data storage company EMC for $67 billion.
EMC shareholders will receive $33.15 per share, $24.05 of which will be in cash.
If approved by regulators, the deal would be the biggest in history between two technology companies.
Falling demand for PCs means Dell is looking to expand into more lucrative businesses, and it has identified data storage as a key growth area.
“Our new company will be exceptionally well-positioned for growth in the most strategic areas of next-generation IT ,” Michael Dell said.
EMC CEO Joe Tucci said: “The waves of change we now see in our industry are unprecedented and, to navigate this change, we must create a new company for a new era.”
Michael Dell will be chairman and chief executive of the combined group that, Dell said, would be the world’s “largest privately-controlled, integrated technology company”.
The exact cost of the deal will depend on the value of shares in VMware, the software company controlled by EMC. VMware will remain an independent, listed company.
The price per share agreed represents a 20% premium on Friday’s EMC closing share price of $27.86. EMC shares were up about 4% in pre-market trading on October 12.
The deal is expected to close some time between May and October 2016.
Two South African men who rent the house where athlete Oscar Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp have been filmed giving a “bizarre” tour around the property.
David Scott, 33, and Kagiso Mokoape, 23, leased the house in Pretoria after it was sold by Oscar Pistorius to cover his legal bills.
In the video, the two business partners promise to hosts parties there, saying: “Oscar built this house to entertain.”
David Scott also said they intended to decorate the house “in honor of what happened here.”
Oscar Pistorius family spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess described the footage as “bizarre” to the South African press.
Photo YouTube
David Scott and Kagiso Mokoape show the South African TV channel Netwerk24 around the house. A version of the video is still on the network’s English language website.
While apparently drinking a can of beer, David Scott told the channel: “This is definitely an entertainer’s house.”
During the video, Dvaid Scott opens the toilet door, through which Reeva Steenkamp was shot four times, to show where she died.
While in the bathroom, Kagiso Mokoape says: “I feel bad for Reeva’s parents”.
The bathroom has since been refurbished.
An online poll by the South African website IOL found that readers were closely split on whether it would be distasteful to hold a party at the house.
The South African parole board is due to decide later this week whether to release Oscar Pistorius to house arrest.
The Paralympic champion was convicted of manslaughter last year but cleared of murder.
The appeal against the double amputee’s acquittal on murder charges is to be heard next month.
Oscar Pistorius insists he mistook Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder.
American dentist Walter Palmer, who sparked an international outcry after killing Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe, will not be prosecuted because he had obtained the legal authority to hunt, officials say.
Walter Palmer, 55, admitted to killing Cecil in July but has always denied that he acted illegally.
Zimbabwe’s Environment Minister Oppah Muchinguri said Walter Palmer could not be charged as all his “papers were in order”.
Oppah Muchinguri said Zimbabwe would now review how it issues hunting licenses.
The environment minister had previously called for Walter Palmer to be extradited and face prosecution. However, it appears that Walter Palmer broke no laws when he killed the lion using a bow and arrow.
“We approached the police and then the Prosecutor General, and it turned out that [Walter] Palmer came to Zimbabwe because all the papers were in order,” Oppah Muchinguru said.
Meanwhile the trial against Walter Palmer’s Zimbabwean guide, Theo Bronkhurst, is due to continue on October 15.
Theo Bronkhurst denies the charge of “failing to prevent an illegal hunt”.
After his name was revealed by the press, Walter Palmer’s dentistry practice and home were targeted by protesters. He has now returned to work after a two-month break.
Walter Palmer is believed to have paid $50,000 to hunt the lion in Zimbabwe’s largest game reserve.
Pan has failed to reach the top of the North American box office chart on its opening weekend, despite much promotion and its $150 million cost.
The Neverland 3D-fantasy movie, starring Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard and directed by Atonement director Joe Wright, took $15.5 million and entered the chart at number three.
Pan was outshone by space thriller The Martian which held on to the top spot for a second week, taking $37 million.
Hotel Transylvania 2 stayed at No 2, making $20.3 million.
Pan‘s relative lack of success ranks it alongside The Fantastic Four and Tomorrowland as one of the year’s most disappointing big budget achievers. Pan was released over the four-day Columbus weekend, which remembers Christopher Columbus’ arrival to the Americas in 1492.
The movie’s story is an invented prequel of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Captain Hook adventure.
Levi Miller plays Peter Pan alongside Hugh Jackman’s ruthless pirate and features Rooney Mara and Kathy Burke.
Ridley Scott’s The Martian, in its second week of release, has now notched up $108.7 million at the US box office.
Hotel Transylvania 2 also showed its staying power. Now in its third week, it has takings to date of $116.8 million.
Workplace comedy The Intern, starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway, earned $8.7 million and finished the weekend at number four, the same spot as last week. It has now made $49.6 million.
Sicario, starring Emily Blunt, brought in $7.4 million and came in at number five, dropping from its previous number three position. The movie has overall takings to date of $26.7 million.
Steven Tyler has asked Donald Trump to stop using Aerosmith’s song Dream On at campaign events without permission.
Attorneys for Steven Tyler have already sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Republican presidential hopeful, saying the use of the song “gives a false impression” the singer endorses Donald Trump’s presidential bid.
Donald Trump has been playing Dream On all summer, even air-drumming to it at a rally in Las Vegas.
Steven Tyler, who is a registered Republican, says it is not a “personal” issue but one of permission and copyright.
It is the third time a musician has confronted Donald Trump about using their songs to promote his presidential bid.
When Donald Trump announced his candidacy, his campaign played Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World – a song that contains the lyrics “He’s just a rich old man / He never cared for anyone”.
Neil Young, a well-known liberal, demanded that Donald Trump stop using the song and declared his support for Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders instead.
Donald Trump’s campaign responded that “despite Neil’s differing political views, Mr. Trump likes Neil very much”.
The tycoon then used REM’s It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine), prompting singer Michael Stipe to issue a strongly-worded statement, saying: “Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.”
Conversely, Steven Tyler is not politically opposed to Donald Trump, who is the current frontrunner in the Republican race for the White House.
Steven Tyler even attended the second GOP debate in August as Donald Trump’s guest, according to the Washington Post, but his representatives issued a legal letter to Trump’s campaign over the weekend.
“Trump for President does not have our client’s permission to use Dream On or any of our client’s other music in connection with the campaign because it gives the false impression that he is connected with or endorses Mr. Trump’s presidential bid,” the cease-and-desist letter read.
“If Trump for President does not comply with our demands, our client will be forced to pursue any and all legal or equitable remedies which our client may have against you.”
Donald Trump was initially asked to stop using Dream On, which features the refrain “dream until your dream comes true” after a rally in Alabama two months ago, but he has continued to use it on the campaign trail, reports Rolling Stone.
Politicians using songs by musicians who do not support them has been a thorny issue for decades, since Bruce Springsteen castigated President Ronald Reagan for planning to use Born in the USA as a backdrop for his 1984 re-election campaign.
Technically, copyright laws give politicians carte blanche to use recorded music at their rallies – as long as the venue has a public performance license issued through a songwriters’ association such as ASCAP or BMI.
However, there is some leeway for an artist to complain their image and reputation is being damaged by the repeated use of a song without their express permission.
ISIS militant group is the prime suspect in the Ankara bombings that killed at least 97 people on October 10, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said.
No group has said it carried out the attack, but the Turkish government believes that two male suicide bombers caused the explosions.
Ankara explosions official death toll is 97, but one of the main groups at the march put the number of dead at 128.
The funerals of more of the victims are taking place on October 12.
The twin explosions ripped through a crowd of activists gathering outside Ankara’s main railway station.
They were due to take part in a rally calling for an end to the violence between Turkish government forces and the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Speaking on Turkish television, Ahmet Davutoglu said the bombings were an attempt to influence the forthcoming elections, due to take place on November 1 after a vote in June left no party able to form a government.
Many of the victims were activists of the pro-Kurdish HDP party, which says it is now considering cancelling all election rallies.
The HDP believes its delegation at the march was specifically targeted.
The party gained parliamentary seats for the first time in June’s vote, depriving President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s governing AK Party of its majority.
On the day of the attack, the PKK unilaterally declared a ceasefire. However, this was rejected by the Turkish government, which carried out cross-border air strikes on PKK positions in southern Turkey and Iraq on the following day.
PM Ahmet Davutoglu said authorities were close to identifying one of the suicide bombers.
Some local media have implicated the brother of a man who carried out an ISIS bombing in the southern border town of Suruc in July, which killed more than 30 people.
HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas said the state had attacked the people – and that the people of Turkey should be the recipients of international condolences, not President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Earlier this year, Kanye West announced his plans to run for the 2020 presidential election and told Vanity Fair magazine that he had received lots of support since he made his ambitions clear.
President Barack Obama has a few political nuggets to pass on for Kanye West’s 2020 bid for the presidency.
Speaking at a fundraising event in San Francisco on October 10, Barack Obama offered some words of advice, including “being cool” dealing with strange characters who behave like they are on a reality TV show.
Barack Obama spoke at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in San Francisco, where Kanye West was due to perform later in the day.
After performing for President Barack Obama at the Democratic National Committee event in San Francisco, Kanye West headed over to where the city’s auditions were being held for the final season of American Idol.
A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli police on October 12 after he allegedly attacked an officer with a knife in Jerusalem.
This is the latest incident in a recent wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Police say the officer was saved by his protective vest. The attacker’s identity is not yet known.
There has been a string of stabbings of Israelis by Palestinians, and an apparent revenge stabbing by an Israeli, in the past two weeks.
Photo Haaretz
Two Israelis and dozens of Palestinians, including attackers, have been killed in the upsurge of violence.
According to Israeli police, the attacker stabbed the officer after being stopped when he was seen acting suspiciously.
It happened near the Lion’s Gate entrance of Jerusalem’s walled Old City, scene of several other previous stabbings of Israelis.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have soared recently, fuelled by clashes at a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem, in the West Bank, and across the Gaza border, and the wave of Palestinian stab attacks.
There were more stabbings at the weekend. Several Palestinians were also killed in clashes with Israeli troops and by an Israeli air strike on a militant site in Gaza in response to rocket fire on Israel.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended his country’s military operations in Syria, saying the aim is to “stabilize the legitimate authority” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Vladimir Putin told Russian state TV Rossiya-1 Moscow also wanted to “create conditions for a political compromise” in Syria.
The Kremlin leader denied that Russian air strikes were hitting moderate opposition groups rather than Islamic State militants.
Syrian forces are said to have made significant advances against rebels.
Government gains in Idlib, Hama and Latakia provinces were on October 11 reported both by Damascus and opposition activists.
Photo Kremlin.ru
The main battlefront is currently close to the key highway that links the capital with other major cities, including Aleppo, and Bashar al-Assad’s forces are believed to be seeking to cut off rebels in Idlib.
In the interview with Rossiya-1 broadcast on October 11, Vladimir Putin said Russia’s aim was to “stabilize” the government in Damascus.
He stressed that without Moscow’s support for Bashar al-Assad there was a danger that “terrorist groups” could overrun Syria.
Bashar al-Assad’s government was currently “under siege”, Vladimir Putin said, adding that militants were “at the edge of Damascus”.
The Russian president also urged other nations to “unite efforts against this evil [terrorism]”.
The US-led coalition – which has been carrying out its own air strikes in Syria – earlier said it would not be co-operating with Russia.
Russia, which began its strikes in Syria on September 30, said on October 11 its aircraft carried out more than 60 missions in the past 24 hours, and that ISIS was its main target.
Like many people, you’ve probably heard of binary options and have been intrigued by many of the success stories scattered across the Internet. However, if you haven’t made the leap yet, the risks associated with trading binary options are probably keeping your ambitions at bay. Fortunately, there are a number of steps you can take to reduce the risks associated with trading options.
Set a Budget and Stick to It
This one is fairly obvious, but it deserves some attention here. One of the best ways to reduce the risks of trading binary options is to create a budget. Obviously, if you can lock in a budget, no amount of risk is going to bankrupt you. Creating a budget is easy enough, sticking to it is the difficult part. If you have a spouse or friend who can hold you accountable, this will go a long way towards maintaining your budget. If trading binary options is something you take to naturally, some wins at the beginning could convince you to loosen up your budget. However, it’s important to resist the urge and stick to what you started with for the first six months.
Don’t Trade Right Away
Most of the risks associated with binary options trading can be avoided if you don’t jump in right away. Start by educating yourself. These days, you can find countless books, blogs, forums and training videos that will get you up to speed quickly. This isn’t just a good way to reduce the risks associated with binary options, it’s vital for succeeding year after year. Learning about trading options needs to be a lifelong endeavor.
Find a Reputable Broker
Another way to reduce the risks of trading binary options is by finding a good broker. Once you have a handle on what it takes to trade options, you’ll have an easier time knowing what to look for in a broker. What you don’t want is someone who tries to get your business by offering insane bonuses and other benefits that come with lots of small print. Find someone who has a lot of positive reviews online and is licensed in one of the many countries that recognize binary options and has laws governing them.
Remove Emotion
This is easier said than done, but if you can take your emotions out of binary options trading, a lot of risk is going to leave with it. Educating yourself and keeping to your budget will also help a great deal. Taking periodic breaks during trading where you force yourself to get some fresh air will ensure you don’t ride a rollercoaster of feelings towards failure.
Risk is always going to be a part of investing, whether it’s binary options or anything else. However, if you follow the above advice, you can mitigate risk as much as possible, which is something extremely important for beginners.
Mexico’s Attorney General Arely Gomez Gonzalez has released the files on the 2014 disappearance of 43 student teachers who clashed with the police.
Arely Gomez Gonzalez released more than 80 volumes of material.
The missing students case has prompted protests across Mexico, increasing pressure on President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Relatives dispute his government’s account that police in Guerrero state handed the students over to a gang who killed them and burnt the bodies.
Photo AFP
The attorney general’s office said the document had taken around 100 investigators seven months to compile.
However, an international panel of experts said it had found many flaws in the investigation.
It concluded that the Mexican government’s account that the students were incinerated beyond identification at a rubbish dump was physically impossible.
According to the experts, official reports appeared to downplay the presence of federal police and troops near the areas where the students were seized.
The experts said the army had refused to allow them to interview soldiers.
Mexico’s attorney general has said her office has not closed the file and will continue to investigate the case.
Albania national soccer team qualified for a major tournament for the first time in their history after beating Armenia with 0-3 and securing their place at UEFA’s Euro 2016.
The win means Albania leapfrog Denmark into second place in Group I.
Photo Getty Images
Portugal – who had already qualified as group winners – won 2-1 against Serbia, who had two men sent off.
Albania’s win means Denmark finish third in the group, and will face a play-off to qualify for France next summer.
Alexander Lukashenko has won a fifth term as Belarus’ president after a landslide victory in the country’s presidential election, exit polls say.
An exit poll indicates that Alexander Lukashenko secured nearly 83% of the vote, state media reports. No other candidate achieved more than 5%.
Alexander Lukashenko has governed the former Soviet republic almost unchallenged for 21 years.
No veteran opposition leaders stood as they were not allowed to register.
They said that the vote would not be free or fair.
Three other candidates were on the ballot paper besides Alexander Lukashenko.
On October 11, Belarusian TV showed President Alexander Lukashenko casting his vote in an election in which he is seeking a fifth consecutive term of office.
He was accompanied to the polling station by his youngest son, Kolya.
Kolya Lukashenko, 11, has accompanied his father on numerous public occasions in recent years.
Photo AP
Critics have accused Alexander Lukashenko and his supporters of preventing the main opposition parties from building any public profile and restricting their access to the all-powerful state-owned media.
This year’s Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, has warned that her country is a “soft dictatorship”.
Svetlana Alexievich said Alexander Lukashenko was a man connected to the Soviet era and was untrustworthy. None of her books is published in Belarus.
Last time a presidential election was held in Belarus – in 2010 – seven of the nine presidential candidates were arrested.
One of them was only released this year following widespread international pressure.
The candidates were accused of various offences, including the encouragement of violent protest and attempting to overthrow the state.
The opposition says that there are no plans for post-election demonstrations similar to those held in December 2010.
Two outside expert reports conducted for the prosecutor in the Tamir Rice case find Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann justified in shooting the 12-year-old boy last November.
The white police officer shot dead the black boy who was carrying a toy gun.
The experts’ conclusions come ahead of an expected decision by a grand jury on whether criminal charges are warranted.
In June, a judge ruled Officer Timothy Loehmann should be charged with murder.
Tamir Rice’s family lawyer Subodh Chandra accused the experts of assisting in a “whitewash” of the incident.
The boy was shown on CCTV waving a pellet gun outside a recreation center last November, before being shot twice.
Tamir Rice later died in hospital.
Retired FBI agent Kimberly Crawford, in a review of the shooting, wrote that “not only was Officer [Timothy] Loehmann required to make a split-second decision, but also that his response was a reasonable one”.
The officer “had no information to suggest the weapon was anything but a real handgun, and the speed with which the confrontation progressed would not give the officer time to focus on the weapon”, she wrote.
In another report, Colorado prosecutor Lamar Sims also concluded that “Officer Loehmann’s belief that Rice posed a threat of serious physical harm or death was objectively reasonable, as was his response to that perceived threat”.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said in a statement his office – which commissioned the expert reports – was not reaching any conclusions based on them.
In June, Judge Ron Adrine said there were sufficient grounds to prosecute Officer Timothy Loehmann with murder, manslaughter and reckless homicide.
Police have maintained that Tamir Rice’s pellet gun looked real and that they asked him to raise his hands three times.
However, Tamir Rice’s family said video footage shows the police acted too quickly after arriving at the scene.
Tamir Rice’s death sparked protests in Cleveland, at a time when the deaths of black men at the hands of police had sparked a national debate.
