YCLOAK

Twitter Doubles Character Limit to 280 for (Nearly) Everyone

By Ytech on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Twitter says it’s ending its iconic 140-character limit — and giving nearly everyone 280 characters.

Users tweeting in Chinese, Japanese and Korean will still have the original limit. That’s because writing in those languages uses fewer characters.

The company says 9 percent of tweets written in English hit the 140-character limit. People end up spending more time editing tweets or don’t send them out at all. Twitter hopes that the expanded limit will get more people tweeting more, helping its lackluster user growth. Twitter has been testing the new limit for weeks and is starting to roll it out Tuesday.

The company has been slowly easing restrictions to let people cram more characters into a tweet. It stopped counting polls, photos, videos and other things toward the limit. Even before it did so, users found creative ways to get around the limit. This includes multi-part tweets and screenshots of blocks of text.

Twitter’s character limit was created so that tweets could fit into a single text message, back when many people were using texts to receive tweets. But now, most people use Twitter through its mobile app; the 140-character limit is no longer a technical constraint but nostalgia.
…

Economy

FIFA Demands Visa, Work Permit and Tax Exemptions for 2026 World Cup

By Yeco on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

The United States and other countries hoping to host the 2026 World Cup should provide government guarantees on visa-free travel plus work permit and tax exemptions for their bids to be accepted, according to documents published by FIFA on Tuesday.

The U.S wants to host the 2026 tournament in a joint bid with Canada and Mexico, who would also have to commit to the government guarantees for their proposal to be accepted by soccer’s world governing body.

Morocco is currently the only other country to have indicated they will bid for the finals, which will be the first to feature an expanded 48-team field.

FIFA wants a visa-free environment, or at least non-discriminatory visa procedures, while the work permit exemptions apply to anyone involved with the World Cup and tax exemptions relate to the soccer governing body and its subsidiaries.

While FIFA has asked for — and received — similar exemptions in the past, their inclusion in a revamped World Cup bid process will mean the current U.S. administration of President Donald Trump will need to sign off on the exemptions.

Sunil Gulati, chairman of the joint U.S, Mexican and Canadian “United Bid Committee” has previously stated that Trump supports the attempt to bring the World Cup to the United States, which hosted the 1994 finals.

FIFA produced new bidding criteria after the organization was heavily criticized over the selection process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals, won by Russia and Qatar respectively.

Formal submission of the completed bids has to be made by March 16, 2018 and FIFA will decide whether to select one of the candidate bids at their congress in June next year, or re-open the process if none of the bids are accepted.

Overview document

Regarding immigration and travel guarantees, the FIFA overview document on government guarantees states: “In order to cover the needs of the respective groups of individuals, the Government is requested to generally establish a visa-free environment or facilitate existing visa procedures for them. Regardless, any visa procedures must be applied in a non-discriminatory manner.”

As a presidential candidate, Trump called for a total ban on Muslims entering the U.S. as a counter-terrorism measure.

The courts have blocked his latest executive action barring entry into the United States for people from several Muslim-majority countries.

The FIFA document adds however that: “It is understood that such ease of access to the Host Country/Host Countries must by no means adversely affect the national immigration and security standards in the Host Country/Host Countries.”

The document also says a bidding nation’s government “is requested to guarantee the issuance of valid work permits unconditionally and without any restriction or discrimination of any kind” to people involved in the preparation, organization and hosting of the tournament.

It adds that the government “must grant a general tax exemption for FIFA, the 2026 FWC (FIFA World Cup) Entity, the 2026 FWC Subsidiaries (if applicable) and any other FIFA subsidiary limited to the period of preparation, delivery and wrap-up of the Competition, commencing on the date of appointment of the Host Country/Host Countries and ending on 31 December 2028.”

FIFA’s “enhanced” bidding guidelines are part of a series of reforms enacted after a corruption crisis in 2015 engulfed the organization. They include ethics, human rights and transparency commitments plus demands on stadium size and infrastructure.

…

Technology

In Silicon Valley, the Homeless Illustrate a Growing Divide

By Ytech on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

In the same affluent, suburban city where Google built its headquarters, Tes Saldana lives in a crowded but tidy camper she parks on the street.

She concedes it’s “not a very nice living situation,” but it also is not unusual. Until authorities told them to move, more than a dozen other RVs filled with people who can’t afford rent joined Saldana on a tree-lined street in Mountain View, parked between a Target and a luxury apartment complex.

Homeless advocates and city officials say it’s outrageous that in the shadow of a booming tech economy – where young millionaires dine on $15 wood-grilled avocado and think nothing of paying $1,000 for an iPhone X – thousands of families can’t afford a home. Many of the homeless work regular jobs, in some cases serving the very people whose sky-high net worth is the reason housing has become unaffordable for so many.

Across the street from Saldana’s camper, for example, two-bedroom units in the apartment complex start at $3,840, including concierge service. That’s more than she brings home, even in a good month.

Saldana and her three adult sons, who live with her, have looked for less rustic accommodations, but rents are $3,000 a month or more, and most of the available housing is distant. She said it makes more sense to stay in the camper near their jobs and try to save for a brighter future, even if a recent city crackdown chased them from their parking spot.

“We still need to eat,” said Saldana, 51. “I still want to bring my kids, once in a while, to a movie, to eat out.”

She cooks and serves food at two hotels in nearby Palo Alto, jobs that keep her going most days from 5 in the morning until 10 at night. Two of her sons, all in their 20s, work at a bakery and pay $700 toward the RV each month. They’re all very much aware of the economic disparity in Silicon Valley.

“How about for us people who are serving these tech people?” Saldana said. “We don’t get the same paycheck that they do.”

It’s all part of a growing crisis along the West Coast, where many cities and counties have seen a surge in the number of people living on the streets over the past two years. Counts taken earlier this year show 168,000 homeless people in California, Oregon and Washington – 20,000 more than were counted just two years ago.

The booming economy, fueled by the tech sector, and decades of under-building have led to an historic shortage of affordable housing. It has upended the stereotypical view of people out on the streets as unemployed: They are retail clerks, plumbers, janitors – even teachers – who go to work, sleep where they can and buy gym memberships for a place to shower.

The surge in homelessness has prompted at least 10 local governments along the West Coast to declare states of emergency, and cities from San Diego to Seattle are struggling to come up with immediate and long-range solutions.

San Francisco is well-known for homeless tent encampments. But the homeless problem has now spread throughout Silicon Valley, where the disparity between the rich and everyone else is glaring.

There is no firm estimate on the number of people who live in vehicles in Silicon Valley, but the problem is pervasive and apparent to anyone who sees RVs lining thoroughfares; not as visible are the cars tucked away at night in parking lots. Advocates for the homeless say it will only get worse unless more affordable housing is built.

The median rent in the San Jose metro area is $3,500 a month, yet the median wage is $12 an hour in food service and $19 an hour in health care support, an amount that won’t even cover housing costs. The minimum annual salary needed to live comfortably in San Jose is $87,000, according to a study by personal finance website GoBankingRates.

So dilapidated RVs line the eastern edge of Stanford University in Palo Alto, and officials in neighboring Mountain View have mapped out more than a dozen areas where campers tend to cluster, some of them about a mile from Google headquarters.

On a recent evening, Benito Hernandez returned to a crammed RV in Mountain View after laying flagstones for a home in Atherton, where Zillow pegs the median value of a house at $6.5 million. He rents the RV for $1,000 a month and lives there with his pregnant wife and children.

The family was evicted two years ago from an apartment where the rent kept going up, nearing $3,000 a month.

“After that, I lost everything,” said Hernandez, 33, who works as a landscaper and roofer.

He says his wife “is a little bit sad because she says, ‘You’re working very hard but don’t have credit to get an apartment.’ I tell her, ‘Just wait, maybe a half-year more, and I’ll get my credit back.'”

The plight of the Hernandez family points out one of the confounding problems of the homeless surge along the West Coast.

“This is not a crisis of unemployment that’s leading to poverty around here,” said Tom Myers, executive director of Community Services Agency, a nonprofit based in Mountain View. “People are working.”

Mountain View, a city of 80,000 which also is home to Mozilla and 23andMe, has committed more than $1 million over two years for homeless services, including money for an outreach case manager and a police officer to help people who live in vehicles. At last count, there were people living in more than 330 vehicles throughout the city.

Mayor Ken Rosenberg is proud of the city’s response to the crisis – focusing not on penalties but on providing services. Yet he’s also worried that the peace won’t last as RVs crowd into bike lanes and over-taxed streets.

Last week, Mountain View officials posted signs banning vehicles more than 6 feet high on some parts of the street where Saldana, Hernandez and others living in RVs were parked, saying they were creating a traffic hazard. The average RV is well over that height.

That follows similar moves over the summer by Palo Alto, which started cracking down on RVs and other vehicles that exceed the 72-hour limit on a busy stretch of El Camino Real.

In San Jose, officials recently approved an ordinance pushed by an interfaith group called the Winter Faith Collaborative to allow places of assembly – including gyms and churches – to shelter homeless people year-round.

Ellen Tara James-Penney, a 54-year-old lecturer at San Jose State University, parks her old Volvo at one of those safe haven churches, Grace Baptist Church, and eats in its dining hall. She is paid $28,000 a year to teach four English classes and is carrying $143,000 in student debt after earning two degrees.

She grades papers and prepares lessons in the Volvo. At night, she leans back the driver’s seat and prepares for sleep, one of two dogs, Hank, by her side. Her husband, Jim, who is too tall for the car, sleeps outside in a tent cot with their other dog, Buddy.

The Bay Area native remembers the time a class was studying John Steinbeck, when another student said that she was sick of hearing about the homeless.

“And I said, ‘Watch your mouth. You’re looking at one.’ Then you could have heard a pin drop,” she said. “It’s quite easy to judge when you have a house to live in or you have meds when you’re depressed and health care.”

In response to growing wealth inequities, unions, civil rights groups and community organizations formed Silicon Valley Rising about three years ago. They demand better pay and benefits for the low-income earners who make the region run.

SEIU United Service Workers West, for example, organized roughly 3,000 security guards who work for companies that contract with Facebook, Google and Caltrain, the mass transit system that connects Silicon Valley with San Francisco.

One of those workers is Albert Brown III, a 46-year-old security officer who recently signed a lease for half of a $3,400 two-bedroom unit in Half Moon Bay, about 13 miles from his job.

He can barely afford the rent on his $16-an-hour salary, even with overtime, but the car that doubled as his home needed a pricey repair and he found a landlord willing to overlook his lousy credit. Still, Brown worries he won’t be able to keep up with his payments.

His feet have been hurting. What if a doctor tells him to rest for a few days or a week?

“I can’t miss a minute. If I miss a minute or a shift? No way, man. A week? Forget it, it’s over. It’s all downhill from there,” he said.

“It’s a sad choice. I have to decide whether to be homeless or penniless, right?”
…

Economy

India Seeks to Promote a Staple Dish as Its Brand Food Across Globe

By Yeco on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Indian cuisine is often identified with spicy curries and a range of kebabs, but the government wants to propel a staple dish made with rice and lentils across the global stage. The dish recently came under the spotlight as a team of leading Indian chefs prepared a record 918 kilograms of the meal, called “khichdi,” at the World Food India Conference in New Delhi.

This dish, which top Indian chefs steam cooked in a giant wok in the heart of New Delhi, was no gourmet preparation. But the traditional dish has been prepared for centuries in homes across the diverse country with rice, lentils and sometimes a sprinkling of vegetables and other grains.

Calling it a super food associated with health and nutrition, the government promoted “khichdi” as “Brand India food” at the recent World Food India Conference.

Oozing confidence about popularizing it across the world, Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi points out that “khichdi” was as popular on tables in erstwhile palaces as in ordinary kitchens.

“If paella from Spain can be global then why not ‘khichdi’? This has health benefits, it has wellness, it is a detox food, it is a royal food. It deserves a global platform and recognition,” he said.

The selection of the humblest dish among Indian cuisines has raised many eyebrows among those who question if global palates will relish the culinary experience of what most Indians associate not with indulgence but comfort food.

Chef Imtiaz Qureshi is optimistic there is room for innovation to suit all tastes.

“Khichdi can be made with mutton, fish, chicken. You can also add whatever vegetables you like, Indian or Western, from broccoli to zucchini to capsicum,” he said.

The 918 kilograms of “khichdi” prepared on Saturday has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records. However it remains to be seen whether it makes its mark in the world. But for the time being the humble dish is getting the attention and appreciation it has seldom enjoyed in ordinary homes.

…

Economy

India Seeks to Promote a Staple Dish As Its Brand Food Across the Globe

By Yeco on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Indian cuisine is often identified with spicy curries and a range of kebabs, but the government wants to propel a staple dish made with rice and lentils across the global stage. The dish recently came under the spotlight as a team of leading Indian chefs prepared a record 918 kilograms of the meal, called “khichdi”, at the World Food India Conference in New Delhi. Anjana Pasricha has this report.
…

Economy

US Demining Cut Provokes Cambodia

By Yeco on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

A U.S. decision to cut funding for a demining program in Cambodia threatens to further worsen a feud between Phnom Penh and Washington.

On Tuesday, it emerged through local media reports the U.S. had decided to discontinue annual funding in 2018, worth about $2 million, to clear explosive remnants of war in Cambodia.

Prime Minister Hun Sen reportedly responded to the surprise decision by declaring he will stump to raise the money, according to a senior Cambodian demining official.

No public explanation has been given for the cut, and both the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), the final recipient of the funding, and Norwegian People’s Aid, which administer the money, say they do not know why the funding has been discontinued.

CMAC Director General Heng Ratana said he had no warning of any cut to the funding before he received notification Monday about the decision. The money covered the salaries of about 300 staffers, many of whom were deminers.

“I don’t know what the real dispute [is]. We just present the facts and we work together; they never indicated any dispute that we have had, but suddenly they cut the aid,” he said.

“But we are very lucky that the government, the head, the prime minister, granted approval that he will maintain our operation as usual so that means it has no impact on our operation,” he said, adding that funds for the rest of this year had not been affected.

The United States had a moral obligation to deal with the legacy of its bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam war, he added.

Ruling Cambodian People’s Party spokesman Sok Eysan told VOA he was unaware of the cut, which seemed peculiar to him.

“I think that it’s an issue which we see that it’s not normal. So, no matter what we answer, it will still be not normal,” he said.

Norwegian People’s Aid country director Aksel Steen-Nilsen said he, too, had been unaware about the reasons for the cut.

“I mean, of course, there is a lot of rhetoric between Cambodia and the U.S. right now,” he said. “But … I don’t see any specific objective related to this because it’s the end of the grant cycle, and then of course, it’s up to the donor if they have funds and interest to continue or not.”

Steen-Nilsen said cooperation had been good thus far over the three years the grant had been running and there was no indication of any special reason it would stop.

In an email, the deputy spokesman of the U.S. embassy in Phnom Penh, David Josar, said demining remained at the top of the State Department’s assistance priorities, but he did not address the specific reason for the cut.

“We will use 2018 resources to put in place a world-class removal program targeting U.S.-origin UXO [unexploded ordnance] in eastern Cambodia,” he wrote. “UXO experts have proposed that the United States devote more attention to clearing such UXO, in addition to our support for clearing the more lethal Chinese, Vietnamese, and Soviet land mines in western Cambodia.”

Next year’s funding would be opened up to competitive bidding with requests for proposals — prepared in consultation with the Cambodian government — to be released this year, he wrote without providing any further details.

For months, Cambodia has accused the U.S. of fomenting a color revolution — a conspiracy plot it has used as the grounds to jail the country’s opposition leader, Kem Sokha, and justify moves to dissolve his party.

They have seized on the continuing impacts of unexploded ordinance left over from the U.S.’s massive illegal bombing campaign during the Vietnam war — a line of attack only bolstered by news of the cut to CMAC funding.

Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor at the Australian Defense Force Academy, said the embassy reports he had read also did not seem to be specific about the reasoning for the cut.

“So we don’t really know the reason why the funding was cut so far, and it’s sheer speculation on Hun Sen’s part and political opportunism on his part to make that linkage,” he said.

Any retaliatory action by the U.S. in response to the decimation of Cambodia’s opposition party would have been made up front, he said.

“There’s an expression, ‘between conspiracy and cock-up, you always go for conspiracy, and that seems to be what the Cambodians are doing, and until I see a better explanation, I’m saying its just a bureaucratic decision probably made in Washington and passed through without much thinking,” he said.

Josar said the U.S. had spent more than $131 million on the remediation of explosive remnants of war in Cambodia.

In recent years, the main focus of that funding has been on U.S.-dropped unexploded ordnance left in Cambodia’s east. Some experts have complained this diverts resources away from more harmful explosive remnants in the west.

…

Science

Mongolia’s Population Shifts Because of Climate Change

By Yscien on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

The Trump administration is unique in that some officials continue to ask for more evidence that humans are contributing to a warming planet. This, despite a government report issued last week that concludes that human activity is the primary cause of a warming planet. But if that report isn’t proof enough, there are places on the planet, like Mongolia, where climate change is visibly destroying entire landscapes. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
…

Science

Researchers Call for Vaccine to Tackle Leading Cause of Infant Death and Stillbirth

By Yscien on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Scientists are calling for renewed efforts to develop a vaccine for one of the biggest causes of stillbirths and infant deaths worldwide. An estimated one in five pregnant women around the world carry Group B Streptococcus bacteria, and most show no symptoms. However, it can prove deadly for unborn and new-born babies – especially where traditional treatments such as antibiotics are unavailable, as Henry Ridgwell reports.
…

Technology

Indonesia Threatens to Block WhatsApp Messaging Over Obscene Content

By Ytech on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Indonesia on Monday vowed to block Facebook’s WhatsApp Messenger within 48 hours if the service did not ensure that obscene Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) images were removed.

WhatsApp, which is widely used in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, said message encryption prevented it from monitoring the animated graphics files, known as GIFs, that are available on the app through third-party services.

WhatsApp said in a statement on Monday that it asked the government instead to work with those providers, which integrate their technology into WhatsApp to allow users to enter keywords to search for GIFs.

Indonesia’s internet is partly censored, with access blocked to websites providing criticism of Islam, dating services and sex education, according to research published in May by Tor Project, a nonprofit maker of Web browsing tools.

Semuel Pangerapan, a director general at Indonesia’s communications and informatics ministry, said WhatsApp would be blocked within 48 hours unless the images supplied by third parties were taken off the service.

“Yes, true. They have to follow the rules of the host,” Pangerapan said of the proposed block.

The ministry had sent three letters to WhatsApp over the issue, he said.

“They have responded, but asked us to speak directly to the third party. The GIFs appeared in their apps. Why do we have to be the one speaking to the third party? They are supposed to be the ones managing it,” said Pangerapan.

Third party responds

Tenor Inc, one of the third parties, said it was attempting to release a “fix.” Giphy, another provider, did not respond to requests to comment.

Jennifer Kutz, a Tenor spokesperson, said in a statement that the company is working “to address the content issues raised by the Indonesian government within the next 48 hours.”

Kutz said the company “regularly” works with “local entities to make sure our content reflects the cultural mores and legal requirements.”

She declined to identify the proposed fix or existing regions with content restrictions. Tenor allows integrators of its service to block potentially objectionable image results or a defined list of search terms.

“In the case of WhatsApp, we’re taking on this responsibility,” Kutz said in an email.

Giphy, a New York City company that also works with WhatsApp, offers its partners a feature for filtering inappropriate images.

Indonesia’s warning did not appear to target Gboard, a keyboard app developed by Google that provides comparable GIF search results but must be installed separately from WhatsApp on most devices.

Past battles

Indonesia had 69 million monthly active Facebook users as of the first quarter of 2014, ranking the country fourth globally after the United States, India and Brazil, company data showed.

Some reaction on Indonesian social media to the threatened block was skeptical.

“While you’re at it, why don’t you block Twitter too, (and) if necessary all browsers in the Playstore, because it’s way easier to search for porn there than on WhatsApp,” wrote one Twitter user, with the handle @jnessy.

The country’s regulators have reached settlements with several technology companies after threatening to shut them down. In August, Indonesia announced it would block Giphy’s website for showing gambling-related ads. Access soon was restored after it agreed to cooperate with regulators.

Bans similarly were rescinded in recent years on social media websites such as Vimeo and Tumblr and the chat app Telegram, which regulators had said was “full of radicals and terrorist propaganda.”

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) had urged the communications ministry to block pornographic GIF images accessible via emoticons, complaining that children could easily reach them, according to news website kompas.com. Terms of use for WhatsApp, Tenor and Giphy say users must be 13 years old.
…

Technology

Snapchat Outage Prompts Complaints on Twitter

By Ytech on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Snapchat faced a worldwide outage for at least four hours on Monday, prompting a flood of complaints on rival mobile application Twitter a day before posting its third quarterly earnings as a public company.

“We’re aware of the issue and working on a fix,” Snapchat said on its support Twitter account, recommending that users stay logged on.

Many users tweeted about being unable to sign on after logging off the app, which is popular among people under 30 for posting pictures that are automatically deleted within 24 hours.

Twitter user @bradleykeegan11 wrote, “(Snapchat)Won’t let me log in and keeps saying ‘could not connect’.”

A spokesman for the Snap Inc unit did not immediately respond to a query about the size and cause of the outage.

Snapchat had at least a couple of technical issues in October, according to its Twitter support page.

Snap, which went public in May, is scheduled to report third quarter earnings on Tuesday. Its stock closed down 2.8 percent at $14.83 on Monday, below its initial public offering price of $17.
…

Economy

Catalonia Faces 10 Percent Tourism Hit in Fourth Quarter

By Yeco on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

The restive Spanish region of Catalonia faces a potential $500 million financial hit in the fourth quarter as business-related travel dips following the attack in Barcelona and the uncertainty generated by the disputed independence referendum.

In an interview Monday with The Associated Press at the World Travel Market in London, Catalonia’s top tourism official Patrick Torrent said the region will likely see a 10-12 percent fall in tourist numbers during the fourth quarter, which would equate to around 450 million euros. The large bulk of that fall is related to a drop-off in business travel to events such as conventions.

Despite the anticipated fourth-quarter decline, the executive director at the Catalan Tourist Board, said Catalonia is set to see revenues this year outstrip those last year and that the expectation is that revenues will rise again next.

However, more insight will emerge at the turn of the year when the bulk of pre-reservations are made. His staff, he said, are “on alert” about the impact on the main booking season.

The worry among many economists is that deteriorating business environment in Catalonia, which has seen around 1,500 firms move their headquarters out of the region, could worsen further amid all the uncertainty. Credit ratings agency Moody’s has warned that the region’s financial recovery is being jeopardized

“Moody’s believes that the political instability will negatively affect the region’s economy, in particular foreign investor sentiment and the tourism sector, and add pressure to the region’s already weak finances,” it said last week.

The Catalan tourism industry, a key income generator in what is Spain’s richest region, has had a difficult few months. After the August attacks in Barcelona and a nearby town that saw 16 people killed, the region has been embroiled in a battle of wills with Spain over the disputed independence referendum in early October which prompted Madrid to impose direct rule and seek the arrest of members of the Catalan government, including its leader, Carles Puigdemont, who has fled to Brussels.

The impact of the attack in Barcelona on holiday travelers was short-lived, according to Torrent, and “less important” than other cities in Europe, such as Brussels or Paris.

“The perception of Barcelona and Catalonia as a safe destination has not suffered any impact,” he said, noting figures showing tourism numbers higher in September.

Torrent said he met up with Alvaro Nadal, the Spanish minister of energy, tourism and digital matters, on Monday for the first time since the triggering of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution which imposed direct rule on Catalonia.

Torrent said the Spanish government has made no requirements upon him or his staff and that it is “business as usual” until an early Catalan regional election on Dec. 21.

“It’s not intervention. It’s more a kind of coordination,” he said. “It’s easy, it’s not complicated, with good relations without problems, at this moment.”

Before direct rule, Torrent would speak with Spanish tourism officials two or three times a month. Now, it’s that amount of times a week.

Torrent urged all participants in upcoming demonstrations in Catalonia before the election, including one this Saturday, to remain peaceful and law-abiding.

“It’s important to say that our streets are normal, our restaurants are working as usual, our destination is exactly the same situation,” Torrent said.
…

Science

Escaping the Exorcist: Chad’s ‘Snake Children’ Turn Carpenters and Musicians

By Yscien on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

When Koutu Saimon’s son, Wheener, was born almost four months premature and “as small as a mouse,” friends and relatives in Chad turned to the new mother and, with sidelong glances and in hushed voices, whispered to her to get rid of the baby.

“They told me: ‘You need to take him to the river, do an exorcism ritual, leave him there. He’s cursed, it’s a snake child’,” Saimon told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“They would kill a child like that,” she added incredulously, looking at her son.

Wheener, now a lively eight-year-old, squealed with delight upon seeing his teacher, Adoumkidjim Naiban, who founded Chad’s only school for children with learning disabilities, the CESER Center, almost 20 years ago.

Children with disabilities are often neglected across central Africa, where many believe their condition is caused by curses, supernatural forces or as a punishment.

The CESER Center in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, only stays open by combining education with social entrepreneurship.

Almost half of Chad’s 14 million population live below the poverty line and more than 10 percent of children die before their fifth birthday, the charity Save the Children says.

Sales from furniture and leather goods produced by the CESER Center’s 80-plus students, as well as vegetables, eggs and cattle from its farm on the city’s outskirts, help keep it running.

“Sometimes the pupils also take food they grow home to feed their families,” said Naiban, who waives school fees of about 70,000 CFA francs ($125) a year for the poorest families.

Chad, the world’s third least-developed country, is also weighed down by drought and floods, conflict with the militant group Boko Haram and some 400,000 refugees fleeing the Lake Chad basin, Sudan and the Central African Republic.

Government resources are hard-stretched and a domestic law which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities is not effectively enforced, experts say.

Nor has Chad has ratified the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which requires governments to promote, protect and ensure human rights for disabled people.

It falls mostly to charities to provide for those with special needs, who often lack basic equipment like corrective glasses or wheelchairs.

‘Snake Children’

Negative beliefs about disability are common in rural communities across the world.

This is partly due to the low levels of education – in Chad, over 90 percent of people cannot read – and because information on the medical causes of disability is not widely available, experts say.

In Chad and other countries in the region, children with disabilities are sometimes called ‘snake children’ because they often find movement difficult, meaning they crawl on the ground for longer than other children.

Like snakes, they are regarded as troublesome, and often killed or abandoned in forests or near river-beds where they are believed to turn back into serpents.

“If they don’t throw them out, they hide them,” said Naiban, who was inspired to start the school after seeing his young disabled niece suffering.

“I wanted to do something to help her,” he said, sitting among stacks of papers, books and musical instruments in his cramped office.

When Naiban realized there was no trained teacher for mentally disabled children in the whole of Chad, he decided to train himself.

A Swiss foundation catering to people with special needs, Les Perce-Neige, hosted him for three months and then provided money to buy land for the school.

But running costs, including salaries for six of his 11 staff who are not paid by the government, proved a challenge.

“Many centers of this type all over the world are forced to close because they run out of funding,” said Koundja Mayoubila, Chad’s program manager for Reach for Change, a Swedish charity which provided entrepreneurial funding and training for Naiban.

Pupils learn sewing, masonry, furniture production and farming in workshops inside the school and on its farm.

After they graduate, they use their skills to earn money, often as tailors, carpenters and on construction sites.

“One even plays in a local orchestra,” said Naiban, who has also set up parents’ groups supporting more than 2,000 children with learning difficulties across the vast central African country.

“We explain to the community: ‘No, it’s a congenital malfunction, the cause is biological — it’s malnutrition, maybe malaria, meningitis,'” he said.

“We explain that it’s not evil spirits, they’re not ‘snake children.'”

For Saimon, the center serves as a lifeline, enabling her to hold down a job in a restaurant while Wheener is at school.

“It’s not easy for us, the mothers especially,” she said, adding that her husband left soon after their son was born. “But with this education, he has a chance to make something of his life.”

($1 = 560.0000 CFA francs)
…

Science

Two Children Sue Over Trump Effort to Roll Back Clean Power Plan

By Yscien on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Two children, backed by the Clean Air Council environmental group, sued U.S. President Donald Trump and two of his Cabinet members on Monday to try to stop them from scrapping a package of pollution-reduction rules known as the Clean Power Plan.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, says the United States is “relying on junk science” and ignoring “clear and present dangers of climate change, knowingly increasing its resulting damages, death and destruction.”

It was the latest legal action that green advocates have taken to combat Trump administration efforts to roll back environmental regulations through rule changes at agencies like the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The two young plaintiffs, aged 7 and 11, are identified only by their first and last initials in the court papers, which allege that both are suffering from the effects of a rapidly warming climate.

Trump has called climate change a hoax and said in June he would withdraw the United States from a global pact to combat it — calling the deal’s demands for emissions cuts too costly for the U.S. economy.

The lawsuit asks the court to prevent the EPA, Trump and the U.S. Department of Energy, along with Energy Secretary Rick Perry and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, from rolling back any rules that “increase the frequency and/or intensity of life-threatening effects of climate change.”

EPA and Energy Department representatives declined to comment. A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pruitt said on Oct. 10 he wanted to scrap the Clean Power Plan, put in place under former Democratic President Barack Obama.

On Sept. 29, Perry asked federal regulators to provide price incentives to help keep coal and nuclear power plants open, as a way to address “risks” to the resilience of the electrical grid.

By including the children, the Clean Air Council seemed to model its case after Juliana v. U.S., a pending federal case in which a group of teenagers sued the U.S. government for violating their constitutional rights by causing climate change.

“The Clean Air Council case is taking the legal theories pioneered in Juliana and applying them to a narrow set of facts related to specific rollbacks of the Trump administration,” said Meg Ward, a spokeswoman for Our Children’s Trust, a group leading the Juliana suit.
…

Technology

Stephen Hawking Says Technology Could End Poverty But Urges Caution

By Ytech on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Technology can hopefully reverse some of the harm caused to the planet by industrialisation and help end disease and poverty, but artificial intelligence (AI) needs to be controlled, physicist Stephen Hawking said on Monday.

Hawking, a British cosmologist who was diagnosed with motor neuron disease aged 21, said technology could transform every aspect of life but cautioned that artificial intelligence poses new challenges.

He said artificial intelligence and robots are already threatening millions of jobs — but this new revolution could be used to help society and for the good of the world such as alleviating poverty and disease.

“The rise of AI could be the worst or the best thing that has happened for humanity,” Hawking said via telepresence at opening night of the 2017 Web Summit in Lisbon that is attended by about 60,000 people.

“We simply need to be aware of the dangers, identify them, employ the best possible practice and management and prepare for its consequences well in advance.”

Hawking’s comments come during an escalating debate about the pro and cons of artificial intelligence, a term used to describe machines with a computer code that learns as it goes.

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is chief executive of electric car maker Tesla Inc and rocket company SpaceX, has warned that AI is a threat to humankind’s existence.

But Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, in a rare interview recently, told the WSJ Magazine that there was nothing to panic about.

Hawking said everyone has a role to play in making sure that this generation and the next are fully engaged with the study of science at an early level to create “a better world for the whole human race.”

“We need to take learning beyond a theoretical discussion of how AI should be, and take action to make sure we plan for how it can be,” said Hawking, who communicates via a cheek muscle linked to a sensor and computerized voice system.

“You all have the potential to push the boundaries of what is accepted, or expected, and to think big. We stand on the threshold of a brave new world. It is an exciting — if precarious — place to be and you are the pioneers,” he said.

…

Economy

Saudi Economy Vulnerable as Corruption Probe Hits Business Old Guard

By Yeco on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Two weeks ago the glitzy Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh was the site of an international conference promoting Saudi Arabia as an investment destination, with over 3,000 officials and business leaders attending.

Now the hotel is temporarily serving as a luxury prison where some of the kingdom’s political and business elite are being held in a widening crackdown on corruption that may change the way the economy works.

By detaining dozens of officials and tycoons, a new anti-corruption body headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to dismantle systems of patronage and kick-backs that have distorted the economy for decades.

But it is a risky process, because the crackdown is hurting some of the kingdom’s top private businessmen — leaders of family conglomerates who have built much of the non-oil economy over the past few decades.

Many industries could suffer if investment by these families dries up in coming months, at a time when the economy has already fallen into recession because of low oil prices and austerity policies.

New breed of companies

Meanwhile, a new breed of state-backed companies is rising to compete with the old guard; many of the new enterprises are linked to the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the kingdom’s top sovereign wealth fund. But it is not clear how smoothly the transition to these firms will happen.

“The rules of the game are changing. But they’re changing indiscriminately,” said one financial analyst in the region, declining to be named because of political sensitivities. “Even people who thought they were within the rules don’t know if they will still be within those rules tomorrow. There’s just uncertainty.”

Some private businessmen in Saudi Arabia are now trying to move their money out of the country “while they still can,” the analyst said.

For many foreigners, the most shocking aspect of the purge has been the detention of billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the flamboyant, internationally known chairman of investment firm Kingdom Holding.

But for Saudis, the names of other detainees have been equally stunning: Nasser bin Aqeel al-Tayyar, founder of the Al Tayyar Travel group; billionaire Saleh Kamel; and Bakr bin Laden, chairman of the huge Saudi Binladin construction conglomerate.

State contracts

The saga of the Binladin group underlines how the business environment is changing. Binladin and another big construction group, Saudi Oger, long enjoyed preferential access to the kingdom’s biggest projects and control over pricing as a result of their close relationships with royal patrons.

But the bottom fell out from under both companies last year, when a cash squeeze resulting from low oil prices caused the government to cancel or suspend projects and delay payments.

The firms faced multi-billion dollar debt restructurings; Binladin has laid off tens of thousands of people while Oger’s bankers say it has essentially stopped operating.

New construction company

At the same time, state oil giant Saudi Aramco is moving to set up a construction company with local and international partners to build non-oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia — potentially taking billions of dollars of business that would previously have gone to the family conglomerates.

Aramco and PIF, the sovereign fund, have also linked up with U.S. construction firm Jacobs Engineering to form a management company for strategic projects in the kingdom.

Many in the Saudi business world are celebrating the downfall of the old patronage system and the shift toward a “cleaner” business environment.

“It’s great news for the clean ones among us — 99.99 percent are ecstatic,” said one senior executive.

But others express disquiet about the possible economic fallout of the purge. Some are concerned that banks could start calling in loans to families implicated in the probe, using loan clauses that permit this in cases of legal jeopardy; this could collapse companies’ share prices.

Business deals put in limbo?

Many new business deals may be put on hold. A businessman at a foreign technology services firm told Reuters he had been considering a venture with a Saudi partner, but decided against it this week because of the partner’s ties to the detained Bakr bin Laden.

The new anti-corruption commission has broad authority to seize assets at home and abroad. Some businessmen wonder if these powers could be used to pressure firms into participating in Prince Mohammed’s economic development projects.

“It’s the old royal fiefdoms that are not in the Al Salman branch of the royal family that are now being purged,” said a Western analyst. “It’s a further centralising of political and economic power, and a seizing of the private assets that those fiefdoms have accumulated.”

…

Science

Forget Rice, Dish Up Aztec Pigweed to Help Feed the World

By Yscien on Tuesday, November 7, 2017

From Aztec pigweed to dragon beans – several ancient, often forgotten foods are making their way to the dinner table in an effort to diversify the diet of a growing global population.

In an initiative to cut the world’s dependency on major crops like wheat and rice – Britain’s Prince Charles has launched the Forgotten Foods Network to rediscover long-lost crops, fruit and vegetables.

As rising temperatures wreak havoc on farmers worldwide, scientists are seeking new ways to feed a population that is set to boom to an estimated 9.8 billion by 2050.

Ancient food like pigweed once eaten by the Aztecs can be eaten raw or be ground into flour – one of many crops that could add valuable nutrients to a limited modern diet, say experts.

“We must move beyond the ‘business as usual’ approach of relying on monocultures of major, well-known crops, and invest in agricultural diversity,” Charles said in video message.

The initiative was developed by Crops For the Future, a Malaysian organization doing crop research. Charles launched the campaign at their headquarters last week.
…

Technology

Study: Africa Set to Top 1 Billion Mobile Internet Connections in Five Years

By Ytech on Monday, November 6, 2017

Africa’s mobile internet connections are set to double in the next five years, a study showed on Monday, thanks to affordable smartphones and the roll-out of high-speed networks.

A report by research and consulting firm Ovum in London estimates that mobile broadband connections will rise from 419 million at the end of this year to 1.07 billion by the end of 2022.

“Data connectivity is growing strongly in Africa, and there are also good prospects on the continent in areas such as digital media, mobile financial services, and the Internet of Things,” said Matthew Reed, Practice Leader Middle East and Africa at Ovum.

“But as Africa’s TMT market becomes more convergent and complex, service providers are under increasing pressure to make the transition from being providers of communications services, and to become providers of digital services.”

Mobile phone operators such as MTN Group, Orange and Bharti Airtel are investing heavily in high-speed networks to meet demand from users who are increasingly using phones for everything from paying their bills to streaming videos and surfing the internet.
…

Economy

Dudley Retirement Reflects Broad Turnover of US Federal Reserve Leadership

By Yeco on Monday, November 6, 2017

A revamping of the Federal Reserve’s leadership is widening with the announcement Monday that William Dudley, president of the New York Fed and the No. 2 official on the Fed’s key interest rate panel, will retire next year.

Just last week, President Donald Trump chose Fed board member Jerome Powell to replace Janet Yellen as Fed chair in February. The post of Fed vice chair remains vacant. So do two additional seats on the Fed’s seven-member board. And a fourth seat may open as well next year.

The unusual pace of the turnover has given Trump the rare opportunity for a president to put his personal stamp on the makeup of the Fed, which operates as an independent agency. Investors are awaiting signals of how Trump’s upcoming selections might alter the Fed’s approach to interest rates and regulations.

Trump has made it known that he favors low interest rates. He has also called for a loosening of financial regulations. The Fed has played a key role in overseeing the tighter regulations that were enacted after the 2008 financial crisis, which nearly toppled the banking system.

The uncertainty surrounding the Fed’s top policymakers has been heightened by the slow pace with which the Trump administration has moved to fill openings.

To date, the administration has placed one new person on the Fed board: Randal Quarles, a veteran of the private equity industry who is thought to favor looser regulations, was confirmed as the first vice chairman for supervision. That still left three vacancies on the Fed’s board: Just as Quarles was joining the board last month, Stanley Fischer was stepping down as Fed vice chairman.

And Yellen herself could decide to leave the board when her term as chair ends on Feb. 3, even though her separate term on the board runs until 2024.

Dudley’s announcement that he plans to retire by mid-2018 also creates an opening on the committee of board members and bank presidents who set interest rate policies. Dudley’s position is particularly crucial: As head of the New York Fed, he is a permanent voting member of the Fed committee that sets interest rates.

The committee is composed of the board members and five of the 12 regional bank presidents. Unlike the New York Fed president, the other regional bank presidents vote on a rotating basis. The New York Fed president also serves as vice chairman of the rate-setting panel.

Some economists said that while financial markets have so far registered little concern about the number of key open Fed positions, that could change quickly, especially if investors begin to worry that the central bank will accelerate interest rate hikes.

“We need to get rid of this uncertainty, and until these seats are filled, there is going to be uncertainty,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at DS Economics.

Analysts are trying to read the two decisions Trump has made — picking Powell for the top job and Quarles for the key post for banking supervision — as signs for where he might be headed. With Powell, the president opted for continuity on rates by selecting someone who for years was the lone Republican on the board but who remained a reliable vote for the gradual approach to rate hikes Yellen favored.

And in the bank supervision post, analysts say Trump might have been signaling that he wants to reverse, or at least weaken, Yellen’s backing of the reforms instituted by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law. During the campaign, Trump argued that Dodd-Frank was harming the economy by constraining back lending.

Quarles has been critical of aspects of that law. To a lesser extent, so, too, has Powell, who will be the first Fed chairman in nearly 40 years to lack a degree in economics. Powell, a lawyer by training, amassed a fortune as an investment banker at the Carlyle Group.

“With his background, Powell can be expected to work well with Wall Street and the business community in general,” said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University, Channel Islands.

A senior administration official indicated that one important attribute for the open positions will be a diversity of backgrounds.

“We believe the Fed will function best with a wide range of skill sets,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel decisions. This official would not give a timetable for when the administration’s next nominations for the Fed might occur.

Though Trump will choose officials to fill the openings on the board, the choice of Dudley’s replacement will fall to the board of the New York Fed. The New York Fed said a search committee had been formed to choose a successor to Dudley, who joined the New York Fed in 2007 after more than two decades at Goldman Sachs.

The announcement from the New York Fed said Dudley, 64, intended to step down in mid-2018 to ensure that his successor would be in place well before the mandatory end of Dudley’s term in January 2019.

After overseeing the New York Fed’s securities operations for two years, Dudley succeeded Timothy Geithner as its president after Geithner was tapped by President Barack Obama to become Treasury secretary in 2009.

Dudley won praise for the work he did with Geithner and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to contain the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis. Dudley supported Yellen’s cautious approach to raising the Fed’s benchmark rate and the plan the central bank has begun to gradually shrink its $4.5 trillion balance sheet, which is five times its size before the financial crisis.

The balance sheet contains $4.2 trillion in Treasurys and mortgage bonds that the Fed bought since 2008 to try to hold down long-term borrowing rates and help the economy recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s.

In a statement, Yellen praised Dudley for his “wise counsel and warm friendship throughout the years of the financial crisis and its aftermath.”
…

Technology

Study: Africa Set to Top 1 Billion Mobile Internet Connections in 5 Years

By Ytech on Monday, November 6, 2017

Africa’s mobile internet connections are set to double in the next five years, a study showed on Monday, thanks to affordable smartphones and the roll-out of high-speed networks.

A report by research and consulting firm Ovum in London estimates that mobile broadband connections will rise from 419 million at the end of this year to 1.07 billion by the end of 2022.

Technology

Broadcom Offers $103 Billion for Qualcomm, Sets Up Takeover Battle

By Ytech on Monday, November 6, 2017

Chipmaker Broadcom made an unsolicited $103 billion bid for Qualcomm on Monday, setting the stage for a major takeover battle as it looks to dominate the fast-growing market for semiconductors used in mobile phones.

Qualcomm said it would review the proposal. The San Diego-based company is inclined to reject the bid as too low and fraught with risk that regulators may reject it or take too long to approve it, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

A Broadcom-Qualcomm deal would create a dominant company in the market for supplying chips used in the 1.5 billion or so smartphones expected to be sold around the world this year. It would raise the stakes for Intel Corp, which has been diversifying from its stronghold in computers into smartphone technology by supplying modem chips to Apple.

Qualcomm shareholders would get $60 in cash and $10 per share in Broadcom shares in a deal, according to Broadcom’s proposal. Including debt, the transaction is worth $130 billion.

GBH Insight analyst Daniel Ives said bullish investors were hoping for $75 to $80 per share.

“Now it’s a game of high-stakes poker for both sides,” he said.

Shares of Qualcomm, whose chips allow phones to connect to wireless data networks, traded above $70 as recently as December 2016 and topped $80 in 2014.

Qualcomm’s shares were up 2 percent at $63.09 at mid-afternoon, suggesting investors were skeptical a deal would happen.

Broadcom shares fell 0.3 after hitting a record high of $281.80.

Regulatory scrutiny

Qualcomm’s largest market is the so-called modem chips that allow phones to use mobile data plans, but it also sells connectivity chips for automobiles that handle “infotainment” systems and wireless electric vehicle charging. Qualcomm provides chips to carrier networks to deliver broadband and mobile data.

Any deal struck between the two companies would face intense regulatory scrutiny. A big hurdle would be getting regulatory approval in China, on which both Qualcomm and Broadcom rely on to make money.

China is set to look at any deal closely after U.S. regulators blocked a flurry of chip deals by Chinese firms due to security concerns, thwarting the Asian country’s attempt to become self-reliant in chip manufacturing.

Broadcom could spin out Qualcomm’s licensing arm, QTL, to get regulatory approval and funding for the deal, raising as much at $25 billion from a sale, Nomura Instinet analyst Romit Shah suggested.

Broadcom had $5.25 billion in cash and cash equivalent as of July 30. Qualcomm had $35.03 billion as of Sept. 24.

Broadcom said BofA Merrill Lynch, Citi, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have advised it they are highly confident that they will be able to arrange the necessary debt financing for the proposed transaction.

The company has also got a commitment letter for $5 billion in financing from private equity Silver Lake Partners, an existing Broadcom investor.

Vulnerable Qualcomm

Broadcom approached Qualcomm last year to discuss a potential combination, but did not contact Qualcomm prior to unveiling its $70 per share offer Monday, according to sources.

Qualcomm is more vulnerable to a takeover now because its shares have been held down by a patent dispute with key customer Apple, as well as concerns that it may have to raise a $38 billion bid for NXP Semiconductors NV that it made last year.

Broadcom, Qualcomm and NXP together would have control over modems, Wi-Fi, GPS and near-field communications chips, a strong position that could concern customers such as Apple and Samsung Electronics because of the bargaining power such a combined company could have to raise prices. However, a combined company would also likely have a lower cost base and the flexibility to cut prices.

Broadcom said its proposal stands irrespective of whether Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP goes through or not.

Qualcomm’s entire 10-member board is up for re-election this spring, and Broadcom could seize on the Dec. 7 nomination deadline to put forward its own slate.

Broadcom Chief Executive Hock Tan, who turned a small, scrappy chipmaker into a $100-billion company based in Singapore and the United States, told Reuters he would not rule out a proxy fight.

“We are well advised and know what our options are, and we have not eliminated any of those options,” said Tan, who has pulled off a string of deals over the past decade. “We have a very strong desire to work with Qualcomm to reach a mutually beneficial deal.”

Tan added that if Broadcom acquires Qualcomm which in turn has acquired NXP, the combined company’s net debt could be in the range of $90 billion.

Two Qualcomm directors, Anthony Vinciquerra and Mark McLaughlin, have been aligned with activist hedge fund Jana Partners LLC, which pushed for a shakeup of the company two years ago. Jeffrey Henderson, another Qualcomm board director, was added last year as a compromise candidate.

Apple, as a key customer, could pose a risk to the deal, said Karl Ackerman, an analyst at Cowen.

Tan told Reuters that Broadcom taking over Qualcomm would improve relations with Apple: “We believe we can be very constructive in resolving these issues and resetting relationships.”

Broadcom plans to move its headquarters solely to the United States, which would allow it to avoid review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews foreign ownership of U.S. assets.

Broadcom’s offer represents a premium of 27.6 percent to Qualcomm’s closing price of $54.84 on Thursday, a day before media reports of a potential deal pushed up the company’s shares.
…

Technology

Amid Outcry, Afghan Officials Rescind Temporary Ban on WhatsApp, Telegram

By Ytech on Monday, November 6, 2017

Afghanistan’s government has decided against blocking the instant messaging services of WhatsApp and Telegram in the face of widespread anger and sustained criticism of the controversial move from civil rights groups and users.

President Ashraf Ghani held a meeting Monday with Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and “decided that there will be no ban on Whatsapp & Telegram in #Afghanistan,” Abdullah wrote on his official Twitter account Monday.

The Afghan telecoms regulator last week wrote a letter to internet service providers, instructing them to instantly block the services. Copies of the controversial letter also emerged in mainstream and on social media, prompting an outcry from activists.

Officials later confirmed the move, saying the services were being suspended for a period of 20 days at the request of state security institutions. Afghan media reported the decision was meant to stop the Taliban insurgency from using encrypted messages to circulate battlefield claims.

The telecoms regulator later explained the ban was temporary so as to allow experts to carry out necessary improvements in the wake of user complaints.

The ban on the two popular messaging services outraged Afghan activists and users, with some taking to social media to denounce it as an attack on freedom of expression.

A presidential statement later Monday said Afghanistan’s constitution guarantees freedom of speech and the unity government is committed to its constitutional responsibilities. In the statement, the government also promised to investigate circumstances that led to the dispute.

More than six million people have access to the internet in Afghanistan, which has been ravaged by years of conflict, underscoring the importance of internet and mobile services there.
…

Technology

Supreme Court Rejects Samsung Appeal in Apple Patents Case

By Ytech on Monday, November 6, 2017

The Supreme Court has rejected Samsung’s appeal of court rulings that it impermissibly copied features of Apple’s iPhone.

The justices on Monday left in place rulings in favor of Apple involving its patents for smartphone features that include auto-correct and a slide that unlocks the device.

In 2014, a jury awarded Apple $120 million in damages for Samsung’s infringement of the patents.

The case is part of a series of disputes between the technology rivals that began in 2011. Last year, the high court ruled in favor of Samsung in a legal fight over the similar appearances of the two companies’ smartphones.
…

Technology

Deterring Sheep Rustlers with High Tech

By Ytech on Monday, November 6, 2017

Rustlers, the villains in countless Wild West movies, are a very real threat to ranchers and farmers today. In Britain, sheep farmers are resorting to technology to protect their flocks. Faiza Elmasry reports on some high tech ways farmers are tracing their animals. Faith Lapidus narrates.
…

Science

New Imaging Technology Let Doctors Monitor Artificial Respirators

By Yscien on Monday, November 6, 2017

Artificial respiration can save lives, but it is an imperfect science. It can be difficult for doctors to tell if their patients are getting enough oxygen, or too much. Some new technology called Electrical Impedance Tomography, or EIT, may solve that problem. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
…