Apple chief Tim Cook: I'm proud to be gay

Apple chief Tim Cook: 'I'm proud to be gay'

Mr Cook said he made his announcement to try to help people struggling with their identity

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has publicly acknowledged his sexuality, saying that he is "proud to be gay".

Mr Cook made his announcement to try to help people struggling with their identity, he wrote in a Bloomberg article.

He has been open about his sexuality, but has also tried to maintain a basic level of privacy until now, he said.

This week Mr Cook challenged his home state of Alabama to ensure the rights of gay and transgender people.

"I don't consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I've benefited from the sacrifice of others," he wrote.

"So if hearing that the CEO [chief executive] of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it's worth the trade-off with my own privacy," he added.

Mr Cook said that he had been open about his sexuality with many people, including colleagues at Apple, but that it still "wasn't an easy choice" to publicly announce his sexual orientation.

Terror "Wi-Fi signal" delays flight

'Terror' wi-fi signal leaves LA-London flight grounded
By Zoe Kleinman

Wi-fi networks appear when detected by mobile devices.

A wi-fi signal named "Al-Quida Free Terror Nettwork" (sic) has resulted in a long delay for passengers on a plane at Los Angeles airport.

A passenger alerted American Airlines cabin crew when his smartphone identified the network as one available nearby and police were notified.

After an investigation lasting several hours, police at the airport said no crime had been committed.

The flight from LA to London on Sunday was eventually rescheduled for Monday.

Many broadband subscribers re-name their home wi-fi network to personalise it.

When a device comes within range of the network, its name will appear on a list of potentially available wi-fi connections.

While some use their family name or the name of their house, others take a more satirical approach.

'Sometimes it's funny'
"It can be a kooky way of saying you support a local football team or you want to bait your neighbour who supports the opposing team," said Stuart Miles of tech review site Pocket Lint.

"Some people use it as advertising. It's an unwritten code of spreading a message that you're allowed to do - but obviously sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's not."

In a discussion about favourite wi-fi names on community site Reddit, users admitted to using titles like "FBI Surveillance Van", "ISIS HQ" and names that sounded like computer viruses to alarm passers-by.

The acronym LAN (Local Area Network) - the name given to a network linking a small group of computers in a home or business hub - has also been the subject of puns.

'Get off my LAN', 'the promised LAN' and 'WuTangLAN', a homage to US rappers Wu-Tang Clan, are popular choices.

Bale nominated for Ballon d'Or

Bale nominated for Ballon d'Or

                                     Gareth Bale scored 22 goals for Real Madrid last season

Wales forward Gareth Bale is the only player from the home nations on the 23-man shortlist for the Fifa 2014 men's world footballer of the year award.

Bale, 25, scored 22 goals for Real Madrid last season, as the La Liga side won the Champions League.

Five Premier League players in Thibaut Courtois, Diego Costa, Angel Di Maria, Eden Hazard and Yaya Toure have also been nominated for the Ballon d'Or.

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo will be looking to retain the award.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, who has won the award three times in the last four years, is also on the shortlist, alongside team-mate Neymar.

The 23 shortlist will be reduced to three in December before the winners are announced on 12 January, 2015 in Zurich.

There is no place for Barcelona striker Luis Suarez, who played a crucial role in helping Uruguay qualify for the last 16 in Brazil but was suspended from all football-related activity for four months for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini.

In terms of Premier League clubs, Chelsea have the most players on the list with three - Courtois, Costa and Hazard, with Manchester United (Di Maria) and Manchester City (Toure) each supplying one.

Real Madrid and Bayern Munich players dominate the list, with each club supplying six players.

World Cup winners Germany have the most players nominated with six, with Spain and Argentina three apiece and France and Belgium two each.

Wales, Portugal, Sweden, Brazil, Netherlands, Colombia and Ivory Coast each have one of their players in contention.

Carlo Ancelotti, who guided Real Madrid to the Champions League, Super Cup and Copa del Rey last season, has been nominated for the coach of the year award.

Chelsea's Jose Mourinho, Manchester City's Manuel Pellegrini and Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal, who guided Netherlands to the third place in the World Cup, are also on the 10-man list for the coach award, alongside World Cup winning coach Joachim Low.

Fifa world men's player of the year shortlist: Gareth Bale (Wales, Real Madrid), Karim Benzema (France, Real Madrid), Diego Costa (Spain, Chelsea), Thibaut Courtois (Belgium, Chelsea), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid), Angel Di Maria (Argentina, Manchester United), Mario Gotze (Germany, Bayern Munich), Eden Hazard (Belgium, Chelsea), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, Paris St-Germain), Andres Iniesta (Spain, Barcelona), Toni Kroos (Germany, Real Madrid), Philipp Lahm (Germany, Bayern Munich), Javier Mascherano (Argentina, Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona), Thomas Muller (Germany, Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Germany, Bayern Munich), Neymar (Brazil, Barcelona), Paul Pogba (France, Juventus), Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid), Arjen Robben (Netherlands, Bayern Munich), James Rodriguez (Colombia, Real Madrid), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany, Bayern Munich), Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast, Manchester City).

Fifa coach of the year shortlist: Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid), Antonio Conte (Juventus/Italy national team), Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klinsmann (USA national team), Joachim Low (Germany national team), Jose Mourinho (Chelsea), Manuel Pellegrini (Manchester City), Alejandro Sabella (Argentina national team), Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid), Louis van Gaal (Netherlands national team/Manchester United).

10 Commandments smashed by "Agents of Devil"

Agents: Man says devil made him do it; 10 Commandments smashed
By Ben Brumfield

The damaged remains of a Ten Commandments monument are gathered on the Oklahoma State Capitol grounds.

Though he told authorities that the devil made him do it, Satanists disapproved, after a man allegedly shattered a stone copy of the Ten Commandments last week.

The man is accused of running his car on Friday into a controversial 6-foot-tall granite tablet of the Biblical edicts erected near Oklahoma City's Capitol, CNN affiliate KFOR reported.

He then left his car standing, along with the monument, which -- as photos showed -- was smashed asunder through the second commandment: "Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain."

He walked into the Federal Building on foot, where he made threats against President Obama and the federal government, KFOR reported, citing U.S. Secret Service agents.

The man told the agents that the devil made him wreck the religious monument, which was placed at the capital in late 2012.

He also said that he was mentally ill and had stopped taking his medication. He has been detained at a mental health facility for evaluation.

Condemnation of the destruction came quickly from two sources that have railed against the monument -- the ACLU of Oklahoma and the Satanic Temple.

The ACLU filed suit last year against the presence of the monument on state property, and on Friday, said that it would keep fighting for its removal, because it feels it it violates the Constitution.

But organization was also "outraged at this apparent act of vandalism."

"The Ten Commandments constitute a strong foundation in our clients' deeply held religious beliefs," the Oklahoma ACLU said in a statement.

The Satanic Temple has demanded to have a monument of its own erected next to the Judeo-Christian one.

And it still wants it, but "only alongside the 10 Commandments," it said in a statement posted by KFOR.

"If our monument stands at the state Capitol, we want it to compliment and contrast the Ten Commandments, with both standing unmolested as a testament to American religious freedom and tolerance."

The Satanists could well have that wish fulfilled, but only in part.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has vowed to have the Ten Commandments monument rebuilt.

Ebola: U.S envoy condemns Ebola response

Ebola: Visiting envoy Samantha Power condemns response

Health workers in Guinea, which is Samantha Power's first stop

The US ambassador to the UN has begun a visit to the three nations worst hit by the Ebola outbreak, criticising the level of international support so far.

Samantha Power has landed in Guinea and will visit Sierra Leone and Liberia.

She told NBC some nations who offered backing "haven't taken responsibility yet" in supplying aid and doctors.

More than 10,000 people have contracted the Ebola virus, with 4,922 deaths, according to the World Health Organization's latest figures.

All but 27 of the cases have occurred inside Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

'Getting lapped'

Ms Power told NBC as she boarded her plane: "The international response to Ebola needs to be taken to a wholly different scale than it is right now."

She said: "You have countries at the UN where I work every day who are signing on to resolutions and praising the good work that the US and the UK and others are doing, but they themselves haven't taken the responsibility yet to send docs, to send beds, to send the reasonable amount of money."

                             Samantha Power has been critical of the international response

Ms Power told NBC the "mere fact of going as a member of the president's cabinet [shows] that we shouldn't be afraid", adding that her five-year-old son was "obsessed" with Ebola.

She will visit national Ebola coordination centres and meet US and UN workers, although it was not clear whether she would meet survivors of the outbreak.

Ms Power last week said the international community "isn't just losing the race to Ebola. We are getting lapped", and even praised Cuba - under a US embargo for decades - for its supply of doctors to Sierra Leone.

The Pentagon announced that a new commander, Maj Gen Gary Volesky, had taken over the US military mission to fight Ebola in West Africa.

It said that troops from the US 101st Division who arrived in Liberia 38 days ago had established two new laboratories and that a 25-bed hospital should be operational in the capital Monrovia by November.

The US has pledged 4,000 troops to build hospitals and to train health workers in West Africa, some 600 of whom have already arrived.

'Frightening'

However, new rules in some parts of the US on quarantining returning health workers have drawn criticism.

Strict quarantine rules were imposed after a US doctor tested positive for Ebola on his return to New York

A nurse put into isolation on her return from treating patients in Sierra Leone expressed anger at the way she was dealt with at Newark airport.

Kaci Hickox, of medical charity Doctors Without Borders, said the experience was frightening, and described seeing a "frenzy of disorganisation, fear and most frightening, quarantine".

She said she was kept in isolation at the airport terminal for seven hours and given only a cereal bar to eat.

New York, New Jersey and Illinois have imposed stricter quarantine rules than those at the federal level.

In the three states, anyone who has had contact with Ebola victims in West Africa now faces a mandatory 21-day quarantine period.

The White House said the states' stricter rules could put off aid workers and others travelling to West Africa to help mitigate the crisis at its source.

Although Ms Hickox tested negative in a preliminary test for the virus, she will remain under quarantine for three weeks and continue to be monitored by health officials.

The stricter measures were put in place in New York and New Jersey after a doctor, Craig Spencer, tested positive for the virus on his return from Guinea last week.

US President Barack Obama said in his weekly radio and online address that Americans had "to be guided by the facts - not fear".


Ebola virus disease (EVD)
• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage

• Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva

• Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 70%

• No proven vaccine or cure

• Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host

El Clasico honours: Real Madrid 3 - 1 Barcelona

Real Madrid took the El Clasico honours as they beat arch rivals Barcelona in a captivating game at the Bernabeu.

Luis Suarez started for Barcelona after a four-month ban for biting and set up Neymar to arrow in the opener.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi spurned a glorious chance before Cristiano Ronaldo equalised with a penalty.

A powerful header from Pepe put Real ahead before they added to their lead when Karim Benzema finished a brilliant counter-attack with an angled shot.

The Real fans roared their approval at the end as as the home side came out on top in a match-up between two of the world's most star-studded line-ups.

Real's celebrations following the 229th meeting between the two were also heightened with the victory helping them close the gap to one point on La Liga leaders Barcelona.

The visitors may have taken the lead but were ultimately disappointing as they failed to match the greater cutting edge in attack and solidity in defence of the home side as they suffered their first league defeat of the season.

A game between these two Spanish giants is usually one to savour and it was even more so this time considering the array of talent on show.

Real had the likes of Ronaldo, James Rodriguez and Benzema, while Barcelona had Messi, Neymar and Suarez in the opposition camp.

Suarez starting added to the spectacle as he played for the first time since his ban for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup came to an end.

The Uruguayan made an immediate impact when his crossfield pass found Neymar, and the Brazilian cut in from the left and curled in a low shot for the opener.

The goal only served to spark Real into action during a fast and furious opening. Barcelona keeper Claudio Bravo had not conceded a goal in his side's eight league games prior to the match and had to be at his best to keep his run going.

He got a left palm to a Benzema effort before the Real Madrid forward thumped a header from Ronaldo's cross against the woodwork and smashed the rebound wide.
The game was living up to the hype and Barcelona should have added to their lead when Suarez sent in a low cross for Messi only for the Argentine to uncharacteristically sidefoot wide from close range.

However, Real were level when Gerard Pique handled a low Marcelo cross and Ronaldo dispatched the penalty to score his 16th league goal of the campaign.

The home side started the second half brightly and their pressure eventually broke a vulnerable Barcelona defence when Pepe powered in a header from a corner.

The goal gave the Los Blancos a firm grip of the game as they sat back and comfortably soaked up Barcelona's pressure, while continually hitting the Catalan club on the break.

And, when Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta lost possession on the halfway line, Real lethally struck for their third. Isco, Ronaldo and Rodriguez combined before the latter slid a pass through to Benzema, who angled in a precise shot.

Does U.S have too much Oil in its reserves?

The U.S. has the world's largest emergency stockpile of oil.

Does America have too much oil in its reserves?

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon fired off a letter this week asking the Department of Energy to study the "size and make-up" of the U.S.' Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

It comes fresh on the heels of a report on Monday from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office that also called for a similar review.

The U.S. has the largest emergency stockpile of oil in the world. And now that the country's oil production is booming, there's questions if America needs to hold so much crude in reserve. The Department of Energy didn't respond to a request for comment.

Congress created the reserve in response to the 1973 oil embargo, which caused a supply shock and a recession.

But the United States is now on track to surpass Saudi Arabia as the world's largest energy producer next year. That's thanks in large part to new technologies such as hydraulic fracking, which has made the extraction of oil and gas from shale rock commercially viable.

"The recent shale boom is having a profound effect on United States energy policy," Wyden wrote to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.

The talk of shrinking the oil reserve is a major shift from the political debates of the past years, when Americans were being squeezed by high gas prices.


In 2008, the Congress passed legislation that temporarily halted deposits of oil into the reserves.

Three years later, when the global economy was at risk of an oil supply shock due to the war in Libya, the United States and 28 other nations tapped their strategic reserves.

Fast forward to today, and the situation looks very different. Oil prices in the United States have tumbled to the lowest levels since 2012, and gas prices have fallen below $3 a gallon in many parts of the country.

Currently, there's enough oil in storage to meet the nation's needs for 106 days. In contrast, most oil consuming nations have 90 days of oil supply in storage.

Wyden says energy policies put in place as recently as 2007 are now "at best irrelevant, or at worst detrimental, to national environmental and economic goals."

Ebola: Millions of doses of Vaccines planned by 2015

 As the world reels from its deadliest Ebola outbreak, health experts are fast-tracking tests for various vaccines, and hope to have millions of experimental doses by next year.

There is currently no cure or vaccine for Ebola, which continues to spread in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The virus has killed nearly 5,000 people -- mostly in the three nations -- and left twice that number infected.

Scientists racing to stop the Ebola epidemic are trying various experimental drugs on patients, including ZMapp and TKM-Ebola.

In addition to drugs, there's a scramble to develop vaccines, with scores of companies working on experimental doses, the World Health Organization said this week.

Health care workers in affected nations will get the first opportunity to try the experimental vaccines.

GlaxoSmithKline and the Public Health Agency of Canada are already conducting the first phase of clinical trials for two experimental vaccines, according to the WHO.

The latter hopes to have 12 million experimental doses by the first quarter of next year.

The GSK vaccine is being tried on healthy volunteers in the UK and Mali; the Canadian one is undergoing testing on healthy volunteers in the United States.

"If the vaccines are determined to be safe, tens of thousands of doses could be used in West African trials beginning in January of next year," the WHO said.

Other vaccines in the works include those by Protein Sciences and Inovio, and another one by Russian scientists.

Ebola is spread by direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. The push for vaccines comes as new cases of Ebola were confirmed in New York and Mali, the latter the first case in that nation.

Ebola: Perfect Terror Weapon

Ebola: Perfect Terror Weapon
Uncommon Wisdom Wrote to me


In theory, Ebola is the perfect terror weapon: scary, gruesome and deadly. Could the so-called Islamic State or other groups turn the disease into a weapon?

Some experts think so. Others think not. Today we’ll hear from both —  and let you decide.

Which expert do you believe? 

Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen wrote an Oct. 20 editorial titled A Dark Winter of Ebola Terrorism . He begins by describing a 2001 planning exercise in which government officials practiced their response to a fictitious smallpox outbreak.

After 25 days, the number of cases has risen to 30,000, with 10,000 expected to die, and the National Security Council is advised that, absent large scale and successful vaccination programs, the epidemic “could conceivably comprise as many as 3,000,000 cases of smallpox and lead to 1,000,000 deaths.”

So what about Ebola?

Unlike smallpox, which is hard to come by, the Ebola infection is raging right now in parts of Africa where Islamist extremists could have easy access. As physician Scott Gottlieb of the American Enterprise Institute points out, with Ebola, “Mother Nature has created the perfect bioweapon in many respects, as long as the attacker has suicidal aspirations.”

Ebola has up to a 21-day incubation period — more than enough time for terrorists to infect themselves and then come here with the virus. In a nightmare scenario, suicide bombers infected with Ebola could blow themselves up in a crowded place — say, shopping malls in Oklahoma City, Philadelphia and Atlanta — spreading infected tissue and bodily fluids.

Or, the virus could also be released more subtly. Terrorists could collect samples of infected body fluids, and then place them on doorknobs, handrails or airplane tray tables, allowing Ebola to spread quietly before officials even realize that a biological attack has taken place.

The scenario is definitely terrifying. I have no doubt that many terror groups would love to attack the U.S., Canada or Europe in this way —  if it were possible to do so.

Is it possible?

***

Today Stratfor, the Austin-based private intelligence firm, published a report, Evaluating Ebola as a Biological Weapon . Security analyst Scott Stewart begins with the startling news that terror groups have already tried using Ebola.

Ebola and terrorism are not new. Nor is the possibility of terrorist groups using the Ebola virus in an attack. As we have previously noted, the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo attempted to obtain the Ebola virus as part of its biological warfare program. The group sent a medical team to Africa under the pretext of being aid workers with the intent of obtaining samples of the virus. It failed in that mission, but even if it had succeeded, the group would have faced the challenge of getting the sample back to its biological warfare laboratory in Japan.

The Ebola virus is relatively fragile. Its lifetime on dry surfaces outside of a host is only a couple of hours, and while some studies have shown that the virus can survive on surfaces for days when still in bodily fluids, this requires ideal conditions that would be difficult to replicate during transport.

Regarding Thiessen’s point that terror groups could send infected suicide bombers to public places, Stewart says ...

One problem with this scenario is that it would be extremely difficult to get an infected operative from the group’s laboratory to the United States without being detected. As we have discussed elsewhere, jihadist groups have struggled to get operatives to the West to conduct conventional terrorist attacks using guns and bombs, a constraint that would also affect their ability to deploy a biological weapon.

Even if a hostile group did manage to get an operative in place, it would still face several important obstacles. By the time Ebola patients are highly contagious, they are normally very ill and bedridden with high fever, fatigue, vomiting and diarrhea, meaning they are not strong enough to walk into a crowded area.

The heat and shock of the suicide device’s explosion would likely kill most of the virus. Anyone close enough to be exposed to the virus would also likely be injured by the blast and taken to a hospital, where they would then be quarantined and treated for the virus.

I would add another point to this. Any terror group capable of sending suicide bombers into the U.S. doesn’t need to lace the device with Ebola. The bomb alone would create plenty of terror. Since they haven’t overcome that basic challenge yet, adding Ebola to the equation doesn’t seem likely.

***

I’m linking to both these articles because they contain a useful investing lesson.

To make good trading decisions, we must always consider both sides of an argument. We have to look at facts and not let ideology or emotion get in the way.

Thiessen and Stewart are both smart people who have different opinions on this point. Follow the links above to read both their articles in full. Try to read critically before you accept either conclusion. Every investor needs this skill and these two articles are a chance to practice it.

Which expert do you believe?

Do you see flaws in the logic? Does one writer make a better case? I’d love to know what you think. Please leave a comment on our website or send me an e-mail.

First Ebola patient in New York City

First Ebola patient in New York City

Craig Spencer is a doctor who recently returned from Guinea and has tested positive for Ebola -- the first case of the deadly virus in New York City.

Spencer came back to the United States last week after treating Ebola patients in Guinea, where he worked for Doctors Without Borders.

When did he return from Guinea?

Spencer came back to the United States last week after treating Ebola patients in Guinea, where he worked for Doctors Without Borders.

He completed his work in Guinea on October 12 and left the country two days later via Brussels.

He arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport on October 17, but he exhibited no symptoms of the virus until Thursday morning, said Dr. Mary Travis Bassett, New York City's health commissioner.

The physician, who works at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, was checking his temperature twice a day. He has not seen any patients since his return.

Did he have any symptoms?

The 33-year-old did not have any symptoms after his return, but developed a fever, nausea, pain and fatigue Thursday morning, authorities said. He began feeling sluggish a couple of days ago, but his fever spiked to 100.3 degrees the day his symptoms appeared.

How many people has he been in contact with?

Spencer was in contact with four people after he started exhibiting symptoms, authorities said. Ebola isn't contagious until someone has symptoms.

Three people -- his fiancée and two friends -- are being placed on quarantine and monitored, health officials said. The fourth person is a car service driver who had no direct contact with him and is not considered at risk.

Spencer also went for a three-mile jog and visited a bowling alley in Brooklyn prior to feeling symptomatic, according to Bassett.

The bowling alley closed Thursday as a precaution, but it said in a statement that health officials have determined there are no risks to customers.

He also traveled on three subway lines. "At the time that the doctor was on the subway he did not have fever ... he was not symptomatic," Bassett said.

Nigeria Continues to Rise at United Nation

The giant of Africa continues to rise at United Nation

As Nigeria continues to receive congratulatory messages on its Ebola-free status as declared by the World Health Organization WHO, Nigeria has won a seat at the United Nations human rights council, a body responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the world.
Nigeria won the seat with majority votes.

Pension Scam suspects to be re-arraigned

The 2011 Pension scam suspect to be re-arraigned 

The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed the 26th of January 2015 for the re-arraignment of eleven suspects linked with the Pension Scam of 2011. Justice Gabriel Kolawole said the long adjournment was to allow both the prosecution and defence streamline all the outstanding issues stalling the case.

Who is a Girl Friday?

Who is a Girl Friday?

The term girl Friday is generally used to indicate a female administrative assistant who handles many organizational tasks. It can also be used to denote a woman who is a personal assistant and takes care of another individual’s private matters. In a less common context, it can refer to a female companion who plays a general supportive role, not necessarily performing tasks but acting as a person’s encourager and devotee.

On a business administration level, the term refers to a woman who juggles a host of business matters and typically does so for one person in particular. Generally, a woman who fits this role is well organized and handles a multitude of business and administrative matters, keeping a particular individual organized and on task. For example, a lawyer may claim that a female legal assistant is his or her girl Friday in that the legal assistant is crucial in managing the lawyer's caseload, setting appointments, and generally keeping that particular attorney organized and on task.

A girl Friday can also refer to a woman who manages personal matters for an individual. This type might otherwise be considered a personal assistant. She would generally handle a wide variety of every-day responsibilities, such as shopping, running errands, organizing dinner, and acting as a chauffeur.

In other instances, a woman who acts as a personal encourager or coach is sometimes referred to as a girl Friday. This role differs from both the administrative or personal assistant roles in that the individual doesn’t necessarily perform specific business or personal tasks. Rather, when used in this context, it refers to someone who is more of a personal cheerleader and devoted friend, in other words, the female version of a “wing man.” Often, but not always, this particular role coincides with either the business administrator or, more commonly, the personal assistant role as the individual whom the girl Friday assists tends to become very dependent upon her.

Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Carusoe, indirectly gave birth to the term girl Friday. In the book, Carusoe rescues a native from cannibals and refers to him as “man Friday” because of the day of the week the rescue took place. Man Friday becomes Carusoe’s loyal friend and assistant. In this way, the book gave rise to the term man Friday, which refers to a loyal and close male assistant.

Bomb blast in Bauch State kills 5 and 12 wounded

FG announced cease fire by Boko Haram but since the announcement was made, things has been in opposit direction.

There was a bomb blast on Wednesday night at a motor park in Azare in Bauchi State killed five persons.

A statement on the incident issued in Bauchi by the State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Haruna Mohammed, indicated that 12 others sustained severe injuries.

He said that the incident occurred at about 9.45pm when explosives planted in the park detonated.

He said the injured had been rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Azare, for treatment and the scene of the incident cordoned off.

Haruna said that no arrest had been made yet, but that investigations had commenced on the incident.

The Safest Day of the Week to Drive

What is the Safest Day of the Week to Drive?

The safest day of the week to drive in the US is Tuesday, according to 2010 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) records. The deadliest days of the week to drive are weekends, with Saturday being the most deadly. NHTSA also reports that the safest time of day to drive is between midnight and 3 a.m.

More about driving safety:

*Most car crash fatalities are due to passengers not wearing seat belts.

*States have different laws regarding driving safety. For example, Alabama has a ban on texting for all drivers, whereas Missouri has a ban on texting for novice drivers.

*In 2009, over 33,000 people were killed in car crashes, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, making up 23% of all traffic deaths. The majority of those that died were aged between 35 and 49.

Google unveils Inbox, a new app to fix email

Google unveils Inbox, a new app to fix email

How do you solve a problem like email?

Google's Gmail team thinks it knows how: with a new app called Inbox.

Inbox, which launched Wednesday, offers a different way of handling the daily avalanche of email. Specifically created with mobile users in mind, it sorts and turns emails into reminders, highlights the important bits and adds outside information it thinks is helpful.

Even as people are turning to other tools to quickly communicate from their phones -- messaging apps, social networks, text -- email remains an invaluable if sometimes infuriating way of communicating from mobile devices. You can filter out spam, something Gmail excels at, but there's still a huge volume of legitimate email to deal with.

A lot of companies have taken a stab at improving the email experience. Gmail recently started categorizing emails automatically and putting them in different tabs in your inbox, like social, promotions and updates.

The popular third-party app Mailbox used folders and gestures to make sorting through emails easy. That company was snapped up by Dropbox. Inbox seems to be heavily influenced by Mailbox's time-saving, reminder-centric approach (not to mention its name). It also borrows some neat features from Google Now.

Inbox works by grouping similar messages together, like bills, in what Google calls "Bundles." You can schedule a bundle to only show up at specific intervals, say once a week. There's no need to read all the words in an email just to get to the juicy bits. Inbox will highlight what it thinks are the key parts of an email, like contact information, confirmation numbers or photos.

It's also tapping Google for related information to save you a trip to the search engine. For example, if you've set a reminder to call the dog groomer, the business's contact information will show up automatically.

Messages can be turned into reminders, reminders can be snoozed, and important emails "pinned" while the rest are whisked away.

Inbox is currently only invite only. It is available as and iOS and Android app, as well as a desktop view (for Chrome browser users only).

Somali Al-Shabab court stones teenager to death

Somali teenager 'stoned to death'
BBC News

Al-Shabab has carried out stonings and amputations in territory under its control

An Islamic court has stoned a teenager to death in southern Somalia after convicting him of raping a woman, a pro-Islamist news site reports.

The judge ordered Hasan Ahmad Ali, 18, to compensate the woman with a calf before he was killed, according to an audio recording of the trial.

Ali denied raping 28-year-old Fadumo Hasan Mohmoud.

Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabab implements a strict version of Islamic law in areas it controls.

Last month, a woman was stoned to death in the port town of Barawe after an Islamic court convicted her of having four husbands at the same time.

Ali was found guilty of raping Ms Mohmoud at gunpoint in Dharuro village in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region, reports the pro-al-Shabab al-Furqaan radio station on its website.

He said he had consensual sex with her.

Al-Shabab has recently lost control of several towns, including Barawe, but still controls large swathes of territory in rural areas.

The al-Qaeda linked group, which is estimated to have at least 5,000 fighters, wants to overthrow the UN-backed Somali government.

Boeing raises annual profit forecast

Boeing raises its annual profit forecast

Boeing has raised its profit forecast for this year and says it has a record backlog of orders.

The company now expects to make between $8.10 and $8.30 per share, up from its previous guidance of between $7.90 and $8.10 per share.

Boeing valued its order backlog at a record $490bn at the end of the third quarter, up from $440bn at the start of the quarter.

In the third quarter it made $1.36bn, up 17.6% on the previous year.

"With three solid quarters behind us and confidence in our ongoing performance, we are increasing our earnings per share outlook for 2014," said Boeing chief executive Jim McNerney.

Boeing booked 501 orders in the third quarter, with 100 of those coming from Ryanair when it signed an order for fuel-efficient 737 MAX 200 aircraft.

Demand for the 737 jet is so strong that Boeing is raising production from 42 per month to 52 per month in 2018.

Margins down
However, the profit margin on commercial jets fell to 11.2% in the third quarter, from 11.6% in the same period in the previous year.

Boeing said the fall was because it delivered more 787 and 747 jets in the quarter, which are less profitable than other aircraft.

Revenue at its military aircraft business rose 3% to $3.5bn, helped by increased deliveries of the P-8 reconnaissance jet.

Microsoft to phase out Nokia name

Microsoft ditching the Nokia name on smartphones
BBC News

The Nokia Lumia name will soon become Microsoft Lumia

Microsoft is ditching the Nokia brand name from new devices, less than a year after acquiring the Finnish mobile firm.

New Nokia Lumia smartphones will instead by known as Microsoft Lumia, the company said.

Nokia's non-mobile division, which is not owned by Microsoft, will continue to use the name.

The mobile operation was bought by Microsoft in April in a deal worth $7.2bn (£4.6bn).

Since then, Microsoft has quietly shifted away from the Nokia brand.

A post on Nokia France's Facebook page confirmed the branding shift. The renaming will roll out globally in due course, Microsoft has said.

The announcement comes despite Microsoft agreeing to a 10-year deal to use the Nokia name on mobile products.

Microsoft is currently having a big shake-up. In July, chief executive Satya Nadella announced the cutting of 18,000 jobs.

The bulk of the cuts, around 12,500, will be from staff taken on after the Nokia acquisition.

Total plane crash driver 'got lost'

Moscow Total plane crash snowplough driver 'got lost'
BBC News

Mr de Margerie's plane crashed into the snowplough in poor visibility at around midnight on Monday

A snowplough driver at a Moscow airport has said he lost his bearings before a collision with a private plane in which Total boss Christophe de Margerie died.

Vladimir Martynenko told Russian TV he was unaware he had entered the runway.

Mr Margerie, 63, chief executive of the French oil firm, was killed in the crash along with three crew members.

Russian investigators have alleged that the driver of the snowplough was drunk at the time, but his family has denied this.

Vladimir Martynenko (L) signed his testimony beside his lawyer on Tuesday

The Russian authorities have launched a criminal investigation. Mr Martynenko, 60, was detained after the crash, which took place in poor weather at Vnukovo airport, south-west of Moscow, at around midnight on Monday.

His family insisted he was not drunk. "My client has chronic heart disease, he doesn't drink at all," his lawyer Alexander Karabanov told Interfax news agency.

"When I lost my bearings I did not notice when I drove out on to the runway," Mr Martynenko told Russia's Channel One TV.

"The plane was preparing to take off, and I practically didn't see it or hear it because the machine was running. I didn't even see the lights, I did not see a thing, and then the crash happened."

Although there had been snow in Moscow, it was not thought to be lying thick on the ground when the Dassault Falcon plane clipped the snowplough and burst into flames.

Christophe de Margerie was one of France's leading industrialists and was returning to Paris, reportedly after a meeting on foreign investment with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at his country residence outside Moscow.

Total announced on Wednesday that his job would be taken over by Philippe Pouyanne, the current head of the company's refining and chemicals division.

Thierry Desmarest, who served as chairman and chief executive from 1995-2007, will become Total's chairman until the end of 2015, when Mr Pouyanne will take on both posts.

Christophe de Margerie was one of the oil world's most charismatic leaders

Mr de Margerie's trademark grey handlebar earned him the nickname "Big Moustache", and his was one of the most recognisable faces of the global oil industry.


French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he was an extraordinary business leader while President Francois Hollande praised his "independent character and original personality".

More recently, he had become an outspoken critic of European sanctions against Russia, arguing that such actions would simply push Russia closer to China.

Total, France's second-largest listed company, is one of the biggest foreign investors in Russia and is planning to double its output from the country by 2020.

Despite the sanctions, it has continued work on a liquefied natural gas project with Russian firm Novatek to tap vast natural gas reserves in north-western Siberia and it signed a deal in May with Lukoil to develop shale oil in western Siberia.

Investigators began looking at the plane's flight voice and data recorders on Wednesday, Ria Novosti reports. French investigators arrived in Moscow late on Tuesday to take part in the inquiry.

The role of air traffic controllers is likely to be part of the investigation.

Pictures from the scene show the driver of the snowplough looking shocked but walking unaided and without any obvious serious injury.

Ebola Emergency Team talk by WHO

Ebola: WHO emergency team set for talks on travel curbs
BBC News

The current outbreak of the virus has already killed more than 4,500 people

The World Health Organisation is set to hold emergency talks to discuss the Ebola epidemic.

The meeting in Geneva will examine screening measures at borders and consider whether stricter travel regulations should be put in place.

New rules in the US require travellers from the worst affected countries to arrive at one of five airports.

A curfew has been imposed in a town in Sierra Leone after two people were shot dead in riots on Tuesday.

The current outbreak of the virus has already killed more than 4,500 people - mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Enhanced screening

The WHO has faced criticism it reacted too slowly to the spread of the disease.

Its emergency committee will meet to discuss Ebola for the third time with the aim of assessing the efforts so far to contain and control the virus.

Some travellers in the US will have their temperatures checked for signs of a fever
The riots in Sierra Leone's town of Koidu began as protests against attempts to place an elderly woman, said to be 90 years old, under quarantine.

The woman has now died but it is not clear whether she actually had Ebola, the BBC's Umaru Fofana reports from the capital, Freetown.

New rules are coming into force in the US requiring air passengers from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea to travel via O'Hare in Chicago, JFK, Newark, Washington's Dulles or Atlanta airports, where they will undergo enhanced screening.

They will have their temperatures checked as part of other protocols despite experts warning such moves are unlikely to have an impact.

The new security measures come as public concern grows in the US, where three people have been infected and one person has died from the virus.


How not to catch Ebola:

• Avoid direct contact with sick patients as the virus is spread through contaminated body fluids

• Wear protective cover for eyes

• Clothing and clinical waste should be incinerated and any medical equipment that needs to be kept should be decontaminated

• People who recover from Ebola should abstain from sex or use condoms for three months

Ebola basics

First batches of an experimental vaccine are also due to arrive in Switzerland on Wednesday, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes reports from Geneva.

The jab, developed by Canada's public health agency, combines fragments of the Ebola virus with a non-fatal virus and could trigger the immune system to produce the necessary antibodies.

However, a fully tested and approved vaccine is not expected to become available for months or possibly years, our correspondent adds.

In other developments

• NBC freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo - who contracted Ebola in West Africa - has been declared free of the virus and will leave hospital in the US state of Nebraska on Wednesday

• UK International Development Secretary Justine Greening is in Sierra Leone to assess the impact of the government's $200m (£125m) aid package

* Doctors in Spain said a second round of tests showed Teresa Romero, who became the first person to contract Ebola outside West Africa, was completely clear of the virus. The nurse fell ill after treating two infected patients in a Madrid hospital

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage

• Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva

• Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 70%

• Incubation period is two to 21 days

• There is no proven vaccine or cure

• Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery

• Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host

The Most Expensive Divorce in History. What Cost; Who and Where?

What Did the Most Expensive Divorce in History Cost?

The most expensive divorce in history cost an estimated $4.5 billion US Dollars (USD), as of 2014. Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian oligarch, was ordered by a Geneva judge to pay his ex-wife a settlement of half of his approximate total worth of $8.8 billion USD. Business magnate Rybolovlev accumulated the majority of his wealth through his ownership of the largest potassium fertilizer company in Russia, which he sold his stakes in 2010 for a large profit. He also is owner of French soccer team, Monaco Football Club. Since Rybolovlev’s wealth was mainly tied up in trusts and real estate, his wife had not actually collected the full settlement.

More about divorces:

*The most expensive celebrity divorce is thought to be for actor Mel Gibson, who was ordered to pay his wife $425 million USD after their 31 year marriage ended in 2001.

*Couples with no assets are 70% more likely to divorce than couples with at least $10,000 USD in assets, according to a 2009 University of Virginia study.

*Russia is the country with the highest divorce rate, with five divorces for every 1,000 people, according to the 2012 United Nations Demographic Yearbook.


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Ebola: US restricts airport arrivals

Ebola: US restricts airport arrivals from West Africa

Affected travellers will have their temperatures checked for signs of a fever
Continue reading the main story

New US rules requiring air passengers from the three West African countries worst hit by Ebola to travel via one of five airports are coming into effect.

Travellers from Sierra Leone, Liberia or Guinea must now arrive at O'Hare in Chicago, JFK, Newark, Washington's Dulles or Atlanta, where they will undergo enhanced screening.

The World Health Organisation is due to convene an emergency meeting later.

The current outbreak of the virus has already killed more than 4,500 people.

Most of the deaths have been in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Travellers from these countries will have their temperatures checked as part of screening programmes, despite experts warning such moves are unlikely to have an impact.

The new security measures come as public concern grows in the US, where three people have been infected and one person has died from the virus.


How not to catch Ebola:

Avoid direct contact with sick patients as the virus is spread through contaminated body fluids
Wear protective cover for eyes
Clothing and clinical waste should be incinerated and any medical equipment that needs to be kept should be decontaminated
People who recover from Ebola should abstain from sex or use condoms for three months.


The precautions stop short of the travel ban sought by some US Congress members.

Meanwhile, the family of Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who died from Ebola in the US earlier this month, say hospital officials have refused to release information about his treatment, the Associated Press reports.

It comes amid claims that staff at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital mishandled the case.

"None of the procedures were discussed with the family,'' his nephew, Josephus Weeks, told AP.

In other developments:

*The WHO says a treatment using serum made from the blood of Ebola patients who have recovered could be available within weeks in West Africa

*NBC freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo - who contracted Ebola in West Africa - has been declared free of the virus and will leave hospital in the US state of Nebraska on Wednesday

*Police imposed a daytime curfew in Sierra Leone's diamond-rich Kono district after angry youths resisted efforts to "quarantine" a house where a 90-year-old woman suspected to have Ebola lived

*UK International Development Secretary Justine Greening will visit Sierra Leone on Wednesday to assess the impact of the government's $200m (£125m) aid package

*The Dominican Republic joins a group of Caribbean countries that have banned visitors from the three West African nations

The WHO has said it will convene an emergency meeting on Ebola in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss whether additional measures were needed to fight the outbreak in West Africa.

US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said authorities were working closely with airlines to introduce the latest US restrictions with "minimal travel disruption".

There are no direct scheduled flights to the United States from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea.

But Mr Johnson said officials were working to indentify anyone who might have been to one of these countries in the past 21 days.

What Mammals Have the Most Teeth?

What Mammals Have the Most Teeth?

The mammals that have the most teeth are dolphins. An oceanic dolphin may have up to 260 teeth on average. Each tooth is cone-shaped and approximately 0.4 inches (1 cm) in diameter. Dolphins’ teeth are evenly spaced apart and designed to interlock, which allows them to trap prey, a variety of smaller fish, in their mouths and swallow them without the need for chewing. Unlike other large sea creatures such as sharks, that have a lot of teeth, dolphins only have one set of teeth in their lifetimes. If a dolphin loses a tooth, it does not grow back, just like with human teeth.

More about dolphins:

*In the Solomon Islands, dolphin teeth are used as currency. In 2008, the spinner dolphin tooth was worth roughly the equivalent of 0.26 US Dollars (USD).

*An adult dolphin will typically eat nearly 10% of its body weight in fish, which includes mackerel, herring, and squid each day.

*Dolphins never physically fall asleep because they would drown since they don’t automatically breathe like humans. Instead, dolphins shut down half their brains at a time to rest them.


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Infant bodies found in Canada locker

Four infant bodies found in Canada storage locker

The remains were found at a Winnipeg storage facility

The bodies of up to four infants have been found in a storage locker in Winnipeg, Canada, authorities say.

Police responded to a call from an employee at the storage facility on Monday and discovered the decomposed remains inside.

Tests on the unidentified bodies have yet to take place.

Investigators are speaking with "a number of individuals", they say, but the remains do not appear linked to any infants previously reported missing.

Police spokesman Eric Hofley told Canadian media the finding was "tragic beyond belief".

The bodies are said to be newborns or "of a very young age", he added. "[They're] certainly not children."

The remains were discovered at a Winnipeg U-Haul storage facility by an employee who contacted authorities.

It is not clear how long the remains were in the storage locker before they were found.

Storing or concealing human remains is in itself illegal, said Mr Hofley.

"Until such time as the autopsies have determined what is the cause of this, we won't know what the full extent of the charges may or may not be."

Yahoo profits surge on earnings from Alibaba sale

Yahoo profits surge on Alibaba sale

Investors have long been hoping that Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer can turn the tech giant around

Technology giant Yahoo has reported profits of $6.8bn (£4.2bn) for the three months to September, buoyed by earnings from the firm's stake in Alibaba.

Yahoo was required to sell part of its stake ahead of the Chinese firm's stock market floatation, netting it $6.3bn.

That made up for a continuing fall in advertising sales at Yahoo.

The search company has struggled to maintain market share against rivals like Google.

Revenue from ads decreased by 5%.

But overall revenues increase by 1% to $1.15bn from the same period a year earlier, and despite the lion's share of its earnings coming from Alibaba, Yahoo's numbers were better than expected, cheering investors.

Shares in the technology giant rose over 2% in after-hours trading, following the close of the US markets.

Mobile boost

In a statement accompanying the earnings release, Yahoo's chief executive Marissa Mayer touted the firm's investments in its mobile offerings.

"We have invested deeply in mobile and we are seeing those investments pay off," she said.

"Not only are our mobile products attracting praise and engagement from users and industry awards, they are generating meaningful revenue for Yahoo."

Yahoo said revenue from its mobile products was over $200m for the quarter, and estimated that mobile revenues could top $1.2bn by the end of the year.

Ms Mayer has been under pressure from investors and analysts to demonstrate that Yahoo can continue to grow now that it no longer has a significant stake in Alibaba, which had been providing a steady stream of revenue to the company.

Ebola serum for Africa patients within weeks, says WHO

Ebola serum for Africa patients within weeks, says WHO
By Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News Online

Serum made from the blood of recovered Ebola patients could be available within weeks in Liberia, one of the countries worst hit by the virus, says the World Health Organization.

Speaking in Geneva, Dr Marie Paule Kieny said work was also advancing quickly to get drugs and a vaccine ready for January 2015.

The Ebola outbreak has already killed more than 4,500 people.

Most of the deaths have been in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Dr Kieny, WHO assistant director general for health system and innovation, said: "There are partnerships which are starting to be put in place to have capacity in the three countries to safely extract plasma and make preparation that can be used for the treatment of infective patients.

"The partnership which is moving the quickest will be in Liberia where we hope that in the coming weeks there will be facilities set up to collect the blood, treat the blood and be able to process it for use."

It is still unclear how much will become available and whether it could meet demand.

In other developments:

• NBC freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo - who contracted Ebola in West Africa - is declared free of the virus and will leave hospital in the US state of Nebraska

• Riots break out in Sierra Leone's diamond-rich Kono district after angry youths resisted efforts to "quarantine" a house where a 90-year-old woman suspected to have Ebola lived. The youths were said to be angry because there were no treatment centres in Kono, the BBC's Umaru Fofana says. Police imposed a daytime curfew in the area

• UK International Development Secretary Justine Greening visits Sierra Leone to assess the impact of the government's $200m (£125m) aid package

• The US Homeland Security Department says all visitors arriving from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone will undergo enhanced screening at one of five airports

• The Dominican Republic joins a group of Caribbean countries that have banned visitors from the three West African nations

Serum
If a person has successfully fought off the infection, it means their body has learned how to combat the virus and they will have antibodies in their blood that can attack Ebola.

Doctors can then take a sample of their blood and turn it into a treatment called serum - by removing the red blood cells but keeping the important antibodies - for other patients.


Alexander Kollie's story:

Alexander Kollie's son survived Ebola in Liberia and wants to study biology and become a doctor

I was able to see my son in the care centre from across the fence, so I called out to him: "Son, you're the only hope I got. You have to take courage. Any medicine they give to you, you have to take it."

He told me: "Papa, I understand. I will do it. Stop crying Papa. My sisters are gone but I am going to survive and I will make you proud."

Every day, the counsellors made sure they saw me, and they sat with me so I could talk.
'My son's survival saved me'

The Spanish nurse who became the first person to contract Ebola outside West Africa tested negative for the virus after reportedly receiving human serum containing antibodies from Ebola survivors.

Dr Kieny said the treatment was not without risks, and WHO has already issued guidelines to ensure safety. Any donor blood will need to be screened for infections such a hepatitis and HIV, for example.

Vaccines and drugs
She said trials of two possible Ebola vaccines could produce initial results by the end of the year.


How not to catch Ebola:

• Avoid direct contact with sick patients as the virus is spread through contaminated body fluids

• Wear protective cover for eyes

• Clothing and clinical waste should be incinerated and any medical equipment that needs to be kept should be decontaminated

• People who recover from Ebola should abstain from sex or use condoms for three months.


The vaccines will be tested first to see if they are safe for humans, and if they can protect people from the Ebola virus.

Once these questions have been answered, the WHO hopes to extend the trials to a much wider group of people and start giving it to Africa.

"These trials will all start in the coming two weeks... and continue for six months to a year but to have initial results about safety and immunogenicity to have a choice of a dose level by the end of this year in December."

Dr Kieny said there were a number of drugs being tested and developed in different countries.

A partnership between Oxford University and the Wellcome Trust is now visiting sites in the three affected African countries to identify which treatment centres would be adequate and willing to start testing drugs soon, she said.

Tattoo Health Problems

Tattoo Reactions, Infections, and Removal



Rethink Your Ink

Tattoos have been around for thousands of years, but they’ve really gone mainstream in the last decade or so.  No matter how advanced the technology gets, it still amounts to a puncture wound filled with ink. And for some people, that can cause problems, from allergic reactions to infections and more.


Allergic Reactions

Some tattoo dyes, especially red, can cause an allergic reaction. The area around your tattoo might itch or swell, or you could get a rash. It can happen right after you get the tattoo, or years later. If it’s mild -- itchy skin and a few bumps -- treat it with a steroid cream. If your reaction is worse or if doesn’t go away in a couple of weeks, call your doctor.



Reactions to Light

Some ink reacts to light, especially sunlight. So if you don’t keep a new tattoo covered for a couple of weeks, your skin can swell or turn red. This is most common with yellow inks, but it can happen with red, too.  Again, a mild case should get better with time and antihistamines or steroid creams, but if not, check with your doctor.



Skin Infections

If your tattoo artist doesn’t properly clean his equipment or uses it on more than one person, you could get an infection. If your skin swells, turns red, or feels tender, or you notice a pus-like drainage from the tattoo, call the doctor. You may need antibiotics to clear it up.
Red burn back......


Granulomas

Sometimes your immune system thinks the pigment in tattoo ink is a threat and sends cells to the area to fight it. These cells clump together around the tattoo and create nodules which are called granulomas. If you see them, talk to your doctor. He might run tests to rule out other causes. He’ll treat them with steroids -- taken by mouth or as a shot.


Keloids


Keloids are areas of scar tissue that are raised from the skin. They can start under the tattoo and spread out. Keloids run in families and are more likely to affect people with dark skin. Treatment starts with steroids, but it can get involved after that, and the keloid could come back. If you have them already or someone in your family does, you might want to avoid tattoos.


Blood-borne Diseases

Tattoo needles get bloody. If yours wasn’t cleaned well between uses, you could be exposed to diseases spread by blood, like hepatitis B or C, tetanus, or HIV. Choose your tattoo artist wisely. Make sure needles and other instruments are sterilized and that your artist wears gloves.



MRI Complications

You may notice that a tattooed area swells or burns when you get an MRI. This is rare and usually goes away without causing problems. Tell your radiologist or technician about your tattoos so they can take precautions. Your skin might not react, but the MRI could affect the quality of the image.


Problems With Removal

If an allergic reaction or infection doesn’t clear up -- or if you just hate the tattoo -- you can have it removed. Laser removal technology has gotten better, but it isn’t perfect. It rarely leaves scars, but it can change your skin’s texture or color, especially if you have a darker tone. And it can cause what was a local reaction to spread.


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Audi claims self-drive speed record

Audi claims self-drive speed record
The RS7 took a little over two minutes to complete a lap
By Leo Kelion

Audi has claimed a speed record for a self-driving car.

The German car giant says its RS7 vehicle topped 149mph (240km/h) while driving uncrewed round the Hockenheim racing circuit, south of Frankfurt.

The car took just over two minutes to complete a lap of the Grand Prix track.

Sunday's stunt was organised to highlight the firm's efforts to bring "piloted driving" to road vehicles. But one expert cautioned that several hurdles still needed to be overcome.

Audi - a division of Volkswagen - also put a human behind the wheel of the vehicle for a comparison lap. He took five seconds longer to complete the circuit.

A member of the car company's research team explained that it believed the innovation could ultimately be used by the public.

"I know accident-free driving will remain a vision. But at least we can reduce the number of accidents in the future," said Dr Horst Glaser.

"Piloted driving defuses situations like, for example, being in a traffic jam. Whenever the driver is distracted and inattentive the car could take over.

"Additionally the driver has a chance to relax. That means they are on full alert as soon as their attention is required again."

Computer equipment in the rear of the car used data gathered from an array of sensors

The RS7 used a combination of cameras, laser scanners, GPS location data, radio transmissions and radar sensors to guide itself around the track, with the data processed by computing equipment that filled its boot.

The experiment marked a high point after 15 years of research by the firm in the US and Europe.

However, one industry-watcher noted that a speed test on an otherwise empty racetrack was very different to the day-to-day driving conditions such vehicles would one day experience.

"I think we will see driverless cars on our roads within a decade, but there's clearly still a lot of work to do," said Prof David Bailey from Aston Business School.

"You need to make sure they interact with other driverless cars as well as those piloted by humans - you've got to make sure the software absolutely works."

He added that the insurance industry also needed to grapple with the concept.

"One of the big issues is what happens if there is an accident," he explained.

"Who is responsible? Is it the driver even if they are not driving? Is it the car company? Is it the software company? There are a whole load of legal issues to sort out.

Mercedes is developing a computer-driven version of its S-class car
"But there could be big savings for the economy in terms of far fewer accidents and more efficient travel."

Audi is far from alone in this field research.

Another German manufacturer, Mercedes, showed off a rival computer-controlled version of its S-class car recently.

Other car companies including Daimler, Volvo, Toyota, Tesla and BMW are also experimenting with artificial intelligence-directed vehicles, as are other tech firms including Google, Panasonic and Autolive.



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Microsoft Boss gets $84m pay package

Microsoft boss Satya Nadella gets $84m pay package
BBC News

Satya Nadella was named chief executive in February    

Microsoft boss Satya Nadella has been given a pay package worth $84.3m (£52m), making him one

of the top earners in the tech industry.

The total pay package is largely made up of share awards, and most of the payments will be made over several years.

News of the package comes less than a month after Mr Nadella advised women not to ask for a pay rise but to have "faith in the system".

He later apologised for the remark.

In a regulatory filing, Microsoft said the promotion of Mr Nadella had meant it had a chief executive without a major equity stake in the firm for the first time.

Its previous chief executives, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, both had multi-billion dollar holdings in the company.

"In approving the initial annual total compensation opportunity for Mr Nadella, our board was mindful of both the fierce competition for talented executives in the technology sector and the demands on and responsibilities of the leader of a global organization with the scope and stature of Microsoft," it said in the filing.

Excluding the long-term share awards, Mr Nadella's pay package for this year totals $11.6m.

Mr Nadella was named as chief executive in February, and is only the third chief executive in the firm's history.


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