News Blog: July 2014

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Katy Perry Wins Everything: President Obama Just Called Her ‘One Of My Favorite People’

Well, as if it wasn’t already established enough, Katy Perry is absolutely, 100 percent cooler than you.

Unless, that is, you’ve had the president of the United States call you one of his “favorite people.”

That’s what happened on Thursday night (July 31), when the “Dark Horse” singer did as one does on a Thursday night and performed at the White House. She took time off of her busy Prismatic Tour schedule appear at a dinner celebrating 46th anniversary of the Special Olympics.

“We have just one of my favorite people performing tonight — Katy Perry,” Obama told the crowd. “I love Katy Perry. We are so grateful to her.”

He added that — despite the fact that she’s pretty conservative — he also adores her mother. After meeting Mrs. Perry, he said, “now i know why [Katy's] such a wonderful person.”

OK, Barack. We get it. Now it’s just getting annoying.

This isn’t the first time Katy’s performed for Obama. Back in 2012, she dressed up to a Las Vegas rally as a human ballot to support his re-election campaign.

Emily Blake

Katy Perry Wins Everything: President Obama Just Called Her ‘One Of My Favorite People’

France's Iliad challenges Sprint for control of T-Mobile

By Leila Abboud and Soyoung Kim

PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) – French telecommunications company Iliad SA has made a surprise offer for T-Mobile US Inc , setting up a potential bidding war with Sprint Corp , the U.S. mobile carrier now controlled by Japan’s Softbank Corp <9984.T>.

The approach will further shake up a U.S. media and telecoms market already in tumult as a series of U.S. cable and cellular operators have bid for rivals to cut costs amid slowing growth. The market and its relatively healthy margins remain alluring to some foreign operators like Softbank and Iliad, however.

Iliad, which has shaken up the French mobile and broadband market in the past decade with its cheap, pared-down subscriber plans, bid $15 billion (8.88 billion pounds) in cash for 56.6 percent of T-Mobile US at $33 per share, it said in a statement on Thursday.

The Paris-based company said its offer for the fourth-largest U.S. carrier values all of T-Mobile at $36.20 per share, a premium of 42 percent to the pre-announcement share price, once expected cost savings of $10 billion were taken into account.

That is less than the roughly $40 per share Sprint agreed to pay under the broad terms of an agreement worked out with Deutsche Telekom AG , T-Mobile’s majority owner. The terms of that proposal, which followed months of talks and which was reported by Reuters in early June, would value T-Mobile at nearly $32 billion.

Deutsche Telekom and Sprint declined to comment. A spokesman for Softbank in Tokyo also declined to comment.

Despite Iliad’s lower offer, three people close to the French company said founder Xavier Niel believes he has a strong card to play because his bid would not face the antitrust scrutiny that confronts Sprint in trying to merge the third and fourth-biggest U.S. mobile operators.

“SoftBank has been told in many very clear coded words that the Department of Justice and the FCC would probably not approve the acquisition,” said Reed Hundt, a former chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. “There’s no question to me that the FCC would say ‘bienvenue’” to the proposed Iliad deal.

The FCC and Department of Justice expressed a desire earlier this year to have at least two more network operators competing against AT&T and Verizon.

The T-Mobile offer is Niel’s most audacious attempt at extending his reach beyond France, Monaco and Israel, where he owns part of operator Golan Telecom. Still, his bid to enter the United States mobile market is a long shot, some investors and analysts say.

The French company specializes in broadband and lacks experience in mobile, T-Mobile’s main business, having launched its mobile service only in 2012. It is also unfamiliar with the demands of competing in the United States, with its massive coverage needs and deep-pocketed competition from AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc , the market leaders.

Iliad expects $10 billion in savings from the deal. While it provided no further details, sources familiar with the situation said the French upstart believes it could generate $1.5 billion to $2 billion in additional earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) per year by running T-Mobile in a more streamlined manner.

T-Mobile is inefficient and badly managed on the cost front, they argued.

Still, some analysts said the Iliad offer could falter on price alone.

“We are sceptical that T-Mobile and its shareholders, including Deutsche Telekom, will find this bid attractive,” Credit Suisse analysts Joseph Mastrogiovanni and Michael Baresich wrote in a research note. “However, it could put pressure on Sprint to move sooner rather later.

EMPIRE BUILDING

Few doubt the scale of Neil’s ambitions. The entrepreneur, an unknown outsider in France when he started out, has joined the elite, lunching with ministers, starting a tech school, and holding part ownership of the influential Le Monde newspaper.

He earned his first fortune from an adult chat and dating service on the Minitel, a rudimentary computer network that pre-dated the Internet in France. He then surfed on a wave of market liberalisation in telecoms to create Iliad.

In many ways Niel is similar to Masayoshi Son, the head of Softbank and his rival for T-Mobile US. Both have operated their companies as challengers who cut prices and take on larger rivals with bigger resources.

Niel sees the U.S. market as ripe for the kind of challenge Iliad mounted in France, where its entry into the mobile market in 2012 sent prices down 30 percent and hurt the profits of bigger rivals Orange SA and SFR, as well as Bouygues SA . He ranks 133rd on Forbes’ list of billionaires, with a net worth of $9.5 billion.

Son, who is also Sprint’s chairman, has pledged to start a price war in the United States, and he has said industry consolidation would allow Sprint to compete more effectively against Verizon and AT&T. He owns 19.3 percent of Softbank and is 46th on the Forbes list, with a net worth of $18.4 billion.

T-MOBILE TURNAROUND

T-Mobile would appear well-suited for the role of challenger championed by Niel and Son. Last year, it turned around years of subscriber losses using a strategy that eliminated contracts, restructured plans and set off a race to slash prices across the industry.

Earlier on Thursday, T-Mobile posted a net profit after a year of losses, and reported the industry’s largest post-paid phone subscriber additions of the quarter.

T-Mobile Chief Executive Officer John Legere, known for his outspoken and sometimes abrasive style, has come to define T-Mobile’s new audacity, epitomized by his frontal attacks on competitors, offering to pay early termination fees for customers who defect from rivals, for example.

“We know this is a scale industry. Scale brings advantage,” T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter told Reuters earlier on Thursday.

“What we’ve seen so far is a glimpse of what real competition in this industry looks like. If we could turbo-charge it, it could be an incredible opportunity to bring more competition to the market.”

BIG BITE FOR ILIAD

Iliad said it would finance its offer, which was earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal, through a mix of equity and debt, and that it already had the backing of unnamed international banks.

Nevertheless, the deal would be a big bite for Iliad. Its market capitalisation of just above $16 billion compared with about $25 billion for T-Mobile US.

T-Mobile owner Deustsche Telekom will now have the benefit of two bidders.

One person close to the German company also said a deal with Iliad had a certain appeal because of the lower risk of being blocked by U.S. regulators.

A second person said there were doubts whether Iliad’s offer was competitive or could get financing, but added that it could be worth taking a discount to avoid heavy regulatory scrutiny.

Three years ago, regulators rejected AT&T’s $39 billion bid for T-Mobile US, which resulted in AT&T paying Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s full owner, a reverse break-up fee of $6 billion in cash and U.S. mobile assets.

T-Mobile shares closed up 6.5 percent at $32.94 on the New York Stock Exchange, just below the Iliad offer price. Sprint shares were down 5.3 percent at $7.35.

(porting by Edwin Chan in San Francisco, Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore, Marina Lopes, Diane Bartz and Alina Selyukh in Washington, Harro Ten Wolde and Peter Maushagen in Frankfurt, Teppei Kasai in Tokyo; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Greg Mahlich, Tom Brown, Andre Grenon and Andrew Hay)

France's Iliad challenges Sprint for control of T-Mobile

Murdered DJ's family's fresh appeal

An appeal has been launched to trace a man wanted in connection with the murder of a talented DJ five years ago.

The family of Carl Beatson Asiedu has made an emotional appeal for information in the hope it will lead to the arrest of a man who fled the UK days after the murder.

Detectives are keen to trace Jeffrey Okafor who they believe is responsible for killing 19-year-old Mr Asiedu, the Metropolitan Police said.

With strong evidence to suggest that he has fled to Nigeria, a reward of £10,000 is being offered by police for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of Okafor.

Mr Asiedu died in the street after being stabbed in the heart in the early hours of August 1 2009.

Known as DJ Charmz, he was a successful DJ and well known on the clubbing scene.

He had just performed a set at the Club Life nightclub in Goding Street and was with friends on the night he was killed.

Detectives are also launching a Facebook appeal in the hope that someone is able to provide information on Okafor’s whereabouts, police said.

He was a known Facebook user before the murder and officers believe that he is still using this or other social media as a means of communicating with friends and family back in the UK.

Police believe Okafor is hiding in Nigeria having fled the UK on August 17 2009.

He was last captured on CCTV boarding an Air France flight at Heathrow Airport using his brother’s passport, police said.

The victim’s father John Asiedu has spoken of his heartache.

“Five years have passed since Carl was murdered,” he said.

“I still feel the pain and get a lump in my throat whenever his tragic death crosses my mind, or when I hear that someone has been stabbed to death.

“Part of me died with him and I have to carry on living with what is left of me.

“Carl’s tragic death has changed my view of life, people, the justice system and the world.”

Detective Inspector Alison Hepworth of the Homicide and Major Crime Command (HMCC) said: “Carl was a talented DJ who had his whole life ahead of him.

“His family, whom fully support this new appeal, have had to endure five years of heartache and they are desperately seeking justice for Carl’s murder.

“Over the years, a number of people have stood trial and have been convicted for their involvement in Carl’s death but there has always been one outstanding individual whom we sought to trace whom we believe delivered the fatal stab wound.

“That person is Jeffrey Okafor.

“There is strong evidence indicating his involvement on the night when Carl died.

“We know Jeffrey fled the UK to evade arrest and avoid facing justice.

“He flew to Nigeria entering the country illegally under a false identity.

“We believe he is still hiding somewhere there, possibly with a new identity, and possibly living a relatively comfortable life.

“We are working with the law enforcement agencies there in the hope of tracing him.

“We know there are people in the UK supporting him in his new life in Nigeria and are shielding him from facing justice.

“I would appeal to those people – his friends or family – if you have in some way helped to aid his escape, now is your opportunity to do the right thing and tell us where he is.

“Likewise, there may be family and friends in Nigeria who do not know the real reasons for Jeffrey being in Nigeria and may have been given false information by him.

“They may not be aware of the full circumstances as to why he hastily left the UK.

“We are appealing to those people who know Jeffrey Okafor previously in the UK and in Nigeria to come forward and assist us with our enquires.

“Any information that you provide will be treated in the strictest confidence.”

She added: “With a reward of £10,000 in place we are hoping that someone will be able to provide us with the information we require .

“Anyone with any information, no matter how small, is asked to contact us.”

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the incident room on 0208 721 4005.

A dedicated email address – jeffreyokaforwanted@met.police.uk – has been set up for those with information to provide details via email.

Murdered DJ's family's fresh appeal

PM Hails £300m Project To Unlock Power Of DNA

UK scientists are to map 100,000 complete DNA code sequences in a “landmark” project that aims to revolutionise medicine, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced.

Mr Cameron said the 100,000 Genomes Project, funded by a package of deals worth £300m, will “see the UK lead the world in genetic research within years”.

The project will sequence the genetic codes of about 75,000 patients with cancer and rare diseases, and those of their close relatives.

Both the healthy and the tumour cells of the cancer patients will be mapped, meaning about 100,000 will be sequenced in total.

Mr Cameron said: “I am determined to do all I can to support the health and scientific sector to unlock the power of DNA, turning an important scientific breakthrough into something that will help deliver better tests, better drugs and above all better care for patients.

“As our plan becomes a reality, I believe we will be able to transform how devastating diseases are diagnosed and treated in the NHS and across the world, while supporting our best scientists and life science businesses to discover the next wonder drug or breakthrough technology.”

Scientists hope that identifying tiny changes in the genetic code that can trigger disease will allow for personalised and more effective treatments.

One example of such a therapy that already exists is Herceptin, a drug specifically designed for women with a type of breast cancer characterised by over-activity of the Her2 gene.

DNA samples have already been donated by a few hundred participants in a pilot, and about 10,000 are expected to have donated by the end of the year.

The project is expected to be completed by 2017.

Among the cancers due to be targeted are bowel, breast, leukaemia, lung, ovarian, prostate and leukaemia.

Charity the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council and the National Health Service are contributing to the project, which will be overseen by Genomics England, set up by the Department of Health.

The Californian DNA sequencing company Illumina, which won a contract to provide the technology for the project, will also invest about £162m in the project over its lifetime.

Wellcome Trust director Jeremy Farrar said genome sequencing could transform medicine.

“Twenty years from now academics and industry will have developed therapies which will be targeted at you and specific forms of cancer,” he said.

“We will look back in 20 years’ time and the blockbuster chemotherapy drugs that gave you all those nasty side effects will be a thing of the past.”

Source Article from https://uk.news.yahoo.com/pm-hails-300m-project-unlock-power-dna-012103264.html

PM Hails £300m Project To Unlock Power Of DNA

Cho to lead 2018 Olympics organizing committee

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Cho Yang-ho, the South Korean business tycoon who led Pyeongchang’s successful bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, will take charge of the local organizing committee following the sudden resignation of the previous president.

The Hanjin Group chairman was unanimously elected in a meeting of 94 committee officials on Thursday and will serve out the remainder of Kim Jin-sun’s scheduled term as the Pyeongchang organizing committee president, which was due to expire in October next year.

Kim quit last week saying new leadership was needed to complete preparations for the games.

“I feel heavy responsibility,” Cho told reporters after his election. “I’ll do my best to achieve a successful hosting of the Olympics based on my experience as the bid committee chairman.”

Kim’s departure sparked media speculation that he may have been fired amid concerns about construction delays and domestic sponsorship problems.

South Korea’s government audit agency said last week it had conducted a special audit on the organizing committee over its preparations for the Olympics. Audit officials said the weeks-long investigation assessed financing and management and said the results of the investigation were expected within three months.

Cho’s election requires endorsement by the sports minister, which is considered a formality, committee official Jung Dong-young said.

Cho was head of Pyeongchang’s bid committee when it won the right to bring the Winter Games to South Korea for the first time. He is a vice president of the Korean Olympic Committee and has been president of the Korea Table Tennis Association since 2008 and vice president of the Asian Table Tennis Union since 2009.

He is also chairman of Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea’s largest carrier. The family owned Hanjin Group, one of the major business conglomerates in South Korea, is the biggest shareholder of Korean Air Lines Co.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach welcomed the quick appointment of Cho and said he was pleased the successful businessman was dedicating himself “to this important national project.”

Cho’s election “underlines the importance that the Republic of Korea and the Korean sports movement places upon the success of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games,” Bach said. “I welcome him back to the Pyeongchang team. I am sure that he will deliver great Olympic Winter Games for the athletes in 2018.”

Cho will meet Bach and IOC Coordination Commission leader Gunilla Lindberg in China next month at the Youth Olympics.

IOC officials who visited Pyeongchang recently expressed no major concerns about preparations for 2018.

Lindberg said the IOC already had a good working relationship with Cho through his work on the bid committee.

“I look forward to reinforcing our already strong links over the coming three-and-a-half years, as we work to deliver great Olympic Winter Games,” Lindberg said.

Preparations for the last Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia came under heavy scrutiny for construction delays. The IOC has already taken measures to help speed up preparations in Brazil for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Cho to lead 2018 Olympics organizing committee

Watney soars high with 18 points in Reno

(Reuters) – American Nick Watney has never missed out on the FedExCup playoffs and he put himself in good position to maintain that record after charging into the first-round lead at the Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nevada on Thursday.

Watney, who is on the cusp of qualifying for the PGA Tour’s lucrative season finale, piled up nine birdies to total 18 points at Montreux Golf & Country Club in the only event on the U.S. circuit which uses the Modified Stableford scoring system.

“I do like the course,” California native Watney, who totalled only 23 putts, told Golf Channel after carding a flawless nine-under-par 63.

“I love this part of the country. And 23 putts, that’s probably my best by five for the season. I’ll take it.”

Australian Geoff Ogilvy and New Zealand’s Tim Wilkinson were joint second on 16 points with Scotland’s Martin Laird and American Chad Campbell next best, on 13.

Under the scoring system, points are awarded on each hole for being under par, with birdies earning a player two points and eagles five. A bogey costs a player one point, double bogeys and worse three points. No points are won or lost with par.

Watney is 124th in the FedExCup points standings and needs to remain in the top 125 after the final three weeks of the PGA Tour’s regular season to book his place in the playoffs opener, the Aug. 21-24 Barclays tournament.

Normally he would be competing this week in the elite WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio but, with his world ranking having slipped to 80th, he failed to qualify for that 76-man event for the first time since 2008.

“I hate to miss a World Golf Championships (WGC) event but I’m here now,” said the 33-year-old American, who won the biggest title of his career at the 2011 WGC-Cadillac Championship.

“I’ll just keep doing my job and see where I end up.”

Former U.S. Open champion Ogilvy made eight birdies on the way to a bogey-free 64 that included a tally of just 26 putts.

“I played well,” said the Australian, a seven-times winner on the PGA Tour. “Eight birdies is the most I’ve had for a long time.

“I hit the ball really well, and then I actually had a few short ones I didn’t make. But I did make a couple bonus long ones.”

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

Watney soars high with 18 points in Reno

China PMIs jump to multi-month highs in July, add to view economy is steadying

By Koh Gui Qing

BEIJING (Reuters) – China‘s factories posted their strongest growth in at least 1-1/2 years in July as new orders surged to multi-month highs, two surveys showed on Friday, cementing bets that the economy is re-gaining momentum after a spate of stimulus measures.

The official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) issued by the government climbed to a 27-month high of 51.7 in July, beating forecasts for 51.4.

A separate PMI published by HSBC/Markit also rose to 51.7, its best performance in 18 months.

A reading above 50 indicates an expansion in activity on a monthly basis, and below that a contraction.

Analysts welcomed the data as a sign that the world’s second-biggest economy is enjoying a revival after a rocky spell prompted authorities to launch a volley of support measures, including increasing bank lending to spur growth.

Now that looser monetary policy is having its intended effect, some analysts questioned the need for more economic stimulus in China, at least in the near term.

“There is no reason in China to be concerned about growth right now,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, an economist at Capital Economics. “It’s a good time for policymakers to step back from stimulus and concentrate on reforms.”

Both surveys showed that the rebound in manufacturing was led by firmer domestic demand as new orders — a proxy for domestic and overseas demand — rose more sharply than new export orders.

The official PMI showed new orders jumped to 53.6 from June’s 52.8, the best reading since May 2012. The HSBC/Markit PMI also showed the new orders sub-index jumping nearly two points to 53.3, a level last seen in March 2013.

Worried by a slowdown in the economy in the first quarter, China began easing policy in April by cutting taxes, hastening investment, and lowering the reserve requirement for some banks.

Bank lending, which is controlled by the government, is expected this year to hit levels unseen since the 2008/09 global financial crisis.

All of this should help China sustain its economic recovery, said Qu Hongbin, an analyst at HSBC.

“We expect the cumulative impact of these measures to filter through in the next few months and help consolidate the recovery,” he said.

“LIKELY TO MEET GROWTH TARGET”

China’s economy has had a rocky spell this year.

Growth cooled to an 18-month low of 7.4 percent in the first quarter, and it was only after the flurry of policy support that activity edged back up to 7.5 percent between April and June, in line with the government’s 2014 GDP expansion target.

And what started as a slowdown largely driven by unsteady foreign and domestic demand and investment has broadened to include a housing downturn, which in recent months has become the biggest threat to the economy.

Average home prices fell in May for the first time in two years, while growth in land prices also slowed for the first time in two years in the second quarter.

Although a retreat in the once-heated housing market is a welcome for Chinese since home prices are still near record highs, the cooldown is painful for policymakers since the sector accounts for roughly 15 percent of China’s economic growth.

Some economists say the economic recovery still hinges on the magnitude of China’s pro-growth steps, and whether the government can successfully curb the risks stemming from a cooling property sector. Indeed, in a sign that the recovery may still be patchy, a sub-index for employment in the HSBC/Markit PMI showed employment contracted for the ninth consecutive month in July as some companies laid off workers.

Premier Li Keqiang also said on Thursday that China has to work harder on reforming its economy in the northeastern region, where growth has lagged after regional governments cut state investment to re-orient the Chinese growth engine.

Following three decades of double-digit economic growth, China wants to re-make its maturing economy so that it relies not on investment and exports, but on domestic consumption for sustainable growth.

“Future policy depends on whether the cost of funding in China would continue to fall,” said Zhou Hao, an economist at ANZ Bank in Shanghai.

“But it’s clear that China’s economic growth momentum has increased and it’s very likely that this year’s 7.5 percent growth target will be met.”

(Editing by Kim Coghill)

China PMIs jump to multi-month highs in July, add to view economy is steadying

VP Biden praises Japan's new military policy

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is welcoming Japan’s decision to loosen restrictions on its military to allow greater use of force to defend other countries.

Biden spoke to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday. The White House says the two agreed that Japan’s policy will strengthen U.S.-Japanese ties and help Japan contribute more to regional peace and security.

Japan’s move has drawn criticism from rival China as Beijing increases its own military posture.

The White House says Biden also praised Japan’s sanctions on Russia. The U.S. and Europe are sanctioning Russia over its actions in Ukraine. Japan is part of the Group of Seven nations seeking to pressure Moscow.

The two leaders also discussed the nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran, plus conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

VP Biden praises Japan's new military policy

Spain's Supreme Court receives paternity suit against ex-king

A paternity suit against Spain’s recently abdicated king Juan Carlos of Spain has been lodged with the nation’s Supreme Court by a waiter who believes he is the illegitimate son of the former monarch, a court spokeswoman said Thursday.

The suit was passed on to the Supreme Court on Tuesday by a lower court where it had been under review in light of controversial new legal protections for ex-king Juan Carlos, 76, who lost his total immunity when he quit the throne last month, she said.

It was brought by Alberto Sola Jimenez, 58, an adopted child who has claimed for years that his birth mother, the daughter of a well-known Barcelona banker, may have had an affair with the king before he married Queen Sofia which resulted in his birth.

Juan Carlos’s former constitutional immunity thwarted two lawsuits in October 2012 by people claiming he fathered them before becoming king — one by Sola and another by a Belgian housewife, Ingrid Sartiau, 48, who says her mother once told her the monarch was her father.

Sola, who used to run a successful metal firm in Mexico and now works as a waiter in the village of La Bisbal in northeastern Spain, appealed that verdict.

- Test of ex-king’s legal protection -

Juan Carlos automatically lost the total immunity which he enjoyed during his 39-year reign when he abdicated on June 18, leading lawmakers to rush in controversial new legal protections for the ageing former monarch.

Unlike his previous immunity, the new measures do not completely shield Juan Carlos.

He now must answer to Spain’s highest court, the Supreme Court, which has a high threshold for evidence, giving him similar protection enjoyed by many high-ranking civil servants and politicians.

Sola’s paternity suit is the first legal challenge to be filed against the former monarch at the Supreme Court since he lost his total legal immunity.

The court will now have to decide whether it accepts the suit or shelves it.

Sola and Sartiau made headlines in Spain in 2012 when they teamed up and underwent DNA tests that showed there was a 91 percent chance that they had one parent in common.

They sent a joint letter to the Spanish royal household to ask for recognition. After receiving no reply they took their request for a paternity test to the courts.

Sola said in a recent interview with Britain’s The Sunday Times that all he wants is recognition.

“I’ve no choice now but to put pressure on him. Every Spaniard has the right to know where he is from,” he told the newspaper.

Spain's Supreme Court receives paternity suit against ex-king

A Faith-Based Romantic Drama Wants To Take Down ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’

by Emily Blake

2 hours ago

There’s a faith-based film about “old-fashioned courtship” hitting theaters on the exact same day as the sinful, S&M-filled adaptation of “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

And if you thought that was some sort of divine coincidence, you’d be wrong.

Freestyle Releasing — the studio behind the equally wholesome “God’s Not Dead” — is rather openly marketing “Old Fashioned” as the anti- “Fifty Shades of Grey,” or — as it words it on its website — the David to “Fifty Shades’” Goliath.

The film, whose tagline promises that “Chivalry is making a comeback,” was written and directed Rik Swartzwelder, who also stars in the film as a former frat boy who falls for a “free spirited woman” played by Elizabeth Ann Roberts. According the the film’s synopsis, together they attempt “the impossible: an ‘old-fashioned’ courtship in contemporary America.”

Translation: no sex. Not even a little bit. None.

Why, you ask? Well, according to Swartzwelder, “Old Fashioned” is about upholding a “high standard in relationships.”

“I wanted to tell a love story that takes the idea of Godly romance seriously,” he said. “A story that, without apology, explores the possibility of a higher standard in relationships; yet, is also fully aware of just how fragile we all are and doesn’t seek to heap guilt upon those of us that have made mistakes.”

“Old Fashioned” hits theaters on Valentine’s Day 2015. Choose your side.

[ video unavailable on this device ]

Emily Blake

A Faith-Based Romantic Drama Wants To Take Down ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’

Burger King cuts ties with supplier in China food safety scare

(Reuters) – Burger King Worldwide Inc said on Thursday it would no longer buy products from OSI Group LLC suppliers in China, where the fast-food hamburger chain has about 200 restaurants.

OSI is the U.S. parent of Shanghai Husi Food, the factory at the heart of China’s latest food safety scandal. That scare was triggered by a TV report alleging workers at Shanghai Husi Food used expired meat and doctored food production dates.

Regulators closed the plant on July 20. Police have detained five people, including Shanghai Husi’s head and quality manager.

Burger King last week suspended the sale of any products from the Husi factories in Shanghai that supplied its restaurants and launched an investigation, Alix Salyers, a spokeswoman for the Miami-based chain, said in an email.

“As a precaution, we have decided that we will no longer source any products from Husi or any of its related entities throughout China,” Salyers said.

Burger King’s China outlets might experience some temporary menu item shortages as a result, she added.

Yum Brands Inc the biggest Western restaurant operator in China with 6,400 restaurants, warned on Wednesday that the scare caused “significant, negative” damage to sales at KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in the period from July 20 through July 30.

After the scandal broke, Yum quickly cut all ties with OSI, which was not a significant supplier to the chain.

McDonald’s Corp, which has deep ties to OSI and was more dependent on the supplier, ended its relationship with OSI China. As a result, many of its 2,000 restaurants there have suffered meat shortages.

McDonald’s Holdings Co Ltd, the Japanese unit of the world’s biggest restaurant chain, also withdrew its earnings guidance for the year after the scandal forced it to switch to alternative chicken supplies.

OSI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles. Editing by Andre Grenon)

Burger King cuts ties with supplier in China food safety scare

Book Talk - Paull's 'The Bees' looks at life inside the hive

By Verity Watkins

LONDON (Reuters) – Three years ago playwright Laline Paull began to notice bees in her garden in Sussex, southeast England. Her interest was inspired by the death of a beekeeping friend.

“Angie had breast cancer, and she wasn’t going to make it. I was awed at her graciousness in the face of her terror and when she died, in order to keep that feeling of how wonderful she was, I started reading about bees. She was gone but the bees were not gone.”

The more Paull read the more inspired she was.

“Everything I read made me think ‘Wow, they do that? They fly how far? It takes how many bees their whole lives to make a teaspoon of honey?’”

The result is her debut novel, “The Bees”, a story of intense drama within a hive, framed by a biological integrity that intrigues and informs.

Through the protagonist Flora we learn of the hive mind, the blissful scent of mother love, nectar gathering, and encroaching sickness. The pampered drones (male bees) are sketched with expert humour as the females ‘worship to his maleness’, before disaster strikes.

Paull studied English at Oxford, screenwriting in Los Angeles and theatre in London. She is a member of BAFTA and the Writer’s Guild of America. She spoke to Reuters about “The Bees”:

Q: Do you keep bees yourself?

A: No. I would like to one day.

Q: How much authenticity is there in the social organization of the beehive?

A: The all-female society was fascinating: The queen is the mother of all. The mother-love scent is real. If the queen is ailing, the bees will make new queen cells around the edge as if they are hiding them. Then the first princess out will pipe out a war cry, she will seek the others and kill them in a fight to the death. It’s brutal nature, ‘red in tooth and claw’.

The drones (male bees) are so comic in an affectionate way. Well, a lot of women feel that about a lot of men. I thought that would be poignant. That is what the human animal is like: You don’t realize that it’s all going to come to an end.

Q: Were your intended readers adults?

A: I just wanted to write a good story, I was fascinated by the drama of bee life, the violence, the beauty and the poetry that I saw there.

Q: Is there a deeper message – about preserving bees?

A: As I went more deeply into the research I was confronted by the plight of bees as pollinators and the use of pesticides. It’s a strong drama underpinned by the truth, and every time I was wondering which way to go in the narrative I went back to the real biology of the hive. Colony collapse disorder is endemic now, in parts of China people are pollinating by hand.

Q: Have you been surprised by the success of your book?

A: Yes. So thrilled it seems to have struck a chord. I’m getting tweets from 10-year-olds and people in their 80s, and even beekeepers saying how much they enjoyed it. That’s really high praise.

Q: You have a background in screenwriting, and theatre – why fiction for this story?

A: Fiction is always where I was headed. The bar is so high, but a good book is such a wonderful thing, so pure between you and the reader.

Q: Can you see it being made into a film?

A: I don’t know. It would have to be somebody pretty visionary to avoid the trap of making it cutesy: Please God no love story between Flora and the drones. I almost don’t dare to think of it.

Q: If you had to liken “The Bees” to another book, what would it be?

A: That’s a dangerous question. I love Aldous Huxley, I love George Orwell – that sense of alienation and somebody struggling to make sense of the world.

Q: Will you continue with this nature theme in your next book?

A: Yes. I’ve always been interested in the natural world and it gave me huge pleasure as a child. I could be absorbed for hours by sticklebacks in a jar; that sounds like such a bucolic pleasure now. Being able to immerse myself in research about the natural world is such a joy. Nature is amazing.

(Editing by Michael Roddy and Hugh Lawson)

Book Talk - Paull's 'The Bees' looks at life inside the hive

U.S. judge orders Microsoft to submit customer's emails from abroad

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp must turn over a customer’s emails stored in a data centre in Ireland to the U.S. government, a U.S. judge ruled on Thursday in a case that has drawn concern from privacy groups and major technology companies.

Microsoft and other U.S. companies had challenged a criminal search warrant for the emails, arguing federal prosecutors cannot seize customer information held in foreign countries.

But following a two-hour court hearing in New York, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska said the warrant lawfully required the company to hand over any data it controlled, regardless of where it was stored.

“It is a question of control, not a question of the location of that information,” Preska said.

The judge said she would temporarily suspend her order from taking effect to allow Microsoft to appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The case appears to be the first in which a corporation has challenged a U.S. search warrant seeking data held abroad.

It comes amid a debate over privacy and technology that erupted last year when former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed the government’s efforts to collect huge amounts of consumer data around the world.

AT&T Inc, Apple Inc, Cisco Systems Inc and Verizon Communications Inc all submitted court briefs in support of Microsoft, along with the privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The companies are worried they could lose billions of dollars in revenue to foreign competitors if customers fear their data is subject to seizure by U.S. investigators anywhere in the world.

In a statement, Microsoft’s general counsel, Brad Smith, said the company would appeal.

“The only issue that was certain this morning was that the district court’s decision would not represent the final step in this process,” he said.

Thursday’s ruling concerned a warrant New York prosecutors served on Microsoft for an individual’s emails stored in Dublin, Ireland. A magistrate judge in April ruled the warrant was valid.

It is unclear what type of investigation led to the warrant, which remains under seal.

U.S. companies say they have been hurt by fears about government intrusion: companies such as Cisco, Qualcomm Inc, International Business Machines Corp, Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard Co reported declines in China sales since the Snowden leaks.

European telecom carriers such as Orange and Deutsche Telekom started pitching local data storage soon afterward, and companies from start-up Silent Circle to software giant SAP SE have also sought to capitalise.

In August last year, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation estimated the Snowden revelations could cost the American cloud computing industry $22 billion (£17.45 billion) to $35 billion over the next three years.

U.S. judges are grappling with privacy concerns over personal data. The U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that police officers almost always need a warrant to search an arrested suspect’s cellphone, noting the enormous wealth of data on mobile devices.

Several magistrate judges across the country also have been divided on whether prosecutors can use search warrants to seize emails from providers.

Craig Newman, a lawyer who follows privacy legal issues and attended Thursday’s hearing, said the issue was far from settled.

“One thing we can say is that traditional notions of search and seizure and fourth amendment law don’t fit comfortably in the digital world,” said Newman, who is not involved in the case.

Joshua Rosenkranz, a lawyer for Microsoft, said in court that the law does not permit warrants to be executed overseas and called the request a bid for “extraordinary power.”

But Serrin Turner, a prosecutor from the office of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, said the warrant did not involve a search in Ireland but simply required Microsoft to provide documents it controls.

“It makes no sense for Congress to make the government go on a wild-goose chase … when the provider is sitting here in this country and can access the data at the touch of a button,” he said.

And Preska pointed out that U.S. banks have long been required to provide records in response to subpoenas, even when stored overseas.

Rosenkranz raised the spectre of foreign governments turning the tables and seeking U.S.-based data via warrants issued in their own countries, which he said would be an “astounding” violation of our sovereignty.

Preska acknowledged that such a scenario was “pretty scary” but said she could not consider the potential actions of other governments when interpreting the law.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York; Additional reporting by Bill Rigby in Seattle and Leila Abboud in Paris; Editing by Grant McCool and Mohammad Zargham)