Thousands protest against WA shark cull policy

The biggest event was at Cottesloe Beach, one amongst Western Australia's most far-famed beaches, wherever over half-dozen,000 individuals gathered.
They're job on the govt to prevent the utilization of baited hooks placed one km off the coast and killing bound sharks larger than 3 metres.
One shark has already been killed beneath the policy and another was found dead on a hook this morning when hooks were set out the coast for the primary time yesterday.
Protester Craig Berry says the govt is taking the incorrect action following seven fatal shark attacks in 3 years.
"In truth I feel a lot of vulnerable by having baited hooks out there once I wish to relish the ocean and that i suppose lots of individuals feel equally.
"I suppose the amount of sightings we've of sharks should not be according as horror stories, however the sign of a healthy eco system and most of our interactions with sharks area unit positive."

The policy was introduced when a fatal attack off Gracetown in November, and targets tiger, bull and nice white sharks longer than 3 metres that return inside a km of the shore.
Sea Shepherd director Jeff Hansen says the support from individuals everywhere the globe has been mortifying.
"Ten years agone we tend to could have solely had some {of individuals|of individuals} on the beach speaking out for sharks and currently we have regular people - mums, dads, average those that are not operating in conservation, talking concerning multifariousness, talking concerning apex predators and talking concerning the importance of sharks in our oceans."
"People area unit spoken language associate ocean while not sharks could be a planet while not individuals. we'd like to present them the respect they be and that is very mortifying and inspiring to ascertain that."

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Late Pope John Paul-II's blood stained relic disposed off by thieves

The Italian Police have reportedly detained 3 thieves for stealing Polish pope John Paul II's blood stained relic and discarding it away.
The police aforesaid that the thieves were unaware of the relic's price and will not recall the place wherever they threw it.

Police retrieved the metal frame that control the relic however were unable to find the fabric that's believed to be a region of the late Pope's gown worn by him on the day he was shot in Associate in Nursing assassination try in St Peter's sq. in 1981,
Meanwhile, police additionally recovered the cross, that was taken from the San Pietro della Ienca church, along side the relic within the mountainous Abruzzo region in central Italy, usually visited by the Vicar of Christ throughout his athletics holidays.
The in remission persons square measure drug addicts, aged twenty three and twenty four years recent, with a history of petty crimes.

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Inside Pakistan Army's bomb school

Militants in West Pakistan have found clever ways that to cover homemade bombs. they have been strapped to children's bicycles, hidden within water jugs and even adorned in tree branches. however the foremost surprising place that Brig. Basim Saeed has detected of such a tool being planted was within a hollowed-out book created to appear sort of a religious text, Islam's holy book.
A soldier United Nations agency visited devour the book from the ground was killed once it exploded.
"Normally if that book is lying somewhere on the ground, you tend to choose it up right away only for respect," same Saeed, the chief educator at a faculty coaching Pakistani forces the way to observe the supposed temporary explosive devices, that became more and more standard in wars in Iraq, Asian nation and therefore the rebellion in Pakistan's northwest, close to the Afghan border.
Saeed and alternative instructors at the military's Counter IED, Explosives and Munitions college say it's necessary to perpetually return up with new ways that to stop such homemade bombs as a result of that is specifically what the militants do.
"Terrorists also are terribly brilliant," Saeed same. "They area unit victimisation totally different techniques to defeat our efforts additionally. thus we'd like to be terribly proactive."
The Pakistani military has sharply ramped up efforts to influence such devices in recent years as they need emerged because the militants' most popular weapon. So far, 4,042 troopers from the military and Frontier Corps are killed and over thirteen,000 wounded within the war on militants within the country's northwest since 2002, per the Pakistani military. The homemade bombs account for many of the casualties.

The U.S. military, that within the past has same {pakistan|Pakistan|Islamic Republic of West Pakistan|West Pakistan|Asian country|Asian nation} hasn't done enough to limit the employment of sure fertilizers utilized in bombs in Pakistan and targeting foreign and government troops in Asian nation, welcome the bomb squad college, that formally opened in 2012 on a military base within the northwestern town of Risalpur.
"We're terribly inspired by the efforts that we tend to perceive the Pakistanis area unit taking there," same the top of the Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organization, Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson.
The Pakistani military additionally has affected to limit the supply of metallic element ammonium ion nitrate-based fertilizers oftentimes utilized in Asian nation, and to develop a plant food dubbed CAN+ that may work on Pakistan's soil however not detonate. And it signed associate agreement with the U.S. last year designed to assist the 2 countries work along to fight the edge bombs by sharing info in areas like militant ways and funding. U.S. specialists area unit to travel West Pakistan to provide it with hard-won data earned in Iraq and Asian nation. Separately, the British military has provided instruction.
The school's goal is to show security forces wherever bombs are often hidden, the way to hunt for them and their elements and the way to collect intelligence from them like fingerprints in order that authorities will run militants.
"The success lies in distinctive the network and busting them," said Lt. Col. Mahomet Anees Khan, a teacher. "We ought to track those those that area unit creating and planting those IEDs."
The Associated Press was the primary foreign media outlet to be allowed access to the power, per the Pakistani military.
During a recent visit, students were active victimisation instrumentation to look for devices planted within the ground or victimisation unmanned vehicles to approach potential explosive devices. Others cleared a path to a suspected militant house and marked the trail with yellow flags in order that troops returning behind them would apprehend wherever to run.
The school is meant to mimic eventualities the safety forces may realize in real world in categories that last from 3 to eight weeks.
It includes a mock urban atmosphere with a market, a filling station and alternative buildings, and explosive devices area unit even hidden in an exceedingly pool and a site. Troops active a pursuit of a residential compound might accidentally open a cabinet, setting off a loud abuzz that signals associate explosion. associate escape tunnel leading from one in every of the homes is rigged with trip wires.
"We face it whenever we tend to travel or if there's a compound, a path or another place, it's invariably in our mind that there may well be some IED," same one soldier at the college, Noor ul Ameen, United Nations agency has served within the northwest and therefore the insurgency-plagued Baluchistan province.
Most of the scholars are from the military, however officers are attempting to incorporate police associated alternative security agencies as a result of they're typically the primary on the scene once a bomb explodes or an loaded device has been found. Pakistan's police typically lack the coaching and therefore the instrumentation to influence such explosives. Even the a lot of equipped army does not sometimes have armored vehicles to maneuver troops.

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Yahoo email usernames, passwords stolen

Yahoo says usernames and passwords of its email customers are taken and accustomed access accounts, however the corporate is not speech communication what percentage accounts are affected.
Yahoo is that the second-largest email service worldwide, once Google's Gmail, consistent with the analysis firm comScore. There ar 273 million Yahoo mail accounts worldwide, together with eighty one million within the US.
Yahoo aforementioned in a very diary post on its breach that "The info wanted within the attack looks to be names and email addresses from the affected accounts' most up-to-date sent emails."
That could mean hackers were yearning for further email addresses to send spam or scam messages. By grabbing real names from those sent folders, hackers might try and create phoney messages seem additional legitimate to recipients.

The bigger danger: access to email accounts may lead to additional serious breaches involving banking and looking sites. that is as a result of several sites use email to reset passwords. Hackers might attempt work in to such a web site with the Yahoo email address, for example, and raise that a arcanum reminder be sent by email.
The breach is that the second drawback for Yahoo's mail in 2 months. In Gregorian calendar month, the service suffered a multi-day outage that prompted Yahoo chief executive officer Marissa Mayer issue associate apology.
Yahoo aforementioned it believes the usernames and passwords weren't collected from its own systems, however from a third-party info. it isn't clear why a third-party info would have info on Yahoo accounts.
Yahoo aforementioned it's resetting passwords on affected accounts and has "implemented further measures" to dam more attacks.
The company wouldn't comment on the far side the knowledge in its diary post. It aforementioned it's operating with federal enforcement.
Here in New island, Telecom's email service – provided by Yahoo – has been compromised varied times in recent months, with the businesses admitting there is not abundant they will do to prevent it.

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250 million school age kids can't read

250 million school age kids can't read U.N._At least 250 million of the world's 650 million school age youngsters ar unable to browse, write or do basic arithmetic, consistent with a report weekday commissioned by the U.N. education agency.
The report found that a hundred thirty million ar in school however haven't achieved the minimum benchmarks for learning, and nearly one hundred twenty million have spent very little or no time in an exceedingly schoolroom as well as fifty seven million kids World Health Organization aren't attending faculty.
The freelance analysis team that wrote the report for instructional Scientific and Cultural Organization|UNESCO|United Nations agency|UN agency}, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, calculated that the price of 250 million youngsters round the world not learning interprets to a loss for governments of around $129 billion annually.
UNESCO's U.N. representative Vibeke Jensen aforesaid this international "learning crisis" is especially caused by a scarcity of well-trained lecturers, particularly in impoverished areas.
"While additional youngsters ar at school, it has been at the price of quality," she aforesaid at a group discussion launching the report. "The issue now's to place the main target on quality."
In a third of nations analyzed by the team, but seventy five p.c of the first faculty lecturers had been trained to fulfill national standards.
"Teachers have the longer term of this generation in their hands," UNESCO's Director-General Irina Bokova aforesaid in an exceedingly statement. "We need 5.2 million lecturers to be recruited by two015, and that we got to work more durable to support them in providing youngsters with their right to a universal, free and quality education."

The report aforesaid that making certain Associate in Nursing equal, quality education will increase a country's gross domestic product per capita by twenty three p.c over forty years.
It calculable that fourteen countries had over one thousand thousand youngsters out of college in 2011 as well as Afghanistan, China, Congo, Somalia, Sudan before its break-up, and Tanzania.
On the and facet, it aforesaid 3 countries reduced their free populations by a minimum of eighty {five} p.c within the last five years — Laos, Rwanda and Vietnam.
World leaders set a goal in 2000 of giving each kid a school education by 2015 however the report aforesaid it's "likely to be incomprehensible by a good margin."
Sub-Saharan Africa is that the region insulating material farthest behind.
The researchers forecast that if recent trends within the region continue, the richest boys can reach the goal of finishing primary education in 2021 however the poorest ladies won't catch up till 2086.

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Pakistan will give talks with Taliban another chance: Nawaz Sharif

Islamabad: Giving unsuccessful talks with the Pakistani Taleban another likelihood, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif nowadays created four-member committee to administer peace parleys with the illegal militant cluster however created it clear that they'd ought to stop attacks that have seen a surge recently.
"This state of affairs can not be tolerated any longer. Peace isn't a selection however is our destination. Peace would be established at any price," he aforesaid addressing the National Assembly.

"Terror attacks ought to be stopped. Terror and talks cannot go hand in hand along," he aforesaid adding that every one arms of presidency square measure on identical page over this.
"We need to allow peace another likelihood," he said.
He aforesaid that the All Party Conference had set talks are control.
"We invited them to talks...so that they may not play with civilian life and property. in order that they follow the constitution. sadly, they failed to heed our plea and continuing to focus on security forces and civilians."
He aforesaid the state had been tormented by terrorist act for the last fourteen years as a result of selections taken by associate "illegal" administration.
Announcing the fixing of a committee to administer peace talks, he aforesaid Irfan Siddiqui Rahimullah Yusufzai Rustam Shah Mehmand and Major emir would be its members.
He aforesaid that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan can coordinate the operating of the committee.
The Prime Minister aforesaid that the govt. has adopted the trail of talks with the Taleban to allow peace another likelihood within the larger interest of the country despite "bitter expertise of the past".
Responding to his speech, West Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan aforesaid talks ought to be open and clear.
Sharif aforesaid he conjointly feels identical and it ought to be time sure however not for too long.
The Prime Minister aforesaid making certain security to folks is of prime importance to the govt..
He criticised the Taleban for the recent spate of attacks noting that Maj information Sanaullah, a military officer fighting the militants, was dead by the illegal cluster and "they accepted responsibility with pride".

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Former French first lady returns from post-split India trip

France's former 1st woman Valerie Trierweiler came back to Paris too soon weekday from a charity trip to Republic of India, her 1st public look since President Francois Hollande declared their split when his affair with associate degree actor.
Trierweiler's plane from India's monetary capital metropolis landed at 8:05 am (0705 GMT) and she or he was whisked away while not having to travel through the conventional traveller terminal, associate degree airfield official told

Her two-day visit to Republic of India on behalf of the French charity Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger) saw her visit a slum and witness a feeding programme for underfed kids.
She told throughout the Republic of India trip that she would love to increase her humanitarian work -- "especially towards poor children".
The 48-year-old, United Nations agency continues to be used as associate degree arts author by the French magazine Paris Match, aforementioned she planned to continue charity work instead of returning to her previous role as a political journalist.
The prospect of covering Hollande would be "too complicated" she admitted at the top of the trip.

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India, Australia launch bio robots in Indian Ocean

Robotic floats armed with sensors are launched within the Indian Ocean as a part of a brand new India-Australia analysis partnership to check the Indian Ocean, authorities same on Wed.
Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial analysis Organization (CSIRO) created the announcement, reported Xinhua.
The Indian Ocean contains immense fisheries and natural resource that area unit of strategic importance to each Australia and Republic of India. It additionally plays a right away role in driving the climates of its encompassing regions - home to quite sixteen % of the world's population.
CSIRO same the new "Bio Argo" floats, to be launched in mid-2014, can enhance the already undefeated Argo float technology to live large-scale changes within the chemistry and biology of marine ecosystems below the Indian Ocean's surface.
The Argo floats area unit a network of three,600 free-floating sensors, in operation in open ocean areas that give time period knowledge on ocean temperature and salinity.

They will target specific gaps within the understanding of Indian Ocean ecosystems of immediate concern to Republic of India and Australia, like the Bay of geographical area and therefore the waters of north Western Australia.
CSIRO's Nick Hardman-Mountford same the pilot program, diode by CSIRO unitedly with the Indian National Institute of earth science (CSIR-NIO) and therefore the Indian National Center for Ocean data Services, can "improve our understanding of cause and result within the Indian Ocean's climate and ecosystems".
"By finding out the Indian Ocean during this detail, we are able to investigate the origin and impact of marine heatwaves just like the one that wasted the coral reefs and fisheries off north Western Australian in 2011 - and improve our prediction of them within the future," Hardman-Mountford same.
CSIR-NIO Director Wajih Naqvi same the novel technological innovation can provide researchers from each countries a brand new understanding of the Indian Ocean.
The $880,000 project was funded partially by the Australian government below the Australia- Republic of India Strategic analysis Fund.

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Carl Icahn's stake in eBay close to 2 per cent

Activist capitalist Carl Icahn's stake in e-commerce company eBay INC is quite antecedently according at near two %, a supply acquainted with the matter aforementioned on Thursday.
EBay aforementioned in the week that Icahn had taken a zero.82 % interest within the company earlier this month and created a non-binding proposal for eBay to bear its PayPal payments business. EBay contains a market capitalisation of regarding $70 billion.
Representatives for each EBay and Icahn didn't straightaway reply to an invitation for investigate the scale of Icahn's stake.
Icahn told Reuters in Associate in Nursing interview he most well-liked a by-product of the business to Associate in Nursing outright sale. "I in person assume you are doing a by-product tax-exempt. at that time perhaps it might doubtless be sold-out at a good premium," Icahn aforementioned.

EBay Chief govt John Donahoe forcefully rejected Icahn's proposal on Wednesday, speech the corporate was at an advantage remaining intact.
Icahn has additionally planned 2 nominees to the eBay board. EBay known them as Icahn Enterprises L-P staff Daniel Ninivaggi and Jonathan Christodoro, each of whom Icahn often nominates to boards.
Christodoro may be a director at Herbalife INC and amulet Energy INC, whereas Ninivaggi may be a director at Federal-Mogul corporation.
EBay isn't the sole technology company in Icahn's sights. The wealthy person capitalist aforementioned Wednesday he had bought $500 million additional shares in Apple INC in only the past period, transfer his investment within the iPhone maker to over $3 billion.

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Cairo rocked by explosions on eve of 2011 uprising anniversary

Cairo was rocked by 3 explosions inside four hours on Fri that killed a minimum of 5 individuals, disjointed eighty and severely broken artefacts within a significant Egyptian deposit.
The first and largest explosion was a suicide bomb that stricken Cairo's station house early Fri morning – the eve of the third day of remembrance of the 2011 rising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.
Two smaller blasts occurred close to a railroad station and a police office in west Cairo. the primary killed one person and disjointed four once a passing driver threw a bomb at police vehicles, officers aforesaid. No casualties were reported from the second blast.
The explosions mark a noticeable step-up of AN insurgence waged by religious person extremists since the ejection of Mohamed Morsi last Gregorian calendar month, that has killed quite one hundred law enforcement officials and troopers. It follows AN audio warning discharged long by Egypt's most distinguished extremist cluster, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, that antecedently claimed responsibility for a unsuccessful attack on Egypt's interior minister, and last month's bomb at a northern station house which killed 16 officers.
The cluster has repeatedly condemned the police, World Health Organization were the target of all 3 of Friday's explosions, for the post-Morsi stifling on Islamists.
The suicide bomb occurred shortly once vi.30am, regarding 0.5 AN hour once the closure of a close-by security stop, in step with Mahmoud Abdel Sattar, a 27-year-old sergeant on duty on the third floor of the building.
"A huge truck exploded outside the fence – it did not get within the [forecourt of the] security headquarters itself," Sattar aforesaid, whereas being treated for a head wound at a close-by hospital. "After the explosion, a white non-public automobile with four passengers started shooting on the buildings still."
Sattar was hit by falling masonry. "There was shooting between the 2 sides. everybody started running and there have been lots of injuries."
Other survivors reported hearing shooting once the explosion. "I detected the explosion, then the ceiling fell in, and at that time I detected shooting," aforesaid police conscript Ahmed Hussein, World Health Organization was disjointed by the dust. "My colleague went outside to check what was happening, however ran back within as a result of the shooting."
The blast caused an oversized crater outside the building that quickly stuffed with water. an officer at the scene aforesaid it absolutely was four metres deep.

The immediate aftermath was chaotic, aforesaid Abdelrahman Mohsen, a 27-year-old furnishings maker World Health Organization arrived on the scene shortly once the explosion, and helped to hold away the casualties.
"I saw a minimum of four bodies on the ground, then we have a tendency to carried four a lot of," aforesaid Mohsen, World Health Organization couldn't ensure if the victims were dead. "There were lots of police conscripts going within and making an attempt to search out their friends, and there was masonry falling down on them ahead of the building
The explosion, detected from many miles away, smashed windows, folded house walls and crooked the shutters of shopfronts. It severely broken the gathering of the Islamic deposit, that stands opposite the targeted building, once dust crushed abundant of the museum's glass and ceramic artefacts.
The attacks could strengthen the hand of Egypt's current government, that has even its current stifling on dissent as AN essential suggests that of combatting coercion. quite one,000 Morsi supporters are killed within the crackdown, and thousands a lot of in remission since Gregorian calendar month.
Officials and the majority media shops say Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood may be a FTO that's behind all attacks on the Egyptian state – however have up to now provided no proof of their involvement.
Onlookers at the website of the 1st blast loudly backed the government's narrative, like a shot blaming the Muslim Brotherhood for the attack.
"The individuals demand the execution of the Brotherhood," chanted a crowd of bystanders, a number of whom carried footage of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the military chief World Health Organization ousted Morsi.
Two mobs attacked a van suspected by a number of containing members of the Brotherhood. more down the road, law enforcement officials suggested drivers with beards – a signal of spiritual righteousness – to show around to avoid being attacked.
A Muslim Brotherhood-led coalition has planned nationwide protests once Fri prayers as a part of their near-daily demonstrations against the overthrow of Morsi and therefore the recent vote on the country's rewritten constitution.
Morsi supporters, Sisi supporters, and pro-democracy activists critical each toilet facility one-man rule all commit to mark Saturday's third day of remembrance of the 2011 rising with rival demonstrations.

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HP to launch voice tablets exclusively in India

HP is looking to cash in from the fast-growing cell phone market in India, announcing a new line of innovative "voice tablets" with 6-inch and 7-inch screens for the market.

The HP Slate6 and HP Slate7, prices of which haven't been revealed yet, would be exclusively launched in India next month.

Built on Android operating system and featuring the powerful Quad Core processor, the are engineered for the way people multitask, while offering access to entertainment.

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Facebook imbibes trending topics like Twitter with descriptions of each trend

First came the hashtag and now the trends. Facebook launched the trending section on the lines of Twitter's trending section. But here, its more personal garnering personal data from users and a description of every trend.

Currently, this feauture has been launched and may take some time to start in different countries.

This 'Trending' section which is at the right side-bar will pick up on most mentioned words and phrases and draw an explanation for them. This will work as a news-feature.

Once, anyone clicks on the trend tag, a new page will open with mentions by friends and public posts as well.

This could hamper Twitter's USP, if Facebook's strategy works as it is the biggest social media platform right now. The social network has been in a heated battle with Twitter for that distinction over the past few years.

If Facebook users find the Trending section atop the right sidebar of their homepage useful, it will encourage public sharing and most importantly — make Facebook known as a news source for current events.

“Trending” will roll out to all users in the specified countries over the next few weeks. Besies, Facebook is also in the process of testing a mobile version of the feature.

The advantage that Facebook will have in this trending section is the way you will receive trending news.

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Banks’ proposal to limit free ATM transactions finds few takers

A proposal by Indian banks to limit free transactions on automated teller machines (ATMs) to five per month for both their own and other banks’ customers has found few takers, and some critics say such a move would prove counter-productive.
Indian banks are lobbying for central bank approval to charge users of their ATMs a fee for more than five transactions, citing the increased cost of maintaining the network of machines. A representation to this effect has been made by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), the lobby group of banks, to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Currently, banks are not allowed to charge their own customers for use of the ATM network, regardless of the number of transactions. Other banks’ customers are allowed upto five transactions free of cost per month.
“Operational costs have risen due to the need for security in every ATM and increase in frauds and we think the people of the country
Banks have been under pressure to step up security at ATMs after an incident in Bangalore in November, when a woman bank manager was brutally attacked and robbed inside an unguarded ATM kiosk where she was withdrawing money. Banks are also trying to earn more fee income as transactions on ATMs increase with their growing reach.
ATM service providers argue that limiting the number of free transactions may push customers away from using the machines and back towards bank branches, making it more expensive for banks in the long run.

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Drop Cheque in your bank account by Just Taking The photo

Its Time to Go more virtual in 2014. Electronic Devices and Technology Making our Lives more and more SImple.



Today The Uk Government Has announced the launch of Paying Cheques in Via Smart Phone.
So, From now you Dont need to step in to the Bank house to deposit any Cheques. This technology Helps you in saving a Lot of money(you use petrol to go to bank, LOL ) as well as time.

There is another thing is that, This kind of cheque deposit will get Cleared with in 2 working days, instead of 5-6 days normally taking now.

The barclay bank is the first bank it seems that introduce this technology. They said that they are going to launch this offer by APRIL,2014.

Coming to USA point of View :  As usually This technology is used by many USA bank.

So guys , Lets save the paper, Dont cut trees..

Just use the technology..

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Samsung Galaxy Note 3 reportedly receiving Android 4.4.2 KitKat update

Samsung is now reportedly rolling out the Android 4.4.2 KitKat update for its recently launched phablet, the Galaxy Note 3 in Poland.

According to Sammobile, the Galaxy Note 3's update (build N9005XXUENA6) is available over-the-air (OTA) and via the company's Kies software. However, it's worth pointing out that there is no word when Samsung will release the latest Android update for Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N9000), which is the model available in India.

The site further claims that the Android 4.4.2 KitKat update for Galaxy Note 3 has integrated many features that Google has added to the stock Android KitKat build.

Samsang mobile has also revealed the changelog for the update, which includes music Album art displayed on the lockscreen while playing music; camera shortcut on the lockscreen; upgraded Emoji icon; default launcher (TouchWiz easy Home, TouchWiz basic Home or a third-party one) from the settings menu; new wireless printing service, and more inbuilt Google apps like Photos and Drive.

The new Android 4.4 KitKat update for Galaxy Note 3 reportedly also includes the option to choose from default messaging app between Google's Hangouts and device's Messages app.

Earlier on Monday, the Android 4.4.2 KitKat screenshots of the Samsung Galaxy S4 were allegedly leaked and showed a flatter TouchWiz Nature UX design. Unfortunately, there has been no mention when the Galaxy S4 will be receiving the Android KitKat update.

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Tonga in South Pacific lashed by powerful cyclone

Tonga — The Pacific Ocean nation of Tonga was lashed by a strong cyclone on Sat, destroying homes and splitting roofs from churches and different public buildings within the inhabited northern islands. there have been no immediate reports of injuries.
A state of emergency was declared for 2 of Tonga's 3 island teams, Vava'u and Ha'apai, on Sat morning as category-five storm Cyclone Ian brought serious rain and robust winds forecast to current of air at up to 287 kilometers (178 miles) per hour.
The storm was later downgraded from the highest of the size of damaging cyclones to class four, with gusts of up to 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph).
The main island of Tongatapu within the south seems to possess avoided the worst of the storm.
Tonga's Director of Emergencies Leveni Aho aforesaid harm to homes, churches and different public buildings was reported on Lifuka island within the central Ha'apai cluster and Hunga island within the Vava'u cluster to the north.

The extent of the harm was still being assessed, however the destruction gave the impression to be less in depth than Tongans had feared from the primary category-five storm that they had seasoned in decades.
"The lucky half ... is that though it's terribly extremely dangerous, the attention was therefore slim, the extent of the harm isn't what you associate commonly with a category-five cyclone," Aho said. He calculable the storm's eye was but sixty kms (35 miles) across.
He aforesaid there have been no immediate reports of deaths, injuries or missing persons.
While churches had been ready as standby evacuation centers, Aho aforesaid he wasn't attentive to individuals feat their homes in massive numbers.
Aho suggested against travel between Tongan islands throughout the storm and urged residents of outer islands to remain place.
Tonga is associate ground of 176 islands, thirty six of that area unit populous by quite a hundred,000 people.

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Iran, EU make progress in nuclear implementation talks

Iran and therefore the international organization seemed to create progress in resolution outstanding variations on the way to implement a landmark nuclear deal in talks in Geneva on Friday however the u. s. same discussions weren't however finalised.
Deputy minister Abbas Araqchi met a senior EU official in Geneva to iron out remaining sensible details of the Gregorian calendar month twenty four accord underneath that Iran united to curb its most sensitive nuclear add come back for a few sanctions relief.
The European Union liaises with Iran on behalf of six world powers - the u. s., Russia, China, France, GB and Federal Republic of Germany - in diplomatic efforts associated with Tehran's nuclear work.
A voice for the EU, archangel Mann, same "very good" progress was created "on all the pertinent issues", however extra that results of the talks still had to be valid by additional senior officers.
In Washington, State Department representative Jen Psaki told a news informing that the technical talks were creating sensible progress however reports that a deal had been finalised were inaccurate.
The seven countries got to agree once the nuclear accord goes into impact, that means once the eu Union and therefore the u. s. ease economic sanctions reciprocally for Iranian nuclear concessions, and the way they'll verify that Iran is meeting its finish of the discount.
PRACTICAL CHALLENGES
During years of on-and-off diplomacy, Iran has rejected western allegations its work has military goals, speech communication it desires nuclear energy for energy generation and medical functions.
In a series of implementation talks between nuclear consultants and sanctions specialists from the seven countries and therefore the EU, control since Gregorian calendar month twenty four, many problems joined to the accord have surfaced.
There seem to be disagreements over the sequence of however the edges implement the deal, and the way a lot of previous notice of Iran fulfilling its obligations ought to tend to western governments before they ease sanctions.
The talks have additionally run into issues over advanced centrifuge analysis, lightness the large challenges facing Iran and therefore the six powers in negotiating the precise terms of the interim agreement.
Diplomats have same the edges aim to begin implementing the agreement on Gregorian calendar month twenty, to permit EU foreign ministers, regular to satisfy that day, to approve the suspension of EU sanctions coated by the deal. Preparations for that to require place were underneath means in national capital, officers same.
The agreement is intended to last six months and therefore the six powers hope to use the time to barter a final, broad settlement over Iran's nuclear ambition.

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West Virginia chemical spill under investigation

The chemical could be a foaming agent that on weekday leaked from a tank at a neighborhood plant manufacturing mining chemical merchandise and went into the watercourse. As a result, colleges and restaurants closed and grocery stores sold out of bottle water.
Officials say that they're unsure however dangerous the spill is to residents. it absolutely was not now clear what quantity of the chemical spilled into the watercourse and at what concentration. in keeping with the biotechnology company Fisher Scientific, the chemical is harmful if enclosed or indrawn and causes eye and skin irritation.
The Mountain State National Guard is reaching to distribute bottled drinkable to emergency services agencies within the 9 affected counties. State officers say that three hundred,000 folks in total are affected.
A representative for the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety aforementioned on weekday that there was no info of any hospitals closing which the native medical centres had adequate installation.

The central has declared the Mountain State chemical spill a disaster. U.S.A. President Obama is causing federal help to the state, wherever colleges and businesses area unit closed once a toxicant spill into one amongst the state’s major rivers. The U.S.A. Department of independent agency and also the Federal Emergency Management Agency area unit coordinative efforts with native officers. 9 Mountain State counties are plagued by the spill.
About 300,000 folks in Mountain State are warned to not drink water once a chemical spill into the cervid watercourse. The spill was initial found once the state's environmental protection department received a report of a wierd spell close to the watercourse on weekday.
Officials found a unseaworthy storage unit at a coal-processing plant within the capital town Charleston. A toxicant chemical from the tank overrun a containment space and leaked into the cervid watercourse. the total extent of the spill remains unknown.
Water contamination has become a pressing issue within the U.S.A., owing to fracking and alternative drilling procedures. many complaints relating to pollution are filed in a minimum of four U.S.A. states, with various cases confirmed. Mountain State has received 122 such complaints over the last four years, four of that were thought of grave enough to warrant “corrective action”.
Oil spills have conjointly been a significant supply of pollution within the U.S.A.. associate degree pipeline in northwestern ND spewed associate degree calculable twenty,600 barrels of fossil oil into a wheat field last year, in keeping with the state’s department of health. Earlier, associate degree ExxonMobil pipeline busted in Mayflower, Arkansas, with just about five thousand to seven thousand barrels of crude spilling out.
Some oil continues to leak from the well web site of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig within the Gulf of Mexico, in keeping with some reports. associate degree explosion at the rig that has been declared sealed was the reason for the biggest accidental marine oil spill within the history of the crude oil business.

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Indian diplomat strip-searched in NYC leaves US

An Indian diplomat defendant of lying regarding what quantity she paid her house servant was ordered out of the us these days. This came once she was indicted on 2 criminal charges and Indian authorities refused to waive her immunity, authorities same.
Devyani Khobragade, WHO had been strip-searched once in remission, left the country by plane once being charged by a federal jury with visa fraud ANd creating false statements during a case that has triggered an outcry in Asian country, a senior United States official same. She is defendant of fraudulently getting a piece visa for her big apple house servant.
A U.S. government official in Washington same the United States accepted India's request to accredit her to the global organization, that confers broader immunity than what she enjoyed as a diplomatist official. it'd be virtually unexampled for the United States to deny such letter of invitation unless the diplomat was a national security risk.
The us asked the govt. of Asian country to waive the immunity, however the Indians refused, therefore the United States then "requested her departure" from the country, the official same.
At a court hearing late these days involving solely lawyers within the case, United States District choose Shira A. Scheindlin was told by Khobragade's professional, Daniel Arshack, that he had told Khobragade to not board a flight till he had educated the choose presiding over her case that she has freedom and had been ordered by the Department of State to depart the country.
The choose same it appeared odd that bail conditions continuing to contain language that Khobragade couldn't leave big apple once the Department of State had ordered her to try and do therefore.

"If she desires to travel from Asian country to China or one thing, it's not anybody's business at once. to mention you'll not travel outside the Southern District is quite silly at this time," the choose same. "They have ordered her out and in agreement she has freedom currently."
The choose same Khobragade "is allowable to adapt the order of the State Department with none adverse consequence to her and her sureties," tho' she same Khobragade may be in remission and compelled to answer the indictment if she came back to the us while not freedom.
Arshack same Khobragade, whose nighttime flight from Kennedy airfield was delayed some of hours before finally starting off, was "pleased to be returning to her country."
"Her head is control high," the professional same. "She is aware of she has done no wrong and he or she appearance forward to reassuring that the reality is understood."
Authorities say Khobragade claimed to pay her Indian maid $US4,500 per month however gave her so much but the United States pay. The indictment same Khobragade had created multiple false representations to United States authorities, or caused them to be created, to get a visa for a private domestic employee. She planned to bring the employee to the us in September 2012 once she worked at the diplomatic building General of Asian country in big apple, consistent with the indictment.
Her arrest last month sparked outrage in Asian country once revelations that she was strip-searched and thrown during a cell with alternative criminal defendants before being discharged on $US250,000 bail.

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Pakistani teen dies trying to stop suicide bomber

People in Asian nation ar praiseful a teen boy World Health Organization residents and police say died on whereas attempting to prevent a terrorist World Health Organization was targeting his faculty within the country's violence-prone northwest.
Local police official Raheem Khan aforementioned Th that 17-year-old Aitzaz Hasan died weekday during a remote village in Hangu, a region in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
A teacher at the college told investigators that he saw Hasan chasing the offender then saw the offender detonate the bomb that killed the teenager, Khan said.
Pakistani media reported that Hasan was late for college and that is why he was outside once the offender approached the building.
The English-language specific apsis newspaper reported that Hasan's father, Muhammedan Ali, was living and dealing within the United Arab Emirates once the attack occurred. several men within the impoverished region ar forced to maneuver abroad, particularly to the Gulf, to produce for his or her families.

A study by the Islamabad-based Pak Institute for Peace Studies found that terrorist attacks in 2013 inflated by 9 over the previous year whereas the amount of individuals killed in such incidents jumped by nineteen. the amount of suicide attacks climbed by thirty ninth within the same amount, the report found.
In the face of such continuous violence the image of a youngster giving his life to avoid wasting his classmates captured the imagination of the many in Asian nation.
Hasan's death semiconductor diode to Associate in Nursing outpouring of feeling on tv and on social media, wherever the hashtag #onemillionaitzazs quickly became a favourite among Twitter users.

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Govt urged to turn back Japanese whaler

Anti-whaling cluster ocean Shepherd is looking on the national to make sure a Japanese whaler headed towards associate degree island close to Tasmania does not enter Australian waters.
The Yushin Maru No.3, one amongst 3 harpoon ships, is concerning two hundred maritime miles from Australia's exclusive economic zone around Macquarie Island, concerning 1500 kilometres south-east of Tasmania, ocean Shepherd says.
The organisation says the ship is tailing the ocean Shepherd's long-range vessel, The Bob Barker, because it makes its means towards the little island.
Sea Shepherd presently has 3 ships and concerning a hundred crew from twenty one countries in Antarctic waters to confront Japanese looking within the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, wherever industrial whaling is illegal.
The group's chairman and former federal Greens leader, Bob Brown, aforementioned the Abbott government ought to step in to prevent the Yushin Maru coming into Australian waters on Sabbatum.
The vessel coming into Australian waters would be associate degree "affront", Dr Brown aforementioned, given the tribunal had within the past found Japanese ships guilty of whaling within the Australian Whale Sanctuary.
He aforementioned he needed surroundings Minister Greg Hunt to "ensure the ship does not acquire the Australian waters".
"Coming into the water, it's no totally different to sailing into state capital Harbour or up the Derwent stream," Dr Brown more.
He aforementioned during a similar scenario in 2013 a Japanese whaling vessel had turned back at the sting of Australian waters when the previous Labor government created contact with Japan.
But he aforementioned it had been unclear what action man Hunt would take now around.
"Greg Hunt's cognizant of this and has been in reality with ... ocean Shepherd Australia, therefore we're waiting to ascertain what action they (the government) square measure taking," Dr Brown aforementioned.
Earlier in the week, ocean Shepherd aforementioned its ships drove the japanese fleet's whaling ship, Nisshin Maru, out of the Antarctic written agreement Zone following a 580km chase.

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Car Bomb Near School In Central Syria Kills 16

DAMASCUS, Syrian Arab Republic — Syrian state media associated an opposition watchdog say a bomb has exploded close to a faculty in an exceedingly central province, killing a minimum of sixteen individuals and wounding dozens.
Syrian TV says Thursday's explosion within the al-Kaffat village within the central Hama province additionally caused in depth harm. The Hama police command says there have been ladies and kids among the victims.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, that keeps track of the fighting in Syrian Arab Republic through a network of activists on the bottom, says eighteen individuals were killed, most of them civilians.
Al-Kaffat's residents area unit largely from the country's minority Ismaili sect, a branch of Shiite Islam.
Syria's conflict has cellular the largely Sunni opposition against President Bashar Assad's Alawites, members of a Shiite result sect.

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Food, beverage companies slash calories in obesity fight

A voluntary effort by the world's largest food and beverage companies to remove billions of calories from the products they sell in the United States to help combat the nation's obesity epidemic has far exceeded its five-year goal, according to an independent evaluation released on Thursday.
In May 2010, 16 of the nation's biggest food and beverage companies, from Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) to Kraft Foods Group KFG.N, pledged to remove 1 trillion calories from the U.S. marketplace by 2012 and 1.5 trillion by 2015, compared with a 2007 baseline. In fact, as of 2012 they sold 6.4 trillion fewer calories, found an analysis by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC).
"Reports like this, and the fact that they exceeded their commitment by four-fold, really shows that you can make progress in giving American families more healthy options," said Larry Soler, president of the Partnership for a Healthier America, a non-profit chaired by first lady Michelle Obama. The group was formed in 2010 to work with the private sector on anti-obesity strategies.
At the time, critics said the Partnership relied too heavily on the good will of the industry and could not replace the role of tighter regulation on how food is manufactured and marketed.

Such voluntary efforts by industry "are not a magic bullet," said Jeff Levi, executive director of Trust for America's Health, a non-profit policy group. "Particularly with kids, there is a role for regulation" in reducing demand for unhealthy, high-calorie fare.

It is not clear yet how the companies accomplished the dramatic calorie reduction, said UNC public health researcher Barry Popkin, who led the analysis funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest public health philanthropy. Some of the decline may have come from the recession, as financially-strapped families cut back on junk food.
When the pledge was announced, companies said they would substitute lower-calorie products, re-engineer existing products to cut their calories, and reduce portion size, such as with the popular 100-calorie packs of cookies and other snacks.
Popkin and his team have found that beverage companies are producing more drinks that have both sugar and artificial sweeteners and, therefore, fewer calories than sugar-only drinks. They are also "shifting advertising to lower-calorie beverages," he said, as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo (PEP.N) both did.
The biggest reduction in calories sold was to households with young children. "It seems to be parents who are driving the calorie reductions," Popkin said.
It is also not clear whether the reduction can move the needle for more than two-thirds of Americans who are overweight or obese. The 6.4 trillion fewer calories works out to 78 fewer calories per person per day, if spread equally across the 2012 U.S. population. By comparison, Americans consume an average of 300 more calories a day now than in 1985 and 600 more than in 1970, according to a 2012 report by Trust for America's Health.
Other companies that made the calorie-reduction pledge are Bumble Bee Foods, Campbell Soup Co (CPB.N), ConAgra Foods (CAG.N), General Mills (GIS.N), Hillshire Brands (HSH.N), Kellogg Co (K.N), Mars, McCormick & Company (MKC.N), Nestlé USA, Post Foods, the Hershey Company (HSY.N), J.M. Smucker (SJM.N) and Unilever (ULVR.L).
They are part of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a chief-executive-led organization formed in 2009 that aims to reduce obesity. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35.7 percent of U.S. adults are obese (having a body mass index above 30, such as 175 pounds on a 5 foot, 4 inch frame). So are 14.9 percent of children, which is down from 15.2 percent in 2003.
The 16 companies sold 60.4 trillion calories in 2007, which was 36 percent of total calories in packaged foods and beverages -- cereals, chips, canned soup, juices, sodas, candy and more -- sold that year. In 2012 they sold 54 trillion calories.
To calculate the calories sold, the UNC researchers combined data on foods and beverages sold (from grocery-store scanners and other sources) with nutritional information for the products.

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First driverless vehicle to be commercially available demoed at CES 2014

Las Vegas: French company Induct showed off the primary driverless vehicle to be commercially offered within the America. The Navia shuttle is not prepared for America street traffic however, however this standing-room-only shuttle will transport up to ten individuals from purpose to purpose on university campuses or in aerodrome parking tons at speeds topping out at twelve.5 mph.

It even charges itself wirelessly. At $250,000 per vehicle, it isn't seemingly to form automotive aficionados' hearts skip a beat. however it advances the concept of the driverless automotive with turtle-like usefulness. The shuttle is already being tested on school campuses in Svizzera, UK and Singapore, in line with Induct founder Pierre Lefevre.
Lefevre same he expects to examine a number of the vehicles on public roads within the America this year, however that would need changes to existing laws.

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Record freeze extends to eastern United States

Record freeze extends to eastern United States, at least nine dead

A deadly blast of arctic air shattered decades-old temperature records because it engulfed the eastern United States on Tues, snarling air, road and rail travel, driving energy costs higher and overwhelming shelters for homeless folks.
At least 9 deaths are according across the country connected with the polar atmospheric state that sweptback over North America throughout the past few days. Authorities have place regarding half the us underneath a wind chill warning or weather consultatory.

Temperatures were expected to be twenty five degrees to thirty five degrees Fahrenheit (14 to nineteen degrees Celsius) below traditional from the geographic region to the Southeast, the National Weather Service aforesaid.
PJM Interconnection, the agency that oversees the electrical grid supply the middle Atlantic and components of the geographic region, aforesaid electricity suppliers were troubled to stay up with billowy demand because the cold forced some power plants to shut.

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China sets targets for curbing air pollution

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has set new targets for its provinces to scale back pollution by five to twenty five %, state media same late on Tues, underscoring the government's concern a few supply of public anger.
China often problems directives to undertake to tackle pollution in major cities, however these have had restricted result.
Former health minister Chen Zhu same pollution within the country causes premature deaths of 350,000 to 500,000 folks yearly, state media rumored on Tues. Chen wrote the article during a December issue of the Lancet medical journal.
Air quality in massive components of northern and southern China reached unhealthy levels on Tues.
Under the new laws, Beijing, its neighboring town of city and northern Hopeh can got to cut the number of PM two.5 particles, that square measure particularly unhealthy for health, by twenty five % annually, state news organization Xinhua same, citing the ministry of environmental protection.
China's business capital, Shanghai, the jap provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and northern Shanxi can got to impose cuts of twenty %. Reductions of fifteen % were set for Guangdong province and Chongqing and ten % for the province Autonomous Region, Xinhua same.

The State Council, or cabinet, is mulling a system to judge every native government's progress and people World Health Organization fail to achieve goals are "named and shamed", same the China Daily newspaper.
Air quality in cities is of accelerating concern to China's stability-obsessed leaders, anxious to douse potential unrest as a additional affluent urban population turns against a growth-at-all-costs economic model that has poisoned abundant of the country's air, water and soil.
Authorities have endowed in numerous comes to fight pollution and sceptred courts to administer the executing in serious cases.
But social control of rules has been uneven at the native level, wherever authorities usually believe taxes paid by polluting industries.

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Entertainment Former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear Killed During Robbery

A popular soap-opera role player and former Miss Republic of Venezuela, 29-year-old Monica Spear sure enough might have afforded to vacation elsewhere.
Yet she and her ex, United Nations agency worked within the travel trade, spent January 1 within the mountains of western Republic of Venezuela with their 5-year-old female offspring then visited the plains of Apure state.

On their come back by automobile to Caracas, Spear and Thomas Henry Berry, a 39-year-old British national, became the newest symbols of the rampant violent crime that's afflicting this oil-rich nation.
Robbers shot associated killed the 2 and wounded their female offspring on an isolated stretch of main road once they tried to foil the assault by protection themselves within their automobile, that had been disabled by tire punctures, police aforementioned weekday.
The slayings late Monday incensed Venezuelans, triggering a wave of involves action on social media. TV temperament Camila Canabal expressed what several were feeling in an exceedingly tweet: "Sadness, anger, choler, impotence, shame and pain, pain, pain, dammit!!!"

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UK pounded by 'Winter Storm Hercules'

Fierce storms continued to batter components of the united kingdom have caused immense harm to homes and landscapes alike. Waves up to eight metres high and 112 km/h winds have slammed into Britain's south-western coast.
The storm was therefore powerful it reduced a centuries-old landmark rock arch in Cornwall's Porthcothan Bay to trash. The Emergency Agency predicts that 220 properties have thus far been flooded on the coast as a result of the swell, consistent with the Daily Mail. Residents in many cities on the coast are exhausted as a precaution. The Ea has issued 3 severe flood warnings for the south-western county of Dorset, yet as over three hundred less serious flood alerts.

"Although high tides square measure currently falling, there remains a risk of coastal flooding, particularly on the south and west coasts," aforementioned eating apple Day, flood risk manager at the Ea.
The Met workplace, Britain's prediction body, aforementioned the storm, dubbed Winter Storm Hercules, is loosely connected to the weather system that caused the US winter storm, that drop giant amounts of snow within the Northeast and delayed thousands of flights.
At least seven individuals have died in a very wave of stormy weather that has battered UK since Dec, together with a person killed once his quality scooter fell into a stream in Oxford, southern England.
A search is additionally afoot for a missing Bournemouth man who's believed to own walked out of his home towards the ocean yesterday.
However, the wild weather hasn't deterred surfers World Health Organization square measure believed to own return from the US, chasing the storm sweeping across the Atlantic within the hope of catching some massive waves.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted that the Ea has adequate funding to confirm frontline services square measure ready to influence such events.
"We're outlay£2.3billion during this four-year amount on flood defences that is over the previous four-year amount," he said. But whereas adult male Cameron aforementioned he was optimistic concerning the method true was being handled, enhancements may be created.
"I suppose we're doing lots additional things higher. i believe flood warnings square measure higher, i believe the flood defences have protected tens of thousands of homes however there'll continually be lessons to be told and i am going to make certain they're learned."
The Met workplace has aforementioned the weather probably|is probably going} to enhance because the week goes on however any high winds square measure likely to offer an extra combat to coastal areas.

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'Pro' Galaxy Note and Tab debut with enhanced specs

Samsung proclaimed new versions of the Galaxy Note phablet and Tab pill at the buyer physics Show (CES) in metropolis on Mon. The "Pro" versions improve on each side of their predecessors, adding higher resolution screens, a brand new interface and additional powerful multitasking.
A new 12-inch model leads the charge, however 10-inch and eight.4-inch versions also are on the manner, all with a resolution of 2560x1600 — which suggests the littlest one are concerning as sharp as Apple's in demand "Retina" iPad mini. They disagree on varied internal specs, however share the marquee options.

In addition to the new hardware, the UI has additionally gotten a lift. The "Magazine" heal golem four.4 eschews the standard pages-of-icons look; instead, the page is split into panes of assorted sizes, into that live apps will be fastened for simple access. It's like Android's widgets crossed with Windows Phone's gridlike layout, and it's rather helpful, that is quite will be aforementioned for several of Samsung's previous tries at accessorizing the OS.
Samsung took another page from Microsoft's book with the new multitasking interface. simply swipe in from the facet of the screen, like on Windows eight, and drag the icon of the app you wish to wherever you wish it. this might be handy for productivity junkies: net conference in one pane, document open in another, Reddit during a third, and a fourth able to go.
The devices win this while not compromising an excessive amount of on thickness, tho' the large battery within the 12-inch model in all probability still adds alittle to rock bottom line. it will be concerning fifty % heavier than Associate in Nursing iPad — however that is still almost about a pound and a 0.5.
No valuation or launch date was mentioned aside from Q1, therefore expect additional data within the next month or 2.

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Iran sanctions bill opposed by Obama gains Senate backers

(Reuters) - U.S. senators pushing a bill to slap new sanctions on Persia if it goes back on Associate in Nursing interim deal beneath that it united to limit its nuclear program have gained support since the legislation was introduced in Gregorian calendar month, aides same on Mon.
The bill, that the White House has vulnerable to veto, needs more reductions in Persia's oil exports and would apply new penalties on different industries if Iran either violates the interim agreement or fails to succeed in a final comprehensive deal.
Iran signed the six-month interim deal in Geneva on Gregorian calendar month twenty four with the us, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.
While the bill has gained support, it remains unsure if backers will place along the simple fraction majority within the Senate required to override a veto by President Barack Obama.
The Obama administration has insisted the bill would injury delicate talks being command between Persia and world powers over the nuclear program, that national capital says is for peaceful functions. Iranian secretary of state Muhammad Zarif has same a replacement sanctions law would kill the interim agreement.
While senior Democrats within the Senate like Menendez, from New Jersey, and Charles Schumer, from the big apple, support the new sanctions, there's a powerful axis of opposition within the party. 10 Democratic senators, all leaders of committees, sent a letter to Senate legislator Harry Reid last month expressing their opposition to the bill.
A bipartizan cluster of 9 senior policy consultants urged Menendez and church to not pass the new sanctions, spoken language the penalties might probably move the us nearer to war.
Ryan Crocker, a former ambassador to Republic of Iraq and Asian country, and Thomas Pickering, former Ambassador to Israel, Asian country and therefore the international organisation, were among signers of a letter to the senators that same a sanctions bill, albeit it took result in six months, would decision into question Washington's straightness and presumably isolate the us among the countries holding talks with Persia.
The bill provides the administration up to a year to pursue a diplomatic track, that backers say wouldn't violate terms of the interim deal.
On oil exports, the new bill seeks to chop sales a minimum of thirty % among a year and to zero among 2 years, if Persia breaks the deal or a comprehensive deal isn't reached.
Since 2012, U.S. and European sanctions have cut Iran's oil sales by quite one million barrels per day, cost accounting the country billions of bucks a month and driving up inflation.

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Zhejiang, Shanghai report two human avian flu cases

A human case of H7N9 was reported in East China's Zhejiang Province on Sunday and Shanghai reported a human case of H7N9 on Saturday.

The patient is a 34-year-old woman surnamed Cai, who is from the city of Zhuji, the provincial health and family planning commission said.

She was confirmed to be infected with the bird flu virus on Saturday. By 1 pm on Sunday, she was still in critical condition at a local hospital, the statement said.

The patient in Shanghai is an 86-year-old local surnamed Zhou. He was confirmed to be infected with the bird flu virus on Friday. The patient is receiving treatment at a local hospital, the city's health and family planning commission said.

In the meantime, samples of goose meat taken from a Guangzhou market in South China's Guangdong Province have tested positive for H7N9 avian influenza.

Two goose meat samples and one sewage water sample from two poultry booths in a wet market in Zengcheng, a satellite city of Guangzhou, tested positive, the Guangdong Provincial Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) confirmed on Sunday.

"It's serious that the water sample test is positive, because it means all the birds inside coops have the possibility of being infected with H7N9 avian influenza. The longer they stay in the coops, the risk of being infected rises," said Yang Zhicong, deputy chief of the Guangzhou CDCP. The city government of Guangzhou, the provincial capital, is tracking the poultry source. The market was shut down on Saturday for three days.

Meanwhile, 17 salespeople working in nine poultry booths in the market are undergoing a week-long medical observation. So far, they have shown no signs of being infected with the bird flu

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Samsung announces ‘Smart Home’ project

South Korea-based Samsung on Sunday announced a new project that will enable users to control all of their connected devices and appliances and devices through a single app.

The Samsung Smart Home project, which was announced by the company at the International CES yesterday, will allow users to manage things as varied as their TV, heating system and refrigerator through a single smartphone app.

Taking advantage of the cameras built into many of the company's connected appliances, the Home View service will allow users to peep into what is going on at home. The ability to control and manage a device of appliance will get notification from Smart Customer Service whenever it is time to service an appliance. They will also be able to get after-sales servicing assistance.

Users will be able control multiple devices at once just by selecting the Samsung Smart Home icon, regardless of whether they are in their house or traveling abroad. Device Control will let them access customized settings for all of their connected appliances. The users of the service will also be able to use voice commands with your Galaxy Gear or Smart TV remote to control their devices and appliances.

The South Korea-based consumer electronics giant aims to roll out the service across its products in the first half of 2014, starting with smartphones, select Smart TVs, and appliances. Ultimately, the company plans to expand the reach of the service to cover areas like home energy and healthcare.

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GSLV-D5 launch puts India in 'cryo club

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Sunday successfully launched the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-D5 (GSLV-D5), carrying communication satellite GSAT-14, from Sriharikota, about 80 km from Chennai.

With this, India joined the “cryo club”, a select group of spacefaring nations having the crucial cryogenic engine technology, which is necessary to carry heavy satellites. Countries which have such a capability are the US, Russia, France, Japan and China.

Isro Chairman K Radhakrishnan said: “I am extremely happy and proud to say that Team Isro has done it. The Indian cryogenic engine and stage performed as predicted, as expected for this mission and injected precisely the GSAT-14 communication satellite into the intended orbit.”

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Bangladesh elections marred by violence, boycott

Police in Bangladesh shot dead three protesters as suspected opposition activists stabbed an election official to death and set over 100 polling stations ablaze in a very bid to disrupt general elections Sunday that threaten to deepen the crisis within the South Asian nation. The opposition and its allies are boycotting the vote, a move that undermines the legitimacy of the election and makes it unlikely that the polls can stem a wave of political violence that killed a minimum of 275 individuals in 2013.

Police opened fireplace to stop protesters from seizing a polling centre in northern citrus tree district, killing 2 individuals. In a similar incident in neighbouring Nilphamari district, police discharged into concerning 2 dozens of protesters, departure one person dead. Police gave no further details, however Dhaka's Daily Star newspaper aforesaid the 3 men belonged to the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party.
Asian nation executes opposition leader Abdul Qader Mohammedan
Elsewhere, police said suspected opposition activists stabbed to death a polling official, and native media rumored that attackers torched additional than 127 faculty buildings across the country in long attacks. The buildings were to be used as polling stations. The option began at eight a.m. but local television stations showed mostly empty polling stations, still wrapped in early morning winter fog. The commission aforesaid polling has been suspended in a minimum of thirty eight centres attributable to attacks by anti-election activists, burning of ballots and election materials.
Much of the capital, Dhaka, has been cut off from the rest of the country in recent weeks, as the opposition has ironed its demands through general strikes and transportation blockades. Civilians have been caught up in the bloodshed, with activists torching vehicles happiness to motorists United Nations agency defy the strikes, resulting in a growing sense of desperation over the political impasse.

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Arctic cold front threatens US, midwest braces for record low temperatures

As the western us shivered through the region's lowest temperatures in 20 years and forecasters warned that critical cold was heading eastward, officials in Chicago and other districts said schools would be closed on Monday. Icy conditions snarled travel across the Midwest and thousands of flights were canceled or delayed, days once the Northeast was beat by the primary winter storm of the season.

"The coldest temperatures in almost 20 years will spread into the northern and central U.S. nowadays behind AN arctic cold front," the National Weather Service said on Sunday. "Combined with blustering winds, these temperatures will lead to life-threatening wind chill values as low as 60 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit/minus 51 degrees Celsius)."
In weather that cold, cryopathy will set in on uncovered skin in an exceedingly matter of minutes, consultants warned.
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton ordered all public schools within the state closed on Monday to guard children from dangerously atmospheric condition.
Chicago public faculties followed suit - reversing AN earlier call - expression in an exceedingly statement on its web site that it might be dangerous for youngsters to commute to high school amid sub-zero temperatures and high winds.
The NWS said the widespread chill was a result of a relatively infrequent alignment of weather conditions, permitting the Arctic polar vortex to be displaced outstandingly so much south.
"The weather pattern across North America straight away is about up to be very favorable for the southward transport of Arctic air," said Bob Oravec, a National Weather Service specialiser.
"It's not going to be lasting," he added. "By the finish of the week the temperatures undoubtedly begin to moderate across the whole of the country."

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Portugal football legend Eusebio dies

-- Portugal soccer legend Eusebio, UN agency was prime scorer at the 1966 World Cup, died at the age of seventy one, his former club Benfica aforesaid Sunday. He died from a heart failure, the Lisbon aspect aforesaid on its web site. The striker, dear called the "Black Panther," was idolized throughout the Portuguese-speaking world and thought of one among the sport's greatest players. "Always eternal #Eusebio, rest in peace," Real national capital forward and current Portugal icon Cristiano Ronaldo tweeted aboard a image of each men along. Portugal's former world player of the year, Luis Figo, tweeted that Eusebio was the "king" whereas Brazil's Pele, thought-about by several to be the best football player of all time, tweeted that Eusebio was sort of a "brother" to him.

"May God receive him with open arms," aforesaid Pele.
Eusebio, whose full name was Eusebio prosecutor timberland Ferreira, vie for 3 North yank football League groups in the twilight of his career however is best well-known for his exploits in fifteen years at Benfica. Born in 1942 in Mozambique, which was then a Portuguese territory, he scored 41 goals in 64 appearances for his adopted country. Eusebio was European football player of the Year in 1965 however won international acclaim a year later at the World Cup in England, where his nine goals helped Portugal reach the semifinals.
World Cup scorer
He scored 2 goals as Portugal eliminated defensive champions Brazil in the cluster stage, then webby four times in Associate in Nursing unimaginable match comeback against North Korean Peninsula as his aspect rallied from 3-0 down to win 5-3 in one of the tournament's most famed matches.
Eusebio scored again within the semifinals against England, however the hosts won 2-1 before beating Germany within the final

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Facebook, Twitter followers a multi million-dollar business

Celebrities, businesses and even the U.S. State Department have bought bogus Facebook likes, Twitter followers or YouTube viewers from offshore "click farms," where workers tap, tap, tap the thumbs up button, view videos or retweet comments to inflate social media numbers. Since Facebook launched almost 10 years ago, users have sought to expand their social networks for financial gain, winning friends, bragging rights and professional clout. And social media companies cite the levels of engagement to tout their value.

Twitter followers available on the open market
But an Associated Press examination has found a growing global marketplace for fake clicks, which tech companies struggle to police. Online records, industry studies and interviews show companies are capitalizing on the opportunity to make millions of dollars by duping social media. Going to 'the dark side' For as little as a half cent each click, websites hawk everything from LinkedIn connections to make members appear more employable to Soundcloud plays to influence record label interest.

"Anytime there's a monetary value added to clicks, there's going to be people going to the dark side," said Mitul Gandhi, CEO of seoClarity, a Des Plaines, Ill., social media marketing firm that weeds out phony online engagements. Italian security researchers and bloggers Andrea Stroppa and Carla De Micheli estimated in 2013 that sales of fake Twitter followers have the potential to bring in $40 million to $360 million to date, and that fake Facebook activities bring in $200 million a year. APTOPIX Wall Street Twitter IPO For as little as a half cent each click, people can purchase followers. In some parts of the world, $10 can net you 1,000 Twitter followers. (Richard Drew/Associated Press) As a result, many firms, whose values are based on credibility, have entire teams doggedly pursuing the buyers and brokers of fake clicks. But each time they crack down on one, another, more creative scheme emerges. When software engineers wrote computer programs, for example, to generate lucrative fake clicks, tech giants fought back with software that screens out "bot-generated" clicks and began regularly sweeping user accounts. YouTube wiped out billions of music industry video views last December after auditors found some videos apparently had exaggerated numbers of views. Its parent-company, Google, is also constantly battling people who generate fake clicks on their ads.

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And Facebook, whose most recent quarterly report estimated as many as 14.1 million of its 1.18 billion active users are fraudulent accounts, does frequent purges. That's particularly important for a company that was built on the principle that users are real people. Twitter's Jim Prosser said there's no upside. "In the end, their accounts are suspended, they're out the money and they lose the followers," he said. LinkedIn spokesman Doug Madey said buying connections "dilutes the member experience," violates their user agreement and can also prompt account closures. Google and YouTube "take action against bad actors that seek to game our systems," said spokeswoman Andrea Faville.

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Syrian rebels want foreign fighters gone

-- The opposition Free Syrian Army is popping against foreign fighters in Syria's warfare, impressive some two hundred outsiders with ties to al-Qa'ida teams. The FSA had given members of the al-Qaeda-backed Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, twenty four hours to surrender and leave the country, before impressive around two hundred of them, spokesperson Loauy Mokdad told CNN. "Now, we have a tendency to repeat that we do not need any foreign fighters in Syrian Arab Republic," Mokdad aforementioned, equalisation the ISIS fighters with the Syrian regime. "We don't need any terrorist teams in Syrian Arab Republic. we'll not allow them to create bases in Syria." The move comes as infighting between the Free Syrian Army and Mohammedan teams have vulnerable to tip the balance among rebel forces toward militant teams and off from a lot of profane brigades. The FSA gave the ISIS Associate in Nursing demand and defendant the cluster of killing FSA officers and committing crimes against civilians. "After six months trying to hijack our revolution and once they controlled some liberated areas and once they begin to force our folks to act like Moslem state, we have a tendency to gave such a lot of warnings to them, that is one thing not acceptable for USA," Mokdad aforementioned. In a sign of the escalating tensions, two Syrian human rights watchdogs claim that Islamic fighters with ISIS executed 30 people in the northern Syrian province of Idlib Saturday. The native Coordination Committees of Syrian Arab Republic, a network of opposition activists, aforementioned that the thirty victims were "field executed" once being kidnaped at checkpoints within the province. The victims enclosed civilians and fighters from rival factions, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights aforementioned. ISIS forces have increasingly acquire conflict with FSA fighters and other hard-line anti-Assad factions while attempting to enforce their strict sort of Islamic Islamic law on areas coming under their control across northern Syria. ISIS on Saturday issued its own ultimatum Saturday, giving the FSA twenty four hours to free their prisoners, or they're going to leave their joint posts with the FSA in Alep.

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