Every second, millions of tons of various gases rise from the surface of the earth into the atmosphere. Many of them are man-made and harmful, contributing massively to pollution and consequently to global warming. The European Space Agency, ESA, is slowly building a network of satellites that will help scientists create a real-time global map of the health of our planet. VOA’s George Putic reports.
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From: MeNeedIt
A decade-long battle by luxury brands to defend their image neared an end on Wednesday when an adviser to Europe’s top court said Coty can block a German retailer from selling its beauty products via online marketplaces.
“A supplier of luxury goods may prohibit its authorized retailers from selling its products on third-party platforms such as Amazon or eBay,” Advocate General Nils Wahl at the European Union’s Court of Justice said in a non-binding opinion.
Wahl’s view relates to a dispute between the German business of Coty, whose brands include Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein and Chloe, and German retailer Parfumerie Akzente, which sells Coty’s goods on sites including Amazon against its wishes.
Luxury brands say they should have the right to choose who sells their products to protect their image and exclusivity.
Judges at Europe’s highest court, who follow their advisers’ opinions in four out of five cases, will rule on the case “Coty Germany GmbH v Parfumerie Akzente GmbH” in the coming months.
Coty did not respond to a request for comment.
Denis Waelbroeck, a lawyer at Ashurst, said there is a rationale to the luxury brands’ arguments against so-called free riders, companies who may benefit from others’ marketing efforts without paying the costs.
“I don’t think free riding deserves a particular reward. Competition rules do not allow free riding on heavy investments made by luxury goods companies,” he said.
EU antitrust regulators crafted rules in 2010 which allow brand owners with less than a 30 percent market share to block online retailers without a bricks-and-mortar shop from distributing their products.
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From: MeNeedIt
Twitter Inc heads toward its quarterly earnings report on Thursday with a stock that has risen more than 40 percent since April when much of Wall Street was ready to write off the tech company.
The company’s share price popped after its most recent earnings report in April, when Twitter disclosed better-than-expected user growth.
The number of people on Twitter will be in sharp focus on Thursday, when investors and analysts will see if it has kept up the 6 percent year-over-year growth in monthly active users it reported in April. Twitter said then that it had 328 million users.
“For a company that people thought six months ago was knocking on death’s door and going the way of Myspace and AOL, the double-digit rebound and the continued acceleration in users has really surprised investors,” BTIG Research analyst Richard Greenfield said.
Twitter shares closed on Tuesday at $19.97, nearly flat on the day but up 41.4 percent since its stock hit an intraday low of $14.12 on April 17.
The S&P 500 information technology index is up 10.6 percent since its April 17 closing price.
The surge of interest is a morale boost for Twitter, which has limped through past earnings announcements, struggled to keep a stable management and suffered unfavorable comparisons to its bigger and more profitable competitor Facebook Inc.
This month, Twitter had a streak of 12 days when its shares closed up.
The business is expected to report quarterly revenue of $536.6 million, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S forecast average. That would be a drop of 10.9 percent from $602 million a year earlier.
What has investors upbeat, though, is the number of people on the service, which public figures including U.S. President Donald Trump use to blast out 140-character messages.
“People are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt if they start to grow again,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said.
Other positive signs cited by analysts include co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey purchasing additional shares and co-founder Biz Stone announcing in May his return to Twitter. Ex-banker Ned Segal starts next month as Twitter’s next chief financial officer.
Meanwhile, advertisers and investors have gotten used to Twitter existing as a niche platform, Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser said. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” he said.
From: MeNeedIt
Tests on deceased former professional American football players showed nearly all of them had a chronic traumatic brain disease, according to scientific research published Tuesday in the JAMA medical journal.
The disease, called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), is believed to be caused by repeated head trauma and has been known to cause memory loss, disorientation, depression and impaired judgement, among other symptoms.
Of the 202 total deceased former players studied for the report, which included high school, college and professional players, 177 were diagnosed with CTE. National Football League players seemed particularly prone to CTE, with 110 of the 111 former NFL players examined in the study being diagnosed with the disease.
“There’s no question that there’s a problem in football. That people who play football are at risk for this disease,” study author and director of Boston University’s CTE Center Dr. Ann McKee said. “And we urgently need to find answers for not just football players, but veterans and other individuals exposed to head trauma.”
The study marks the most recent research published linking head trauma sustained while playing football to chronic brain injuries, though it is by no means conclusive.
As pointed out in the study, the brains examined for the research were donated by family members of football players who may have exhibited symptoms of chronic brain injury prior to death. This creates a selective sample that may not be representative of all football players.
The NFL released a statement praising the study for its role in advancing the science related to chronic head injuries and said it is working with “a wide range of experts to improve the health of current and former NFL athletes.”
“There are still many unanswered questions relating to the cause, incidence and prevalence of long-term effects of head trauma such as CTE,” the statement read.
Last year, the NFL acknowledged for the first time publicly a link between head blows sustained on the football field and brain disease and agreed to a $1 billion settlement to compensate former players who suffer from head trauma-related injuries.
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From: MeNeedIt
Backstreet Boys got their first hit country song this year on a collaboration with country duo Florida Georgia and now the two powerhouse acts are teaming up for a “CMT Crossroads” episode airing Aug. 30.
The cross-genre television show will feature all-star group performances of each other’s biggest singles, including “I Want It That Way,” “As Long As You Love Me,” “Cruise” and “H.O.L.Y.” as well as their partnership on the platinum hit “God, Your Momma, and Me.”
The two groups are popping up together a lot this year. They performed together on the Academy of Country Music Awards this year and are playing a series of baseball stadium tour dates this summer.
Longtime fans
FGL’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley are longtime fans of the ’90s boy band icons, who are on an upswing after a successful Las Vegas residency this year. Hubbard said in an email interview with The Associated Press that he’s most looking forward to singing their classic, “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).”
“It’s crazy to think how we grew up listening to this song and now are on stage performing it together,” Hubbard said. “It still gets me every time!”
With the two groups hitting Boston, Minneapolis and Chicago stadiums, Hubbard said watching the Backstreet Boys performances has been a learning experience.
“These guys are master entertainers, no doubt,” Hubbard said. “But, I gotta say that BK and I have learned to really step up our game all the way around.”
Big hit in Las Vegas
Their performance at the ACMs in Las Vegas in April got everyone from Nicole Kidman to Tim McGraw on their feet to dance along. But the country duo acknowledges that it’s pretty complicated to get all seven singers up on stage together to dance.
“The dance moves are still a new thing for us but we love it, so much so that we even added dancers to our stadium shows,” Kelley said.
Debuting in 2002, “CMT Crossroads” has featured musical mashups between Def Leppard and Taylor Swift, Steven Tyler and Carrie Underwood, and John Mayer and Keith Urban. The one-hour show will air at 10 p.m. Eastern/Pacific on Aug. 30.
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From: MeNeedIt
Eight siblings who grew up in southwestern Indiana have amassed nearly 450 years of combined marriage.
Bruce Clinkenbeard of Freelandville, Indiana, and his wife Sally have been married for 53 years, but that’s just the tip of the Clinkenbeard family’s matrimonial iceberg.
Bruce and his seven siblings have together racked up a combined 448 years of marriage, and counting. Seven of the eight siblings either have been or were married for more than a half-century. That includes a sister who died in 2013 after 63 years of matrimony.
Bill Clinkenbeard has been married 59 years, but he and his wife Karen have always worked out any differences they’ve had. He tells the Vincennes Sun-Commercial their marriage is “a lot of give and take – and a lot of love.”
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From: MeNeedIt
Katinka Hosszu has a case full of medals.
She wants so much more.
From marketing marvel to ambitious businesswoman to fledgling union organizer, the Hungarian swimmer known as the “Iron Lady” knows how to make a splash – in and out of the pool.
Along with American star Katie Ledecky, Hosszu is perhaps the biggest name at the world championships this week, the home-country favorite whose face seemingly appears on every billboard around Budapest, whose every appearance at Duna Arena is accompanied by foot-stomping, flag-waving euphoria.
She lived up to the enormous expectations in her first event of the meet, winning the 200-meter individual medley Monday night.
“Katinka’s Gold!” blared the front-page headline on the country’s largest daily sports newspaper.
While Hosszu and her American husband-coach, Shane Tusup, have built a rapidly growing swimsuit and apparel company based on the “Iron Lady” moniker – it now has about 50 employees and is omnipresent in retail stores around Hungary – the 28-year-old has turned her sights to what she considers an even greater cause.
After governing body FINA changed its the rules to limit the number of events a swimmer could enter on the World Cup circuit, a capricious decision that seemed targeted specifically at Hosszu and her grueling program (that’s how she got her nickname, after all), the swimmer vowed to fight back.
“I’m obviously trying to do a lot more for swimming than what I do in the pool,” Hosszu said. “I think it’s important to put the same effort into it outside the pool.”
She formed the Global Association of Professional Swimmers (GAPS) and quickly drew attention by persuading more than two dozen of her fellow competitors to come on board, including such major stars as Australian sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell, Britain’s Adam Peaty, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom and American Katie Meili.
Hosszu has been outspoken in her criticism of scandal-plagued FINA and seems intent on giving swimmers a much bigger voice in governing the sport.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of swimmers lately,” she said. “I had no idea that all over the world, swimmers from different continents, we really speak the same language.”
As swimming’s first millionaire based strictly on her race-prize earnings, Hosszu wants to spread the wealth to others. Given the sport’s enormous popularity during the Olympics and financial strides it made while riding the wave of Michael Phelps, she sees no reason for so many accomplished swimmers to be struggling to make ends meet.
“The main thing is for all these swimmers to come together,” Hosszu said. “That’s something that hasn’t happened before. I think if we can put more effort into swimming, we can push the sport even further.”
She’s still a bit vague about her goals, but it’s clear she wants to give swimmers the same sort of influence that athletes have in sports such as soccer and NBA basketball.
“I don’t think swimming should be watched only during the Olympics,” Hosszu went on. “We deserve to be treated as professional swimmers. We’re partners in this relationship.”
That Hosszu finds herself in such a prominent position would have seemed totally improbable after the 2012 London Olympics, when she was a medal favorite in several events but didn’t make the podium at all. She likely would have retired from the sport if not for Tusup, whom she had first met when both were swimming for the University of Southern California.
Tusup took over as her coach, becoming well known for his boisterous antics on deck, and their personal and professional relationship yielded an Olympics of redemption in Rio de Janeiro last summer. Hosszu won three golds and a silver, more than any other swimmer in individual events.
“I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for Shane,” Hosszu said.
Tusup returns the compliment, praising his wife for her commitment to the sport beyond winning more championships and selling more merchandise.
“It means so much more than a medal,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’re like, ‘Great, I did all those hours for this?’ The object itself is not that valuable. It’s what it does and what it means. For us, it’s the stories, the process, the journeys.”
Hosszu’s cause seemed to take on increased urgency during these championships.
At a meeting held last weekend in a luxury hotel along the Danube, FINA re-elected its 81-year-old president, Julio Maglione, to a third term after changing the rules to remove the age limits. The organization also retained another top official, first vice president Hussain al-Musallam, even though he is facing bribery allegations.
In Hosszu’s eyes, it’s time for swimmers to start cleaning up the sport.
It’s past time for them to get their rightful share.
“I’m not only talking about the top swimmers getting paid more,” she said. “I’m talking about swimmers trying to be professional, trying to make money from swimming. It should be the goal that all people who make the semifinals can make a living from swimming and not have to worry about their next job. They can just focus on swimming – be like basketball players and football players, just focusing on their sport.”
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From: MeNeedIt
James Bond is returning to movie theaters in November 2019, producers said Monday, but they did not say who will play Britain’s most famous fictional spy.
Eon Productions and MGM studios said in a statement that the 25th Bond film will be released in U.S. theaters on Nov. 8, 2019, with a slightly earlier release in Britain.
They gave no title, casting or other details.
Britain’s Daniel Craig has played Bond in the last four films, including 2012’s Skyfall and 2015’s Spectre. The 2015 film took some $880 million at the global box office, according to film tracker BoxOfficeMojo.com.
His reprisal of the role for a fifth time has been the subject of much speculation after the actor said in 2015 that he would rather slash his wrists than play Bond again.
Callum McDougall, the executive producer of the Bond film franchise, told Britain’s BBC Radio last year that Craig, 49, was “absolutely the first choice. … We would love Daniel to return as Bond.”
Meanwhile, actors such as Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston and Tom Hardy have all been named as potential candidates to step into the fast cars and sharply tailored suits of Bond, MI6’s secret agent 007.
With its futuristic gadgets, menacing super villains and larger-than-life explosions, the Bond series is the longest-running film franchise in history, with actors such as Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan inhabiting the role of the leading man.
The new film will be written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who wrote the last four movies in the franchise.
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From: MeNeedIt
Brazil’s cash-strapped government is drawing up a voluntary redundancy plan for federal civil servants aimed at reducing its bloated payroll and saving about 1 billion reais ($318 million) a year, the Planning Ministry said on Monday.
It will also offer public employees a shorter workday in the latest effort to cut payroll costs and reduce a gaping budget deficit that cost Brazil its investment grade credit rating.
The ministry said in a statement that the plan would be announced this week.
The government’s income and spending estimates published last week show a payroll bill for this year of 284.5 billion reais. That marked the second largest outlay after social security benefits, which total an estimated 559.8 billion reais.
A two-year recession has reduced tax revenues and forced the government to freeze spending as it seeks to meet a 139 billion-real budget deficit target for 2017.
Political turbulence stirred by corruption charges against President Michel Temer has delayed approval in Congress of an unpopular overhaul of Brazil’s generous pension system that is the main cause of the budget deficit.
($1 = 3.1468 reais)
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From: MeNeedIt
Conservative Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are seeking to add an amendment this week to spending legislation that would slash the number of staff at the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The budget research office, known as the CBO, has drawn recent Republican criticism, including from the White House, after it concluded that Republican proposals to replace Obamacare would lead to 23 million more Americans being uninsured if they became law.
Representative Mark Meadows, head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said on Monday his colleague Morgan Griffith has offered an amendment to an appropriations bill the House is expected to take up this week that would cut the CBO’s staff of 235 by 89 employees, saving about $15 million.
“They ought to be aggregators,” Meadows said of the CBO at a National Press Club lunch. “There’s plenty of think tanks that are out there. We ought to take a score from Heritage, from AEI [American Enterprise Institute], from Brookings, from the Urban Institute and bring them together for a composite score.”
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank based in Washington, as is the American Enterprise Institute. The Brookings Institution and Urban Institute are liberal-leaning think tanks based in Washington.
The CBO is one of a handful of analysis units of Congress whose employees strive for political impartiality, providing dependable and neutral information that lawmakers can use when making often complex budget, tax and other decisions. Its staff includes economists, public policy analysts, lawyers and editors.
In May, after Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney called the CBO’s healthcare analysis “absurd” and questioned its continued existence, Democrats defended the office, saying Republican attacks were irresponsible.
“When Trump administration officials either disagree with or do not understand the impacts of their own policies, they prefer to attack the nonpartisan analysts who are doing their jobs with integrity and expertise,” Representative Steny Hoyer, a Democratic House leader, said at the time.
The CBO was created in 1974 during a spending dispute between the Democratic-controlled Congress and Republican President Richard Nixon after he withheld funds for government programs that did not support his political positions.
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From: MeNeedIt
The popularity of drones keeps growing, both for personal and commercial use. Instead of humans controlling them, researchers are working on ways to teach the unmanned vehicles how to navigate and avoid obstacles. In Switzerland, researchers are training drones to recognize their surroundings and build 3D maps. VOA’s Deborah Block explains how.
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From: MeNeedIt