China’s online retail giant Alibaba says it has seen nearly $7bn (£4.4bn) of sales so far from its annual ‘Singles’ Day’ shopping event.
Seventeen hours in, the firm said sales had already hit $6.96bn, with industry analysts predicting that sales could surpass $8bn this year.
Last year, Alibaba recorded sales of $5.75bn and shipped more than 150 million packages.
President Barack Obama spoke about the midterm elections Wednesday, telling every American — including those who didn’t vote — “I hear you.” Continue reading Obama Outlines Immediate Goals For Congress, Including Force Against ISIS
The realities of further fiscal consolidation present us with an opportunity to fundamentally re-shape public service provision.
In the words of Beth Simone Noveck, former aide to Barack Obama: “What business do you know, what other sector of the economy, and especially one as big as the public sector, that doesn’t seek to reinvent its business model on a regular basis?”
Continue reading The future of public services in the 21st century
SpaceShipTwo, a rocket plane that was meant to carry well-heeled tourists on short if expensive rides to space, crashed in the Mojave Desert on Friday during a test flight, killing one of the two pilots.
Continue reading Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Crashes in New Setback for Commercial Spaceflight
Isis has turned the internet into the most effective propaganda tool ever.
Ever since the Pentagon started talking about Isis as apocalyptic, I’ve suspected that websites and blogs and YouTube are taking over from reality. I’m even wondering whether “Isis” – or Islamic State or Isil, here we go again – isn’t more real on the internet than it is on the ground. Not, of course, for the Kurds of Kobani or the Yazidis or the beheaded victims of this weird caliphate. But isn’t it time we woke up to the fact that internet addiction in politics and war is even more dangerous than hard drugs? Continue reading Robert Fisk on Isis: Propaganda war of Islamic extremists is being waged on Facebook and internet message boards, not mosques
An American nurse who recently returned from treating Ebola patients has taken a bike ride despite a state order to stay at home in quarantine.
Kaci Hickox and her boyfriend rode their bicycles away from their house in the north-eastern state of Maine as media watched on. Continue reading Ebola crisis: US nurse Kaci Hickox goes for bike ride despite Ebola quarantine
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso’s leader of nearly three decades declared a state of emergency Thursday, hours after protesters who oppose his bid for another term stormed the parliament and set part of it on fire, marking the greatest threat to his rule since he himself seized power in a coup. Continue reading Burkina Faso Declares State Of Emergency After Protesters Storm Parliament
Microsoft is ditching the Nokia brand name from new smartphones, less than a year after acquiring the Finnish firm’s mobile devices division.
New Nokia Lumia phones will instead be known as Microsoft Lumia, the company said. Continue reading Microsoft ditching the Nokia name on smartphones
Sterling and Antonio Valencia were sent-off during the 2-2 draw between England and Ecuador. Continue reading World Cup 2014: Will Raheem Sterling be suspended for England’s opening World Cup fixture against Italy?
Moscow, to western eyes, does not look much like Rome. But if there is any country in the world where the tug of the Roman ideal can be felt, it is Russia. Continue reading Why empires fall: from ancient Rome to Putin’s Russia
Executive Salad 