Saturday, February 15

Day: August 20, 2016

Goodbye to the Jet That Ruled the World
ENGLISH, Technology

Goodbye to the Jet That Ruled the World

    Boeing Plans to End 747, The Plane That Changed the World As epoch-ending statements go, this one was stealthy and carefully modulated: “It is reasonably possible that we could decide to end production of the 747.” And so it slipped out, in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, first reported by Aviation Week, that Boeing foresees the moment when the single most consequential airplane it ever built will come to the end of its viable life—probably around 2020, which would give the 747 fifty years in production. Like millions of people across the globe, I long ago came to take the 747—the Jumbo Jet—waiting at an airport gate as a distinctive and welcome presence, an airplane that reassured you with its substance and solidity; never exactly sexy but with a perso...
Brexit boom: The five charts which show Britain has escaped an economic apocalypse
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

Brexit boom: The five charts which show Britain has escaped an economic apocalypse

    Unemployment is down, prices are steady, shoppers are confident and the government ran a budget surplus in July. The first economic data for July – the month following the Brexit referendum – was published this week, and shows no signs of an immediate economic collapse. It is early days and a slowdown is still expected, but the data are reassuring so far. Campaigners such as former Chancellor George Osborne warned that a vote to leave the EU would cause “a profound economic shock”, and stock markets dived following the result. But since then share prices have risen back above their pre-vote levels and fears of a recession are falling. Here are the latest figures showing the UK’s performance since the vote. Unemployment: down The number of people claiming unemployment-relat...
Donald Trump Family Values
America, ENGLISH

Donald Trump Family Values

    In this April 10, 2006, file photo, Donald Trump poses outside his Chicago offices and his 92-story residential tower underconstruction on the Chicago River. There's something about bulldozers and hard hats that brings a family together. It worked for Donald Trump and his father. And it worked for Donald Trump and his children. There's something about bulldozers and hard hats that brings a family together. It worked for Donald Trump and his father. And it worked for Donald Trump and his children. Long before Donald Trump was a presidential candidate, New York real estate mogul and reality TV star, he was Fred Trump's kid, sitting at his dad's knee playing with blocks as his father developed homes and post-war apartment buildings in Brooklyn and Queens. Fast forward six dec...
Brexit legal challenge: High Court bid could derail Theresa May’s EU exit timetable
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

Brexit legal challenge: High Court bid could derail Theresa May’s EU exit timetable

    Remain supporters have crowd-funded £32,000 in legal fees to argue Ms May will need Parliament's backing before beginning formal negotiations to leave the EU. Theresa May’s timetable for negotiating Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union could be derailed by a High Court challenge in October. Pro-EU campaigners who claim the Prime Minister needs Parliament’s backing before starting formal talks have raised £32,000 towards their £50,000 initial legal costs from 840 people through crowd-funding. They are confident their “People’s Challenge” will go ahead. Ms May is expected early next year to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which will start two years of Brexit negotiations. The Government has refused to promise MPs and peers a vote on the decision, fuelli...
Terror plot foiled in its final few hours after spooks hack attackers phones and emails
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

Terror plot foiled in its final few hours after spooks hack attackers phones and emails

    Terror plot foiled in its final few hours after spooks hack attackers phones and emails. In another case study the report tells how during the Afghan campaign a 50-strong team at GCHQ mounted a massive operation to help the SAS rescue Western hostages held by the Taliban. The spooks sifted through a mass of communications data to find details of the armed group which held the hostages and then hacked their phones and emails to gain insight into the group’s intent. The report goes on: This work enabled GCHQ to locate the group, monitor it and establish the group’s links with known terrorist networks. Within 72 hours of the kidnapping, the hostages had been located. Analysis of the content of the communications of the kidnappers, obtained through bulk interception, indicated...