Taiwan gas blast kills 15, injures 243: local media

Wreckage of a damaged car is pictured after an explosion in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, August 1, 2014.

An explosion caused by a gas leak in the southern Taiwanese city Kaohsiung has killed 15 people and injured another 243, Taiwanese media reported on Friday. Smoke with a “gas-like smell” was seen coming out of drains in the streets before the explosion, Formosa TV and the China Times newspaper said. The blast ignited huge fires and overturned and destroyed cars. Reuters photographs showed a scene of devastation, including the body of a dead or injured child on the ground among the rubble. Rescuers formed a chain to pull the injured from a deep crater in the road. The media said some residents described it as having felt like the area was hit by a powerful earthquake. The Kaohsiung government has set up an emergency centre, with a plan to send soldiers in to coordinate the rescue operation, the media said. The death toll was likely to rise further, they added.

To keep grads solvent, take the middleman out of student loans

The mounting student debt crisis could cause serious economic damage to the United States. Rising college costs and declining financial aid at both state and federal levels have significantly contributed to the problem. A good deal of responsibility, however, belongs to the financial institutions that service federal student loans, according to a new report. Millions of students use loans underwritten by the Treasury Department and granted by the Department of Education to help make college a reality. Once the loan is approved, however, borrowers usually deal with third-party servicers — and that’s where the trouble often begins. In 2010, the Education Department expanded its Direct Loan Program and contracted many for-profit financial institutions to service and administer the loans. Complaints to the department’s Office of Federal Student Aid jumped significantly. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has documented a wide range of complaints, including payments not showing up in payment histories; processing errors that maximize late fees and penalties; misinformation on how payments are applied to multiple loans; misplaced paperwork that results in missed deadlines, and poor customer service that denies borrowers vital information about flexible repayment options. Borrowers also complain that servicers often make debt management more complicated instead of helping them manage their debt. Servicers, however, are at fault for far more, according to the new report by Eric Fink, associate professor of law at Elon University, and Roland Zullo, an assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan. Thousands of college students and faculty march at the State Capitol in SacramentoTheir study shows that servicing firms are playing a major role in the huge increase in student-loan defaults and delinquencies — because the companies have neglected their responsibility to counsel borrowers with distressed loans. By complicating the process and providing misinformation about repayment options, many servicers make paying off student debt an incredibly difficult process. Since Education Department contracts cap the total revenue a servicer can make on each account, many companies seek higher profits by trying to cut other costs. The result is often a reduced customer-service staff and overall decline in service. Yet these financial institutions do not shoulder all the blame. The report also blames the Education Department for not providing appropriate oversight and allowing servicers to take on new loans they cannot manage efficiently. Though the department periodically reviews each contractor, the companies are all guaranteed to receive some proportion of new accounts — essentially undermining any demands for performance improvements. Moreover, because contractors are assessed against each other — rather than against independent standards — the entire floor is lowered with no consequence or penalty for poor performance. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has recently agreed to conduct an internal investigation of his department’s servicers. But other government agencies have already looked into this — and the results were troubling. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Justice Department both investigated one of the largest student-loan servicers, Sallie Mae (as well as Navient, formerly a division of Sallie Mae). The companies were found to be overcharging active-duty soldiers on their federal student loans. The investigation resulted in a large settlement from both companies. This helps demonstrate the Education Department’s failure to oversee its contractors effectively. Several senators have also called on the Office of Federal Student Aid to address complaints about Sallie Mae. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), for example, charges that the servicers are being treated as though they’re “too big to fail.” To rein in servicers, policymakers should move contract monitoring to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It has no stake in the servicers’ performance. uspo-texasAnother way to overhaul the program is to cut out the middle man. Administration of the loans could be taken on fully by the federal government and moved to a government agency better equipped to handle it, with a mandate to insist on responsible servicing rather than revenue maximization. In their report, Fink and Zullo recommend moving oversight to the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service or the United States Postal Service. Their suggestion dovetails with the Postal Service inspector general’s recent comments about expanding into nonbanking financial services, particularly for people underserved by existing banks and other financial institutions. The agency is logistically well-positioned for loan servicing with its vast network of offices, many on college and university campuses. It has the personnel and infrastructure to assist borrowers with financial transactions. Unlike current servicers, the Postal Service could offer face-to-face counselors. In addition, the Post Office is already more trusted than banks. Combating student-loan debt will require reform on many fronts — including tackling college affordability. There are clear, actionable steps, however, that can be taken immediately to ease borrowers’ debt burdens and lessen the resulting drag on our economy. One crucial missing ingredient, however, is the political will to stop this crisis from getting even worse. PHOTO (TOP): Occupy Wall Street demonstrators participating in a street-theater production wear signs around their neck representing their student debt during a protest against the rising national student debt in Union Square, in New York, April 25, 2012. REUTERS/Andrew Burton PHOTO (INSERT 1): Thousands of college students and faculty march at the State Capitol in Sacramento, California, March 14, 2011. REUTERS/Max Whittaker PHOTO (INSERT 2): U.S. Post Office and Court House in Larado, Texas. Courtesy of LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

EU adopts toughest Russian sanctions yet, targets five Russian banks

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (C) chairs a government meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, July 30, 2014.

The European Union has published a law that will curb arms sales to Russia and to cut off financing for five major Russian banks over Moscow's support for rebels in Ukraine. Russia has denounced the measures, agreed by the 28 EU member states on Tuesday, as "destructive and short-sighted", while fighting has intensified in eastern Ukraine between Kiev forces and the pro-Russian separatists. EU officials say the sanctions aim to inflict maximum pain on Russia and minimum pain on the EU. "We will for sure have an effect and a very substantial and concrete effect on Russia," one EU official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The toughest measures aim to prevent Russian banks from raising money on Western capital markets, while others limit defence sales and the export of hi-tech equipment for the oil sector. Published on Thursday in the Official Journal of the European Union, the law takes effect from Friday, Aug. 1. Marking a fundamental shift in how Europe deals with Russia, the sanctions will mean EU nationals and companies can no longer buy or sell new bonds, equity or other financial instruments with a maturity of more than 90 days issued by major state-owned Russian banks or those acting on their behalf. The law lists five targeted banks - Russia's largest lender Sberbank, VTB Bank, Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank (VEB) and Russian Agriculture Bank (Rosselkhozbank). In addition, there is a ban on any future imports and exports of arms from Russia, and authorisation will be required for member states that want to export energy-related equipment. Export licences will be denied if products are destined for deepwater oil exploration and production, Arctic oil exploration or production and shale oil projects in Russia. Europe, which has deep trade links with Russia, was far more reluctant to act than the United States over Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March and its support for the rebels. However, the mood shifted radically after the downing over eastern Ukraine of a civilian flight from the Netherlands to Malaysia earlier this month. Western countries say a Russian-supplied missile fired from rebel-held territory caused the disaster. Moscow blames the Ukrainian military for the crash, in which 298 people were killed. DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD Some EU member states remain nervous about the impact on their own fragile economies. The sanctions deal was agreed only after initial proposals were narrowed. EU subsidiaries of the targeted Russian banks are excluded from the ban, though they are prohibited from raising funds for their parent companies. A ban on hi-tech energy equipment applies to the oil industry only, not gas, although the targeted banks include Gazprombank, which is 36-percent owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom. The restriction on sales of defence equipment is limited to future orders. That means France will be allowed to go ahead with delivery of a naval helicopter carrier it has already sold to Russia. Analysts say the EU will also suffer. Russia is the world's biggest exporter of natural gas and second biggest of oil, and the state depends on energy for around half of its budget revenue. However, the EU also depends on Russia for roughly one third of its energy imports. On the global oil market, crude imports from Russia can easily be replaced, but Russian gas delivered through pipelines is less flexible. European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger repeated in a German television interview on Thursday that Russia has as much interest as Europe in maintaining gas supplies to the EU because of its need for revenue. So far, Russia has retaliated to the Western sanctions with bans on imports of some food items. Russia may restrict fruit imports from Greece - which has the weakest economy in the EU - next week, RIA news agency reported, citing a watchdog agency. It may also suspend U.S. poultry imports, Interfax news agency said. The EU sanctions will be subject to a three-month review to assess whether they are achieving their aim of forcing President Vladimir Putin to "de-escalate" the crisis. Depending on Russia, EU officials say the sanctions can be lifted or tightened at any moment. The review will also check that the sanctions do not have unintended consequences. Until this week, Europe had imposed sanctions only on individuals and organisations accused of direct involvement in threatening Ukraine, and had shied away from wider "sectoral sanctions". It published a new list of associates of Putin and companies subject to asset freezes late on Wednesday.

Tesla expects to boost 2015 output to more than 60,000

The dashboard of a Tesla Model S is shown at a Tesla Motors dealership at Corte Madera Village, an outdoor retail mall, in Corte Madera, California May 8, 2014.

Tesla Motors Inc, the California-based maker of luxury electric cars, said it expects to build more than 60,000 cars in 2015, after spending heavily this year to update and expand its Fremont assembly plant. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk also said the company will fund 40 percent to 50 percent of the estimated $4 billion to $5 billion cost of building a new "gigafactory" to produce cheaper and more efficient battery packs for its future electric cars, including the $35,000 Model 3 range that is due in 2017. After the market closed on Thursday, the company said it lost $61.9 million, or 50 cents a share, in the second quarter, as revenue nearly doubled to $769.3 million. (Graphic: link.reuters.com/bes52w) The automaker has accelerated the expansion of the Fremont plant, which builds the $70,000-plus Model S sedan and will add a companion crossover, the Model X, next spring. Musk said the plant now can build up to 1,000 cars a week, and will double that by the end of next year. Tesla expects to deliver about 35,000 Model S sedans this year. On a non-GAAP basis, Tesla said it earned 11 cents a share, topping analysts' expectations of 4 cents. The company expects non-GAAP earnings to be about the same in the third quarter. In the year-ago quarter, Tesla lost $30.5 million, or 26 cents a share, on revenue of $405.1 million. The initial response from investors was mixed, with shares rising, falling, then climbing again after Musk's call with analysts. They closed at $223.30, down 2.5 percent, in regular trading. Earlier on Thursday, the automaker announced a partnership with Japanese electronics giant Panasonic Corp to open the giant battery factory in the United States in 2017. Musk confirmed that Tesla had broken ground near Reno, Nevada, for a possible factory, but said the company is still in negotiations with several states before a final site selection is made later this year. He told analysts that Panasonic will fund about 30-40 percent of the factory, and other smaller suppliers about 10-20 percent. He said the initial cost to get the factory up and running would be less than $4 billion, with the total cost rising to $5 billion by full production around 2020. Tesla built a record 8,763 Model S sedans in the quarter, and delivered a record 7,579 cars to customers, while being "unable to keep pace with increased demand" in North America and Europe. The company plans to deliver about 7,800 cars in the third quarter. With the plant expansion, it projects fourth-quarter deliveries will nearly double to more than 13,000. Tesla said it expects to invest up to $950 million this year as it "slightly" accelerates spending on more production capacity and the battery factory. That's about $100 million than previously announced.

S&P500 index posts worst fall since April; indexes down for July

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the market's opening in New York July 28, 2014.

The U.S. S&P500 stock index posted its worst daily fall since April and its first monthly drop since January on Thursday, as economic data sparked concern the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates sooner than some have expected. Data showing that U.S. labor costs recorded their biggest gain in more than 5-1/2 years in the second quarter this year came a day after the Fed upgraded its assessment of the U.S. economy while reiterating it was in no hurry to raise rates. Problems in overseas economies added to the bearish tone, with Argentina defaulting on its debt for the second time in 12 years. "If we start to see wages moving higher that's got a be a signal that we are getting closer to the Fed's mandates," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey. The Fed has kept overnight rates near zero since December 2008, but at its meeting on Wednesday it took note of both faster economic growth and a decline in the unemployment rate, while expressing concern about remaining slack in the labor market. On Thursday, all 10 S&P500 index stock sectors fell more than 1.0 percent, with energy .SPNY down 2.4 percent leading the decline. Exxon Mobil Corp's (XOM.N) second-quarter earnings beat expectations but oil production dropped, and its shares fell 4.2 percent to $98.94. The CBOE Volatility index .VIX, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, jumped 27.2 percent to close at 16.95, its highest level since April 11. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 317.06 points or 1.88 percent, to 16,563.3, while the S&P 500 .SPX lost 39.4 points or 2.0 percent, to 1,930.67 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 93.13 points or 2.09 percent, to 4,369.77. Trading volume was much heavier than average. About 8 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, well above the 5.6 billion average for the month to date, according to data from BATS Global Markets. The stock price falls pushed the Dow into negative territory for the year. It is now down 0.1 percent since Dec. 31, while the S&P500 and Nasdaq are still higher for the year to date. The S&P500 and Nasdaq both marked their biggest daily percentage drops since April 10. For the Dow, the percentage drop was the biggest since Feb. 3. In a signal of possible further weakness ahead, the S&P500 index closed below its 50-day moving average for the first time since April 15. For the month, the Dow was down 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 was down 1.5 percent, and the Nasdaq was down 0.9 percent. ARGENTINA DEFAULT Investors on Wednesday had hoped for a midnight deal in Argentina's debt talks with so-called holdout creditors, but the plan fell through. Even a short default will raise companies' borrowing costs, add to pressure on the peso, drain the country's dwindling foreign reserves and fuel what is already one of the world's highest inflation rates. In Russia, news agencies reported that Russia banned soy imports from Ukraine and may restrict Greek fruit and U.S. poultry in what could be responses to new Western sanctions over Ukraine. In after hours trade, shares of LinkedIn (LNKD.N) jumped 8.9 percent to $196.70 when the corporate networking site reported a 47 percent increase in quarterly revenue and forecast better-than-expected adjusted profit and revenue in the current quarter. During the regular session, Kraft Foods Group (KRFT.O) shares fell 6.4 percent to $53.59. The stock was the biggest percentage decliner on the Nasdaq after Kraft late on Wednesday reported a scant rise in quarterly revenue.

Sierra Leone declares emergency as Ebola death toll hits 729

Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma attends a meeting of regional group Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Yamoussoukro June 29, 2012.

Sierra Leone has declared a state of emergency and called in troops to quarantine Ebola victims, joining neighbouring Liberia in imposing controls as the death toll from the outbreak of the virus hit 729 in West Africa. The World Health Organisation said it would launch a $100 million response plan on Friday during a meeting with the affected nations in Guinea. It is in urgent talks with donors and international agencies to send more medical staff and resources to the region, it said. The WHO on Thursday reported 57 new deaths in the four days to July 27 in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, raising the death toll to 729. It said the number of Ebola cases had topped 1,300. "The scale of the Ebola outbreak, and the persistent threat it poses, requires WHO and Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to take the response to a new level, and this will require increased resources," WHO Director General Margaret Chan said. Sierra Leone's president, Ernest Bai Koroma, announced a series of emergency measures, to initially last 60 to 90 days, in a speech on Wednesday night. "Sierra Leone is in a great fight. Failure is not an option," he said. Security forces will enforce a quarantine on all centres of the disease and help health officers and aid workers to work unhindered, following attacks on health workers by local people. Liberia has put in place measures including the closure of all schools and a possible quarantine of affected communities. The outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever, for which there is no known cure, began in the forests of eastern Guinea in February, but Sierra Leone now has the highest number of cases. Koroma said he would discuss ways to combat the epidemic with the leaders of Liberia and Guinea at Friday's meeting. The jump in the number of cases and the death toll has raised international concern and placed poor health facilities in the region under strain. The United States was providing material and technical support to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, said the senior U.S. diplomat for Africa, Linda Thomas-Greenfield. African officials will discuss further assistance at a meeting in Washington next week, she said. The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday issued a travel advisory against non-essential travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in an effort to curb the spread of the Ebola outbreak. CDC Director Thomas Frieden said the agency will send an additional 50 health experts to help efforts to control it. Authorities in Nigeria, which recorded its first Ebola case last week when a U.S. citizen died after arriving on a flight from Liberia, said all passengers travelling from areas at risk would be temperature-screened for the virus. But international airlines association IATA said the WHO was not recommending any travel restrictions or border closures due to the outbreak, and there would be a low risk to other passengers if an Ebola patient flew. However, the Seychelles have forfeited their African Nations Cup qualifying tie against Sierra Leone after the Indian Ocean island nation refused Sierra Leone’s soccer team entry on Thursday over Ebola fears. NEW AIRPORT CONTROLS The disease kills up to 90 percent of those infected, though the fatality rate in the current epidemic is running at around 60 percent. In the final stages, its symptoms include external bleeding, internal bleeding, vomiting and diarrhoea - at which point the virus becomes highly contagious. Sierra Leone said passengers arriving and departing Lungi International Airport would be subject to new measures, including body temperature scans. Two regional airlines, Nigeria's Arik and Asky, cancelled all flights to Freetown and Monrovia after a U.S. citizen, Patrick Sawyer, died in Lagos last week. He had arrived on an Asky flight from Liberia. The WHO said authorities in Nigeria had identified 59 people in the airport and hospital who had come into contact with Sawyer, whose flight also stopped in Ghana and Togo. Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority suspended Asky for bringing Ebola to Lagos, a city of 21 million people and the continent's biggest metropolis. Health officials are scrambling to avoid an Ebola outbreak in Lagos, but say there are so far no signs of further cases. Ghana is introducing body temperature screening of all travellers from West African countries at Accra airport and other entry points. Authorities there are monitoring 11 passengers who disembarked from Sawyer's flight. The U.S. Peace Corps said it was withdrawing 340 volunteers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea after two of them came in contact with a person who later died of the virus. The condition of a U.S. physician and a missionary who contracted Ebola while helping fight the outbreak in Liberia has worsened. They will be transferred back to the United States and treated in a high-security ward at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, hospital officials said on Thursday.

Taxis, planes and viruses: How deadly Ebola can spread

Medical staff working with Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) prepare to bring food to patients kept in an isolation area at the MSF Ebola treatment centre in Kailahun July 20, 2014.

For scientists tracking the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa, it is not about complex virology and genotyping, but about how contagious microbes - like humans - use planes, bikes and taxis to spread. So far, authorities have taken no action to limit international travel in the region. The airlines association IATA said on Thursday that the World Health Organisation is not recommending any such restrictions or frontier closures. The risk of the virus moving to other continents is low, disease specialists say. But tracing every person who may have had contact with an infected case is vital to getting on top of the outbreak within West Africa, and doing so often means teasing out seemingly routine information about victims' lives. In Nigeria, which had an imported case of the virus in a Liberian-American who flew to Lagos this week, authorities will have to trace all passengers and anyone else he may have crossed paths with to avoid the kind of spread other countries in the region have suffered. The West Africa outbreak, which began in Guinea in February, has already spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. With more than 1,300 cases and 729 deaths, it is the largest since the Ebola virus was discovered almost 40 years ago. Sierra Leone has declared a state of public emergency to tackle the outbreak, while Liberia is closing schools and considering quarantining some communities. "The most important thing is good surveillance of everyone who has been in contact or could have been exposed," said David Heymann, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology and head of global health security at Britain's Royal Institute of International Affairs. THE ORIGINAL CASE The spread of this outbreak from Guinea to Liberia in March shows how tracing even the most routine aspects of peoples' lives, relationships and reactions will be vital to containing Ebola's spread. Epidemiologists and virus experts believe the original case in that instance to have been a woman who went to a market in Guinea and then returned, unwell, to her home village in neighbouring northern Liberia. The woman's sister cared for her, and in doing so contracted the Ebola virus herself before her sibling died of the haemorrhagic fever it causes. Feeling unwell and fearing a similar fate, the sister wanted to see her husband - an internal migrant worker then employed on the other side of Liberia at the Firestone rubber plantation. She took a communal taxi via Liberia's capital Monrovia, exposing five other people to the virus who later contracted and died of the Ebola. In Monrovia, she switched to a motorcycle, riding pillion with a young man who agreed to take her to the plantation and whom health authorities were subsequently desperate to trace. "It's an analogous situation to the man in the airplane" who flew into Lagos and died there, said Derek Gatherer of Britain's Lancaster University, an expert in viruses who has been tracking the West Africa outbreak closely. Liberia's Ebola case count is now 329 including 156 deaths, according to latest data from the World Health Organisation - although not all are linked to the Guinea market case. Gatherer noted that while Ebola does not spread through the air and is not considered "super infectious", cross-border human travel can easily help it on its way. "It's one of the reasons why we get this churn of infections," he said. The risk of the Ebola virus making its way out of Africa into Europe, Asia or the Americas is extremely low, according to infectious disease specialists, partly due to the severity of the disease and its deadly nature. Patients are at the most dangerous when Ebola haemorrhagic fever is in its terminal stages, inducing both internal and external bleeding, and profuse vomiting and diarrhoea - all of which contain high concentrations of infectious virus. Anyone at this stage of the illness is close to death, and probably also too ill to travel, said Bruce Hirsch, an infectious diseases expert at North Shore University Hospital in the United States. "It is possible, of course, for a person to think he might just be coming down with the flu, and to get onto transport and then develop more critical illness. That's one of the things we are concerned about," he said in a telephone interview. He added, however: "The risk (of Ebola spreading to Europe or the United States) is not zero, but it is very small." Heymann noted that the only case in which an Ebola case was known to have left Africa and made it to Europe via air travel was in 1994 when a Swiss zoologist became infected with the virus after dissecting a chimpanzee in Ivory Coast. The woman was isolated in a Swiss hospital and discharged after two weeks without infecting anyone else. "Outbreaks can be stopped with good infection control and with understanding by people who have been in contact with infected cases that they have to be responsible," Heymann said.

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

A T-Mobile store sign is seen in Broomfield, Colorado February 25, 2014.

French telecommunications company Iliad SA ILD.PA has made a surprise offer for T-Mobile US Inc TMUS.N, setting up a potential bidding war with Sprint Corp S.N, the U.S. mobile carrier now controlled by Japan's Softbank Corp 9984.T. The approach will further shake up a U.S. media and telecoms market already in tumult as a series of U.S. cable and cellular operators have bid for rivals to cut costs amid slowing growth. The market and its relatively healthy margins remain alluring to some foreign operators like Softbank and Iliad, however. Iliad, which has shaken up the French mobile and broadband market in the past decade with its cheap, pared-down subscriber plans, bid $15 billion in cash for 56.6 percent of T-Mobile US at $33 per share, it said in a statement on Thursday. The Paris-based company said its offer for the fourth-largest U.S. carrier values all of T-Mobile at $36.20 per share, a premium of 42 percent to the pre-announcement share price, once expected cost savings of $10 billion were taken into account. That is less than the roughly $40 per share Sprint agreed to pay under the broad terms of an agreement worked out with Deutsche Telekom AG DTEGn.DE, T-Mobile's majority owner. The terms of that proposal, which followed months of talks and which was reported by Reuters in early June, would value T-Mobile at nearly $32 billion. Deutsche Telekom and Sprint declined to comment. A spokesman for Softbank in Tokyo also declined to comment. Despite Iliad's lower offer, three people close to the French company said founder Xavier Niel believes he has a strong card to play because his bid would not face the antitrust scrutiny that confronts Sprint in trying to merge the third and fourth-biggest U.S. mobile operators. "SoftBank has been told in many very clear coded words that the Department of Justice and the FCC would probably not approve the acquisition," said Reed Hundt, a former chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. "There's no question to me that the FCC would say 'bienvenue'" to the proposed Iliad deal. The FCC and Department of Justice expressed a desire earlier this year to have at least two more network operators competing against AT&T and Verizon. The T-Mobile offer is Niel's most audacious attempt at extending his reach beyond France, Monaco and Israel, where he owns part of operator Golan Telecom. Still, his bid to enter the United States mobile market is a long shot, some investors and analysts say. The French company specializes in broadband and lacks experience in mobile, T-Mobile's main business, having launched its mobile service only in 2012. It is also unfamiliar with the demands of competing in the United States, with its massive coverage needs and deep-pocketed competition from AT&T Inc T.N and Verizon Communications Inc VZ.N, the market leaders. Iliad expects $10 billion in savings from the deal. While it provided no further details, sources familiar with the situation said the French upstart believes it could generate $1.5 billion to $2 billion in additional earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) per year by running T-Mobile in a more streamlined manner. T-Mobile is inefficient and badly managed on the cost front, they argued. Still, some analysts said the Iliad offer could falter on price alone. "We are skeptical that T-Mobile and its shareholders, including Deutsche Telekom, will find this bid attractive," Credit Suisse analysts Joseph Mastrogiovanni and Michael Baresich wrote in a research note. "However, it could put pressure on Sprint to move sooner rather later. EMPIRE BUILDING Few doubt the scale of Neil's ambitions. The entrepreneur, an unknown outsider in France when he started out, has joined the elite, lunching with ministers, starting a tech school, and holding part ownership of the influential Le Monde newspaper. He earned his first fortune from an adult chat and dating service on the Minitel, a rudimentary computer network that pre-dated the Internet in France. He then surfed on a wave of market liberalization in telecoms to create Iliad. In many ways Niel is similar to Masayoshi Son, the head of Softbank and his rival for T-Mobile US. Both have operated their companies as challengers who cut prices and take on larger rivals with bigger resources. Niel sees the U.S. market as ripe for the kind of challenge Iliad mounted in France, where its entry into the mobile market in 2012 sent prices down 30 percent and hurt the profits of bigger rivals Orange SA ORAN.PA and SFR, as well as Bouygues SA BOUY.PA. He ranks 133rd on Forbes' list of billionaires, with a net worth of $9.5 billion. Son, who is also Sprint's chairman, has pledged to start a price war in the United States, and he has said industry consolidation would allow Sprint to compete more effectively against Verizon and AT&T. He owns 19.3 percent of Softbank and is 46th on the Forbes list, with a net worth of $18.4 billion. T-MOBILE TURNAROUND T-Mobile would appear well-suited for the role of challenger championed by Niel and Son. Last year, it turned around years of subscriber losses using a strategy that eliminated contracts, restructured plans and set off a race to slash prices across the industry. Earlier on Thursday, T-Mobile posted a net profit after a year of losses, and reported the industry’s largest post-paid phone subscriber additions of the quarter. T-Mobile Chief Executive Officer John Legere, known for his outspoken and sometimes abrasive style, has come to define T-Mobile’s new audacity, epitomized by his frontal attacks on competitors, offering to pay early termination fees for customers who defect from rivals, for example. “We know this is a scale industry. Scale brings advantage,” T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter told Reuters earlier on Thursday. “What we’ve seen so far is a glimpse of what real competition in this industry looks like. If we could turbo-charge it, it could be an incredible opportunity to bring more competition to the market.” BIG BITE FOR ILIAD Iliad said it would finance its offer, which was earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal, through a mix of equity and debt, and that it already had the backing of unnamed international banks. Nevertheless, the deal would be a big bite for Iliad. Its market capitalization of just above $16 billion compared with about $25 billion for T-Mobile US. T-Mobile owner Deustsche Telekom will now have the benefit of two bidders. One person close to the German company also said a deal with Iliad had a certain appeal because of the lower risk of being blocked by U.S. regulators. A second person said there were doubts whether Iliad's offer was competitive or could get financing, but added that it could be worth taking a discount to avoid heavy regulatory scrutiny. Three years ago, regulators rejected AT&T's $39 billion bid for T-Mobile US, which resulted in AT&T paying Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's full owner, a reverse break-up fee of $6 billion in cash and U.S. mobile assets. T-Mobile shares closed up 6.5 percent at $32.94 on the New York Stock Exchange, just below the Iliad offer price. Sprint shares were down 5.3 percent at $7.35

India's demands block $1 trillion WTO deal on customs rules

World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo gestures during a news conference on world trade in 2013 and prospect for 2014 in Geneva April 14, 2014.

The World Trade Organization failed on Thursday to reach a deal to standardise customs rules, which would have been the first global trade reform in two decades but was blocked by India's demands for concessions on agricultural stockpiling. "We have not been able to find a solution that would allow us to bridge that gap," WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo told trade diplomats in Geneva just two hours before the final deadline for a deal. "Of course it is true that everything remains in play until midnight, but at present there is no workable solution on the table, and I have no indication that one will be forthcoming." The deadline passed without a breakthrough. WTO ministers had already agreed the global reform of customs procedures known as "trade facilitation" last December, but it needed to be put into the WTO rule book by July 31. Most diplomats saw that as rubber-stamping a unique success in the WTO's 19 year history, which according to some estimates would add $1 trillion and 21 million jobs to the world economy, so they were shocked when India unveiled its veto. Trade experts say Thursday's failure is likely to end the era of trying to cobble together global trade agreements and to accelerate efforts by smaller groups of like-minded nations to liberalise trade among themselves. India has been vocal in opposing such moves, making its veto even more surprising. "Today’s developments suggest that there is little hope for truly global trade talks to take place," said Jake Colvin at the National Foreign Trade Council, a leading U.S. business group. "The vast majority of countries who understand the importance of modernizing trade rules and keeping their promises will have to pick up the pieces and figure out how to move forward." Some nations have already discussed a plan to exclude India from the agreement and push ahead regardless, and the International Chamber of Commerce urged officials to "make it happen." “Our message is clear. Get back to the table, save this deal and get the multilateral trade agenda back on the road to completion sooner rather than later,” ICC Secretary General John Danilovich said. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, on a visit to New Delhi, had earlier said he was hopeful that differences between India and much of the rest of the world could be resolved. But after Azevedo's speech, U.S. Ambassador to the WTO Michael Punke was downbeat. "We're obviously sad and disappointed that a very small handful of countries were unwilling to keep their commitments from the December conference in Bali, and we agree with the Director-General that that action has put this institution on very uncertain new ground," Punke told reporters. India had insisted that, in exchange for signing the trade facilitation agreement, it must see more progress on a parallel pact giving it more freedom to subsidise and stockpile food grains than is allowed by WTO rules. It got support from Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia. India's new nationalist government has insisted that a permanent agreement on its subsidised food stockpiling must be in place at the same time as the trade facilitation deal, well ahead of a 2017 target set last December in Bali. Kerry, whose visit to India was aimed at revitalising bilateral ties but was overshadowed by the standoff, said the United States understood India's position that it needs to provide food security for its poor but India would lose out if it refused to maintained its veto. DEAL WITHOUT INDIA? Diplomats say India could technically attract a trade dispute if it caused the deal to collapse, although nobody wanted to threaten legal action at this stage. The summer break will give diplomats time to mull options, including moving ahead without India. Technical details would still have to be ironed out, but there was a "credible core group" that would be ready to start talking about a such a deal in September, a source involved in the discussions said. "What began as a murmur has become a much more active discussion in Geneva and I think that there are a lot of members in town right now that have reached the reluctant conclusion that that may be the only way to go," he said. An Australian trade official with knowledge of the talks said a group of countries including the United States, European Union, Australia, Japan, Canada and Norway began discussing the possibility in Geneva on Wednesday afternoon. New Delhi cannot be deliberately excluded, since that would mean other countries slowing down containers destined for India, but if it becomes a "free-rider" it will add another nail in the coffin of attempts to hammer out global trade reform. Trade diplomats had previously said they were reluctant to consider the idea of the all-but-India option, but momentum behind the trade facilitation pace means it may be hard to stop. Many countries, including China and Brazil, have already notified the WTO of steps they plan to take to implement the customs accord immediately. Other nations have begun bringing the rules into domestic law, and the WTO has set up a funding mechanism to assist. But WTO head Azevedo said he feared that while major economies had options open to them, the poorest would be left behind. "If the system fails to function properly then the smallest nations will be the biggest losers," he said. "It would be a tragic outcome for those economies — and therefore a tragic outcome for us all."

Lawyers expect hundreds of claims at start of GM ignition-switch fund

The General Motors logo is seen outside its headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan in this file photograph taken August 25, 2009.

Several hundred claims are expected to be filed at the start of a GM-financed program being launched Friday to compensate victims of a faulty ignition switch on some of its vehicles, lawyers say. General Motors Co (GM.N) in April hired Washington, DC, lawyer Kenneth Feinberg to run the compensation program, giving him sole discretion on how much to offer for serious injuries and deaths caused by the faulty switch. GM has set aside $400 million to cover claims, although the total amount of awards is not capped and could increase. GM has linked 54 accidents and 13 deaths to the faulty switch, which prompted the recall of 2.6 million vehicles. Feinberg, who has run other high-profile compensation funds, told Reuters he was prepared to field a wave of claims for compensation over the next five months. Claims can be submitted until Dec. 31. "If the 9/11 fund and BP oil spill fund are any indication, we will likely get a flood of claims in the first three months and the last month of the program," he said. At least five plaintiffs' lawyers told Reuters there may be hundreds of claims filed in the first few days, and a similar number or more in the months to come. While initially skeptical about the scope and restrictions on the program, many plaintiffs' lawyers said they were willing to give it a chance, particularly since it does not stop them from suing GM while waiting to see how much money Feinberg offers. Indeed, some lawyers said that safeguard had encouraged them to file claims even as they pursued lawsuits, because they could always resume litigation later if they were unhappy with an award. People that do take the payout, however, must drop their lawsuits. Robert Hilliard, a plaintiffs' lawyer in Texas, said he expected to submit 150 to 200 claims in the next few days. Over the same period, Alabama lawyer Jere Beasley said he and a team of other attorneys planned to bring between 10 to 15 claims. "(In total) we anticipate submitting maybe as many as 80, but that's just a running number right now," Beasley said. "Cases are still coming in." A spokesman for GM, Jim Cain, said the company encouraged anyone who was injured or had lost a loved one in an eligible vehicle to submit claims. California attorney Jonathan Michaels, who will file a claim on Friday for the parents of Ben Hair, who was killed in a 2009 accident, said he was cautiously optimistic about the program but that it could be overwhelmed with thousands of claims. "I fear we're going to get lost in the shuffle of something that's more vast than they expected," he said.

Obamacare subsidy case could be reviewed by U.S. Supreme Court

A woman walks to the Supreme Court in Washington June 19, 2014.

The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to review a case about whether the federal government can subsidize health insurance for millions of Americans, a party involved in the lawsuit said on Thursday. The petition requests the U.S. high court decide the issue after two lower U.S. court rulings created uncertainties last week regarding the legitimacy of subsidies for individuals enrolled on federally run exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, which is coordinating and funding the cases, filed the petition, according to the not-for-profit's website. (bit.ly/1tA8r5x) The twin appeals court rulings, handed down by three-judge panels in Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia, fell in line with partisan disagreements over healthcare reform. Two judges appointed by Republican presidents decided against the administration in the District of Columbia and three judges appointed by Democrats ruled in favor in Virginia. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in a 2-1 decision that the language in the Affordable Care Act dealing with subsidies shows they should only be provided to consumers who purchase benefits on exchanges run by individual states. However, plaintiffs in the D.C. Circuit case, known as Halbig v. Burwell, claimed that Congress did not intend to provide subsidies through federally operated marketplaces. While the Supreme Court has broad discretion over which cases to take, a split among lower courts can be a big factor in its deciding whether to hear an appeal. The Supreme Court upheld the Obamacare law on constitutional grounds in 2012 but allowed states to opt out of a major provision involving Medicaid coverage. Analysts estimate that as many as 5 million people could be affected if subsidies disappear from the federal marketplace, which serves 36 states through the website HealthCare.gov.

Israel, Palestinian militant groups agree to three-day Gaza truce

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announces a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, while in New Delhi August 1, 2014.

- Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip have agreed to a three-day humanitarian truce to begin Friday morning, and negotiators from both sides will travel to Cairo to discuss a longer-term solution. The 72-hour break after more than three weeks of fighting was set to begin at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT), according to a joint statement released by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. An official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel had accepted the U.S./U.N. proposal. A spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist group dominant in Gaza, said all Palestinian factions would abide by the truce. "We urge all parties to act with restraint until this humanitarian ceasefire begins, and to fully abide by their commitments during the ceasefire," Kerry and Ban said. "This ceasefire is critical to giving innocent civilians a much-needed reprieve from violence." Hours before the ceasefire was announced, Netanyahu, facing international alarm over a rising civilian death toll in Gaza, said he would not accept any truce that stopped Israel from completing the destruction of militants' infiltration tunnels. According to the Kerry and Ban statement, forces on the ground would remain in place during the ceasefire. Israel and Palestinian delegations in the meantime will travel to Cairo for separate negotiations to reach a more durable ceasefire, the statement said. The Palestinian delegation will be comprised of Hamas, Western-backed Fatah, the Islamic Jihad militant group and a number of smaller factions, Palestinian officials said. A senior U.S. State Department official said talks could start as early as Friday, depending on how long it takes the parties to reach Cairo. Representatives from Israel and the United States will not sit across the table from Hamas, the official added. The United States, European Union and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist group. Egypt's Foreign Ministry said it "stresses the importance the two sides respect their obligations resulting from their announcement of ceasefire so that negotiation can be held in suitable condition and achieve the desired results." Fighting continued, however, overnight. Hamas said it fired rockets at Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the area of Tel Aviv. Israel's military said its Iron Dome defense system intercepted one of the rockets. Residents of Gaza reported further Israeli shelling. Previous international attempts to broker a humanitarian truce were less successful, securing shorter periods of calm, some of which collapsed immediately after being announced. U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman said it took a massive diplomatic push to achieve the ceasefire. "The Egyptians played an important role, the Qataris played an essential role in helping bring the parties on board, the Turks were in touch with all sides. This was a collective effort,” Feltman told CNN. STRONG DEMANDS Israel launched its offensive in Gaza on July 8 in response to a surge of cross-border rocket attacks. Gaza officials say at least 1,427 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the battered territory and nearly 7,000 wounded. Fifty-six Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting and more than 400 wounded. Three civilians have been killed by Palestinian shelling in Israel. Netanyahu faces intense pressure from abroad to stand his forces down. The United States and the U.N. Security Council have urged both sides to halt fighting in Gaza to allow in humanitarian relief. Israel has ordered its ground forces to focus on locating and destroying a warren of tunnels through which Hamas has menaced its southern towns and army bases. "Our understanding is that the Israelis will make clear to the U.N. where their lines are, roughly, and they will continue to do operations to destroy tunnels that pose a threat to Israeli territory that lead from the Gaza strip into Israel proper as long as those tunnels exist on the Israel side of their lines," said the State Department official. With Israeli forces remaining on the ground to pursue that mission, it could open the way for Israel to declare it achieved the main goal of its ground offensive and to pull troops out of the Gaza Strip. Kerry, speaking to reporters during a trip to New Delhi, said the parties need to find a way to address Israel's security concerns and to ensure that the people of Gaza can live in safety and dignity. "All the people involved in this have strong demands and strong visions on what the future should look like. Israel has to be able to live in peace and security, without terror attacks and rockets and tunnels and sirens going off in the day," Kerry said. "And Palestinians need to be able to live with the opportunity to educate their children and move freely and share in the rest of the world and lead a life that is different from the one they have long suffered," he added.

How To Flash Asus Zenfone 4 A400CG

All Credit and Originally Posted by MasZen
How To Flash Asus Zenfone 4
============================================================
Resource :

Stock Firmware A400CG :

http://www.4shared.com/file/WFTWLSM_ba/A400CG_all_WW_user_V410.html

===========================================================

Instructions :

• Copy Downloaded Zenfone 4 Firmware to SD Card
• Turn off Zenfone 4, and enter to Droidboot ( Press Power + Volume up)
• Choose Reset Factory 
• Choose SD Download, Wait until flashing done.

Videos:




All Credit and Originally Posted by MasZen 
How To Flash Asus Zenfone 4

Clockworkmod Recovery for Zenfone 5 CWM

Do it With Your Own Risk..
Install with computer/laptop and Rooted Zenfone 5:

1. Download CWM-Recovery for Zenfone 5 Here 
2. Install ADB Here
3. Download ADB Tool Here 
4. Unzip and copy to the same folder
5. Enable USB Debugging
6. Connect Zenfone 5 to PC/Laptop
7. Run the install.bat file (file in folder) pending reboot is OK
   So you've finished installing CWM ClockworkMod recovery for Zenfone 5


8.  How to Enter cwm : 1 Turn off the machine
   2 Press the power + Volume -down
   3 Wait a moment it will enter Recovery

TWRP touch recovery for Zenfone 5

Credit to :

• http://www.asus.com/zentalk/tw/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=43868&extra
• https://www.facebook.com/notes/official-lounge-asus-zenfone-5/share-twrp-recovery-untuk-zenfone-5/708675175864666 

Need Rooted Device!! and D.W.Y.O.R
 
Install via ADB:

1. Zenfone 5 have root. (T00F and T00J were used)
2. Download twrp and extract:
   Dropbox: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8089/ZenFoneTools/zenfone_5_twrp_installer.zip
3. Download ADB here and extract at the same folder as step 2
4. Download Platform-tools and extract to the sam folder too http://d-h.st/ZN2 
5. Activate USB Debugging (How? Here) 
6. Connect Zenfone 5 with computer/laptop 
7. Double-click install.bat file (remember to allow SuperSU for adb).
8. Wait bootable zenfone is Done !!!

Boot into recovery by holding power and vol down

Install Manually via Root Explorer :

• https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8089/ZenFoneTools/zenfone_5_twrp_update.zip

rename file /system/recovery-from-boot.p to recovery-from-boot.bak

Enter TWRP => enter booting press vol down while red led. 

D.W.Y.O.R

Bugs: 

• unresponsive touch

Asus Launches Zenfone Series in Russia

 

 

July 25, Asustek Computer Inc. launched its popular ZenFone smartphone series in Russia. Zenfone 4, Zenfone 5 and Zenfone 6. Asustek Chairman Jonney Shih personally demonstrated the series and introduced the interface at a launch ceremony in Moscow.

 

The ZenFone series is already being sold in Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and India, and is scheduled to go on sale in Turkey and Brazil later this year, according to Asustek.

Zenfone Official Price in Russia/Россия :

• Zenfone 4 3990p
• Zenfone 5 6990p
• Zenfone 6 9990p

Photos (Photos Courtesy of Asus inc and 4PDA.ru):

 

 

Modern Combat 5: Blackout v1.0.0 Free Download

Modern Combat 5: Blackoutplay.google.com.GloftM5HM
Create a squad, add your friends and test your individual and team skills against other squads in dynamic multiplayer warfare!

Is single player your thing? Then step into a world on the brink of anarchy and shoot your way out of one dire situation after another to expose a lunatic who’s trying to tear the world to shreds.

CHOOSE YOUR FAVORITE CLASS

• 4 customizable classes that you can level up across single- and multiplayer 
• Find the play style the suits you: Assault, Heavy, Recon, or Sniper
• Activate class-specific skills by earning and spending Skill Points

HIGH-POWERED MULTIPLAYER

• Epic team clashes in Squad vs. Squad matches
• Talk to other players in Global and Squad Chat
• Individual and Squad leaderboards 
• Win cool rewards in the limited-time events

UNIFIED GAME PROGRESSION

• Accumulate XP and level up by playing both single-player missions and multiplayer matches
• Unlock higher-tier weapons by mastering lower-tier ones
• Customize the perfect weapon using a host of attachments and jump straight into the action

INTENSE SOLO CAMPAIGN

• Fast-paced story missions with various challenges taking you from Tokyo to Venice
• Play the new Spec-Ops missions for a real FPS adrenaline rush
• Flawless graphics, music and voice performances perfectly adapted for a shooter game

HIGHLY CUSTOMIZABLE CONTROLS

• Intuitive, highly customizable controls so you can play the game just the way you want

Required Android O/S : 4.0+0

 

 

 

APK : LINK
DATA: PART1    PART2     PART3     PART4

Zenfone: Release Date and Price in Russia

Jonney Shih

According to Hi-Tech.Mail.Ru ZenFone 4, 5 and 6 will be presented July 25 in Moscow. At the same time, the manufacturer plans to reveal the price.

Price Possibility:

ASUS Zenfone 4 (8GB/1GB RAM) will cost 3990 RUB

ASUS Zenfone 5 (16GB/2GB RAM) will cost 6990 RUB

ASUS Zenfone 6 (16GB/2GB RAM) will cost 9990 RUB

ASUS chairman Jonney Shih will arrive in the country to personally introduce ASUS ZenFone to Russian public.

Asus Zenfone 4,5,6 Price in Philippines

Taiwanese brand ASUS launched new smartphone, ASUS Zenfone 4,5,6

ASUS Zenfone 4 is priced at P3,995

ASUS Zenfone 5 is priced at P6,495

ASUS Zenfone 6 is priced at P11,995
All Zenfones run a heavily skinned version of Android Jelly Bean 4.3, though ASUS assures us that the phones are upgradable to Android KitKat.

Also new to the company's Android lineup is the ASUS Fonepad 7, a dual-SIM, 7-inch tablet with narrow bezels and an Intel chip inside. It costs P5,995, which is competitive for a device in its class.

Asus ZenFone gets good reception in India

Asus has made further inroads into the Indian market, selling 40,000 handsets of its latest ZenFone in the four days since the smartphone went on sale in the country, thanks to the appeal of its high performance/price ratio.

Xiaomi is slated to roll out its Mi 3 model in the market soon and HTC aims to boost its share of the market to 15% in two years.

Peter Chang, regional head of South Asia and managing director for Asus India, said that the company aims to muscle into the top-five for smartphones, notebook PCs and tablet PCs in the Indian market next year.

Asus is pushing its products in India through both physical and virtual channels, at a ratio of 6:4, the latter via a colaboration with Flipkart, India's largest e-commerce site.

Flipkart statistics put ZenFone sales at 40,000 units in the first four days after its rollout, ranking sixth place on the market in July.

Xiaomi has also set up a firm foothold in India, the world third-largest smartphone market, and the company is ready to kick off sales of the Mi 3 there soon, at an expected retail-price tag of 13,999 rupees (US$233). Xiaomi is also selling its products via Flipkart.

HTC debuted its high-end model the E8 and medium-end model the Desire 616 in India in the first half of July, eliciting a positive reception from Indian consumers, who favor the appearances of the firm's products, according to Chang Chia-lin, president for global sales and chief financial officer. The company garnered 4% in the high-end sector of the market in the first quarter by selling mainly models priced over 20,000 rupees (US$331), double the average price tag of 10,000 rupees (US$165) or lower for the low-end sector.

With functional models priced at 10,000 rupees or lower still boasting 70%-80% of India's mobile-phone market, demand for smartphones is surging, scoring 175% growth last year. The substantial demand has attracted the participation of all major brands worldwide. By comparison, with its penetration rate already hitting 66%, China's smartphone market has become increasingly saturated.

For the moment, the capacity of India's smartphone market is still rather limited, due to low per capita income, but the potential is large, as Indians favor renowned brands. Apple and Samsung now dominate the high-end sector of the local mobile-phone market, which now accounts for 6%-7% of the entire market.

References:

Peter Chang 張旗浚

Chang Chia-lin 張嘉臨

Source:
www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1206&MainCatID=12&id=20140719000108

Zenfone 4: fix Wifi won't turn on

Need Rooted Zenfone 4:

1. Download this file : 4Shared
2. Copy Downloaded file and Paste to /system/lib/modules/
3. set permission to rw-r-r  and Reboot Device
4. Done

Original Post and Credit to https://www.facebook.com/ricky.tnt

Do it With Your Own Risk ! :)
 

Ukraine says terrorists shot down Malaysian passenger plane carrying 295 people

US intelligence has confirmed that a Malaysian passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down, reportedly with a Buk ground-to-air missile, over Ukraine near the Russian border, echoing a report issued by an advisor to Ukraine's Interior Minister. The advisor, Anton Gerashchenko, posted more accusations on Facebook, saying that the strike was carried out by Ukrainian rebels. He also posted a minute-long video of what supposedly is the smoking wreckage of the plane. A Reuters correspondent on the scene has confirmed the "burning wreckage of airplane, bodies on ground." A Ukrainian separatist leader, meanwhile, has blamed the crash on the Ukrainian military. President Petro Poroshenko has stated that the "armed forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets." The Wall Street Journal says that American intelligence officials are still unsure of the missile's origins. The Boeing 777 flight, Malaysia Airlines 17, was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. In a statement, Malaysia Airlines has confirmed that it lost contact with the plane over Ukrainian airspace around 30 miles from the Russian border, but the cause is still officially unknown. The Malaysian prime minister is launching an "immediate investigation" of the reports, and we'll continue to update with major developments. The news comes soon after Ukraine said that a Russian plane had shot down one of its fighter jets, which would mark a new level of open hostility between the countries. That report has not been confirmed, and the spokesperson for one separatist group told The New York Times that missiles were fired by Ukrainian rebels from the ground, rather than in the air with Russian support. Russia's defense minister reportedly said the accusation was "absurd."

See Why Lorde Can Never, Ever Cut Her Luxurious Hair

 She's like Samson... you know, if he wasn't a guy.

Pixie cut? Not on your life. Lorde can sing, sure. But the “Royals” star knows exactly where her power lies: her amazing hair. In fact, she even has a nickname for it, “mycurlyfifthlimb.”
We know this because she told us on Tuesday night in a series of tweets in which she explained why this is true.
First in a picture.

 Read the discussion on twitter
And then with this declaration.

                                                                                                                      Source - MTVnEWS

Kim Kardashian to make $85million from iPhone app

The 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' star will earn the staggering sum - which totals more than all her other ventures in the last year combined - from the new game simply because it uses her name, reports TMZ.

Kim Kardashian is set to make 85 million dollars from a new iPhone app

The app, entitled 'Kim Kardashian: Hollywood', sees players design their own celebrity and interact with the 33-year-old star's character and her friends.
Although the game is free to download on IOS and Android - it allows players to make in-app purchases - with one user reportedly spending $500 in just a few days.
Kim is believed to rake in 45 per cent of the game's net profits which is set to gross around $200 million this year alone, leaving the 33-year-old reality TV star with around $85 million after expenses.
Meanwhile, Kim and her husband, rapper Kanye West - with whom she has a 13-month-old daughter North - are believed to have turned down offers of up to $1 million for the pictures of their wedding which took place in Florence, Italy, in May.
The pretty brunette - who cashed in $1.5 million for photographs of her 2011 wedding to Kris Humphries, as well as $300,000 for her engagement announcement - is said to have rejected the money because Kanye, 36, wanted privacy.

Woman doctor stripped for complaining against mid-day meal food quality in Bangalore(India)

Bangalore - the world's second largest IT cluster - is considered to be one of the safest cities in the country. However, the flip side of India's Silicon Valley was yet again exposed recently when a woman doctor was stripped on the city's outskirts and a 22-year-old student was molested in a moving car. The shocking incidents created a furore in the ongoing Assembly session with elected representatives cutting across the party lines questioning the credibility of the city police. Last week, a woman doctor working on the outskirts of Bangalore was allegedly stripped by a mob in the presence of the local gram panchayat chief after she allegedly complained about the poor quality of food being served under mid-day meals scheme. Subsequently, a departmental probe was ordered on the same and the gram panchayat forced her to become the prime witness. However, when she denied having made any official complaint on the quality of food, the gram panchayat chief reportedly directed the villagers to take her to task. On July 7, a mob of 100 people barged into the government-run health care centre and dragged her out and stripped her. Her assistant was also manhandled. Though she lodged a complaint with the Nelamangala police, no action has been initiated so far. In a separate incident, a 22-year-old student was allegedly molested in a moving car on July 11. The incident took place when she was returning home with her friend in Frazer Town on Friday night. They were stopped by a six-member gang travelling in another car midway. They allegedly forced her into their car and molested her while a few others kept her friend at bay. The duo was released past midnight. The next day, the victim's friends managed to catch hold of the culprits in the same area and handed them to the police. However, the victim said, the police asked her to tone down her complaint by removing words like "kidnap" and "sexual assault". Though she volunteered to undergo medical tests, police opposed it terming it as a trivial incident. Apparently, the prime accused, Hyder Nasir (28), is the son of a local BSP leader Sheikh Bahadur, for which the police tried to protect him. After the incident was reported in the local media, the government placed the Frazer Town police inspector under suspension and directed the jurisdiction DCP to register the case afresh. Karnataka Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa directed the state government to transfer police officers, who have overstayed their tenure in their particular posts, in Bangalore. "These police officers have godfathers among politicians. Unless we transfer such officers, the government will continue to face such situations," the speaker added.