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Britain plans social media regulation to battle harmful content

FILE PHOTO: Facebook logo is reflected in glasses in this picture illustration
FILE PHOTO: Facebook logo is reflected in glasses in this picture illustration taken April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo

April 7, 2019

By Paul Sandle and Elizabeth Piper

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain proposed new online safety laws on Monday that would slap penalties on social media companies and technology firms if they fail to protect their users from harmful content.

Easy access to damaging material particularly among young people has caused growing concern worldwide and came into the spotlight in Britain after the death of 14-year-old schoolgirl Molly Russell, which her parents said came after she had viewed online material on depression and suicide.

Governments across the world are wrestling over how to better control content on social media platforms, often blamed for encouraging abuse, the spread of online pornography, and for influencing or manipulating voters.

Global worries were recently stoked by the live streaming of the mass shooting at a mosque in New Zealand on one of Facebook’s platforms, after which Australia said it would fine social media and web hosting companies and imprison executives if violent content is not removed “expeditiously”.

In a policy paper widely trailed in British media, the government said it would look into possibly using fines, blocking access to websites, and imposing liability on senior tech company management for failing to limit the distribution of harmful content.

It would also set up a regulator to police the rules.

TechUK, an industry trade group, said the paper was a significant step forward, but one which needed to be firmed up during its 12-week consultation. It said some aspects of the government’s approach were too vague.

“It is vital that the new framework is effective, proportionate and predictable,” techUK said in a statement, adding not all concerns could be addressed through regulation.

Facebook said it was looking forward to working with the government to ensure new regulations were effective, repeating its founder Mark Zuckerberg’s line that regulations were needed to have a standard approach across platforms.

COMPLEX ISSUES

Rebecca Stimson, Facebook’s head of UK public policy, said any new rules should strike a balance between protecting society and supporting innovation and free speech.

“These are complex issues to get right and we look forward to working with the government and parliament to ensure new regulations are effective,” Stimson said in a statement.

Prime Minister Theresa May said that while the Internet could be brilliant at connecting people, it had not done enough to protect users, especially children and young people.

“That is not good enough, and it is time to do things differently,” May said in a statement. “We have listened to campaigners and parents, and are putting a legal duty of care on internet companies to keep people safe.”

The duty of care would make companies take more responsibility for the safety of users and tackle harm caused by content or activity on their services. The regulator, funded by industry in the medium term, will set clear safety standards.

A committee of lawmakers has also demanded more is done to make political advertising and campaigning on social media more transparent.

“It is vital that our electoral law is brought up to date as soon as possible, so that social media users know who is contacting them with political messages and why,” said Conservative Damian Collins, who chairs the parliamentary committee for digital, culture, media and sport.

“Should there be an early election, then emergency legislation should be introduced to achieve this.”

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Paul Sandle; Editing by David Holmes)

Source: OANN

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Mozambique death toll rises to 446 after cyclone: minister

A woman washes clothes in a river of water running across a road that was created after Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani
A woman washes clothes in a river of water running across a road that was created after Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe, March 24, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

March 24, 2019

BEIRA (Reuters) – The death toll after a powerful cyclone in Mozambique has risen to 446 from 417, the minister of land and environment, Celso Correia, said on Sunday, adding that 531,000 people had been affected by the disaster.

Cyclone Idai lashed the Mozambican port city of Beira with winds of up to 170 kph (105 mph), then moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi, flattening buildings and putting the lives of millions at risk.

(Reporting by Yvonne Bell; Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: OANN

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Oil prices rise on decline in U.S. drilling activity, OPEC supply cuts

FILE PHOTO: An oil pump jack pumps oil in a field near Calgary
FILE PHOTO: An oil pump jack pumps oil in a field near Calgary, Alberta, Canada, July 21, 2014. REUTERS/Todd Korol/File Photo

April 22, 2019

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices rose early on Monday, with Brent hitting its highest level since November, driven up by a decline in U.S. drilling activity and ongoing supply cuts led by producer club OPEC.

Brent crude futures were at a November 2018 high of $72.58 per barrel at 0028 GMT, up 0.8 percent from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $64.55 per barrel, up 0.9 percent from their previous settlement.

“The path of least resistance remains higher (for oil prices),” said Stephen Innes, head of trading at SPI Asset Management, pointing to Saudi supply cuts, a decline in the U.S. rig count and supply disruptions from Libya to Venezuela as reasons for a tight market.

U.S. energy firms last week reduced the number of oil rigs operating by two, to 825, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its weekly report on Thursday.

Outside the United States, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has led supply cuts since the start of the year aimed at tightening global oil markets and to propping up crude prices.

Brent prices have risen by more than a third this year, while WTI has climbed more than 40 percent over the same period.

(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Joseph Radford)

Source: OANN

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Trump claims he ‘never’ told McGahn to fire Mueller, says he ‘could have done it’ himself

President Trump on Thursday insisted he “never” told former White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, saying he could have done it himself, and had the “legal right to do so,” despite the special counsel’s report saying he instructed McGahn to have Mueller removed.

“As has been incorrectly reported by the Fake News Media, I never told then White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Robert Mueller, even though I had the legal right to do so. If I wanted to fire Mueller, I didn’t need McGahn to do it, I could have done it myself,” Trump tweeted early Thursday.

“Nevertheless, Mueller was NOT fired and was respectfully allowed to finish his work on what I, and many others, say was an illegal investigation (there was no crime), headed by a Trump hater who was highly conflicted, and a group of 18 VERY ANGRY Democrats. DRAIN THE SWAMP!” he continued.

The president’s tweets come following a battle between Capitol Hill and the White House related to McGahn’s testimony. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., subpoenaed McGahn to appear before his panel after he was featured prominently in Mueller’s report. The president has vowed to block that subpoena, and any others for current and former officials coming from Congress.

TRUMP VOWS TO FIGHT 'ALL' SUBPOENAS AGAINST ADMINISTRATION, CALLS DEMAND FOR MCGAHN TESTIMONY 'RIDICULOUS'

Mueller’s nearly 500-page report revealed that the special counsel did not find evidence of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia—a conclusion Trump has touted and repeated for days.

“No collusion, no obstruction,” Trump said on Wednesday.

But despite his comments, Mueller did not come to a conclusion on the matter of whether the president obstructed justice—rather, the report revealed an array of controversial actions and requests made by the president that were examined as part of Mueller’s obstruction inquiry.

McGahn’s interview with investigators factored prominently into this section, including a claim that McGahn disobeyed Trump’s call to have him seek Mueller’s removal.

“On June 17, 2017, the president called [White House Counsel Don] McGahn at home and directed him to call the Acting Attorney General and say that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest and must be removed. McGahn did not carry out the direction, however, deciding that he would resign rather than trigger what he regarded as a potential Saturday Night Massacre,” the report stated, referencing the Watergate scandal.

The report also revealed that when the media reported of the president’s request for McGahn to have Mueller removed, the president directed White House officials “to tell McGahn to dispute the story and create a record stating he had not been ordered to have the special counsel removed.”

“McGahn refused to back away from what he remembered happening,” the report said.

The report went on to explain that two days after the initial request to McGahn, the president made another attempt to “affect the course of the Russia investigation.”

Nadler subpoenaed McGahn this week, but the White House has vowed to fight back against congressional Democrats issuing subpoenas for administration officials.

“The subpoena is ridiculous. ... I have been the most transparent president and administration in the history of our country by far,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “We’re fighting all of the subpoenas…Look, these aren’t like, impartial people. They are Democrats trying to win in 2020.…They’re not going to win against me.”

TRUMP: 'NO REASON' TO HONOR DEMS' 'VERY PARTISAN' SUBPOENAS, AS MCGAHN TESTIMONY FIGHT LOOMS

He once again declared the probe found “no collusion and they also came up with no obstruction,” adding: “I thought after two years we’d be finished with it, no—now the House goes subpoenaing. They want to know every deal I’ve ever done.”

Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined that the evidence found in the investigation was “not sufficient” to establish an obstruction-of-justice charge. But Mueller’s report seemingly left the decision on obstruction up to Congress—intensifying their already existing investigations into the president.

Nadler slammed the administration in response to reports that they'd fight the McGahn subpoena.

"The Committee has served a valid subpoena to Mr. McGahn. We have asked him to supply documents to the Committee by May 7 and to testify here on May 21. Our request covers the subjects described by Mr. McGahn to the Special Counsel, and described by Special Counsel Mueller to the American public in his report. As such, the moment for the White House to assert some privilege to prevent this testimony from being heard has long since passed," he said in a statement.

Nadler added: "I suspect that President Trump and his attorneys know this to be true as a matter of law—and that this evening’s reports, if accurate, represent one more act of obstruction by an Administration desperate to prevent the public from talking about the President’s behavior. The Committee’s subpoena stands."

Source: Fox News Politics

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Palestinian-born Berliner leads efforts to rebuild synagogue

Raed Saleh was 5 years old when his family left their Palestinian village in the West Bank for a better life in Germany. Now 41, the Muslim has become one of Berlin's top politicians and is spearheading efforts to rebuild a synagogue in the German capital that was destroyed by the Nazis 80 years ago.

What may sound utopian in parts of the world where hostilities between Muslims and Jews run high has become a reality in Berlin: Jews, Muslims and Christians have joined forces to rebuild what used to be one of the city's biggest synagogues.

In recent years a surviving section of the Fraenkelufer Synagogue, which stands on the banks of a canal in the city's Kreuzberg neighborhood, has become home to a vibrant and diverse community for Jews from across the world, but as the community grows the space isn't enough.

Co-existence isn't always easy in Berlin, either, but with the blessing of people like Saleh, who heads Berlin's Social Democrats and is a lawmaker in the city's government, the interfaith effort may come to fruition in a few years.

"In the past, Berlin tore down the wall between west and east," Saleh said during a recent visit to the synagogue. "Today, we must tear down the walls of hatred."

"The growing anti-Semitism and hostility toward Muslims, the growing intolerance toward each other — this cannot go on," Saleh said.

The Fraenkelufer synagogue was opened as an Orthodox house of prayer in 1916 and held 2,000 worshippers. Before the Third Reich, Germany's flourishing Jewish community counted about 560,000 people and was known for its cultural and intellectual prominence. In 1938, however, five years after the Nazis had come to power in Germany, mobs destroyed parts of the building during the Night of Broken Glass, or Kristallnacht, in which synagogues, Jewish stores and homes were vandalized across the country. In the Holocaust that followed, the Nazis and their henchmen murdered 6 million Jews across Europe.

Today, only a side wing of the building, known as the youth synagogue, remains in the middle of what has become a mostly Arab and Turkish immigrant district dotted with mosques, tea houses and kebab stands.

Nonetheless, the small synagogue has attracted a growing number of young Jewish families who have moved to the German capital in recent years from Israel, the United States, the former Soviet Union, South America and Australia.

Saleh said he met up with some of the temple's members over hummus and falafel a while back and asked them how he could help support the growing community.

The answer was clear: they asked for more space.

"When we have bigger events and celebrations, this space is bursting at the seams, it's very quickly getting very tight," said Jonathan Marcus, 38, who is a fifth-generation German member of the Fraenkelufer synagogue. He said there's also a need for additional prayer space, study rooms and a kindergarten.

Saleh promised to turn his words into action last year and now chairs a diverse board of trustees including Jews, Christians and Muslims who seek to raise the estimated 24 million euros ($27.3 million) needed to rebuild the temple's main building, which before the war was a white neo-classical structure fronted by columns.

There are no architectural blueprints yet, but many enthusiastic supporters who hope to collect enough donations to break the ground five years from now.

One of them, Nirit Bialer, a 40-year-old Israeli business development manager who moved to Germany 13 years ago, said she can't wait for her dreams of a cultural center within the synagogue to become real.

"I think it's great that Berlin enables us to work together — people of different faiths, of different backgrounds," Bialer said before attending a prayer service on the eve of the Purim holiday inside the synagogue's somewhat cramped prayer room. "The fact that Raed Saleh is Palestinian by roots is a non-issue ... for me he is a Berliner."

So far, Saleh says reactions to the project have been overwhelmingly positive. Even some Muslim communities vowed to collect money for the synagogue in their mosques after Friday prayers.

"In the end this synagogue is more than just a synagogue: It's a sign for togetherness of religions, cultures and traditions," Saleh said.

___

More information online: www.aufbruch-am-ufer.berlin

Source: Fox News World

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Ex-U.S. Attorney Bharara to Trump: don’t mess with Manhattan probes

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara speaks during a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara speaks during a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York City, U.S., July 13, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File photo

March 19, 2019

By Nathan Layne

(Reuters) – Preet Bharara, the ex-U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, has a piece of unsolicited advice for President Donald Trump: don’t meddle with investigations being pursued by his former office, especially one involving the Trump business or a family member.

Any such attempt, Bharara predicted, would likely prompt Democrats in Congress to start the impeachment process.

Bharara, who was fired as head of the office soon after Trump became president, wrote a book, “Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment and the Rule of Law,” that goes on sale Tuesday.

A recurring theme in the book is the reputation of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office – formally known as the Southern District of New York – for political neutrality and independence.

The office’s willingness to pursue high-profile cases was confirmed with its prosecution of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, who pleaded guilty in August to campaign finance crimes which prosecutors say he carried out at the direction of Trump.

The office’s work is considered by many legal experts to be a bigger threat to Trump than Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, which is believed to be nearing its conclusion.

Reuters asked Bharara what would happen if Trump ordered the Southern District to halt a probe, a prospect that may not be far-fetched given that Trump last year asked then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if Geoffrey Berman, Bharara’s Trump-appointed successor, could be tapped to oversee the Cohen investigation, according to the New York Times.

Berman is recused from the matter for undisclosed reasons.

Bharara said if he were still U.S. attorney and received such an order he would resign and buy “a one-way ticket for the shuttle to D.C.” to testify before a congressional committee.

“And then, I think you set the timer on impeachment,” he said. “So I don’t think it would be a wise thing to do.”

Trump has repeatedly criticized Mueller’s probe as a “witch hunt” pushed by Democrats who want to impeach him. He has called Cohen a “rat,” accusing him of lying to prosecutors to try and reduce his sentence of three years in prison due to start in May

Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for Trump, did not respond to requests for comment.

Unlike the special counsel, the Southern District has wide latitude to pursue cases with some connection to New York. In addition to Cohen, it is looking at Trump’s inaugural committee and the business practices at Trump’s real estate firm.

Bharara’s book is not about Trump but he acknowledges the president “infuses the book like he infuses everyone’s life at the moment” even if he is not cited frequently by name.

The book instead centers on a variety of both high-profile and lesser known cases to illustrate his views on how the justice system should work and when it falls short.

He addressed a frequent criticism of his tenure – that his and other agencies failed to prosecute bankers for the financial crisis. He wrote that holding people accountable was difficult because “much of what happened in 2008 was not the product of a few people with clear, provable intent.”

He pushed back at the notion that politics, bias or other considerations blunted his response to the crisis, noting that the Southern District prosecuted hedge fund executives and New York politicians from both major parties during his time there.

“I’m more than willing to accept credible criticism on behalf of the law enforcement community, but the idea that self-interest or politics or fear was a factor is a silly criticism, at least at SDNY,” he wrote.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Alistair Bell)

Source: OANN

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NYPD deletes 'cop killer' tweet after officer is revealed to be alive

New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill tweeted his satisfaction after the weekend arrest of a Florida man who O'Neill said was accused of shooting and killing an undercover NYPD officer in 1999.

There's just one problem: Vincent Ling, the undercover cop O'Neill thought had been killed by Bronx native Lester Pearson, is not dead.

Ling's family got in touch with the New York Daily News over the weekend after their headline, "Cop Killer Caught," was plastered on the front page alongside the mugshot of 43-year-old Lester Pearson.

"He's very much alive," Vincent Ling's uncle, Thomas Ling, said. "I saw him last year."

Police publicly identified Pearson as the man who shot Ling in 1999 over 20 years after the fact, after discovering that Pearson was living under the name Michael Davis in Jacksonville, Florida. He had created an entirely new life for himself, living with his girlfriend and several children. Pearson had even accrued a fan base of more than 100,000 Instagram followers for his rap persona, Monsta Kodi.

GAMBINO CRIME BOSS' SUSPECTED KILLER ONCE ATTEMPTED CITIZEN'S ARREST OF NYC MAYOR DE BLASIO: REPORT

He had released a song and documentary called "No More Killing," which tackled the topic of police shootings of unarmed black men.

Pearson had long been a suspect in Ling's shooting and even turned himself in to police in 2000 -- but later skipped bail. He and Ling had prior tension because Pearson dated Ling's sister, and the confrontation between them is thought to have been sparked by that relationship.

Police publicly identified Pearson as the man who shot Ling in 1999 over 20 years after the fact after discovering that Pearson was living under the name Michael Davis in Jacksonville, Florida

Police publicly identified Pearson as the man who shot Ling in 1999 over 20 years after the fact after discovering that Pearson was living under the name Michael Davis in Jacksonville, Florida (NYPD)

Police say that the two saw each other while walking down the street in the Bronx and that Pearson uttered a slur at Ling. They began to argue, which escalated into 11 shots being fired between the two of them, one of which hit Ling's spine, authorities say. While in a hospital bed, Ling identified Pearson as his shooter. Because he was an undercover officer, Ling's name was not released at the time, but news reports described him as being paralyzed by the incident.

NYPD INVESTIGATES 40-YEAR-OLD MURDER MYSTERY AFTER DISCOVERY OF HUMAN REMAINS

Ling's family members declined to put media in touch with him but said he retired from the force and is thought to still be living in the Bronx.

After arresting Pearson over the weekend, Commissioner O'Neill reportedly tweeted in support of law enforcement for “capturing the career criminal who killed off-duty #NYPD Officer Vincent Ling in 1999.”

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The tweet was quickly taken down, and NYPD later issued a statement clarifying that Ling is, in fact, alive, and explaining that a "misreading" of the charges against Pearson led to "confusion about his [Ling's] death," according to the Washington Post.

"The word ‘attempted’ murder, I guess, wasn’t delineated as clearly as it should have been," a police spokesman said.

Source: Fox News National

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A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad, California September 22, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is growing at a 2.08% annualized pace in the second quarter based on upbeat data on durable goods orders and new home sales in March, the New York Federal Reserve’s Nowcast model showed on Friday.

This was faster than the 1.92% growth rate calculated by the N.Y. Fed model the week before.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Extraordinary European Union leaders summit in Brussels
FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrives at an extraordinary European Union leaders summit to discuss Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday he had assured China’s Huawei Technologies that it would not face discrimination in the rollout of Italy’s 5G telecoms network.

Conte was speaking on a visit to China where he said he met Huawei’s chief executive, Ren Zhengfei. The prime minister’s comments were carried in Italy by TV broadcaster Sky Italia.

“I told him that we have adopted some precautions, some measures to protect our interests that demand very high levels of security … not only from Huawei but any company entering into the 5G arena,” he said.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

(Writing by by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Angelo Amante)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday was expected to announce his intention to revoke the United States’ status as a signatory of the Arms Trade Treaty, which was signed in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama but never ratified by Congress, two U.S. officials said.

Trump was expected to announce the decision in a speech in Indianapolis, to the National Rifle Association, the officials said. The NRA, a powerful gun lobby group, has long been opposed to the treaty, which was negotiated at the United Nations.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

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A remote controlled robot for the 'Isotopium: Chernobyl' game is seen at the game's location in Brovary
A remote controlled robot for the ‘Isotopium: Chernobyl’ game is seen at the game’s location in Brovary, Ukraine April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

April 26, 2019

By Margaryta Chornokondratenko

KIEV (Reuters) – A Ukrainian computer game that brings to life a town abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster may not sound like everyone’s idea of fun but has attracted 60,000 people globally since its launch in October.

Players of “Isotopium: Chernobyl” drive tanks around the ghost town of Prypyat near Chernobyl, knocking out competitors as they search for an energy source called isotopium and collecting points every time they find some.

While the game takes its theme from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, which marked its 33rd anniversary on Friday, it was also inspired by the 2009 science fiction film “Avatar”.

Newcomers to the game think they have entered a virtual world when in fact they are controlling a real robot, equipped with a camera and computer, which makes its way around a model of the town rendered down to the tiniest detail.

“When playing our game, for the first 5-10 minutes many players don’t understand that it is not fictional,” said the game’s co-founder Sergey Beskrestnov. “They message us saying: ‘You have cool texture, you have good graphics, your designer is good, well done. You have a cool operating system.’

“People then reply: ‘It is not an operating system, it is real,’ and the player can’t believe it is real,” said Beskrestnov, speaking mid-game from Prypyat city square as he towers over surrounding five-storey buildings.

Kiev-born Beskrestnov was just 12 years old when on April 26, 1986 a botched test at the nuclear plant in the then Soviet Union sent clouds of smoldering nuclear material across large swathes of Europe, forced over 50,000 people, including Beskrestnov’s family, to evacuate and poisoned unknown numbers of workers involved in its clean-up.

Beskrestnov and his partner Alexey Fateyev used Google maps and hundreds of pictures from the Chernobyl area to recreate Prypyat landmarks, including residential buildings, a hotel, concert hall, amusement park and a stadium.

The game’s real-scale model occupies a 180 square meter (1,938 sq. ft) basement of a residential building in the Ukraine city of Brovary, just 150 km (93 miles) from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and 30 km east of Kiev.

Miniature radioactivity warning signs, graffiti on the walls of abandoned buildings and tables and chairs left scattered inside a small cafe all add to the creepy atmosphere of a once lively town.

“It’s a really neat concept …,” Shaun Prescott wrote in a review of the game published by PC Gamer magazine in January. “Controlling the tanks is kinda cumbersome, but they are tanks, after all.”

An attentive player will notice at least one inaccuracy – the real Chernobyl nuclear power plant is not located in town as it is in the game.

It costs $9 to immerse in the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic town for an hour but only 20 people at a time can play simultaneously. Beskrestnov’s company, Remote Games, said 62,615 people around the world have registered to play the game, including around 15,000 in France and 10,000 in the United States.

A camera fixed on top of a moving tank broadcasts high quality signal in real time, allowing players from as far apart as Australia and Canada enjoy the game without facing any time delay in delivering video signals.

Its creators next ambition is to devise a game featuring the colonization of Mars in which 1,000 people will be able to simultaneously control robots on different missions involved in the operation.

“Many people advise us to contact Elon Musk directly because it resonates his dreams and ideas,” Beskrestnov jokes.    

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California
FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California, U.S. October 19,2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Initial optimism over first-quarter results from Starbucks Corp was waning fast on Wall Street on Friday, as analysts questioned the longer-term prospects of its new sales push given subdued overall customer traffic numbers especially in China.

The company on Thursday beat brokerage estimates for quarterly same-store sales on the back of demand for its new Cloud Macchiato, Matcha tea and cold brews in the United States.

However, BTIG’s Peter Saleh was one of a number of sector analysts who said while customers forking out for higher-priced new drinks had helped drive growth in same-store sales, “anemic” traffic at cafes remained a concern.

He and others pointed to a 1 percent decline in footfall at cafes in the Chinese market, viewed as crucial to the chain’s growth for the foreseeable future.

More broadly, transaction numbers, the substitute analysts use for customer traffic, were unchanged in all three of the company’s global regions.

Shares in the company, which hit a record high after the results on Thursday, fell 1 percent in morning trade.

“We remain cautious given near-term headwinds surrounding China, including cannibalization, increasing competition (and) a slowing economy,” Wedbush analyst Nick Setyan said.

Starbucks has also poured money into beefing up its delivery network in China as it battles with local startup Luckin Coffee, whose speedy growth led it to file for an IPO in the United States earlier this week.

New menu items and partnerships with delivery services, the heart of the company’s strategy to win back customers lost to artisanal coffee shops and cheaper fast-food rivals, did help Starbucks’ sales in its home market.

However, analysts said growth in China may continue to be subdued.

Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog said she expects store expansion in China to take priority over comparable sales growth.

She downgraded her rating on Starbucks’ to “market perform” from “outperform”, arguing that the company facing tough sales comparisons later on in 2019 from last year and the current rich valuation of shares meant the stock had limited room to rise.

“Investors will be hesitant to invest new money in a stock with a topline that, while still strong, is unlikely to meaningfully accelerate,” Herzog said.

Still, the company’s solid same-store growth in the United States, improving profit margins and a lower tax rate for the rest of the year led at least 6 Wall Street brokerages to raise their price targets on the stock to as high as $81.

11 of 29 brokerages rate Starbucks “buy” or higher, 17 “hold” and 1 “sell” or lower. Their median price target is $75.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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