A debut full of magic by Miranda Sherry (VIDEO) |
- A debut full of magic by Miranda Sherry (VIDEO)
- Obama: ‘Boundless’ promise of precision medicine
- Miranda Sherry talks about her debut novel ‘Black Dog Summer’
- CEO Rometty takes 2014 bonus as IBM continues to struggle
- Change your game, Pellegrini tells Costa ahead of Chelsea-City clash
- Oh no she didn’t! Netanyahu denies wife pocketed from returned bottles
| A debut full of magic by Miranda Sherry (VIDEO) Posted: 30 Jan 2015 04:53 PM PST NEW YORK, Jan 31 — An intriguing exploration of loss, in life as much as in death, "Black Dog Summer" is the debut novel for novelist Miranda Sherry. Compulsively gripping, the novel centres on a murdered mother who watches from the heavens as her teenage daughter recovers amidst the startling dysfunction of her extended family. The tale begins with a murder at an idyllic South African farmstead where 38-year-old Sally is one of the victims. Her life brutally cut short, Sally lingers unseen in her daughter Gigi's shadows. When Gigi has to move in with her aunt's family, Sally comes along too. And when Gigi's trauma stirs up long-buried secrets, Sally watches helplessly as the family secrets begins to unravel. Things take a darker turn when Gigi's young cousin develops an obsession with African black magic. Now Sally must find a way to stop her daughter from making a mistake that will destroy the lives of everyone around her.
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| Obama: ‘Boundless’ promise of precision medicine Posted: 30 Jan 2015 04:50 PM PST
The field — which aims to tailor treatment to individual patients — "gives us one of the greatest opportunities for new medical breakthrough that we have ever seen," Obama said. The funding would be used in part to collect gene, biochemical, lifestyle and other data from one million volunteers. Scientists believe that vast bank of information could then lead to better classification of diseases—based on molecular causes rather than symptoms—as well as tailored treatment that replaces a "one size fits all" approach. The bulk of the money, US$200 million, would go to the National Institutes of Health and its affiliate the National Cancer Institute. The proposal is part of Obama's 2016 budget plan, which would first have to be approved by a hostile Republican-controlled Congress. "The time is right to unleash a new wave of advancements in this area," said Obama setting out his proposals next to a giant model of DNA. Obama said the move would "lay the foundation for a new generation of lifesaving discoveries." "There is no telling how many lives we could change," he said. During his recent State of the Union address, Obama said he wanted "the country that eliminated polio and mapped the human genome to lead a new era of medicine". — Reuters |
| Miranda Sherry talks about her debut novel ‘Black Dog Summer’ Posted: 30 Jan 2015 04:50 PM PST Duration: 01:22, Published 31 Jan 2015 In this extraordinary debut novel, a mother watches from the afterlife as her teenage daughter recovers amidst the startling dysfunction of her extended family. |
| CEO Rometty takes 2014 bonus as IBM continues to struggle Posted: 30 Jan 2015 04:48 PM PST
Rometty will get an incentive payout of US$3.6 million (RM13.07m), according to a company filing released yesterday. This year, she will receive her first salary increase — 6.7 per cent to US$1.6 million — since taking the helm in 2012. Last year, the International Business Machines Corp executive team opted not to take the bonuses tied to 2013 performance "in view of the company's overall full-year results," she said at the time. Since then, the state of the company hasn't improved much. IBM posted 11 straight quarters of falling revenue, dragged down by weakening demand for hardware and services. New initiatives like cloud computing and business analytics haven't grown fast enough to make up for sales declines and divested businesses. Ed Barbini, a spokesman for Armonk, New York-based IBM, declined to comment about Rometty's pay. Rometty has tried to reposition IBM for growth through new initiatives like business analytics, which was a US$17 billion division last year, and cloud computing, which has an annual run rate of US$3.5 billion in revenue for software and services delivered via the Web. Simultaneously, she's divested lower-margin operations, fired some workers and hired new employees in expanding businesses. Forecast change In October, Rometty ditched a long-held profit goal instated by her predecessor Sam Palmisano, tossing the $18 a share in adjusted earnings guidance for 2014. That drove down the stock, making it the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average for a second straight year. The company posted operating earnings-per-share of US$16.53 in 2014, a decline of one per cent from a year earlier, dragged down by fourth-quarter sales that fell in every reported business unit and geography. IBM's annual incentive bonuses for the past two years are largely based on performance compared with financial metrics: operating net income weighs in at 60 per cent, while revenue growth and free cash flow account for 20 per cent each, according to IBM's proxy statement. In 2014, operating income from continuing operations fell 9 percent to US$16.7 billion while revenue dropped six per cent, or one per cent adjusted for currency fluctuations. The company posted free cash flow of US$12 billion after cutting its initial guidance of US$16 billion in October. — Bloomberg |
| Change your game, Pellegrini tells Costa ahead of Chelsea-City clash Posted: 30 Jan 2015 04:45 PM PST
Chelsea forward Costa's suspension means he will miss the Premier League leaders' top-of-the-table clash with City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The Spain international was suspended after being found guilty of a Football Association charge of violent conduct for stamping on Liverpool's Emre Can during Tuesday's League Cup semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge, which Chelsea won 1-0 to complete a 2-1 aggregate victory. Pellegrini, asked for his views on Costa's ban during a news conference in Manchester on Friday, said: "He is a great player, a very important player. "He has his character, it is not an easy character, but I hope for him that (with) this punishment -- and I am not trying to take advantage for the game tomorrow -- it will be a good thing for him to change in the future because he doesn't need to do it in that way because he is a very good player, a top player." However, former Manchester United and England right-back Gary Neville said the decision to ban Costa for three games was "nonsense". Neville, in a column for Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper published online later Friday, said: "If I had to describe the Costa incident as a disciplinary incident the phrase I would use is 'a bit naughty'," the former United and England right-back wrote. "The idea that Costa's behaviour was violent is nonsense," Neville, now a member of England manager Roy Hodgson's coaching staff, as well as a pundit, said. "I don't believe it was highly dangerous, or capable of snapping a leg, which would be despicable. "The (Martin) Skrtel clash was nothing; the Can one was a little bit naughty, no more." There was no official reaction to Costa's ban from Chelsea or Jose Mourinho, with the club cancelling on Thursday the manager's scheduled pre-match press conference due to take place yesterday. However, yesterday did see Chelsea post an interview on their website with playmaker Eden Hazard in which the Belgium international praised the ability of Brazil-born Costa, who has scored 17 goals in 19 Premier League appearances so far this season. Top striker "He's one of the top strikers in the world. He's a proper number nine," said Hazard. "He's a good professional and he gives everything for the team. "He's an unbelievable striker because he can score at any time," added Hazard. Meanwhile Pellegrini rejected suggestions tomorrow's match was a 'title-decider' even though second-placed City, the reigning champions, will kick-off five points behind Chelsea. "I think it is a very important game. It is not the game that will decide the title because after that we have to play for 45 points more," he said. Tomorrow's match is also set to see City midfielder Frank Lampard, Chelsea's record goalscorer, return to Stamford Bridge for the first time since leaving the west London club. Lampard once said he would not play for a rival Premier League side. But the 36-year-old's move to US Major League Soccer team New York City has been delayed by the decision of 'sister club' Manchester City to extend his loan spell at the Etihad. Lampard came off the bench to score City's equaliser against Chelsea in September, but did not celebrate. Asked what sort of reception Lampard would receive tomorrow, Pellegrini said: "I am sure that Frank Lampard will receive the best reception from their fans that they can do. He is a top player, maybe the most important in their history." ― AFP |
| Oh no she didn’t! Netanyahu denies wife pocketed from returned bottles Posted: 30 Jan 2015 04:42 PM PST
The reports, which were cause for ridicule in local media, come as the head of the rightwing Likud party prepares to seek re-election in a snap March vote. In a long Facebook post, Netanyahu hit out at "false accusations against me and my wife that seek to topple the Likud and bring the left to power". "All of this aims to detract attention from what is really important — who will lead the country," he wrote. Earlier this week, reports emerged that Sara Netanyahu had during her husband's second term as prime minister (2009-2013) collected a vast amount of empty bottles bought by the premier's office and returned them to supermarkets, pocketing the money herself. Over several years, the Netanyahus through this practice earned at least 4,000 shekels (RM3,633.5) of what should have been public money, the reports said. They returned US$1,000 to the state in 2013, the Haaretz website reported. But Haaretz also cited a former employee of the Netanyahus as saying that the figure was in fact thousands of shekels higher. The matter is being turned over to Israel's attorney general's office, Haaretz said. Local media were quick to ridicule Sara. Haaretz published a cartoon featuring her sitting in her living room, surrounded by empty bottles and pointing at a TV showing the latest frontier flare-up between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. "I need them to take something to the supermarket," she barks down a telephone, pointing at attack helicopters shown on the TV. Pro-Netanyahu freesheet Israel Hayom slammed the reports as "defamation" as the country's political parties prepared for the campaign trail. The snap vote on March 17 will pit Netanyahu's Likud and other possible rightwing allies against a united centre-left front that includes former justice minister Tzipi Livni's Hatnuah and the Labor party. — AFP |
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