Australian PM Abbott ‘revolted’ by imminent Indonesian executions

Australian PM Abbott ‘revolted’ by imminent Indonesian executions
British shop prices drop in February
HTC’s Vive: A remarkable 360° immersive virtual reality experience
Study reveals financial crisis widens pay gap in America, Asia
Marion Cotillard’s best kept secrets (VIDEO)
HTC unveils its first virtual reality headset at MWC in Barcelona (VIDEO)

Posted: 03 Mar 2015 05:01 PM PST

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott listens to a question in the Australian Parliament in Canberra February 23, 2015. — Reuters picSYDNEY, March 4 Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott today said he was "revolted" by the looming execution of two convicted Australian drug traffickers as preparations were under way to move the men to an island where they will be shot.

The planned executions of Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31, have ratcheted up diplomatic tensions amid repeated pleas of mercy for the pair.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has adopted a tough stance on carrying out harsh penalties for drug traffickers. Executions were resumed in 2013 after a five-year gap and nationals from Brazil, Malawi, the Netherlands, Nigeria and Vietnam have been among those put in front of a firing squad.

Widodo has denied clemency to 11 convicts currently on death row, including the Australian nationals, and warned other countries to stay out of Indonesia's sovereign affairs.

"At every moment, I'm making Australia's position clear. We, frankly, are revolted by the prospect of these executions," Abbott told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.

"I think there are millions of Australians who feel sick to their stomachs about what's happened to these two men who committed a terrible crime, a terrible crime," Abbott said. "But the position of Australia is that we abhor drug crime but we abhor the death penalty as well, which we think is beneath a country like Indonesia."

Indonesia's chief prosecutor has said Chan and Sukumaran will be moved from Bali today to the island of Nusakambangan, where executions are carried out, according to media reports.

Australia's ABC TV showed live footage of a large contingent of police officers arriving pre-dawn at Bali's Kerobokan prison, where the two men have been held for a decade.

The pair were convicted in 2005 as the ringleaders of the so-called Bali Nine, who were arrested at Bali's Denpasar airport for attempting to smuggle 8 kg (18 lb) of heroin to Australia.

The Australian government has stressed that Sukumaran and Chan have been rehabilitated in prison, where they mentor younger inmates.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said pardoning them would be a show of "strength" for Widodo and a vote of confidence in Indonesia's ability to rehabilitate offenders.

Abbott said Australia's lobbying on behalf of the men had previously shown some promise, but he no longer wanted to hold out false hope.

"There were some suggestions earlier that perhaps at least some people in the Indonesian systems were having second thoughts but I'm afraid those signals seem to be dissipating," he said. — Reuters

British shop prices drop in February

Posted: 03 Mar 2015 04:54 PM PST

Pedestrians walk past a sale sign on Oxford Street in central London December 29, 2013. — Reuters picLONDON, March 4 — Prices in British shops fell at a faster pace in February as tough competition drove down clothing and furniture costs, while food prices fell for a second month in a row, an industry body said today.

The British Retail Consortium said shop prices in February fell 1.7 per cent compared with a 1.3 per cent decline in January. Food prices dropped by 0.4 per cent, the pace of decline easing slightly from 0.5 per cent in January.

"Since the start of the year, we have seen some very competitive pricing across both the food and non-food channels and this is helping to keep prices low for shoppers," said Mike Watkins of data company Nielsen, which compiles the survey.

Last month Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said he expected Britain's broader official measure of consumer price inflation would soon dip into negative territory for the first time too.

Sharp falls in the price of oil and other commodities have lowered the wholesale prices paid by retailers, and come as Britain's major supermarkets are trying to fend off a challenge from German discounters Aldi and Lidl. — Reuters

HTC’s Vive: A remarkable 360° immersive virtual reality experience

Posted: 03 Mar 2015 04:47 PM PST

Duration: 1:13, Published 4 Mar 2015

At MWC in Barcelona, the Taiwanese manufacturer HTC presented the Vive, its first virtual reality headset. Due to launch in late 2015, the new device will be one of just a handful of similar products available to consumers. — AFP-relaxnews

Study reveals financial crisis widens pay gap in America, Asia

Posted: 03 Mar 2015 04:47 PM PST

A recruiter for Cigna greets a job seeker at a career fair within the 2013 National Urban League conference in Philadelphia July 25, 2013. — Reuters picLONDON, March 4 — The pay gap between senior managers and lower-level employees has widened much more sharply in North America and Asia than in Europe since the financial crisis, a study showed today.

The report by Hay Group, a global management consultancy, showed that pay disparity between the likes of clerical or graduate-entry jobs and senior managers had increased in every region worldwide since the start of the global recession.

In North America the pay gap rose by 7.2 per cent between 2008 and 2014, while the gap in Asia increased by 12.5 per cent. Europe experienced the smallest widening at 2.2 per cent.

"Despite an average global increase in the job-level pay gap, Europe and America have diverged, in part due to local employment practices," Hay Group consultant Ben Frost said.

The International Monetary Fund warned last year that income inequality could lead to slower or less sustainable economic growth.

Many companies in Europe introduced across-the-board pay cuts to avoid job losses while businesses in the United States cut jobs more often and raised senior management pay to reflect increased duties, the Hay report showed.

The pay gap in the United States widened by 10.6 per cent between 2008 and 2014, with workers in senior management roles paid an average of four times the amount earned by workers in lower-level jobs last year.

Within Europe, the gap in Britain increased 5.3 per cent to 3.3 times but by only 0.3 per cent in Germany to 2.8 times.

In Asia, the gap in China grew by 7.8 per cent to 12.7 times and in Japan it rose by 2.1 per cent to 3.3 times.

Hay Group said the increase in the pay gap was driven by the increasing automation of low-level jobs or their transfer to lower-pay countries. Such cost-cutting resulted in increased competition for remaining jobs, keeping pay down.

In contrast, senior management pay has risen to reflect increased responsibilities and more complex work, it said.

Hay Group said the data used for the study was drawn from more than 16 million employees in 24,000 organisations. — Reuters

Marion Cotillard’s best kept secrets (VIDEO)

Posted: 03 Mar 2015 04:46 PM PST

LOS ANGELES, March 4 ― We look at some unknown facts about french beauty Marion Cotillard. ― Cover Media

French actress Marion Cotillard stars in 'The Immigrant'. — Cover Media pic

HTC unveils its first virtual reality headset at MWC in Barcelona (VIDEO)

Posted: 03 Mar 2015 04:44 PM PST

BARCELONA, March 4 — At MWC in Barcelona, the Taiwanese manufacturer HTC presented the Vive, its first virtual reality headset. Due to launch in late 2015, the new device will be one of just a handful of similar products available to consumers.

HTC teamed with video games specialist Valve to develop the Vive, a solution that promises a remarkable 360° immersive virtual reality (VR) experience, "letting you get up, walk around and explore your virtual space, inspect objects from every angle and truly interact with your surroundings," according to a press release. The headset achieves this namely through two HD screens, one in front of each eye, with 1200x1080 pixels each and a 90fps refresh rate.

The entire solution is based on Valve's Steam VR technology, which HTC hopes will allow users to travel, attend sports events or even shop without leaving home. To this end, the manufacturer has already announced partnerships with Google, HBO and the National Palace Museum in Taiwan.

A developer edition is due out this spring, but consumers will have to wait until the end-of-year holidays to get their hands on the Vive.

The HTC Vive is slated to launch before the end of the year. — Picture courtesy of HTCA VR headset and its dedicated smartphone

Also in Barcelona, Samsung revealed a headset designed specifically for use with its new Galaxy S6 smartphone and its curved-screen equivalent, the S6 Edge. The new model joins the Gear VR, Samsung's headset designed exclusively for its Galaxy Note 4, which is already available in the US for US$199.

Along the same lines, Samsung's rival LG presented the VR for G3 last month. Naturally, the headset is compatible with the South Korean manufacturer's G3 high-end smartphone.

Other manufacturers have also attempted to enter the burgeoning VR headset space, including the French company Archos, which sells its VR Glasses—compatible with any Android, iOS or Windows Phone smartphone measuring less than 6 inches—for the unbeatable price of €29.99.

The company with the most riding on this technology is still Oculus VR, the Facebook-owned start-up that collaborated with Samsung on the Galaxy Gear VR. Since 2012, the brand has developed several prototypes and has even mentioned a potential dedicated apps platform, which could launch just ahead of its first market-ready VR headset. The highly anticipated device is due to launch before the end of 2015. — AFP-Relaxnews