Sony posts Y456.66 bil loss but expects to return to profit

TOKYO —

Japanese electronics giant Sony on Thursday posted a massive full-year loss of 456.66 billion yen, but vowed it would swing back into the black this year as it embarks on a massive restructuring plan.

The 456.66 billion yen loss for the fiscal year to March, its fourth consecutive year in the red, comes after it said last month it would cut about 10,000 jobs and spend nearly $1.0 billion on an overhaul its new chief described as “urgent.”

Sales for the year fell 9.6% on-year to 6.49 trillion yen, while the firm booked an operating loss of 67.28 billion yen.

japantoday.com

150 suicides last year attributed to failed job hunts

TOKYO —

The National Police Agency on Wednesday released data that suggests up to 150 people may have committed suicide last year due to failed job searches. The NPA said that police departments have been collecting data such as suicide notes, writings and family testimonies, to record information about the possible causes of suicides, TBS reported.

japantoday.com

White girl fronting Japanese rock band actually a Swedish boy

I was watching television here in Japan the other day when something caught my eye. A TV program was featuring a beautiful young white girl with adorable curly blonde hair singing in fluent Japanese.

This in itself is nothing special: Japanese people love seeing foreigners who can speak their language, and variety shows here make stories out of them all the time. What dropped my jaw, though, is when I looked closer and realized that this beautiful young girl is actually a boy.

His name is YOHIO, a 16-year-old boy from Sweden who is now the lead guitarist and songwriter of the visual kei band Seremedy. For those unfamiliar with the Japanese subculture, visual kei refers to a type of heavy metal-esque rock music marked by the musician’s flamboyant and often androgynous use of make-up, hairstyles and costumes while on stage.

japantoday.com

Ancient language discovered on clay tablets found amid ruins of 2800 year old Middle Eastern palace

Archaeologists have discovered evidence for a previously unknown ancient language – buried in the ruins of a 2800 year old Middle Eastern palace.

The discovery is important because it may help reveal the ethnic and cultural origins of some of history’s first ‘barbarians’ – mountain tribes which had, in previous millennia, preyed on the world’s first great civilizations,  the cultures of early Mesopotamia in what is now Iraq.

Evidence of the long-lost language – probably spoken by a hitherto unknown people from the Zagros Mountains of western Iran – was found by a Cambridge University archaeologist as he deciphered an ancient clay writing tablet unearthed by an international archaeological team excavating an Assyrian imperial governors’ palace in the ancient city of Tushan, south-east Turkey.

independent.co.uk

London 2012: Bus drivers could strike during Olympics, Unite warns

Trade union Unite demands £500 payments to members to compensate for ‘increase in workload’ during Olympic Games

The Unite trade union has warned that London bus drivers could strike during the Olympics as it prepares to launch an industrial ballot in a dispute over pay.

Britain’s largest union, which represents 21,000 bus workers in the capital, has given notice of a strike ballot to the 21 private bus operators who run services in London. Unite is demanding a £500 payment for members to compensate for their «massive increase in workload» during the games between 27 July and 12 August, as the union predicted an extra 800,000 passengers will use the bus network.

guardian.co.uk

Russian plane crash: rescuers recover bodies but no survivors

All 45 people on board Sukhoi Superjet feared dead after it crashed into Indonesian volcano during flight to impress buyers

Rescuers have discovered bodies but no survivors near the wreckage of a new Russian-made passenger plane that smashed into the side of an Indonesian volcano during a flight to impress potential buyers. All 45 people on board are feared dead.

Owing to the remoteness of the crash site, the bodies will need to be placed in nets and lifted by ropes to a helicopter, according to a national search and rescue agency spokesman.

«So far we haven’t found any survivors, but we are still searching,» Gagah Prakoso said. «I cannot say anything about the condition of the bodies,» he said, but added that «a high-speed jet plane hit the cliff, exploded and tore apart».

The bodies from Wednesday’s crash were due to be flown to the capital, Jakarta, for identification by family members.

guardian.co.uk

Search continues for baby who fell from ferry

A major search for a baby who fell from a ferry off the coast of Northern Ireland resumed this morning.

A police helicopter, the Irish Coastguard and the RNLI restarted their search in the early hours, despite the poor weather conditions.

telegraph.co.uk

Why Google’s self-driving car may save lives

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Google’s self-driving car got its license this week as the state of Nevada became the first in the nation to license the company’s vehicles.

And while a computer-driven car may seem unsettling, the technology represents a potential leap forward in auto safety.

cnn.com

Ukraine: Caught between East and West

(CNN) — Seven and a half years ago, scenes of jubilant crowds celebrating the outcome of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution — a new presidential vote after a rigged election was annulled — filled TV screens around the world.

Now the country is back in the headlines, thanks to the controversial detention of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a heroine of the revolution, and threats to boycott next month’s Euro 2012 soccer matches in response.

Viktor Yanukovych, the man defeated in 2004 by rival Viktor Yushchenko, is now president and stands accused by critics of persecuting his political opponents, Tymoshenko among them.

cnn.com

Dozens dead in twin Damascus blasts

At least 55 people killed in pair of explosions near intelligence complex in Syrian capital, interior ministry says.

wo powerful blasts in quick succession have killed dozens of people and injured more than 300 others in the Syrian capital Damascus, according to Syrian officials and state media.

One of Thursday’s rush hour explosions hit the Qazaz neighbourhood that houses a well-known military intelligence headquarters involved in President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on a 14-month uprising.

The interior ministry said at least 55 people were killed and 372 wounded in the blasts.

«Two explosions caused by terrorists took place on the road in the south of Damascus,» state TV reported, adding that the blasts occurred «as people were heading to work and children to school».

aljazeera.com

Solar Eclipse 2012: When And Where To See It Best

By: Geoff Gaherty, Starry Night Education
Published: 05/10/2012 06:52 AM EDT on SPACE.com

Just two weeks after the huge «supermoon» wowed skywatchers around the world, the heavens will offer up another observing treat — a solar eclipse on May 20 that should be visible from much of western North America.

The May 20 event is what’s known as an annular solar eclipse, in which the moon blocks out most of the sun but leaves a ring of light visible around its circumference.

 

huffingtonpost.com

What Apple Looks Like In Numbers (INFOGRAPHIC)

After Apple announced its earnings for the second quarter of 2012 on April 24, it became clear the tech giant won’t be slowing in growth any time soon; in the last quarter alone, Apple saw $39.2 billion in revenue and sold 35.1 million iPhones, 11.8 million iPads, four million Macs and 7.7 million iPods.

While these numbers are staggering in their own right, they’re nothing compared to Apple’s overall reach and growth.Sortable, a service that helps users search and compare products like phones, cameras, tablets and laptops, proved as much with a recent infographic, titled «Apple By The Numbers».

huffingtonpost.com

Spanish Banks Erode Creditors With ECB Loans: Mortgages

Spain’s lenders are pledging some of their best assets to raise record levels of secured funding, including from the European Central Bank, eroding creditor safeguards at the same time the government is planning the country’s largest bank bailout.

Borrowing from the ECB rose 50 percent in March from the prior month to 227.6 billion euros ($294.3 billion). Bankia Group is among lenders that increased mortgage-backed debt issuance by 35 percent since December 2007 to 535.1 billion euros, or 53 percent of their real-estate loans, according to Spanish Mortgage Association data at the end of 2011. Rodrigo Rato, Bankia chairman, stepped down this week as part of a plan in which the government is willing to inject public funds.

bloomberg.com

Ο Θεόδωρος Τερζόπουλος σε διεθνή ύδατα

Η ομάδα Άττις είναι κλεισμένη σε φεστιβάλ του εξωτερικού μέχρι το 2015

Ούτε κρίση, ούτε πολιτικό τέλμα, ούτε καν μια κανονικότατη πτώχευση δεν μπορούν να αγγίξουν το μοναδικό πραγματικά διεθνές θέατρο της χώρας και μαζί τον μοναδικό πραγματικά διεθνή Έλληνα σκηνοθέτη. Το Άττις και το Θόδωρο Τερζόπουλο.

Έχουν πρόγραμμα «κλεισμένο» σε διεθνή «ύδατα» έως το 2015. Προσεχώς στο πρόγραμμά τους υπάρχει το Φεστιβάλ Diaghilev Seasons που φιλοξενείται στην Όπερα της Περμ (Perm Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre), η οποία τυγχάνει να έχει καλλιτεχνικό διευθυντή έναν Έλληνα σταρ: τον διευθυντή ορχήστρας και συνθέτη Θοδωρή Κουρεντζή.

Στο πολυσυλλεκτικό πρόγραμμα του Φεστιβάλ (με παραστάσεις όπερας, θεάτρου και μπαλέτου, εκθέσεις φωτογραφίας, προβολές ντοκιμαντέρ και συνέδρια) το Άττις συμμετέχει με δυο επιτυχίες του.

newsbeast.gr

Deadly blasts shake Damascus

Dozens killed or wounded in pair of explosions near intelligence headquarters in Syrian capital, according to state TV.

Two powerful blasts in quick succession have rocked the Syrian capital, sending plumes of smoke billowing into the sky, residents said.

State-run Syrian TV said dozens were killed or wounded in Thursday’s explosions that hit the Qazaz neighbourhood, where a Syrian intelligence agency has its headquarters.

«Two explosions caused by terrorists took place on the road in the south of Damascus,» the report said, adding that the blasts occurred «as people were heading to work and children to school».

aljazeera.com

Anders Behring Breivik Trial: Norway Killer Asks To Confront Massacre Survivors

OSLO, Norway — Survivors of a youth camp shooting massacre that left 69 people dead in Norway testified Wednesday about their panicked attempts to hide during the rampage, as the court turned down confessed gunman Anders Behring Breivik’s request to question them on the stand.

Tonje Brenna, a leading member of the Labor Party’s youth wing, described how she sought shelter behind rocks on the shore of Utoya island on July 22 as her colleagues were shot around her.

«I smelled gunpowder, it stung my eyes,» Brenna, 24, told the Oslo court.

huffingtonpost.com

Dutch With Food Aid Shows New Economic Reality Engulfing Europe

It’s just after lunchtime on a drizzly day in the Amsterdam suburb of Bos en Lommer and the line of people waiting to fill their bags with free rice, juice, potatoes and bread is lengthening.

The market is one of 135 food banks in the Netherlands bailing out people trying to survive on less than 180 euros ($234) a month, the threshold to qualify for the aid. Organizers say demand for the service rose 20 percent in the first quarter.

bloomberg.com

E.Π.Α.Μ.- Επιστολή – απάντηση προς ΣΥΡΙΖΑ

Προς τον πρόεδρο της Κ.Ο του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ – Ενωτικό Κοινωνικό Μέτωπο

κ. Αλέξη Τσίπρα

Κύριε Πρόεδρε,

Το Ενιαίο Παλλαϊκό Μέτωπο (ΕΠΑΜ) ανταποκρινόμενο στην ανοικτή πρόσκληση της διαδικασίας διαλόγου που ζητήσατε, με σκοπό να υπάρξουν προτάσεις για τον απεγκλωβισμό της χώρας από τις πολιτικές του μνημονίου και των δανειακών συμβάσεων, θα ήθελε να ξεκαθαρίσει το εξής:

Ριζική λύση στα σημερινά αδιέξοδα που οικοδομήθηκαν από το καθεστώς δουλοπαροικίας του χρέους και τη βαθειά ύφεση στην οποία οδήγησαν σκόπιμα οι πολιτικές των μνημονίων, δεν μπορεί να υπάρξει χωρίς τη ριζική αναθεώρηση των σχέσεων της χώρας με την ΕΕ και την συντεταγμένη και με σχέδιο έξοδο της χώρας από την Ευρωζώνη, που θα δώσει τη δυνατότητα παραγωγικής ανασυγκρότησης προς όφελος της μεγάλης πλειοψηφίας του ελληνικού λαού.

epam-hellas.gr

Χασισόδεντρα σε χώρο του δημαρχείου Ναυπλίου!

Στον προαύλιο χώρο των αποθηκών τουδήμου Ναυπλίου, στην θέση Κανελλόπουλου, βρέθηκαν να καλλιεργούνται τέσσερα δενδρύλλια χασίς τα οποία εκριζώθηκαν και κατασχέθηκαν.

nooz.gr

Vidal Sassoon, Famed Stylist, Dies at 84

Vidal Sassoon, the famed British hairstylist, has been found dead at his Bel-Air home of apparent natural causes. He was 84. He admitted last year that he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2009 but had kept the news private.

imdb.com