Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has cautioned his Australian counterpart to be "careful of what he says" after threatening to "shirtfront" Russian President Vladimir Putin at a forthcoming G-20 summit.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott used an Australian football term for aggressively colliding with an opponent to describe how he would tackle Putin over Russia's role in the crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17.

"I am going to shirtfront Mr Putin – you bet I am – I am going to be saying to Mr Putin Australians were murdered, they were murdered by Russian backed rebels," Abbott was quoted as saying in The Guardian earlier this week.

Read MoreThis person scares Putin - and it's not who you think

Putin, famously well-skilled on the judo mat, is expected to attend the G-20 summit in Brisbane next month.

"If he (Abbott) prefers sports terms, well Mr Putin is very interested in sports," Medvedev told CNBC in an exclusive interview Tuesday. "They might have a very interesting conversation. … But every politician has to be careful of what he says."

Summary: Russia's prime minister cautions his Australian counterpart to be "careful of what he says" after threatening to "shirtfront" Putin.


Three ex-Google employees have launched a $30 PC runs on Google's mobile operating system, Android, after raising more than $1.6 million in a crowdfunding campaign to get the project going.

The Remix Mini, which fits into the palm of your hand, is being billed as the "world's first true Android PC" by Jide Technology, the company behind the project that was founded last year.

"The idea is that we want to make sure it's affordable and accessible," David Ko, one of Jide's co-founders and an ex-Googler, told CNBC by phone.

"A lot of people are using the PCs mainly for email, surfing the web, watching videos, all these can be done with mobile tech and you don't really need a big tall PC. A traditional big tall PC can cost you a few hundred dollars. In a mobile lifestyle, people are looking for flexibility."

Summary: Three ex-Google employees have launched a $30 PC runs on Google's mobile operating system,  Android, after a $1.6 million crowdfunding campaign.


He said he expects the S&P 500 to test the 1,867 low set Aug. 24 when the market plunged. "Traders are watching the 1,915 to 1,935 area (on the S&P). If we get a close below that, it will give some confidence that we do get down to test that 1,867 area and get that out of the way."

Redler said he is now looking to the Fed's meeting next week as a potential event that could set the direction for trading. The markets are split on when the central bank will raise rates, with the fed funds futures showing a low chance for a move in September but many forecasters still seeing a hike.

Read MoreThis market is setting a wild volatility record

"I think the market would rather have liftoff than put off. I think they would have been prepared for liftoff," Redler said. "One thing also is that the market is vulnerable in late September, early October which is when real bottoms have been put in." Redler noted that it will be a negative when corporate stock-buying programs are put on hold starting in the next week for a blackout period ahead of the next earnings reporting season in October.

Ari Wald, technical analyst at Oppenheimer Asset Management, also expects the market to test its August low, sooner or later. He said he is cautioning clients that it is too early for aggressive buying and that the market could actually see a 20 percent decline peak to trough. The S&P could then possibly fall to the 1,740 area.

Read MoreDavid Tepper: Good time to take money off the table

"There was a significant breakdown in August. The market fell from an eight-month topping pattern and is going to take more than a couple of weeks to recover from that," said Wald.

"Rate hike or not, we think this volatility continues, and there's going to be more work needed. If we do see a fourth-quarter rally, I think we're capped at 2,050 on the upside, and it's possible we do test the lows from August and move even lower than that. Even if you make the case for no economic recession, that the data is fine, it would be normal to see some cyclical pause to reset. It's been six years of market gains. We think we're due for a sideways market for the next few months."

Wald said stocks are also vulnerable to seasonal factors, with September often a weak month for equities. "It's worse with weakness coming into it, when you're already below the 200–day moving average," he said.

"These little bounce attempts face a lot of resistance. There's no signs of a bottom here yet," he said.

Friday's data includes PPI producer inflation data at 8:30 a.m. ET and consumer sentiment at 10 a.m.

Summary: Traders head into Friday cautious about next week's Fed meeting and wary of any attempts by the market to rally.


(Adds details throughout, efforts to reach companies for comment, previous comment from Zelada's lawyer, link to timeline)

SAO PAULO, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Brazilian prosecutors on Thursday presented formal charges against Jorge Zelada, the former head of state-run oil firm Petrobras' international division, and five others, saying they favored U.S. company Vantage Drilling in a rig contract.

The most recent charges presented in Brazil's largest-ever corruption scandal included money laundering and corruption, and Zelada will stand trial with dozens of other engineering tycoons and former Petrobras executives if a judge accepts them.

One of the six charged by the prosecutor was Hsin Chi Su, chief executive of Taiwanese shipping firm TMT.

The federal prosecutor's office in the southern city of Curitiba said in a statement that Su and the others paid bribes of $31 million to Zelada, other ex-Petrobras officials, and Brazil's PMBD political party.

The PMDB, or Brazil Democratic Movement Party, is part of President Dilma Rousseff's governing coalition.

The prosecutor's office said that in exchange, Petrobras officials improperly favored Vantage Drilling for a contract with the oil company for the use of its Titanium Explorer rig. The award of the contract was rife with irregularities, prosecutors said.

Vantage Drilling did not answer calls for comment by Reuters to its executive office in Houston. Representatives of TMT could not be reached.

Vantage Drilling's CEO said on July 2, when Zelada was arrested and prosecutors first mentioned the company, that they had no evidence substantiating allegations of improper activity in connection with the awarding of the Titanium Explorer contract.

Zelada's lawyer Eduardo Moraes could not immediately be reached for comment but had said previously that his client's arrest was unnecessary and illegal.

Prosecutors also said international cooperation from authorities in Monaco had helped to uncover accounts held by Zelada amounting to 11.58 million euros ($12.7 million).

Zelada's accounts were still moving funds after he became ensnared in the corruption scandal, known popularly in Brazil as Operation Car Wash, prosecutors said.

They said evidence of irregularities in the Titanium Explorer contract included meeting records, e-mail exchanges and foreign bank transfers into and out of Zelada's accounts.

(Reporting by Reese Ewing and Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Ken Wills)

Summary: SAO PAULO, Aug 6- Brazilian prosecutors on Thursday presented formal charges against Jorge Zelada, the former head of state-run oil firm Petrobras' international division, and five others, saying they favored U.S. company Vantage Drilling in a rig contract. The prosecutor's office said that in exchange, Petrobras officials improperly favored Vantage...


It’s not designed as a weapon but the selfie stick has become the latest martial arts tool.

A sports combat centre in Moscow is offering a ground-breaking class that teaches people to defend themselves from would be attackers or phone thieves.

Russians are learning to use the selfie stick as a weapon. (Reuters)

Fighters are taught improvised combat techniques and how to use the adjustable length of the stick as a weapon to take down assailants.

Trainers said that selfie stick self-defence is particularly useful for tourists who may encounter a would-be thief while on vacation.

Fighters taught improvised combat techniques to take down would-be assailants. (Reuters)

Martial arts coach Timur Dudayev said it takes five days to master the basics of selfie stick combat, with one theory lesson and four practical sessions.

It’s not clear if the selfie sticks are supplied.

Pictures and protection. The selfie stick does it all. (Reuters)


01/27/2016 AT 05:15 PM EST

A 32-year-old man is facing criminal charges in Florida after he allegedly violated that state's new "revenge porn" statute.

Steven Ward, 32, of Geneva, Florida, is being held at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility in Sanford without bond following his arrest Friday on cyber-harassment and cyber-stalking.

According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Ward allegedly posted a private, sexually explicit photo of his estranged wife on his Facebook page, and then sent her a screenshot of the public post, in alleged violation of a law enacted just four months ago.

Authorities further allege Ward sent his wife a number of harassing text messages, despite her requests to stop.

Information regarding Ward's attorney was unavailable Wednesday. He is expected to go before a judge on Feb. 2 to answer to the charges.

Summary: Authorities claim Steven Ward posted private, explicit pictures of his estranged wife on Facebook


Transcript for What District Attorney Says Happened Night of 'Road Rage' Shooting: Part 5

continues on "20/20." Reporter: With arrests made, suspects in custody, and charges brought, finally, the prosecution's story, the version jurors will hear next month at trial. The D.A. Thinks he can finally explain what happened. There's nothing to support that Mrs. Myers was doing anything other than giving her daughter some driving lessons. Reporter: But what happened next is a series of bizarre, tragic coincidences. 10:10 P.M., tammy is offering that driving lesson to her daughter in the parking lot. By coincidence, nowsch is in a park across the street. He's carrying a handgun, and the weight of the world on his shoulders, after death threats from rivals. He apparently misconstrues the movement of the car as a threat. Just out for some driving lessons. Reporter: 10:50 P.M., after the lesson, myers gets back behind the wheel and drives home. 10:56 P.M., a silver sedan passes them. Her daughter slams on the horn. It's full-on road rage, as the silver car stops. The driver walks out, and says, I'm going to kill you and come back for your daughter. Back at the park, nowsch is picked up by friend, derrick Andrews. Coincidentally, driving a different sedan. Meantime, myers drops off her daughter and picks up her son Brandon, who grabs his pistol. He happens to be a registered handgun owner. It's a mistake, but it is what it is. Reporter: The search begins. Mom and son take off looking for the road rager. Then they locate him, so they think. It was right here in front of us. Reporter: What does she see? Those are the ones that threatened to kill me and your sister. Reporter: A fatal instant of mistaken identity. She thinks she's found the car here. And it's at that same moment that nowsch thinks he's being followed by this green car. So now, you have both of them mistakenly P mistakenly paranoid about the other. Reporter: Then the same exact green buick is spotted, nowsch surmises he's the one about to be attacked. Moments later, shots fired. The first, but not the last time bullets would fly that night. At that point, the evidence shows that Mr. Nowsch raised his weapon in a threatening manner. I said, mom, we're getting shot at. At that point, she's shaking. Reporter: He says he didn't hit anybody. This should have been the end of it. Nowsch has now gotten to threaten the drug dealers he thinks are behind him. They've learned their lesson. Reporter: Both cars speed off. Each heading home, taking parallel streets. But remember, they only live a block apart. And in a cruel twist of fate, they wind up on the same street. The myers pull into the cul-de-sac. Andrews follows them in. That's when they got out of the car. The minute he follows them into the cul-de-sac, he's now become a threat. Reporter: What did you think was about to happen? Did you think there was going to be a shootout? No, until they started shooting. Everything was slow motion. It was weird. Reporter: Nowsch empties his .45 and reloads. The evidence shows Mr. Nowsch, for stupid reasons, chose to drive in a neighborhood he was familiar with, saw two people and opened fire. Reporter: The sedan backs away, and Brandon sees his mother on the ground. Just seconds more and you would have both made it into the house. Yes. There's no evidence to suggest that Brandon or Mrs. Myers did anything to legally provoke and give Mr. Nowsch the legal right to use deadly force. If the prosecutors are right that he fired the first shot, ]

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

Summary: Steve Wolfson says he believes Kristal Meyers' story and that the night was a series of tragic coincidences.


03/04/2016 AT 11:10 AM EST

Forget 'Feeling the Bern' – six-month-old Harper Bradford was just feeling hungry.

In a photo that's gone viral, Harper's mom Elle decided to breastfeed her in the middle of a

rally in Cleveland, Ohio Thursday.

"There is no, 'Oh, let me feed you in 10 mins,' " Elle

in Cleveland. "It's, 'I'm feeding you right here right now or you're screaming' "

"A hungry baby is a hungry baby."

Elle, who said she's been a

advocate for years, was happy to find that the response has been

– even from Sanders himself.

"After the rally, Bernie and Jane O'Meara Sanders both thanked me for doing what mothers do and taking care of my daughter when she needed her mom, even if that meant nursing in public!" Elle wrote in

, which has over 4,000 likes and almost 1,400 shares.

And Sanders' support is a sharp contrast from the Republican frontrunner

, who came under fire in June after a lawyer told CNN that Trump had once

for asking to take a break and breast pump during a deposition.

And Trump didn't completely dispute Beck's claims, later telling CNN: "She's a terrible attorney. We beat her soundly. She's got a terrible reputation. Bottom line, I beat her â and â it was a breast pump. She wanted to breast pump in front of me. I may have said it was disgusting. I thought it was terrible."

Elle, though, is happy to

of the Democratic hopeful. She, along with baby Harper, plan to go back to Cleveland for Sanders' rally on Saturday.

Summary: Elle Bradford nurses her daughter in a photo that's gone viral


Greetings. I write to you in some pain. I sit at my kitchen table, a takeout container before me containing the remains of last night’s dinner, my face screwed up like Munch’s screamer. My eyes cannot be bothered to make tears. My nervous system is overridden by heat. My fingertips are red with spices and I am breathing heavily through my mouth. As the burn subsides, I take another bite. I cannot stop. State Park’s Nashville hot chicken hurts so good.

State Park opened at the end of 2013, calling itself the “(obnoxious little) sister bar” of Hungry Mother, the French-Southern restaurant operated by the same team. More a dive bar-themed bar than an actual dive bar, State Park was a place to come for fun, offering pinball, kitschy dioramas, a well-stocked jukebox, and a menu that showcased regional dishes like Memphis BBQ spaghetti and Kentucky Hot Brown sandwiches with the zeal of an American studies major. But it was always overshadowed by its acclaimed sibling around the block. In May, Barry Maiden won the James Beard “Best Chef: Northeast” award at Hungry Mother. In July, after seven years, the restaurant closed.

So how is State Park faring, bereft of its big sister, and in the midst of construction resulting from a nearby August fire? (It temporarily closed some of State Park’s One Kendall Square neighbors, including the Blue Room and Flat Top Johnny’s.)

Chef Tyler Sundet, a longtime Hungry Mother employee and part owner of State Park (along with John Kessen, Alon Munzer, and Rachel Miller Munzer), has rejiggered the menu — relegating some favorites to lunch, introducing new dishes at dinner, and rotating items in and out with frequency. It now feels like less of a scene, more of a restaurant.

1 Kendall Square, Cambridge MA 617-848-4355. http://www.statepark.is

You’ll have to come during the day if you want the excellent Texas invention known as tobacco onions, a tangled pile of onion rings so thin and crisp they do indeed resemble tobacco, or that BBQ spaghetti. This is exactly as it sounds, spaghetti tossed with smoked pork, marinara, and tangy barbecue sauce. Equally notable is the garlic bread on the side — how we’d all like to eat it but might not let ourselves make it, essentially fried in a deep bath of butter, every pore saturated yet still crisp.

But dinner now has a lighter touch, a little more elegance, to add to the meaty, heavy mix.

Does it matter that beans are heirloom when the kitchen fries them into crisp and crunchy nubbins, then showers them with nacho cheese dust? Maybe not so much, but they are as addictive as Doritos. There are pickled eggs, with that strange, dense, almost flan-like texture, stained bright beet pink against a yellow eye: pickled eggs as designed by Sanrio. Little buttermilk biscuits are denser than some but still satisfying, served with butter sweetened with Steen’s cane syrup from Louisiana.

Fried pork ribs are glazed in Korean barbecue sauce and served with kimchi — spicy, sticky, good. And charcuterie platters — rabbit bratwurst, a cured ham board — are always excellent.

For balance, though, there is smoked fish dip, light and fresh, spiked with radish slices and halved red-green cherry tomatoes, showered in chives, with thin, delicate crackers served alongside. (It’s now served warm, with house-made rye.) And vegetables are showcased in composed salads: candy-striped beets with pears, pecans, and Pecorino; green beans with pork belly, chanterelle mushrooms, black garlic, and smoked peanuts.

Ribbons of green arugula pasta are tossed with braised chicken, lobster mushrooms, peas, and mushroom-butter sauce; an overload of cheese blankets the dish. Bavette steak is served topped with anchovy butter, alongside fried broccoli and grilled bread. It’s slightly fatty and greasy. But State Park’s Arctic char is one of the nicest fish dishes I’ve had of late — perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked, with tiny, tender Brussels sprouts and chewy broken rice, drizzled with a generous but not excessive amount of brown butter. It’s reminiscent of, and as good as anything at, Hungry Mother.

It is also off the menu for the moment, replaced by whole roasted trout. There are constants here, such as “Snappy’s famous pork chop sandwich” with chili and coleslaw. Based on one from the Snappy Lunch in North Carolina, it sounds like an abomination and looks like a Sloppy Joe with a ginormous deep-fried piece of pork inserted in the middle. It comes impaled with a knife, an Excalibur for the high-cholesterol set. Look, the thing tastes great.

Nashville hot chicken and kale.

And then there’s that fried chicken, with kale that’s laced with garlic confit and big pickle slices on the side. A Tabasco-honey version is good enough, encased in its thick, crunchy batter. But if you’re at all inclined, the hot chicken — a Nashville specialty — is the way to go. Flavored with ghost chiles, aji amarillo, smoked paprika, cayenne, and more, it is served atop white bread, stained red like a crime scene.

The service we receive with it is indicative of that at State Park: informal, attentive, and on point. Our server sets down the hot chicken, gives a slightly concerned smile, and asks: “Shall I bring you a big, cheap beer now?”

State Park’s beer list can satisfy everyone from the broke lightweight ($2 shorties of ’Gansett) to the thirsty craft-beer enthusiast (large-format barrel-aged ales from Hof Ten Dormaal). There is even beer in the Official State Park Cocktail: Miller High Life, Rittenhouse rye, Amaro Braulio, and a lemon twist, served in the bottle. I’d almost always rather drink a beer than a beer cocktail, but the citrus, the bitter liqueur, the warm rye, and the thirst-quenching champagne of beers add up to something grand. It’s a good choice for house cocktail, emblematic of State Park’s cheeky and appealing take on drinks.

There are well-made classics like the daiquiri and riffs like the cinnamon-scented, bourbon and beer-based Topanga. There are “day drinks (also available at night)” like hot buttered Swedish punsch and an oversize mimosa. There are pitchers and mini-pitchers of assorted cocktails (Pimm’s cup, Chartreuse and tonic), and shot-and-a-beer combinations. There are also interesting options for non-tipplers, like a cherry cola flavored with Luxardo syrup.

Wine and dessert both seem a bit beside the point but are here for those who want them. The wine list is scaled down and generic while covering the bases — there’s a sherry, a sparkling Spanish white, a Cotes du Rhone. You just won’t know which ones unless you ask. Desserts — chocolate custard, coconut layer cake — are pleasantly homey. Like just about everything at State Park, they are made in house, by pastry chef Rachel Sundet.

State Park may never rival Hungry Mother as a dining destination. (There are still no developments to report on what may be coming to that space.) But it is as much fun as ever. Wedged into a vinyl booth in the flattering bordello-red light of a vintage beer sign, eating charcuterie and fried chicken, one may have found the best little pseudo dive bar in town.

Summary: Since acclaimed restaurant Hungry Mother closed, “(obnoxious little) sister bar” State Park is better than ever.


-- famously known as the Pregnant Man -- gave birth to a major league ass-whooping at a Taekwondo festival in New Mexico recently ... and it was all caught on tape.

Beatie competed at the 1st annual New Mexico Taekwondo Hanmadang back on November 5th -- competing in board-breaking ... and MEN'S full-contact sparring.

Beatie -- who earned a black belt in Tang Soo Do/ Taekwando back when he was a female -- took first place in the sparring competition ... after unleashing the feet of fury against another male opponent.

Thomas tells TMZ, "My actions speak louder than the words of people who claim that I'm just a chick. I don't know how many chicks fight dudes and WIN!"

Summary: Thomas Beatie -- famously known as the Pregnant Man -- gave birth to a major league ass-whooping at a Taekwondo festival in New Mexico recently ... and…


Actor Abe Vigoda was noticeably left out of the In Memoriam segment of the Oscars.

The acclaimed film star, who earned a tremendous following for his roles in “The Godfather” saga and on the hit sitcom “Barney Miller,” died last month at the age of 94.

STARS TOOK RED CARPET CUES FROM FICTIONAL CHARACTERS

He had previously been reported dead some 34 years earlier, cementing him as something of a cult icon beyond his on-screen prowess.

After the somber segment of the Oscars ended without Vigoda receiving mention, a slew of fans flocked to social media to express their disappointment.

Then on Monday, his daughter Carol Vigoda Fuchs expressed her disappoinment over her father's omission.

"Abe's family feels disappointed and cheated by the Academy," she told the Associated Press. "Abe gave his life and heart to acting, and a simple tribute in recognition of his devotion was overlooked."

She added that she expects him to be included in the Emmys memorial segment, but that doesn't excuse the Oscars' mistake.

"The Academy made a mistake," she said. "It's an injustice."

Also absent from the segment was actor Geoffrey Lewis, who died last April at 79. He was best known collaborating with Clint Eastwood in a number of movies.

MARK RYLANCE A SURPRISE BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR OSCAR WINNER

His daughter, Juliette Lewis, tweeted her dismay that he was left out of the segment after it ended.

MARK RUFFALO, ‘SPOTLIGHT’ FILMMAKERS JOIN PROTEST AGAINST PEDOPHILE PRIESTS BEFORE OSCARS

“My dad #GeoffreyLewis was beloved and contributed over 220 roles in film and tv,” she wrote. “@TheAcademy maybe you can remember to include him nxt yr.”

They left Abe Vigoda out of the in memorium. That's okay, he dies every year anyway. #Oscars

For those saying Abe Vigoda died in 2016… So did David Bowie and Alan Rickman.

FULL STOP: How in the WORLD was Abe Vigoda not included in the "In Memoriam" at the #Oscars ??

Summary: And Juliette Lewis' dad was also snubbed.


Prince Harry (left) and Prince William

05/27/2016 AT 10:55 AM EDT

It's often said that polo is a rich person's sport. However, it also provides rich pickings for charities supported by

Their office announced on Friday that through playing polo, the two brothers have raised the princely sum of $13.9 million since 2007, including $1.17 million last year. This year they expect to raise a similar amount.

in full swing, the royals are already off to a good start. This weekend they will take part in the annual Audi Polo Challenge at Coworth Park – near Windsor, England – which will raise money four of their charities.

Over the rest of the summer, they will raise funds for 13 other organization.

Harry recognized the impact that they can have when he spoke to the United Kingdom's

kicked off in Orlando earlier this month. He

in Palm Beach, Florida, raising money for his African charity

"I know it doesnât look great, riding round playing polo," he said. "But it is the best form of raising that much money for so many charities."

Come this weekend, royal fans are probably keeping an eye out for a special appearance by

and – possibly taking her polo bow –

Last year, George drew a lot of adorable attention when he

by the side of the polo field with Kate.Â

Summary: The princes are set to play this weekend in the first of their summer of charity matches which will help their favorite causes


For more than 20 years, photographer Matt Black has been exploring issues of poverty, migration and farming in California’s Central Valley, painting a picture of extreme economic hardship in one of the country’s richest states.

Last year, he took to Instagram for his latest project, Geography of Poverty, using the social app’s mapping feature to pinpoint California’s poorest communities. His goal was “to get people that are on Instagram to picture themselves in these places,” he said in December after being named TIME’s Instagram Photographer of the Year.

Now, after spending two decades concentrating on California’s Central Valley, Black is expanding his project to the rest of the country.

“Occasionally, with my work in the Central Valley, I get the feeling that people can dismiss it by saying that it’s happening in some weird place in the middle of nowhere in California; that it’s an outlier,” he tells TIME. “But I know very well that the Central Valley is not an outlier. You can find similar communities and similar circumstances throughout the country.”

This knowledge forms the basis of the second chapter of Geography of Poverty, one that is taking the 44-year-old photographer all over the country, from California to Oregon, Louisiana, Tennessee and New York, among many other states.

Published by MSNBC, Black’s extended Geography of Poverty project is composed of two elements — the photographer’s road trip across America, plus four extended reports, written by Pulitzer Prize winner Trymaine Lee, that provide more context to the issue of poverty and economic hardship in four regions of the country. “You get the scope and breadth of the story through Matt’s road trip, but you also get a deeper dive from Trymaine,” says Amy Pereira, MSNBC’s director of photography.

For Black, the goal was to use the road as a storytelling mechanism. “Every stop along the way has a level of poverty above 20%,” he says. “I wanted to find a continuous route that linked all of these towns, which are no more than a couple of hundred miles from each other. And the fact that you can link all of these communities from coast to coast and back again is telling.”

As Black travels across America, he shows the people and communities he’s photographing a map where he’s marked all of his stops. “A lot of people have been blown away by it,” he says, as they’ve realized that “it’s not so much about the individual circumstances as it is about the collective whole.”

“What really dawned on me is how connected these places are,” he adds. “I’ve driven all the way across the country, but in a lot of ways I feel I still haven’t left the Central Valley. It feels like one place. Uniting them in this kind of visual document is challenging but immensely satisfying because it feels like I’m making a statement that needs to be made.”

The overall project, while not unprecedented in scope, has necessitated the heavy involvement of teams of developers and designers at MSNBC, says Pereira, as the entire hosting platform had to be coded from the ground up, especially when it came to linking Black’s Instagram posts to MSNBC’s mapping feature.

The photographer also had to seek additional financing from external organizations such as the Magnum Foundation, the Pulitzer Center — a foundation that usually funds non-domestic projects — and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. “I think it’s heartening for photographers to know that it’s possible,” says Black. “You [can] put something together like this and get the resources to do it.”

For Pereira, Black’s personality and personal experience are part of the project’s overall success. “Matt has a sensitive and keen eye,” she says. “His humanity is so inherent that you can’t help but feel it in his images. He’s devoted his life work to telling a story of people who are very marginalized by their social-economic situation. He’s spent his whole life around these communities. He understands this on an intimate level. There are more than 45 million people living in poverty in the U.S. and people don’t want to see it. They’re busy with their own struggles and their own lives. Matt is showing people in a sensitive way.”

Matt Black is a freelance photographer based in California. Follow him on Instagram @mattblack_blackmatt. See more of Geography of Poverty project on MSNBC.

Olivier Laurent is the editor of TIME LightBox. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @olivierclaurent.

Summary: Matt Black uses Instagram to show how extreme poverty affects all of America


If you’re still rubbing your eyes over the dress that has social media baffled, here’s definitive proof that it is indeed black and blue, not white and gold:

The photo of the controversial frock (dubbed #TheDress on social media) went around the Internet Thursday night and Friday morning, polarizing viewers into two categories: those who saw it as white and gold and those who saw it as black and blue. It seems those in the former category have been tricked by the odd lighting of the photo (and maybe even by the physiology of their eyes) as the dressmaker has confirmed that it is royal blue with black lace stripes.

Read next: Taylor Swift Says The Dress is Black and Blue

Listen to the most important stories of the day.

Summary: Sorry, #TeamWhiteAndGold


Three more companies in the exploding on-demand economy have been sued over their labor practices, a day after it emerged a class action lawsuit was pending against grocery startup Instacart.

The lawsuits filed on Thursday contend that workers for house-cleaning company Homejoy, as well as delivery service companies Postmates and Try Caviar, have been misclassified as independent contractors when they should be treated like employees. The class action complaints were filed in California’s Northern District Court, where similar lawsuits are already pending against Uber, Lyft and Instacart.

Postmates and Try Caviar are both primarily in the business of facilitating delivery from restaurants that don’t normally deliver. Customers places orders for food through their apps and orders are dispatched to couriers who pick up and deliver the food to the customers’ homes or offices, using their own personal transportation. On Wednesday, Postmates announced it had partnered with Starbucks to deliver food and beverages in Seattle.

The cleaners working for Homejoy use their own cleaning supplies and transportation to do jobs they get through Homejoy. The companies take a cut of the proceeds, whether a fare, an hourly wage or delivery fee.

The lawyer behind many of the cases is Shannon Liss-Riordan, a Boston-based labor lawyer who specializes in worker classification. She first filed the case against Uber on behalf of drivers in 2013, which claims thousands of workers in California are owed for expenses like gas and vehicle maintenance.

The publicity from that case has put her much in demand from people working similar jobs at other startups who believe they are being treated unjustly, she says. Today she filed separate class action complaints on behalf of workers for those three San Francisco-based companies. If the court approves the class, the suits could potentially affect thousands around the U.S.

“When companies have control over their workers, when they get to dictate how they should act, when they get to decide whether they can work or not work,” Liss-Riordan says, “those are employees. These are the workers carrying out the services that these companies provide. So these workers are entitled to the protections of the law, to get their expenses reimbursed, to be guaranteed overtime, to make [at least] minimum wage.”

Homejoy and Postmates did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this article. Try Caviar declined to comment, as did Instacart about its own pending litigation.

One of the key issues in the case is determining exactly what business these companies are in. These on-demand companies say they are merely middle-man technology companies connecting people who want a service with someone willing to provide it. Homejoy, for instance, bills itself as a marketplace where people willing to clean homes can connect with people who want their homes cleaned through their platform. Its terms of service are explicit:

THE COMPANY DOES NOT PROVIDE CLEANING SERVICES, AND THE COMPANY IS NOT A CLEANING SERVICE PROVIDER. IT IS UP TO THE THIRD PARTY CLEANING SERVICE PROVIDER TO OFFER CLEANING SERVICES WHICH MAY BE SCHEDULED THROUGH USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR SERVICE.

But other marketing materials and advertisements often send conflicting messages. Homejoy uses first person pronouns on their website, telling potential users: “If you’re not 100% satisfied with your cleaning, we’ll come back and re-clean it!” If Liss-Riordan can prove in court that companies like Homejoy and Uber are in fact cleaning companies or transportation companies and not just middle-men that could help convince the courts that the workers are in fact employees.

“You can’t name yourself out of employer status,” says Harvard law professor Benjamin Sachs. “The realities matter because if Uber is really a transportation company—and by that we mean they’re involved in many aspects of actually providing rides, screening drivers, hiring drivers, setting rates—that’s like a taxi company with a new technology. That doesn’t change anything important about the nature of employment.” Uber has said it doesn’t comment on pending legislation.

The complaints contend that workers for each of the platforms are owed reimbursements for expenses like vehicle maintenance, cleaning supplies and gas they used to get from job to job, as well as overtime and in some cases minimum wage. The suits against Postmates and Try Caviar also contend that the companies are unfairly competing, by not paying for expenses that delivery companies with employee couriers would, like unemployment insurance or workers’ compensation.

“There seems to be this new wave of companies coming up that seem to be copying one another and thinking that it’s okay to do this because they call themselves technology companies,” Liss-Riordan says. “There’s nothing new about this. These workers should be entitled to the protections of employees.”

Summary: Complaints allege that workers are employees and not independent contractors


While dishing about the latest in a string of disastrous Tinder dates with a friend, 36-year-old Manhattan divorcée Melissa DeLancey recounted how one basement-dwelling dweeb refused to meet at her favorite bar because it didn’t allow dogs.

“He was inseparable from his pet,” DeLancey said, a little disconcerted. “Even on a first date.”

“Sounds like the sort of thing my neighbor would do,” replied the pal, who asked to see the guy’s Tinder picture. It turned out the two were the same: DeLancey’s date was the neighbor, who lived with his dog — and his long-suffering girlfriend.

“Trust me, this guy had nothing [good] about him,” recalls DeLancey, who chose Tinder over traditional dating sites like match.com because of its immediacy, as users communicate via text rather than email. “He should be holding onto that girlfriend, not looking for other women.”

While the experience was unsettling, it proved ideal material for the sassy entertainer’s new cabaret show, Tinder Roulette, opening Friday at the 13th Street Repertory Theatre.

During the 75-minute performance, DeLancey dishes on her adventures with Tinder, revealing that the handy app has brokered her more than 150 dates since her divorce in 2012 — and dozens of “d - - k pics” from desperate men in her selected age range of 36 to 45.

“My friends are fascinated by my dating stories,” adds the Greenwich Village-based actress, who juggles her theater work with her main career as a personal trainer. “I’m a compulsive oversharer, so it made sense for me to do a show on the topic.”

One such story involves a guy who tastefully wined and dined DeLancey before taking her to the cinema to see the George Clooney film “Gravity,” all on their first date.

Says DeLancey: “We were fooling around because ‘Gravity’ is really boring and, about halfway through the movie, he whispered: ‘Can I f–k you later?’ I was like, ‘Eww!’”

At least two of her dates are coming to watch the cabaret, she says. And how will they react if they recognize themselves in the act?

“I’m sure they’ll take it in stride,” says DeLancey, who’s still single. “The guys I’ve told are all pretty cool.”

While the Tinder experiment has left her disheartened, it’s also spurred her to keep searching, although she has switched out Tinder for the new “feminist” app Bumble, in which women are required to send the first message.

“I want to settle down eventually and hopefully have a family,” concludes DeLancey. “The New York dating scene is tough, but he’s out there somewhere.”

Summary: While dishing about the latest in a string of disastrous Tinder dates with a friend, 36-year-old Manhattan divorcée Melissa DeLancey recounted how one basement-dwelling dweeb refused to meet at her…


Actress Olivia Wilde’s cover shoot for the September issue of Glamour includes a photo of her breastfeeding her baby Otis, in a diner, in couture. Note that Otis is not wearing a diaper, so really anything could happen to that Roberto Cavalli dress.

Wilde notes that there’s “usually a diaper involved,” but otherwise the photo-shoot felt completely natural to her:

Being shot with Otis is so perfect because any portrait of me right now isn’t complete without my identity as a mother being a part of that. Breast-feeding is the most natural thing. I don’t know, now it feels like Otis should always be on my breast. It felt like we were capturing that multifaceted woman we’ve been discussing—that we know we can be. You can be someone who is at once maternal and professional and sexy and self-possessed. [But] I mean, I certainly don’t really look like that when I’m [typically] breast-feeding.

It’s worth noting that it’s much easier to breastfeed if you’re a well-paid actress, but much harder for working moms in low-income jobs to get clean places to pump milk and the time off work to do it. Wilde also notes that she doesn’t have any apprehension about continuing her acting work while raising Otis:

No, because of the example of my mom. My mom is such a badass working mother. That inspired me when I was pregnant. I wasn’t going to sacrifice myself because I was becoming a mother.

But that doesn’t mean she’s immune to the kind of self-doubt that sounds a lot like the well-known “Imposter Complex:”

I felt that I had been cast in films that, though I was very excited to be a part of, didn’t feel that they were actually the right roles for me. I felt like I was almost a fraud—like I somehow had become a kind of pinup version of myself.

Wilde’s glamour shot comes right smack in the middle of World Breastfeeding Week, and to celebrate the occasion we at TIME gathered together the 16 Top Breastfeeding Controversies.

Summary: Says she's inspired by her own mother


Tom Brokaw is a travelin' man.

The former "Nightly News" anchor is about to hit the highway with the USA Network to film a new documentary series called "Highway 50: A Road Trip Across Obama's America" in which he'll interview people about how they're dealing with the economic crisis, and how Barack Obama's presidency has affected them.

"I have felt for a long time, as a political journalist especially, that too much of the political dialogue is from the top down and confined to the Beltway," Brokaw told reporters Wednesday. "I just think we need to work harder to hear the voices from the ground level."

Highway 50 stretches from Maryland to California, and is an ideal route to follow because it touches all the political bases in the country, said Brokaw.

In the series, scheduled to air in January 2010 to mark the first year of Obama's presidency, Brokaw envisions potential stories about the auto and gun industries and the health care and education sectors. "All those obvious topics that are in play now in the new administration," he said.

And though Brokaw says he's "always wanted to travel like Willie Nelson," he won't actually be living on the road.

The concept of "Highway 50" came together after USA asked Brokaw to write the forward for the network's forthcoming book, "American Character: A Photographic Journey," which features a series of snaps taken by Scottish-born photographer David Eustace along the same highway.

"I had been working on an idea of how to the tell the story of the transformation of America from the outside looking in," Brokaw said. "And [those photographs] reinforced my own thoughts about how we ought to be dealing with the new era of American life."

Leading up to the premiere of "Highway 50," Brokaw will broadcast updates about his travels in short clips entitled "Dispatches From the Road" on USA and other NBC News programs such as the "Today Show," MSNBC and NBC's "Nightly News."

Brokaw says he is looking forward to giving Americans a voice and helping them get straight answers.

"I think a lot of the anxiety that exists out there right now, is because almost everything they've been told in the last nine months to a year has turned out not to be true," said Brokaw. "This is an unusual time. Everything is happening at warp speed. It's complicated. And I think what everyone needs is some straight talk."

Summary: Tom Brokaw is a travelin' man. The former "Nightly News" anchor is about to hit the highway with the USA Network to film a new documentary series called "Highway 50: A Road Trip Across Obama's America."


Why Virtual Reality Is About to Change the World It’s nearly upon us, and it could revolutionize the way we live, play and learn

Why Good Border Fences Don’t Always Make Good Neighbors Rather than building walls, politicians need to address root causes

What It’s Like to Be Out in Africa While gay rights are on the rise in the U.S., violent homophobia remains rampant in many African nations

The Koch Brothers Reboot for 2016 To elect a Republican, the power brokers have retooled with more money, better strategy and a new plan for victory

Jon Stewart’s Term as Voice of Reason Comes to an End The Daily Show host says goodbye after 16 years on the air

A Daily Dozen of Jon Stewart’s Best Moments

Meryl’s Bad Movie Moms Are a ‘Flash’ of Inspiration In her latest, Streep plays an MIA rocker mother

Review: Robyn’s Tribute to Dance Floors of Decades Past The singer’s ‘mini-album’ Love Is Free is out Aug. 7

Review: Louis de Bernières’s The Dust That Falls From Dreams The guns of August—and what came after

Review: Diary of a Teenage Girl Is an Honest Entry on Teen Sexuality Bel Powley and Alexander Skarsgard star in the adaptation

The ‘Waze’ and Means of Parenting How a new crowd-sourced traffic app changed my summer

10 Questions With Anthony Bourdain At work on a global food hall in New York and a new season of his television show, the chef and author dishes on the way we eat now

Do you Need to Buy Organic to Get the Best of Summer’s Produce? What to put in your grocery bag

Should Prostitution Be Legal? Amnesty International is poised to vote on a measure some hope would protect sex workers

The Long Journey From North Korea to Freedom New memoirs describe life during one of the greatest disasters—and most secret—the world has ever known

President Obama Takes the Lead on Climate Change But he needs the world to follow

Do You Want a President You Can Drink a Beer With? The most likable, talented, trusted candidate does not always win

Fetal Tissue Is Critical to Scientific Progress

Treacherous Toys Major retailers recently agreed to stop selling realistic toy guns in New York, per a settlement with the state’s attorney general. Here, other playthings that caused a stir:

The Hybrid Airplane Dutch carrier KLM and Delft University of Technology recently unveiled concepts for the Advanced Hybrid Engine Aircraft Development (AHEAD), a sleek aircraft designed to streamline the flying experience. Here’s how it works.

Offbeat Power Players After years of turmoil, U.S. hydropower production is poised to grow by more than 5% in 2016, according to new data. But globally, the renewable energy resource is getting some unexpected competition.

Jen Welter The Arizona Cardinals announced July 27 that Welter would be an assistant coach, making her the first female coach in the NFL.

Janeane Garofalo The veteran comedian stars in Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, an eight-episode series now streaming on Netflix that is a prequel to the 2001 film with a cult following.

Mullah Mohammad Omar Taliban chief

What You Said About …

Summary: Why Virtual Reality Is About to Change the World It's nearly upon us, and it could revolutionize the way we live, play and learn Why…


Apple CEO Tim Cook started the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) by remembering the victims of this weekend’s horrific shootings at a club in Orlando.

Speaking at the event, Cook called the attacks an “unconscionable act of terrorism and hate,” adding that Apple AAPL extended its “deepest sympathies” to those affected by the “senseless” attack. He then asked all the attendees to stand for a moment of silence.

Cook’s comments follow a deadly attack in an Orlando bar that left 50 people dead, including the attacker, Omar Mateen, who was killed by police. The attack, which occurred at nightclub on Saturday, was the biggest terror attack on U.S. soil since September 11th, 2001.

Cook’s comments, delivered at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco where rainbow flags for Pride month were being flown outside, speak to the position Apple is in. The company is one of the biggest in the world and arguably one of the most iconic. It also holds significant sway among people, and delivers products to people around the globe. Cook is also still the only openly gay CEO in the Fortune 500.

Acknowledging that the attack was an act of terror, therefore, is notable, and echoes Cook’s own tweet over the weekend issuing condolences to the victims.

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Other technology executives have also spoken out about Mateen’s attacks since Saturday. On Monday during his own company’s keynote at E3, Microsoft MSFT CEO Satya Nadella also acknowledged and condemned the attack.

For more on Apple, watch:

Once Cook’s moment of silence was over, he launched into the start of the WWDC opening keynote, an annual event during which Apple reveals software improvements and new versions of its operating systems. Apple is expected to talk about iOS, OS X, watchOS, and tvOS at the event. The keynote will be followed by a week-long event, allowing developers to sit through workshops and tutorials to improve their apps and deliver new programs on Apple’s operating systems.

Summary: He then asked for a moment of silence.


Analysts are publishing their forecasts for Google’s Q1 2011 earnings.

Thursday’s earnings call will be the first under new CEO Larry Page and analysts are expecting to get some guidance on the direction of the company. Overall the outlook is positive with expectations of Google GOOG beating guidance and the Street.

Interestingly, there isn’t much talk about the ITA purchase, which has now gotten Federal approval.

Justin Post at BofA Merrill Lynch has a high target of $750 with higher OpEx to keep EPS in check:

A chance to come out swinging, Google reports 4/14: While we don’t want to discount the Facebook, margin pressure and regulatory overhangs (which won’t go away after the Q), management comments on search strength (including mobile), leadership changes, and product pipeline could set a more positive tone for the stock. We think the set up is positive over the next 6 months with negative sentiment (stock down 3% YTD), the potential for a backlog of product releases for the CEO Larry Page to announce, and our view that management does care about the stock price as an employee retention tool.

ThinkEquity’s Aaron Kessler has a price target of $780 and is modeling $6.39B revenues(up 26.2%Y/Y, 0.3%Q/Q), roughly in line with the Street’s $6.44B.

Based on our industry check as well as other industry data points, we remain comfortable with our 1Q Google net revenue estimates (up 26.2% Y/Y, 0.3%Q/Q). While we expect relatively in-line 1Q results for Google, we believe shares at 16x/14x our 2011/2012 PF EPS estimates or 14x/12x (ex cash)remain attractive vs. our mid-teens LT growth expectation. We reiterate our Buy rating and $780 price target (19x 2012E PF EPS)

Overall, our search checks indicated on average 15-20%Y/Y growth on a same client basis and down low single digits sequentially…Expect Aggressive Hiring and Pay Increases to Impact Margins

Jordan Rohan at Stifel Nicolaus has a target of $775 and sees Larry Page’s early moves (7 reports, rewarding social, CFO given expanded power) as positive but sees risks to investment:

The biggest risk to earnings, in our view, is the impact on margins of hiring practices. Other risks include competition, and the popularity of social/mobile media, which could draw Google users away from the directly-navigated search behavior today, and broad macroeconomic concerns

Gene Munster at Piper has a price target of $725 and says GOOG looks cheap but with risks that include competition, increasing traffic acquisition costs, loss of key partnerships, and slowing ad/search growth.

Shares of Google have not moved meaningfully since the company reported Q4 earnings. We believe the reason is that investors are uncertain of Google’s growth prospects in 2012 and beyond. While calling Google a value stock in the past has not worked out, we believe the current 14x multiple that GOOG trades at on FY12 consensus PF EPS of $40.09 appears cheap given expected growth of 18% in 2012.In terms of the upcoming quarter, we expect Google to report revenue in line with expectations of $6.32 billion, but believe there is a chance that there is downside to bottom line expectations of $8.13.

Trip Chowdhry from Global Equities Research has a lower price target of $650 with the following bullet point to consider:

Mark S. Mahane at Citi has a target of $750 and views Long-Term Risk/Reward As “Reasonably Attractive”

We are looking for $6.31B in Net Revenue (up 25% Y/Y and down 1% Q/Q) and $7.90 in non-GAAP EPS – This compares with consensus expectations of $6.32B and $8.13. Based on extensive intra-quarter channel checks and our model sensitivity work, we believe Street Q1 Revenue estimates are reasonable, although Street Q1 EPS estimates appear high-end aggressive, given clear company indications of a substantial headcount ramp and the previously announced 10% across the board compensation increase.

Kerry Rice at Wedbush has a price target of $750 and says that “Android could be as dominant in the smartphone market as in search.” More on that shortly.

We believe 1Q10 revenue and EPS should exceed expectations given strength from international search and display. Our 1Q11 net revenue estimate is $6,376 million, which is modestly above consensus of $6,322 million and our pro foma EPS estimate of $8.17 is also modestly above consensus estimate of $8.13. While we expect solid growth from U.S. search, we believe the upside could come from paid clicks and international geographies. While U.S. search queries were seasonally weaker than we expected, we believe paid clicks were likely as strong as or stronger than in 1Q10 due to the success of Google Instant (Figure 1). We believe Google should report growth in paid clicks of at least 15% YoY (Figure 3). While Cost-per-Click (CPC) rates fell below our expectations, the decline was less than we expected (Figure 2). We believe the uptick in March resulted from an increase in CPC rates primarily from the Retail, Auto, and Finance verticals. We believe upside could come from international geographies, which according to our contacts surprised on the upside with significant YoY growth

Tune in Thursday at closing to get our instant analysis.

Summary: Analysts are publishing their forecasts for Google's Q1 2011 earnings. Thursday's earnings call will be the first under new CEO Larry Page and analysts are expecting to get some guidance on the direction of the company.  Overall the outlook is positive with expectations of Google beating guidance and the Street. Interestingly, there isn't much talk…


Apple is once again adding to its environmental cred.

The company said on Thursday that it would donate all the proceeds from certain app purchases and in-app purchases, from now until April 24, to the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) “vital global conservation work.”

Apple didn’t hint at how much it hopes to donate to the WWF. Typically, it collects 30% of all app proceeds and in-app purchases from developers.

“Together, our small actions will make big change,” the company wrote about the so-called Apps for Earth program.

The list of 27 apps that will participate in the program are among Apple’s most popular including Trivia Crack, Yoga Studio, and others. Angry Birds 2 and Cut the Rope: Magic are also included.

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Apple has long bragged about it efforts to be more environmentally friendly. Indeed, a press event last month, Apple announced that 93% of its worldwide facilities were now running on renewable energy.

Apple VP of the environment, policy, and social initiatives Lisa Jackson, also touted the company’s robot Liam, which picks apart used iPhones so that their components can be reused. Jackson added that 99% of all of Apple’s product packaging is now sourced from recycled paper or sourced from a sustainably managed source.

Apple AAPL is also looking at the material it uses for both its products and stores. Starting tomorrow, Apple will start transitioning its brick-and-mortar stores to using paper bags instead of using plastic bags. The new bags will be made of recycled paper.

For more about Apple, watch:

Both announcements came on the heels of a major investment by Apple in green energy in February, when the company issued $1.5 billion in bonds that it said would be used to fund clean energy projects. It’s the largest “green” bond ever issued by a U.S. corporation, Apple said.

Apps For Earth, then, is just an extension of Apple’s efforts for the environment. The program, which marks the first time Apple is donating proceeds generated through apps to environmental causes, coincides with Earth Day, which is April 22.

Summary: The funds will support the WWF's conservation work.


It is not the first time Fury has been forced into an humiliating climb-down after airing his controversial views.

He apologised in December after an interview with the Daily Mail in which he said: 'There are only three things that need to be accomplished before the devil comes home: one of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other one's paedophilia."

Fury, who stunned Klitschko on points to win the world title shortly afterwards, subsequently claimed he had been misquoted and threatened violence against his interviewer.

In response, the British Boxing Board of Control issued a statement reminding Fury of his responsibilities.

The statement, which was issued on Fury's behalf, added: "Tyson Fury, the Heavyweight Champion of the World, was interviewed last week by a video media outlet known as SportsView London. During the interview, Mr Fury made comments that have been viewed by some as offensive.

Summary: World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has apologised for offensive comments made in an hour-long video interview last week, insisting:


Europeans first came to the Western Hemisphere armed with guns, the cross and, unknowingly, pathogens. Against the alien agents of disease, the indigenous people never had a chance. Their immune systems were unprepared to fight smallpox and measles, malaria and yellow fever.

The epidemics that resulted have been well documented. What had not been clearly recognized until now, though, is that the general health of Native Americans had apparently been deteriorating for centuries before 1492.

That is the conclusion of a team of anthropologists, economists and paleopathologists who have completed a wide-ranging study of the health of people living in the Western Hemisphere in the last 7,000 years.

The researchers, whose work is regarded as the most comprehensive yet, say their findings in no way diminish the dreadful impact Old World diseases had on the people of the New World. But it suggests that the New World was hardly a healthful Eden.

More than 12,500 skeletons from 65 sites in North and South America -- slightly more than half of them from pre-Columbians -- were analyzed for evidence of infections, malnutrition and other health problems in various social and geographical settings.

The researchers used standardized criteria to rate the incidence and degree of these health factors by time and geography. Some trends leapt out from the resulting index. The healthiest sites for Native Americans were typically the oldest sites, predating Columbus by more than 1,000 years. Then came a marked decline.

''Our research shows that health was on a downward trajectory long before Columbus arrived,'' Dr. Richard H. Steckel and Dr. Jerome C. Rose, study leaders, wrote in ''The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere,'' a book they edited. It was published in August.

Dr. Steckel, an economist and anthropologist at Ohio State University, and Dr. Rose, an anthropologist at the University of Arkansas, stressed in interviews that their findings in no way mitigated the responsibility of Europeans as bearers of disease devastating to native societies. Yet the research, they said, should correct a widely held misperception that the New World was virtually free of disease before 1492.

In an epilogue to the book, Dr. Philip D. Curtin, an emeritus professor of history at Johns Hopkins University, said the skeletal evidence of the physical well-being of pre-Columbians ''shows conclusively that however much it may have deteriorated on contact with the outer world, it was far from paradisiacal before the Europeans and Africans arrived.''

About 50 scientists and scholars joined in the research and contributed chapters to the book. One of them, Dr. George J. Armelagos of Emory University, a pioneer in the field of paleopathology, said in an interview that the research provided an ''evolutionary history of disease in the New World.''

The surprise, Dr. Armelagos said, was not the evidence of many infectious diseases, but that the pre-Columbians were not better nourished and in general healthier.

Others said the research, supported by the National Science Foundation and Ohio State, would be the talk of scholarly seminars for years to come and the foundation for more detailed investigations of pre-Columbian health. Dr. Steckel is considering conducting a similar study of health patterns well into European prehistory.

''Although some of the authors occasionally appear to overstate the strength of the case they can make, they are also careful to indicate the limitations of the evidence,'' Dr. Curtin wrote of the Steckel-Rose research. ''They recognize that skeletal material is the best comparative evidence we have for the human condition over such a long period of time, but it is not perfect.''

The research team gathered evidence on seven basic indicators of chronic physical conditions that can be detected in skeletons -- namely, degenerative joint disease, dental health, stature, anemia, arrested tissue development, infections and trauma from injuries. Dr. Steckel and Dr. Rose called this ''by far the largest comparable data set of this type ever created.''

The researchers attributed the widespread decline in health in large part to the rise of agriculture and urban living. People in South and Central America began domesticating crops more than 5,000 years ago, and the rise of cities there began more than 2,000 years ago.

These were mixed blessings. Farming tended to limit the diversity of diets, and the congestion of towns and cities contributed to the rapid spread of disease. In the widening inequalities of urban societies, hard work on low-protein diets left most people vulnerable to illness and early death.

Similar signs of deleterious health effects have been found in the ancient Middle East, where agriculture started some 10,000 years ago. But the health consequences of farming and urbanism, Dr. Rose said, appeared to have been more abrupt in the New World.

The more mobile, less densely settled populations were usually the healthiest pre-Columbians. They were taller and had fewer signs of infectious lesions in their bones than residents of large settlements. Their diet was sufficiently rich and varied, the researchers said, for them to largely avoid the symptoms of childhood deprivation, like stunting and anemia. Even so, in the simplest hunter-gatherer societies, few people survived past age 50. In the healthiest cultures in the 1,000 years before Columbus, a life span of no more than 35 years might be usual.


Izzy Diaz plays the ever-so-slightly inebriated and beleaguered writer Isaac Aguero on NBC's new comedy "Telenovela."

On the big screen, Diaz appeared in Brian De Palma's Iraqi war drama "Redacted." His TV credits include "Parenthood," "Austin & Ally," "Lost," "Rules of Engagement," "Workaholics" and "Happy Endings." On stage he has performed in "Abstraction," "The World's Worst Play Ever," "Rounded Off Edge" and "Who or Whom?" He currently resides in East Massapequa, New York, with his family.

Summary: Meet Isaac Aguero from Telenovela on NBC.com.


There’s no question that nutrition studies tend to whipsaw—a lot—between telling you something is good for your health and warning against it.

In recent months, the news over dietary fat certainly fell into this category. While for decades doctors warned us about the dangers of too much saturated fat—the kind found in red meat, dairy and fried foods—some studies seemed to suggest that people who cut back on these verboten foods didn’t have any lower risk of heart problems than those who didn’t. That prompted advice to stick to butter over margarine, and not to worry too much about fat.

MORE: Ending the War on Fat

Now, a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds that too much saturated fat is indeed harmful to the heart, but it also provides an explanation for the earlier confusing study results as well. If you cut out calories from saturated fat, the kinds of calories you replace them with can be just as detrimental.

Led by Dr. Frank Hu from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the scientists analyzed data from two large populations: 84,628 women in the Nurses’ Health Study and 42,908 men in the Health Professionals Follow Up Study who were followed from the 1980s to 2010. During the nearly three decades of follow up, the participants answered questions about the food they ate and provided information about any heart-related events they experienced.

Overall, people who ate more saturated fat showed a higher risk of heart disease compared to those who ate less. Also, people who ate more polyunsaturated fats (the healthier fats in vegetable oils) and more whole grain carbohydrates lowered their risk of heart disease compared to people who included less of these nutrients in their diet.

MORE: Trans Fat Bans Reduce Heart Disease Deaths: Study

Because of the detailed nature of the food questions, the researchers could study in even more depth the patterns of diet changes among the volunteers. For example, as people dropped the number of calories they ate each day from saturated fat, Hu and his team could see that the participants replaced these fats with carbohydrates: particularly refined carbohydrates that are more easily transferred into fat. That contributed to a heart disease risk that was almost equal to that from saturated fats. That could explain why previous studies had found little benefit to reducing saturated fat, since most people tend to replace them with equally unhealthy carbohydrates.

MORE: Does a Low-Carb Diet Really Beat Low-Fat?

For people who replaced the saturated with better-for-you whole grains, however, the story was different. They showed a lower risk of heart disease compared to those who didn’t make the switch. Those who replaced 5% of their daily energy intake from saturated fat with healthier fats or whole grains lowered their risk of heart events by anywhere from 9% to 25%. But there was no change in heart disease risk for those who replaced 5% of saturated fat with refined carbohydrates, like starches. “The risk doesn’t increase, but it also doesn’t decrease, so you’re not doing yourself any favors,” says Adela Hruby, a research fellow in the department of nutrition and co-lead author of the paper. “So you might as well just keep the butter there.”

MORE: This Is the Worst Kind of Fat for Your Heart

The lesson is not to load up on saturated fat but to pay attention to what you’re replacing it with if you’re making changes in your diet. Cutting back on animal-based fats is a good move for your heart, but if you’re switching to carbohydrate-dense foods like starches, pastas and things made from refined flour, then you’re doing just as much harm to your heart as eating saturated fat.

To truly help your heart, it makes sense to lower the amount of saturated fat you eat and to replace it with healthier fats, such as olive oil and vegetable oils, and whole grain carbohydrates. “We know that people don’t just drop 10% of their calories from whatever and not replace them with other things,” says Hruby. “What they are adding in to replace what they’re not eating is really important. What this study shows is that nutrient replacement matters.”

Summary: Researchers clear up the confusion over whether fat is really good for the heart or not


Many analysts argue that Chinese consumers are extremely price-sensitive and only want to buy the cheapest products available. This has led to price cutting in the China market by the likes of Dell and other multinationals. Many are trying to match the prices of domestic Chinese companies like Lenovo that are providing “good enough” products at discount prices.

However, multinationals should actually take the opposite tack when positioning their brands in China. They should position themselves as premium to domestic Chinese companies and emphasize their quality and safety. It is impossible for them to compete solely on price, and it is a shortsighted strategy that will erode long-term profitability and brand image.

Chinese consumers trust foreign brands more than domestic ones because, as one 24-year-old cosmetics salesgirl responded in an interview conducted by my company, the China Market Research Group, multinationals are “less likely to cut corners and shave costs by putting in unsafe ingredients.” In a country where consumers encounter tainted products on a daily basis, the fear of being cheated by brands with the “Made in China” label is very real.

The trend for Chinese consumers is to buy items that are more expensive and of better quality. In other words, their frugality of recent years has been more a function of low disposable incomes than a cultural preference for shoddy yet cheap goods. How else can one explain BMW’s smashing success in China, where the Middle Kingdom has become its fastest-growing market and second-biggest buyer of the flagship 7 Series?

Going forward, multinationals like BMW that position themselves to capture the rising incomes of China’s emerging 250 million strong middle class will be the winners, while price cutters like Dell will erode their brand image in the long term.

Another example is the real estate market in China, which is booming as more Chinese are buying their first homes. Real estate prices have averaged double-digit annual growth over the past five years in such cities as Shanghai and Chengdu.

Homeowners are demanding better-quality items when decorating their homes. We interviewed consumers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou about their purchases for their homes. Respondents overwhelmingly were not price-sensitive, unless it was equating higher price with better quality and buying the most expensive items on the rack. One general manager of a real estate developer said he will “only buy from Ikea and other trusted international furniture brands because of concerns that cheaper Chinese brands will use bad-quality glue that is toxic to the health of his child.”

Most homes in China are sold as unfinished, empty spaces of concrete. Individual owners have to decide what tile, insulation, paint and other items they want to use, a role usually filled by developers and builders in the U.S. Today, Chinese consumers are not choosing the cheapest items available. They are hiring designers or are going to do-it-yourself stores like B+Q and buying the most expensive items because of the value associated with them. One manager at B+Q we interviewed said, “Consumers are worried about buying toxic items for their homes, so there is a shift towards more expensive items that use better ingredients.”

Companies that understand the fear Chinese consumers have about being sold shoddy goods, and position themselves properly to assuage these fears, will be the beneficiaries of increased domestic consumption in the coming decade.

To look for more examples of companies that understand what motivates Chinese consumers, one need only visit Best Buy or Carrefour. When Best Buy opened its flagship store in Shanghai, many analysts were skeptical. A mega-store selling electronics at prices above those offered at neighboring electronics malls could not survive.

What the analysts did not take into account was just how fed up Chinese consumers are in dealing with poor service and the questionable provenance of products. They are increasingly interested in buying aspirational items. When given the choice of buying a gray market phone complete with fake battery, substandard software and questionable support or buying from Best Buy (where prices are a little higher but quality and service are guaranteed), shoppers have been voting with their wallets. In one exit interview we conducted, a 28-year-old Shanghai man said that he bought a “computer because he knew that Best Buy would not put in fake parts” and that he wanted to “protect his investment.”

Similarly Apple is booming in China just as it is in the U.S., even though its retail prices are higher here because of import duties. Unlike Dell, Apple understands that consumers want to buy computers that look nice and are fun to use, and that the shift is toward higher price. Apple is making a market for aspiration purchases, while Dell is trying to make the PC market further commoditized by focusing on cutting supply-chain costs rather than making computers that knock the socks off consumers.

Carrefour, the French hypermarket, is another example of a company that positions itself as premium to local competitors because it understands that consumers will pay more for food in a store that they see as having better sourcing of products. Organic food sales skyrocketed over 50% last year in China after fears of tainted food supplies.

When parents want baby formula that will not harm their babies, or produce without harsh pesticides, they go to stores like Carrefour because they trust the brand and believe that Carrefour will try its hardest to ensure the safety and quality of the items it sells.

In recent years, there have been too many instances of fake medicine and harmful products coming out of Chinese factories for people to trust domestic companies. When it comes to ingested items like food, baby formula and medicine, people want confidence in the products they are buying and are willing to pay a premium.

It has been in vogue lately for analysts to argue that multinationals should compete on price against domestic Chinese firms. In reality, the trend is for better-value products to be consumed. Multinationals need to take advantage of their current lead in this area and think about long-term brand positioning rather than any short-terms gains that would come from trying to compete on price.

Shaun Rein is the founder and managing director of the China Market Research Group, a market research company in Shanghai that helps companies make smarter decisions.

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Summary: Global brand-name suppliers should never compete on price, as the newly affluent seek the best and safest.


If I ruled the world …

The first thing I would do is command NBC to extend Doc Emrick’s duties to a host’s role on the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Not only would NBC be adding a landscape laureate, Emrick reminds folks of Thanksgiving, the sweet potato pie. Or is it the gravy?

Not that Wednesday’s Game 7 of Capitals-Rangers at the Garden could be improved on as a grab-and-holder, not that even a Mike Emrick could help it any, but Emrick still managed to add special to special. Gravy.

When the Caps’ Jay Beagle and the Rangers’ James Sheppard fought for a puck, Emrick noted that a Beagle and a Sheppard had come together “in the home of the Westminster Dog Show.” Though that had to be in his head, spoken only should the occasion arise, it was spoken easily, not a drop or drip of anything forced.

In the second, score tied, Emrick gently dropped in some info that demonstrated his sense of responsibility and attention to hockey. Every year, about now, he updates audiences on the AHL’s Calder Cup playoffs, but this one was extra neat: The Rangers’ Hartford Wolf Pack and the Caps’ Hartford Hershey Bears, were playing Game 5 — the series tied and Game 5 tied, 4-4. Emrick: “Why are we not surprised?”

Of goalies Braden Holtby and Henrik Lundqvist, Emrick went with shorthand, Good Book-like wisdom: “Those who carry the most equipment carry the most responsibility.” And with the score tied, play stopped and tension growing, Emrick again caught the feel, describing the crowd as stricken “with a restless silence.”

His on-the-fly descriptions — descriptions of what we can see — are so remarkably smack-on that they arrive neither redundant nor unnecessary. In overtime, when the Caps’ Joel Ward skated from the blue line to crash a one-on-one puck-struggle in a corner, it was, “Ward comes rollicking by!” Just perfect. And he hadn’t used “rollicking” before that!

And when the action became too extreme for even Emrick to track, he still knows just the right words. When the end of a power play led to a fast break followed by a counter fast break, Emrick captured the frantic, furious scene with, “Chaos reigns now!”

And the Game 7 call he provided Wednesday was no different than the call he would make of a midseason game or a preseason game on a walkie-talkie. Good for us that he can’t help himself.

VIDEO More Cup: As smartly examined and spoken after the second period by NBCSN studio analysts Mike Milbury and Keith Jones, the leaping Game 7 headshot the Capitals’ Brooks Orpik put on Dan Boyle — groggy, Boyle was knocked out of the game — was every combination of illegal, brutal and bad for the brain.

But that there was no call should not have been surprising. Well into a Game 7 with the score tied, most fans, players, coaches, general managers and TV analysts by now understand the sustaining, unwritten, ancient code: Unless you pull a knife or a nuclear warhead, play on.

Refs are not exempt from human conditioning, They would prefer to be scorned for being under-officious — not making a call — than for being overly officious — making a call that determines the winner of a Game 7. Thus, refs in such circumstances will “err on the side of error.”

That’s where the NHL has to stand up, stay up. Tell its refs — demand from them — that under no circumstances should they not call what they see. And then tell the refs to forget about everyone and everything else, the league has their backs.

And more: For relentless determination in any sport, ever see a man play seven straight games with more determination than Caps’ center Jay Beagle?

Given that “hits” often lead to penalties that lead to goals — goals count more than hits — NBC should cease totaling then presenting “hits” as a significant stat that favors the aggressors. Besides, most legal hits are nothing more than acts of opportunity.

NBC’s off-the-puck tape work throughout Caps-Rangers was superb. Finding that follow-through stick that bloodied Kevin Hayes’ mouth Wednesday, then showing Hayes, on the bench, spitting a tooth, was good-as-it-gets story-telling.

Seems that by pounding their hands or fists against the glass when players are nearby, front-row NHL customers figure they’re entitled to be audience participants — as opposed to empty-headed jerks.

SiriusXM’s Ch. 82, devoted to radio programming from the early 1930s through the mid-1950s, Thursday carried a 1945 Jack Benny show guest-starring heavyweight champ Joe Louis.

The theme was for Benny’s wisecracking valet, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, to convince Louis to appear on Benny’s program. Louis says no — but reconsiders, revealing to Rochester, “I always wanted to be a comedian.”

“You did?” asked a shocked Rochester.

“Yes,” Louis said, “I always wanted to make people laugh.”

“Well,” said Rochester, “I think you’ve been going about it the wrong way!”

Last season former NFL cornerback and current NFL VP of Football Operations Troy Vincent said it was the busiest season for player malfeasance issues in his office’s history. Last season!

Those impossible to root for, continued: At 37, Paul Pierce, University of Kansas man, still is talking boastful, put-down trash like a cool fool schoolyard teen.

Even in the mid-1960s, when the Yankees finished no better than sixth, could I recall fewer people at Yankees games than what appeared on TV during last week’s four-game series against the Rays in St. Pete.

Reader James Forrest Sr.: “Is there any video of a lacrosse goaltender actually making a save? I’ve never seen that.”

Whoever it was at ESPN who told Curt Schilling he should analyze every pitch right up to the next pitch, please — please — tell him you were only kidding, even if you weren’t.

Given that I don’t need help to make mistakes, last week I filed a column that included, “before an SRO crowd.” But by the time “Spell Check” was done with it, it appeared as “before a single-room occupancy crowd.” Can’t stand in the way of progress! Or in Spell Check: “Constantinople stamps away pro’s address.”

Summary: If I ruled the world … The first thing I would do is command NBC to extend Doc Emrick’s duties to a host’s role on the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Not only would NBC be adding a landscape laurea…


Joe Paterno, the late Penn State head football coach, heard an allegation in 1976 that assistant coach Jerry Sandusky had molested a young boy, according to newly unsealed documents.

This revelation came to light in May 2016 through a court order from an insurance lawsuit involving Penn State. The full documents have now been unsealed and added to the public record.

A man referred to as "John Doe 150" testified in a Philadelphia court in 2014 that he informed Paterno, in a face-to-face conversation in 1976, Sandusky had molested him.

"I don't want to hear about any of that kind of stuff, I have a football season to worry about," Paterno reportedly responded to the victim.

One of Paterno's sons, Scott, wrote on Twitter that the story of the 1976 accusation is not credible.

Headlines that "Joe knew in '76" are based on a single uncorroborated report of an incident allegedly witnessed by 6 other people.

— Scott Paterno (@ScottPaterno) July 12, 2016

The unsealed documents also include allegations that Penn State football assistant coaches witnessed "inappropriate contact" and "sexual contact" between Sandusky and children in 1987 and 1988.

"John Doe 75" testified that assistant coach Joe Sarra witnessed Sandusky putting his hand down a 13-year old boy's shorts and he immediately left the room and closed the door behind him. Sarra passed away in 2012, like Paterno.

"John Doe 101" testified that a weight-room assistant named Kevin O'Dea witnessed Sandusky giving a backrub to a young boy in his underwear in an athletics facility. Mr. O'Dea, the special teams coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers until being released in January, said nothing and left the room.

The scene that O'Dea allegedly witnessed was in 1988, according to the unsealed documents. But reporter Steve Marroni of the Patriot-News wrote that O'Dea was not on the Penn State coaching staff at that time:

O'Dea, however, was a graduate assistant at the University of Virginia from 1988-90 and didn't join Penn State's staff until 1991. He later served as an assistant coach for the Nittany Lions from 1992-93 before leaving to join the staff of the NFL's San Diego Chargers.

More College Football: -- College Football's Offseason Winners And Losers -- Why Is Les Miles Dressed Up As A Police Officer? -- Draymond Green Tried College Football Once -- Here's How It Went

Football, Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno, NCAAF, Penn State Nittany Lions, State College

Summary: New evidence shows Joe Paterno ignored Jerry Sandusky accusations during football season.


You win an Academy Award. You make a speech, walk off the stage with your statue, bring it home, and you put it on the mantle. Very cool. But what if someday you wanted to–or worse, needed to–sell it. How much could you get?

Exactly $1, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hosts the annual awards show. Since 1950, the Academy has required Oscar winners to sign an agreement stipulating that neither they–nor their heirs–will sell their statuettes without first offering to sell them back to the Academy for a buck. Refuse to sign, and the Academy keeps the statuette. “They’re not tchotchkes to be bought off of a shelf,” sniffs an academy spokesman.

But, despite the academy’s disapproval, that is exactly what’s happening. Industry experts speculate that 150 Oscars have been sold since the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929–half of which are likely gray-market sales involving post-1950 statuettes. And those 8.5-pound golden statuettes are fetching as much as $1.5 million on the open market. Prices are lower for post-1950 Oscars because they can’t be sold again as easily, but a big-name Oscar rarely goes for less than $60,000.

Historically, the academy has tried to stifle the free market in Oscar sales through blunt legal intimidation. Take the case of Cyrus Todd, the grandson of late producer Michael Todd. In 1989, Cyrus Todd found himself nearly broke, so he reportedly decided to sell his grandfather’s 1956 Best Picture Oscar for Around the World in 80 Days. For help, Todd turned to Malcolm Willits, a movie-memorabilia expert and owner of the Collector’s Bookstore in Hollywood, Calif. But a Los Angeles court granted the academy a temporary restraining order on Willits’ auction just days before it was scheduled to take place. Weeks later, the restraining order was upheld, and Willits was issued a permanent injunction.

Yet, according to legal experts, it’s not even clear how watertight the academy’s agreement is. “The one-page agreement that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences enters into with the recipients of Oscar awards raises enough tricky questions of property and contract law to pique the interest of property and contract scholars,” says Richard A. Epstein, a law professor at the University of Chicago.

Adds Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School, “It may well be a binding contract, but it doesn’t say anything about damages. The contract isn’t broken until the statuette is, say, sold–at which point there’s not much to be done against the seller, since he or she no longer owns it. The only question would be what damages the academy could collect–the value it could have itself sold the statue for? The literal value of the statuette, which apparently the academy can crank out like the Treasury minting dollar bills, minus $1?”

Some collectors are refusing to be cowed. Mario Cortesi, a Swiss movie buff, has purchased several Oscars to add to his collection of film memorabilia. His first purchase–a 1951 Best Picture Oscar for An American in Paris for $16,000 from the Collector’s Bookstore–was made in 1989. Though he is reluctant to divulge the specifics of his collection, he says he bought the statuettes because of his interest in the history of filmmaking. “I bought the Oscars for myself,” he says. “They are not an investment, and they are not on display.”

Sotheby’s and Christie’s have so far avoided auctioning off newer Oscars, but both houses are doing a brisk business in older statuettes. In June 1999, Sotheby’s sold the 1939 Best Picture Oscar for Gone with the Wind to pop star Michael Jackson for a record price of $1.5 million. And, in recent years, Christie’s has sold four pre-1950 Oscars for a combined take of more than $1.5 million.

The academy’s ban has induced strange economic behavior from some very famous people. In July 2001, DreamWorks Animation co-founder Steven Spielberg–who has two Best Director Oscars of his own, for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan–purchased Bette Davis’ 1938 Best Actress Oscar for Jezebel for $578,000, then returned it to the academy. The academy promptly locked up the statuette in its vaults; it rarely displays old Oscars. Other celebrities who have bought Oscars and returned them to the academy include actor Kevin Spacey (who paid $157,000 for George Stoll’s 1945 Oscar for Anchors Aweigh) and movie mogul Lew Wasserman.

Refreshingly, certain famous buyers are treating the statuettes for what they are: movie memorabilia. Magician David Copperfield keeps the 1943 Best Director Oscar for Casablanca, purchased in 2003 for $232,000, in his bedroom. Though he says he both understands and respects the position of the Academy, “Objects should be where they do the most good.” Copperfield says the Oscar would do more good for him–the symbol of excellence is a source of inspiration for his own work–than it would in a closet filled with other statuettes at the academy.

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Summary: The black market for Academy Awards is thriving.


Swatch Group, the world’s largest watchmaker, warned investors that profit would at least halve in the first half of the year after sales fell in Hong Kong and Europe, pushing its shares down almost 12%.

Swiss watchmakers are grappling with weak demand as fewer Chinese tourists shop in Hong Kong and Europe where they have been deterred by the fear of Islamist attacks. A strong Swiss franc also pushes up the production cost for Swiss watches.

A deadly attack in the French city of Nice on Thursday night when a truck plowed into crowds celebrating Bastille Day killing more than 80 people added to the pressure on luxury goods and travel companies.

“France looks difficult and is likely to stay difficult,” Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“It is an important market. That is where tourists start their tours to most European countries.”

Paris, hit by deadly Islamist attacks last November, is an important shopping destination for tourists, many from China, and the Swatch profit warning marked the start of what is likely to be a downbeat earnings season for the luxury industry.

“Nice is going to further hurt the sector. Tourists just won’t want to come to Europe and particularly France during the summer,” Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Jon Cox said.

Shares in Swatch swgay , whose brands also include Omega and Longines, slid 11.6% to 256 Swiss francs by 8:44 a.m. GMT, on top of a 17% fall so far this year and a 21% drop last year. Peer Richemont also fell 3.9%.

Overall net sales at Swatch are likely to have dropped around 12% in the first half of 2016, the group said in a statement, dragging operating and net income down by 50-60%.

Adding to the pressure on margins, Swatch said it had no plans to cut staff and also planned to maintain investments in new products and marketing. Swatch employs more than 36,000 in over 50 countries.

The company also said it saw only limited scope to push through price increases.

“The indication for a decline in operating margin from 18 to 9 percent has to be seen as a disaster or some one-offs are included,” Vontobel analyst Rene Weber said.

The company publishes full results on Thursday, July 21.

Hayek tried to put a brave face on the results.

“The first half is not so bad under the circumstances. Our profit about halved, but it’s still a profit,” Hayek said, adding positive developments in mainland China, the Olympic Games, where flagship brand Omega is official timekeeper, and a favorable comparison base should help in the second half.

“If you have a drop in sales to the extent that we have seen, you cannot make up for that even with the very good performance we have in many countries,” he added.

Summary: Swatch Group shares plunged almost 12% after it warned that 1H profits would dive by at least 50%.


John Malone’s Liberty Media LMCA said it would reclassify its shares into three new tracking stock groups.

A tracking stock is a type of common stock that “tracks” or depends on the financial performance of a specific business unit or operating division of a company rather than the operations of a company as a whole.

One tracking stock would be designated as the Liberty Braves Group, one as the Liberty Media Group and the third as the Liberty Sirius Group.

Liberty Media expects to complete the creation of the new tracking stocks in the first half of 2016.

Media mogul and Liberty Media Chairman John Malone previously used tracking stocks in 2012 to separate the home shopping services assets of Liberty Interactive Corp from its digital media assets.

Summary: It's set for 2016.