Voters wait in line to enter a polling place at the Jamestown Town Hall before the poll opens Nov. 4, 2014, in Jamestown, North Carolina.

Republicans and Democrats can't even agree on what they believe is the biggest issue facing the nation.

When asked in the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll which issue should be the top priority for the federal government to address, Republican primary voters' leading response was national security and terrorism (27 percent said it was their first choice).

That's followed by the deficit and government spending (24 percent), job creation and economic growth (21 percent) and religious and moral values (12 percent).

Christie Runs Into Political Reality as Bridgegate Interferes Jeb Bush's Three Big ChallengesBridget Kelly on Bridgegate: 'I Am Not Guilty'

By comparison, the top priority for Democrats in the poll was job creation and economic growth (37 percent) — followed by health care (17 percent), climate change (15 percent) and national security and terrorism (13 percent).

Among all Americans, the ranking was job creation/economic growth (29 percent), national security/terrorism (21 percent) and deficit/government spending (17 percent).

The economy dropping to the No. 3 concern among Republican primary voters is a striking departure from March 2012, when it ranked No. 1 (at 36 percent) — followed by the deficit/government spending (at 35 percent) and national security/terrorism (at just 8 percent).

The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted of 1,000 adults from April 26-30, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.

Summary: Republicans and Democrats can't even agree on what they believe is the nation's biggest issue.


The letter noted that HealthCare.gov, the federally run Obamacare exchange that sells health plans in 36 states, and other exchanges run by individual states such as Oregon, "have encountered numerous problems."

(Watch: Walden's press conference requesting a probe)

"Although the rollout of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been problematic nationwide, no state has had more complications than Oregon," Walden and the other congressmen wrote. "The state of Oregon's exchange website, Cover Oregon, has been such a technological failure that the site has been unable to enroll anyone months after the start of the open enrollment period."

(Read more: Obamacare changes a negative for insurers: Moody's)

More than four months after its scheduled launch, Cover Oregon's website is not functioning.

The letter's other signatories were House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., Health Subcommittee Chairman Joe Pitts, R-Pa., and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy, R-Pa.

"We are aware of this, and have no further comment," Cover Oregon spokeswoman Ariane Holm said in an email response to CNBC when asked for comment.

(Read more: Doctors fear 'crushing' costs from code switch)

Walden's spokesman, Andrew Malcolm, told CNBC, "We do know that the GAO is interested," and that that interest goes beyond just the many problems with Oregon's exchange. A number of other states, including Maryland, Minnesota and Hawaii, have experienced severe problems with their health exchanges since the launch of Obamacare enrollment on Oct. 1.

Summary: Four congressmen asked the GAO to investigate Oregon's nonworking Obamacare website.


First, if Italian, Spanish and Portuguese bond yields are not contained, higher borrowing costs could derail the cyclical recovery in the euro zone. If, for instance, yields on Italian government bonds maturing in 10 years were 2.5-3 percentage points higher than the yield on German bonds of the same maturity, this would warrant a review of the investment case for euro zone stocks.

However, ECB Chief Economist Peter Praet has made clear that the bank would make full use of measures in place and use "broad discretion" to activate other policy instruments if necessary, in line with the recent ruling from the European Court of Justice. This could include scaling up bond purchases, easing any issues in peripheral markets.

Second, as euro zone stocks have rallied strongly this year, we regard earnings growth as necessary to maintaining any overweight position. Momentum in earnings growth is presently broad-based. Companies in both core and peripheral Eurozone countries are performing well.

For instance, Italian firms increased profits by 27 percent over the past 12 months, according to Bloomberg data. And, apart from energy and telecom companies, every sector has seen profits grow over the past six months, with financial services and information technology firms leading the way.

Finally, a rift in euro zone ranks or conceding weakly to Greek demands could undermine confidence in European leadership. We believe leaders have the policies and mettle to deal with this situation appropriately. Handling previous crises, notably in Cyprus, has provided experience. Leaders have stood their ground so far. For us, this is a positive.

Our base case is that these triggers will not be tested. While we expect Greeks to ultimately accept their creditors' proposals, the ECB is ready to act forcefully if they don't. For now, investors in euro zone equities should look through any temporary volatility.

Summary: While investors' emotions may tell them to take cover at this point, we believe rationality is a better guide.


After a clampdown on offensive discussion boards and the firing of a high profile executive prompted backlash from Reddit users, the interim CEO of the so-called front page of the Internet issued an apology Monday.

"We have apologized and made promises to you, the moderators and the community, over many years, but time and again, we haven't delivered on them," Ellen Pao said, in the note. "Today, we acknowledge this long history of mistakes. We are grateful for all you do for reddit, and the buck stops with me." (Tweet This)

Pressure on Pao has risen lately. A Change.org petition calling for her to step down from her role as interim CEO was closing in on 200,000 signatures at the time of the company's apology. Many of the site's volunteer moderators blocked some access to popular pages in protest of the unexpected firing of Victoria Taylor, the executive who led the highly followed "Ask Me Anything" series of celebrity interviews where users posed questions in real time.

Read More Reddit revolt grows as petition to fire Pao intensifies

Reddit previously shut down some of its pages, including one titled "Fat People Hate," for violating its harassment rules. The company struggled to convince users it was merely "banning behavior, not ideas," as many viewed it as a step that crossed the censorship line.

"I mean it when I say we screwed up, and we want to have a meaningful ongoing discussion," Pao's apology continued. "I know we've drifted out of touch with the community as we've grown and added more people, and we want to connect more."

Read MoreEllen Pao doesn't regret lawsuit, despite outcome

The apology closed with Pao saying, "I don't have all the answers, and it will take time for us to deliver concrete results."

Summary: Facing widespread backlash for perceived censorship and the firing of a popular executive, Reddit's CEO issued an apology to users.


Australia's effort to put economic growth at the heart of the G20 summit will be overshadowed by the refugee crisis and Syria.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday met in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has found herself at the heart of furious debate over Syria and the migrant flood caused by the conflict.

The two leaders agreed the solution to the Syrian crisis must be a political one.

Mr Turnbull described the Syrian situation as "absolutely catastrophic".

The German leader said European nations must move closer to a fairer distribution of refugees as "small steps" were taken towards a political solution.

Mr Turnbull, US President Barack Obama and other world leaders will gather in the ritzy Turkish resort city of Antalya - about 500 kilometres from Syria - on Sunday and Monday for the G20 summit.

Even economic chiefs admit the leaders' focus is drifting from the usual G20 agenda of jobs and growth.

"As the G20 leaders gather in Turkey this weekend, they will have on their minds heartbreaking images of displaced people fleeing countries gripped by armed conflict and economic distress," Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, said in a blog ahead of the summit.

"Migration is a global issue. We must all work together to address it," she wrote.

Turkey itself has taken in more than 2.2 million refugees from the crisis.

The final communique to be released on Monday is expected to mention refugees, as well as agenda issues including youth unemployment, shoring up the world's biggest banks and tackling multinational tax evasion.

Mr Turnbull said he was "overwhelmingly" seeking economic outcomes from the summit, building on the work of the 2014 Brisbane summit.

He admitted G20 member growth forecasts had been "scaled back" since that summit set a target of more than two per cent growth above the expected trajectory by 2018.

"But all of us have to remember our primary overwhelming commitment has to be to ensure there are high quality jobs, today and in the future, and we are pushing the envelope on innovation and technology," he said.

Mr Turnbull will also attend the APEC summit in Manila, where he will have his first bilateral meeting with Mr Obama, and the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur.

Summary: Malcolm Turnbull heads to the G20 summit in Turkey where leaders will be focused on more than just economic issues.


Stocks skidded Thursday as a late drop erased gains from the day before. Companies that sell oil, gold, and silver fell, along with the prices of those commodities. Energy stocks declined as the price of oil slumped again. US crude fell 1.6 percent to $34.95 a barrel. It had not closed below $35 since Feb. 18, 2009. Natural gas, which has fallen to 16-year lows, gave up another 2 percent. The price has tumbled as demand has collapsed because of warm winter weather and weak demand from industrial customers. The market’s slide marked the end of a three-day winning streak. Only utility stocks traded higher. Utilities have also struggled this year, but including a tiny gain on Thursday, they have risen for four days in a row and are up 4 percent over that time. Utility stocks are seen as steady performers that pay regular dividends, and some investors think payments are going to increase. Solar stocks continued to rise after Congress agreed to extend a tax credit for solar projects. FedEx said its quarterly profit grew; its stock rose 2 percent. Oracle had its worst day in two-plus years after it reported a smaller quarterly profit. The shares declined 5.1 percent.

Summary: Stocks skidded Thursday as a late drop erased the market’s gains from the day before. Companies that sell oil, gold and silver tumbled along with the prices of those commodities.


01/22/2016 AT 12:40 PM EST

This Housewife is rocking a hot bod.

may be known to cover-up in a flowy muumuu (at least,

), but the mom of four is in seriously good shape.

star has her insecurities: specifically, her "muffin top," she told PEOPLE on Thursday night at the

launch event at The Trump Soho in New York City.

So Richards, 47, underwent the recently FDA-approved, non-invasive procedure that users lasers to zap fat in just 25 minutes – and she raved about the new technique.

"I mean, who wouldn't do that? It literally is so easy," Richards said, noting that the SculpSure was painless and felt like wearing a heating pad. "I want to do my entire body from head to toe!"

How does the former child actress stay fit regularly? A mix of Barry's Boot Camp, Soul Cycle, yoga and hiking – which she squeezes in even on the busiest days.

"A lot of times when I'm rushing, I drop my kids off at school and I'll just leave my car at school and loop this very steep hill there and back because I know it's a lot of bang for my buck," she explained.

Though she's not a fan of "crash diets," Richards works hard to eat healthy, favoring organic fruits, vegetables and salmon.

It's a value she's instilled in her children, too, noting that 7-year-old daughter Portia's favorite food is salad.

"I'm really into being healthy because I lost both my parents to cancer, so I'm really scared of those things," she said.

Her realtor husband Mauricio Umansky is just as dedicated to exercise – even if their regimens don't quite line up.

"We used to work out together more, but lately our schedules are so crazy that I tend to work out in the morning and then he'll come home and use the boxing machine in our house at like 9:30 at night," she said, laughing. "I'm like, I can't even move my head off the pillow at 9:30 at night sometimes!"

airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Summary: Kyle Richards is raving about SculpSure, a new, non-invasive technique to blast fat


Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration erupted into chaotic scenes as protesters and police clashed over a street market selling fishballs and other local holiday delicacies, with dozens injured and arrested.

The violence is the worst in Hong Kong since pro-democracy protests rocked the city in 2014.

Activists angered over authorities' attempts to crack down on the food hawkers in a crowded Kowloon neighbourhood held running battles with police into the early morning hours of Tuesday.

Protesters pelted officers with paving stones, glass bottles and other pieces of debris. Some threw garbage cans, plastic safety barriers and wood from shipping pallets. They also set fires on the street.

Hong Kong's leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, told reporters a mob had attacked police officers and journalists, and said the perpetrators would be prosecuted. More than 80 officers and four reporters were hurt, he said.

Police cars and public property were damaged, fires started, and bricks and other objects thrown at police officers, including those already injured and lying on the ground, Leung said.

"I believe the public can see for themselves from TV news reports the seriousness of the situation. The (Hong Kong) government strongly condemns such violent acts. The police will apprehend the mobs and bring them to justice," Leung said.

Officials said they were investigating whether the violence had been organised in advance.

At one point, a protester tried to tackle a traffic police officer from behind before both sides rushed into the melee in the middle of a busy street, according to footage shown by local news channel Cable TV. Moments later, another officer appeared to fire two warning shots into the air.

Hong Kong police said in a statement that protesters had ignored their warnings to get off the street and shoved officers, who responded with batons and pepper spray.

Acting District Commander Yau Siu-kei said 23 men and one woman were arrested on suspicion of assaulting and obstructing officers, resisting arrest and public disorder. The arrested were as young as 17 and as old as 70.

Yau said two warning shots were fired.

The unrest started when authorities tried to prevent unlicensed street food sellers from operating on Monday night in Mong Kok, a working-class district of the city. The hawkers have become a local tradition during the Lunar New Year holiday but this year authorities tried to remove them.

The hawkers were backed by activists who objected to the crackdown over concerns that Hong Kong's local culture is disappearing as Beijing tightens its hold on the semiautonomous city.

The latest scuffles underscore how tensions remain unresolved more than a year after the end of pro-democracy protests that gripped the city. Mong Kok, a popular and densely populated shopping and entertainment district, was one of the neighbourhoods where activists occupied streets for about 11 weeks in late 2014, capturing world headlines with their demands for greater electoral freedom.

Summary: Activists in Hong Kong and police have clashed after authorities tried to closed down Lunar New Year holiday food stalls


Four tracks into its second album, Lucius drops what is effectively its mission statement. The song in question is a forlorn plea built on nothing but simple piano, restrained strings, wrenching harmonies, and quiet, untethered heartbreak. But the title — “My Heart Got Caught on Your Sleeve” — captures the defining aim of the Brooklyn quintet. Fueled by the open, empathetic tandem vocals of Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, Lucius wants to explore big-swing emotionalism, and then have the listener vibrate in sympathy.

It was achieved easily enough on the band’s marvelous 2013 debut, “Wildewoman,” which culminated in the swelling balm “How Loud Your Heart Gets,” its previous essence-of-Lucius précis. “Madness,” the opening track of the new “Good Grief,” picks up right where that song left off — deliberate and soothing, but with blood pumping furiously through it — and then it cracks open completely on the chorus, as Laessig and Wolfe lift their unified voices to the skies and a string section flaps furiously to keep up.

But there’s an electronic thread running through “Good Grief” that feels new for Lucius. With its skippy ’80s funk-pop bounce, “Almost Makes Me Wish for Rain” recalls Eurythmics after Annie Lennox shed her ice-queen persona, and “Something About You” could be a Pointer Sisters jam with extra clatter. Along with the high-velocity, unbalanced roll of “Born Again Teen,” the heavy careening burble of “Almighty Gosh,” and others, it makes for a dancier collection than its predecessor. That’s a natural outgrowth of the ramshackle rhythmic underpinning that provided the scaffolding of much of “Wildewoman.” Here, it’s streamlined but not deemphasized.

Overall, in fact, the music on “Good Grief” isn’t as expansive as was “Wildewoman.” But it still comes across that way thanks to Wolfe and Laessig, who infuse their performances with a joy that’s almost unfettered, even when wallowing in pits of sorrow. They rarely leave one another’s side, which makes it all the more noticeable when, at the end of “Gone Insane,” they separate and fall out of synch as their grasp on the world falters. And a simple tapped-out beat continues pushing forward, acting as both a reminder of how they’ve fallen off the map and a beacon. They’ll find their way back eventually. Their hearts will guide them home.

Lucius performs at Royale on March 29.

Summary: Brooklyn indie-pop quintet Lucius breaks new ground with its second album, yet remains steadfast in its devotion to emotion.


Prince George's County Police Department/AP

03/15/2016 AT 10:15 AM EDT

One of the two brothers who accompanied the man who allegedly went on a shooting rampage at a Maryland police station that killed a police officer filmed the shooting on his cellphone camera, a spokesman for the Prince George's County Police Department tells PEOPLE.

Cell phone video recovered by police allegedly shows the alleged gunman – identified as 22-year-old Michael Ford – dictating his last will and testament just minutes before the shooting in front of the Prince George's County Police Station in Cheverly, according to a statement by the department. Police have not released information on which of the brothers filmed the shooting, the spokesman says.

Investigators preliminarily believe that the shooter wanted to die during the alleged rampage, during which he got out of a vehicle and began shooting at the station, at passing cars and even at an ambulance, the statement says.

Officer Jacai Colson, a four-year veteran of the force who was days away from celebrating his 29th birthday, was killed. Colson had been working undercover with the department's narcotics division, police say.

The shooter is hospitalized with non-threatening injuries, the statement says. His brothers, Malik Ford, 21, and Elijah Ford, 18, were also arrested.

According to the statement, Officer Jacai Colson was on his way to the station to meet another officer and arrived just after the shooting began. Colson began exchanging gunfire; he was one of four officers to fire his weapon during the incident, police say.

Detectives preliminarily believe that the fatal bullet that struck Colson was fired by a fellow officer.

No one else was injured during the shooting, the spokesman says.

All three suspects will be charged with second degree murder, six counts of attempted first degree murder, nine counts of use of a handgun in the commission of a felony and additional charges, the statement says.

The statement says that more charges are expected against the brothers regarding the alleged shooting of vehicles.

"This violence was all captured on cell phone and surveillance video which is evidence in our case," the statement says.

Summary: Police believe Officer Jacai Colson was killed by friendly fire


The jet ratchets up the competition in the burgeoning business of private-jet tours. Companies like Abercrombie & Kent, National Geographic and Smithsonian Journeys have been launching private-jet tours that carry a few dozen guests to exotic locales around the world aboard a private plane.

The tours often include gourmet meals, luxury suites, learned tour guides and an education in the wildlife or culture of specific landmarks. While of the trips can cost $60,000 to $120,000 a person, most have been selling out quickly.

Read MoreTravelers spending more in a quest for unexplored territory

"Wealth and affluence continue to grow, and what we're seeing is that travel continues to be one of the highest spent categories for disposable income among the rich," Helstab said. "They're looking for the kind of experiences that they haven't had before, things that are memorable, things that are really considered to be one of a kind or you know not something that is available to everybody."

Four Seasons already offers jet tours, including its popular around-the-world trip, a 24-day adventure that goes to nine Four Seasons resorts. Its current tours use a chartered jet. But with the new Four Seasons plane, the company aims to add more tours and improve the experience. Boeing 757s usually carry over 200 passengers, the Four Seasons jet will be configured for just 52 privileged guests.

Read MoreWhen your kids have private-jet envy

"We have gone to great lengths to create what feels more like a residential environment rather than an aviation environment," Helstab said.

Summary: Four Seasons has a new weapon in the luxury travel wars: its own Boeing 757.


The vicious political cartoon in which the Bank of England's famous nickname, the old lady of Threadneedle Street, first appeared in print is going on display at the bank for the first time.

The 1797 cartoon, Political Ravishment or The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street in Danger, by James Gillray, shows the old lady in modish Georgian costume made of bank notes, sitting on a double padlocked chest holding the gold reserves. She is fighting off the advances of a spindly, spotty, freckly youth who would have been instantly recognisable to the chortling contemporary audience as the man who became prime minister at the age of 24, William Pitt the Younger. It was drawn at a time when Pitt was struggling to reduce the national debt, and the government had ordered the bank to issue paper bank notes rather than gold.

The nickname is probably older – the street name Threadneedle, one of the cluster that converges on the site of the bank, is at least a century older than the foundation of the bank itself – but the cartoon was so famous it ensured the name stuck forever.

In the print – parodied by generations of later artists in every succeeding financial crisis – Pitt has already got his hand into her pocket and is groping out a fistful of coins, but the redoubtable old lady is yelling her head off, screaming: "What, have I kept my honour untainted so long, to have it broke up by you at last? Oh murder! Rape! Ravishment! Ruin, ruin, ruin!!!"

The cartoon, said to have been drawn by Gillray straight on to the copper printing plate, since no sketch has ever been found, first went on sale in Hannah Humphrey's print show in St James's, where passersby would cluster around the windows to view the latest scabrous jokes.

A tourist in London a few years later wrote of the impact when new Gillrays appeared: "The enthusiasm is indescribable when the next drawing appears. It is a veritable madness. You have to make your way through the crowd with your fists."

It is going on display at the Bank's museum in an exhibitionof cartoons and caricatures tracing the long history of the institution, including works by George Cruikshank, John Tenniel and the Guardian's own Steve Bell.

Summary: 1797 work includes first use of Bank's nickname, the old lady of Threadneedle Street, in print


When Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan faced their certain death last year, pastor Christie Buckingham remembers how they sang Bless the Lord until the end.

"(I remember) their kindness, their courage ... the way that they smiled at those about to take their lives."

She also recalls the promise she made to continue their fight against the death penalty.

Friday marks one year since the two men were executed by firing squad just after midnight or 3.25am (AEST) on the island of Nusakambangan - 10 years after being found guilty of smuggling 8.3kg of heroin out of Indonesia.

Sukumaran and Chan were among 14 drug traffickers executed in Indonesia last year, amid intensifying condemnation from human rights activists and international governments.

The pressure continues with German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressing her country's wish for Indonesia to put an end to capital punishment, during Indonesian President Joko Widodo's recent visit to Europe.

Despite this, Security Minister Luhut Panjaitan and Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo have flagged executions are likely to resume this year.

Head of Central Java's Corrections Division Molyanto said they were currently building more isolation cells - where those awaiting execution are kept - at Nusakambangan prison.

But he denied reports that the "execution field" is being extended.

Sukumaran and Chan's Australian barrister Julian McMahon said it was "surprising" further executions were back on Indonesia's agenda.

"The fact is after the international dismay in April 2015 executions have now stopped for 12 months. The reason has not been publicly identified, except by reference to economic priorities. But most commentators think that international reaction would be very relevant," he told AAP.

Indonesian lawyer Dr Todung Mulya Lubis - who tweeted "I failed. I lost" after his clients' executions last year - has been campaigning against capital punishment in the country since 1979.

Since then he feels they have made "small progress".

"We have made people aware of the death penalty ... I believe over time we will be able to score some wins."

While he cannot see the abolition of the death penalty happening in Indonesia "any time soon", he hopes a bill tabled before parliament last year might prove a "middle way".

Under the proposed changes, if people show they have rehabilitated themselves, they could see their execution commuted to a life sentence.

He also noted "the international campaign must also be more tactful not to embarrass Indonesia".

According to the Commission for Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) in Indonesia, more than 100 people are on death row in the country. Just over half of these are for murder while two face capital punishment for terrorism offences.

The rest are due to be executed for drug offences.

Mr McMahon said "this week was proving very difficult for the families as they come to grips with their own grief and the loss of Andrew and Myuran."

In their last few years, he said the pair had "uplifted, educated and improved many prisoners."

"If they had lived that example would have so easily multiplied out for the benefit of more and more prisoners."

Summary: A year after Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were shot by firing squad in Indonesia, the country is once again flagging further executions.


After Electronic Arts, the No. 1 video game publisher, announces what it has forecast will be disappointing results for the recent holiday quarter, expect a lot of hand-wringing about the future of the video game business.

"I don't think anyone should go into the earnings season with high expectations of a rosy picture, a rosy outlook or great numbers," said Edward S. Williams, a game industry analyst at Harris Nesbitt in New York. "It was a very difficult holiday for the publishers as a whole, and the outlook is going to remain somewhat murky for at least a while."

Two of the other big domestic video game publishers, Activision and THQ, are expected to follow with their results over the next few days, and while the stanzas may change, the overall chorus will probably remain the same sad dirge.

In explaining the current woes, many executives and analysts will point to the obvious culprit: Microsoft, which has failed to meet demand for its Xbox 360 game machine. Had Microsoft been able to supply more 360's, Activision and Electronic Arts, in particular, would have had better quarters. THQ rested its holiday hopes on older systems and fared better as a result.

But the bigger picture for investors is that game publishers in the United States are still almost entirely in the same business they have been in for 20 years: selling new games at retail. As a result, the big publicly traded domestic publishers are not participating in any meaningful way in two of the hottest parts of the global video game industry: subscription-based online gaming and trade-ins of used games.

Those two sectors are very different; online gaming is growing quickly but remains risky, while the used game business is more mature but remains tremendously profitable. Yet each represents a major challenge to the publishers' traditional business model.

"There is no question that the used games business is a great place to be," said Michael Wallace, games analyst at UBS. "It's just that the publishers aren't a part of it. And the online business is also growing, but it's the non-U.S. companies that have taken advantage of it. E.A. dropped the ball, frankly, and most of the U.S. companies have not really participated in the online business."

In the fast-growing online sector, the major companies are European and Asian. World of Warcraft, for instance, which has more than 5.5 million customers paying about $15 a month, is produced by a unit of Vivendi Universal of France. The big pure-play online gaming companies are NCsoft of Seoul, South Korea, and Shanda, which is based in Shanghai.

Meanwhile, the used games business does not sound exciting until you look at the numbers. GameStop, which recently acquired Electronics Boutique to become the No. 2 video game retailer behind Wal-Mart, has made used games one of its pillars and that is a big reason its shares are up 89 percent since the beginning of last year; Electronic Arts shares are down 11 percent over the period.

Over all, GameStop appears on track to generate about $3 billion in revenue this year. Of that, it looks like $800 million to $1 billion will come from the sale of used software, hardware and accessories. Just how profitable that segment is has only recently become clear to investors.

The quarter that ended in October was the most recent with GameStop results and was the first in which the company broke out results for its used segment. They were eye-popping. Used products made up almost 32 percent of the company's total retail sales and almost 44 percent of gross profit. Even more impressive, while GameStop's gross profit margin on new hardware sales in the quarter was less than 11 percent, and on new software less than 25 percent, the company generated a whopping 45 percent profit margin in its used segment.

For GameStop, the beauty of the used business is that it acquires most of its inventory not by paying cash but by giving gamers credit that they then spend in the stores anyway. GameStop then sells the used disks and cartridges, which usually function just as well as new disks and cartridges, for about 20 percent less than the new versions of the same games sitting an aisle or two away.

But the publishers do not get any piece of that secondary market.

"The used games business does not cannibalize sales of newer video games," Daniel A. DeMatteo, GameStop's vice chairman and chief operating officer, said in an interview. "As a matter of fact, it does somewhat the opposite. We continuously increase the market for new games by allowing customers to trade in games that they are no longer playing. The used games business puts currency in people's hands."

Nonetheless, the size and profitability of GameStop's used business has publishers scrambling to figure out how to capture some of those dollars for themselves, perhaps through electronic distribution of games directly to players.

Wal-Mart does not sell used games and Best Buy, another big game retailer, is testing the concept. So for now, the used market remains largely GameStop's franchise and it provides a solid, high-margin floor for the company even when sales of new games are slow. That is a big reason GameStop reported a strong holiday season recently while Activision, E.A. and Take-Two have all stumbled.

For now, the angst among publishers continues to build behind the scenes. None of the companies that are to announce quarterly results in the coming days would comment. But Jim Ankner, a spokesman for Take-Two (which has its own worries these days what with its various federal investigations and the recent resignation of an important director), tried to put the most diplomatic face on the used game situation.

"We would prefer that retailers only sold new games," he said, "but we've learned to make peace with it."

Summary: The business of selling used games does not sound exciting until you look at the numbers.


's mini-me gave birth this weekend -- LIVE on stage -- complete with

and even a mini-baby ... yes, that's possible.

Just hours after the real Kim gave birth ...

pretended to pinch out a baby of her own during Beacher's Madhouse at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood Saturday night.

The lil cast included a little person playing lil K&K's baby girl -- and the real Kim K's real BFF,

, just happened to be in attendance to deliver the kid.

Summary: Kim Kardashian's mini-me gave birth this weekend -- LIVE on stage -- complete with Mini Kanye and even a mini-baby ... yes, that's possible.  Just…


As the 2016 presidential election approaches, relations between the United States and the Middle East have become a source for heated debates — not only among candidates but around American dinner tables.

How the next president approaches this tumultuous region, particularly with the rise of ISIS, will have great impact at home and abroad, according to Manochehr Dorraj, professor of international affairs at Texas Christian University. His expertise about Middle Eastern politics and society has made him a frequent commentator on national radio and television.

"No other region of the world has politics as complex and different from Western political and social systems than the Middle East," said Dorraj, who has taught at Fort Worth's TCU for more than 25 years.

Dorraj uses an uncommon perspective to approach the issue. He grew up in northern Iran before moving to the U.S. in the 1970s.

Dorraj has strived in his teaching to create an understanding between the disparate cultures, using his background as a touchstone. "There was the culture I grew up with and the culture I adopted; I can be a bridge between the two," he said.

"As a teenager, I was a 'beach boy' on the Caspian Sea coast, dreaming of coming to the United States. I love both cultures, and I try to humanize both."

The main issue in the Middle East today, he said, is the high level of violence and lawlessness.

"You have sectarian violence like never before between Shiites and Sunnis manifesting itself in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, as well as the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which represents Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam, respectively," Dorraj said. However, "the conflict between the two countries is not as much based on religious differences as it is on political differences. It is really a struggle for power, but it happens that on one side you have Sunnis and on the other Shiites."

Such infighting has helped spawn the rise of ISIS, which Dorraj calls "a cancerous growth on the body of Islam."

"In Libya, for instance, you have a hundred different militias with loyalties to a hundred different tribes and localities, and a very weak central government, which has allowed ISIS to form a foothold there," he said.

This year's slide in oil prices, which have fallen more than 70 percent since June 2014 to about $30 a barrel, has further strained the region. It has increased unemployment and poverty and brought about a sense of desperation. This turn of events has contributed to the radicalization of the most vulnerable sector of youth in the region, making them more susceptible to recruiting efforts by extremist groups, Dorraj said.

Dorraj believes weakening ISIS will block its ability to recruit fighters. "In 2015, they lost 30 percent of their territory in Iraq alone. But if ISIS is victorious and left alone, it becomes a source of appeal and inspiration for impressionable young men and women," he said.

The key to defeating ISIS is not only about destroying them militarily, but also disarming them politically by addressing the underlying issues that render them salient. This requires political initiatives to respond to the demands of Sunni populations in Iraq and Syria for political participation and an equitable sharing of power and resources.

But the world of presidential politics might be doing more harm than good, he said. Dorraj is alarmed by campaign trail rhetoric, particularly the promises by some to derail Iran's nuclear agreement with the United States.

"Some of the talk among the candidates is absolutely reckless and dangerous," he said. "The (Iran) deal was a great example of what good diplomacy can do. It defused a very tense situation and we were able to resolve a potentially explosive conflict peacefully and all sides could claim victory."

Dorraj believes if the agreement is annulled, as some candidates are proposing, it could be "a recipe for a wider war" in the already war-torn Middle East.

"The region does not need more tension," he explained. "Compromise isn't easy, but we couldn't have gotten this result if we had gone in militarily."

Politics is about the art of possible, and often skillful diplomacy can achieve more optimal results than war and conflict. Dorraj teaches that to defeat ISIS, more cooperation between countries is needed, including Russia, the United States, Europe, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Syria and Turkey.

"The larger Middle East should be involved and come to the negotiation table to seek a solution to this common menace," Dorraj said. "ISIS has a global reach. It will take a global coalition to destroy it."

With ISIS out, Dorraj said, the Middle East could focus on the pressing issues of reducing poverty and unemployment, creating political accountability and establishing rule of law and democracy.

Dorraj hopes the U.S. can play a constructive role as mediator in the Middle East, similar to what it has done in Syria with the help of Russia. There the countries brokered a ceasefire among parties involved in the Syrian civil war, which has, for the most part, held. "We should build up on this momentum of diplomacy," he said.

For his part, Dorraj tries to serve as a bridge of understanding between the Middle East and the Western world.

The level of education in the U.S. on the Middle East stands to be elevated, he added. "If I can be that vessel, then I have done something good, and that is one of my aspirations as an educator: to leave this world a better place than what I found when I was born into it."

—Jamie Van Bergen for TCU


Action actor Joe Fleishaker, who starred in a string of cult movies produced by Troma Entertainment and weighed 500 pounds, has died. He was 62.

Known as “Troma’s biggest action star," Fleishaker died Monday at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, his brother told The Hollywood Reporter.

The actor likely died from a heart attack, his brother believes. Fleishaker suffered from morbid obesity and congestive heart failure.

Burt Kwouk, actor in ‘Pink Panther’ films, dies at 85

"The Troma Team and I are saddened by the news that Joe Fleishaker has passed away," company co-founder Lloyd Kaufman wrote on Facebook.

"He was a great actor and a great friend. Toxie weeps. RIP Joe, Troma will never be the same without you,” he continued.

The Brooklyn native starred in several Troma films, most notably known for the “Toxic Avenger” franchise. Other works include “Tromeo and Juliet,” “Poultrygeist,” “Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D” and “Terror Firmer.”

Outside of his Troma film appearances, he was a familiar face on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” often starring as the host’s father or son.

Actress Beth Howland, who played Vera on ’Alice,’ dies at 74

Fleishaker lost 160 pounds in 2012 after he was admitted to a hospital.

His last film role came a year later with “Trashtastic.”

Summary: Action actor Joe Fleishaker has died.


Valeant Pharmaceuticals International vrx named Joseph Papa as its chief executive officer on Monday, the day after he resigned from the top spot at drugmaker Perrigo.

The move is a boon for Valeant, which is in need of a turnaround after controversy about its relationship with a specialty pharmacy and doubts over its acquisitive business model had driven its shares down 86 percent since August.

Shares of Perrigo, which replaced Papa with President John Hendrickson and also reported lower-than-expected preliminary earnings, sank 12 percent in premarket trading, while Valeant rose 2.4 percent.

Papa, 60, is expected to join Valeant by early May, Valeant said. He will also be on its board.

Laval, Quebec-based Valeant grew quickly under current CEO Michael Pearson as it embarked on an acquisition spree, snapping up other drugmakers and in many cases sharply raising prices of their products.

But the company lost favor with investors last year as its strategy came under scrutiny from regulators, the public and politicians. Pearson returned to Valeant at the end of February, after two months of medical leave while he was being treated for pneumonia, and agreed in March to step down as soon as his replacement is appointed. He will stay until Papa is in place, Valeant said.

Papa joined Perrigo in 2006 and was previously president and chief operating officer of Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. Perrigo is scheduled to hold its annual general meeting of shareholders on Tuesday.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Valeant had brought in investment banks to review its options amid interest from buyout firms and other companies in a number of its businesses.

The change in Perrigo’s leadership comes just months after the Dublin-based generic drugmaker rebuffed a $26 billion takeover by Mylan NV, the largest-ever hostile bid decided by a shareholder vote.

Papa resigned on Sunday. Hendrickson, who has been with Perrigo for 27 years and previously led several of its operations, including its U.S. consumer healthcare business, was named CEO effective immediately.

Perrigo’s board also will separate the roles of CEO and chairman. A director, Laurie Brlas, was named chairman.

The company reported preliminary first-quarter earnings of $1.71 to $1.77 per share and said it expected a full-year profit of $8.20 to $8.60 per share, excluding special items. Both are below analysts’ expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Summary: He resigned from the top spot at drugmaker Perrigo a day earlier.


WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Saturday that the country is “a better place today” than when he graduated from college more than 30 years ago, citing his historic election as “one indicator of how attitudes have changed.”

But gaps persist, he told Howard University’s Class of 2016, citing racism and inequality as examples.

In a commencement speech at one of the nation’s leading historically black schools, Obama said there were no black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and few black judges when Columbia University awarded him a bachelor’s degree in 1983.

“A lot of folks didn’t even think blacks had the tools to be a quarterback,” Obama said. “When I was graduating, the main black hero on TV was Mr. T. Rap and hip-hop were counterculture, underground. Now Shonda Rhimes owns Thursday night and Beyonce runs the world.” Rhimes is the executive producer of television hits “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” which air on Thursdays.

Today, he said, “We’re no longer entertainers. We’re producers, studio executives. No longer small-business owners, we’re CEOs. We’re mayors, representatives” — and someone in the crowd shouted out, “President.”

“I’m not saying gaps do not persist. Obviously, they do,” Obama said. “Racism persists, inequality persists.”

He called on the university’s 2,300 graduates to step up and take on the work of closing those gaps.

“America needs you to gladly, happily take up that work … so enjoy the party, because you’re going to be busy,” Obama said.

He cited income inequality, an issue in the presidential campaign to choose his successor in November, as well as disparities in unemployment, pay and criminal justice. He also listed disease and conflict worldwide, along with terrorism and climate change as other issues needing attention.

“So make no mistake, Class of 2016. You’ve got plenty of work to do,” said Obama, who was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree. “But as complicated and sometimes intractable as these challenges may seem, the truth is that your generation is better positioned than any before you to meet those challenges.”

“America is a better place today than it was when I graduated from college,” Obama said, adding “by almost every measure.” He said the country “also happens to be better off than when I took office, but that’s a longer story.”

The line drew cheers and applause. “That’s a different discussion for another speech,” Obama said.

Obama told the graduates to be confident and embrace being African-American and all that it entails, including “our particular awareness of injustice and unfairness and struggle. That means we cannot sleepwalk through life. We cannot be ignorant of history. We cannot meet the world with a sense of entitlement.”

He urged them to vote and not to fear opposing voices. Many in the audience of about 15,000 chanted “four more years” as Obama received the degree. He cited low voter turnout in general and among younger voters in particular for control of Congress switching from Democratic to Republican during his presidency.

“You don’t think that made a difference in terms of the Congress I’ve got to deal with,” Obama said. “And then people are wondering, well, how come Obama hasn’t gotten this done? Just vote. It’s math.”

Obama, 54, opened by telling the graduates that most of them were just starting high school when he was first elected in 2008.

“I used to joke about being old. Now I realize I’m old. It’s not a joke anymore,” he said.

The address was the first of three commencement speeches Obama has scheduled this spring, his final ones as president.

Obama is set to speak May 15 at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and June 2 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Summary: And Shonda Rhimes owns Thursday nights.


When your Silicon Valley workforce is mostly male and you want to throw a themed-party, what to do? Well, a Twitter team decided it would be a good idea to hold a frat-themed celebration in San Francisco recently.

The company quickly apologized for the misstep, which included “Twitter Frat House” signage and a beer pong table complete with a Twitter TWTR logo.

On Tuesday, images of the frat party surfaced on social media when a less-than-enthused female employee brought attention to the event using Facebook FB , which was quickly removed, but was grabbed and tweeted by the group Global Women in Tech:

Jim Prosser, a Twitter spokesperson, apologized in a statement to Fusion: “This social event organized by one team was in poor taste at best, and not reflective of the culture we are building here at Twitter,” Prosser said. “We’ve had discussions internally with the organizing team, and they recognize that this theme was ill-chosen.”

As the publication notes, Twitter is currently embroiled in a gender discrimination lawsuit in which a female software engineer, Tina Huang, said that promotions are given more frequently to men. Only 10% of Twitter’s tech employees are female, according to company data released last year.

Summary: There was even a Twitter beer pong table.


may have unknowingly dabbled in stolen goods when they recorded "

" ... so says a songwriter who claims the song is a rip-off of one of his tunes.

-- a self-proclaimed world-famous harmonicist -- says his 1978 song "San Francisco Bay" features a catchy harmonica riff ... the same riff you hear in "Timber" -- but in a faster tempo.

Oskar says it's no coincidence either. He claims in court docs the harmonica player on "Timber" was instructed to mimic Oskar's performance on "SF Bay."

"Timber" went on to became a huge hit in the U.S. and Europe. Now Oskar's suing the record company for at least $3 mil. He's not going after Pitbull or Kesha.

So we gotta ask ...

Summary: Pitbull and Kesha may have unknowingly dabbled in stolen goods when they recorded "Timber"  ... so says a songwriter who claims the song is a rip-off…


WASHINGTON — In recent weeks, staff members for Bobby Rush, a Democratic congressman from Illinois, have asked fellow lawmakers to sign a letter opposing a Federal Communications Commission proposal to limit how broadband providers can share users’ personal data.

Last month, 60 lawmakers signed a separate letter voicing their objections to an FCC regulation that would open the market for cable television set-top boxes.

What the actions have in common: the financial connections and legwork of cable companies like Comcast.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association, an industry lobbying group, said it had edited the letter shared by Rush’s staff. Cable industry lobbyists also helped gather the 60 signatures on the set-top-box letter; nearly all of the lawmakers who signed count cable and telecom companies as top campaign donors, according to federal disclosures.

The behind-the-scenes activity by cable companies and their industry groups is part of the biggest lobbying push by the $115 billion industry in Washington since 2009, when the government drew up its Net neutrality rules. These days, the cable and telecom industries are hiring more lobbyists, issuing warnings that they may sue federal agencies, and making speeches and writing scathing blog posts about policy makers.

The trigger? A string of proposed regulations by the FCC that have left cable companies feeling besieged.

So far this year, the agency has proposed reforming rules on set-top boxes so that people can pick any television device to receive cable and online video, which could cut into the industry’s $19.5 billion in annual set-top-box rental fees.

The FCC also unveiled broadband privacy rules that would make it harder to collect and share data on users for targeted advertising. And the agency announced a plan to force cable and telecom companies to lease bandwidth to competitors in certain areas, with potential limits on how much they can charge, curbing revenue for such deals.

“The policy blows we are weathering are not modest regulatory corrections,” Michael K. Powell, president of the NCTA, said in a speech last month. “They have been thundering, tectonic shifts.”

The cable companies’ frustration has been compounded by concerns that the FCC proposals punish them but reward tech companies like Google. The set-top-box proposal could give those companies access to cable and satellite television programming for their devices and let them track viewer habits for their ad businesses. The broadband privacy rules apply only to cable and telecom companies; tech companies are not included.

The FCC has largely adopted recommendations from Google on set-top-box reforms, the cable and telecom companies said. AT&T’s senior vice president for external affairs, Jim Cicconi, has called the plan the “Google proposal.” The cable companies also said the FCC’s broadband privacy proposal would be much stronger than any restrictions placed on Web companies.

So the cable industry has harnessed its vast lobbying resources in Washington to fight back.

In the first quarter, cable and telecom companies spent $22 million on lobbying, ranking 11th by industry, according to the OpenSecrets website, run by the Center for Responsive Politics. While the spending did not increase from a year earlier, much of the money has gone toward fighting FCC proposals like the set-top-box rules, with nearly $2 million paid just to outside lobbyists in the first quarter to work against the proposal, according to federal disclosures.

AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and the NCTA are also practicing softer forms of lobbying — such as sponsoring studies and consultants who write op-ed articles — that cannot be easily traced, analysts and public interest groups like Free Press, which supports several broadband regulations, say.

The industry’s focus has been on helping members of Congress write letters of opposition to the FCC. The association said an employee contributed “minor suggestions” to the letter from Rush. Rush’s spokeswoman, Debra Johnson, said the NCTA edits “did not change the substance of the letter” and said the congressman had a history of standing up for consumer protection.

The cable industry has also responded with a new lobbying group, the Future of TV Coalition, which has been joined by media and movie companies as well as labor unions. It was formed on the day the FCC announced the set-top-box proposal. So far, the organization has helped generate 300,000 comments opposing the set-top-box plan through a tool on its website that sends complaints directly to the FCC.

Summary: A string of proposed regulations have left cable companies feeling besieged.


This is America, and your medical insurance is a joke -- so says one personal trainer in Hollywood, who's now suing

and his son Sean ... after Sean allegedly attempted to use his med insurance to cover his physical therapy bills.

-- aka The Body Architect -- filed the small claims lawsuit against Sean for $5,440 for services rendered from March to May last year.

Sources close to the Stewarts tell TMZ, Sean hired Randy to help rehabilitate himself following a car accident in which he injured his lower back and shoulder.

When all was said and done, we're told Randy asked Sean for the money, but Sean told Randy to go through his medical insurance instead.

Randy insisted that wouldn't work, and now he's dragging the Stewarts to court. As for why Rod is involved, our best guess is Rod's name is on the insurance and Randy figures suing Rod too is the easiest way to get paid.

It's not the first time Sean was sued by a personal trainer -- back in 2008, some guy named Xavier

for 4 months of unpaid sessions.

Calls to the Stewarts weren't returned.

Summary: This is America, and your medical insurance is a joke -- so says one personal trainer in Hollywood, who's now suing Rod Stewart and his son Sean ... after…


A Starbucks employee was fired after a viral cell phone video showed her berating a customer in New York.

Ruby Chen said the Starbucks employee accused her of trying to steal a cookie straw and starting yelling at her to get out of the store, NBC reports.

“Get out,” the employee says in the video, which Chen had posted on Facebook. “You’re not going to be served here. Period. Bye. Bye. Bye.”

A spokesperson for Starbucks told NBC the employee was fired. “This customer’s experience is not reflective of the service our partners provide to customers every day,” the spokesperson said. “Our leadership team is reaching out to the customer to apologize and make this right.”

Summary: The customer said she has since been given a $100 Starbucks gift card


Sam Smith signed back onto Twitter — but it's unclear if he's here to stay.

After three months of social media silence, the "Lay Me Down" crooner returned to Twitter on Monday to address the Orlando massacre.

"My heart is broken," he wrote, adding a rainbow-colored photo.

"Let people be people, let's love together," he continued. "The world is with you, Orlando."

Names of confirmed dead in Orlando club shooting begin to surface

Forty-nine people were killed in Sunday's rampage by Omar Mateen at a popular Orlando gay club.

Smith, 24, announced he was taking a break from the tweeting site on March 1 — a hiatus that came after the growing backlash he faced for his Academy Award speech.

While winning the Oscar for Best Original Song, Smith inaccurately noted he was the first openly gay man to win the golden statue.

I'm logging off for a while. Some Martinis shaken not stirred are definitely in order.

"I'm logging off for a while. Some Martinis shaken not stirred are definitely in order," he wrote at the time.

KING: When mass murders, 'prayers' about them become white noise

Fans of the English singer quickly celebrated his return to social media.

"I'm so glad you broken your silence to saying these beautiful words. You are so lovely," one user wrote.

"So very sad glad to see you back on Twitter but not for this message," another fan explained.

Summary: Crooner Sam Smith signed back onto Twitter — but it's unclear if he's here to stay.


06/21/2016 AT 11:40 AM EDT

is making a big impact in the tech world.

On the heels of his recent visit to the

last week, tech pioneers are singing his praises for bringing attention to an important cause.

The royal is urging the tech world to come up with easier ways to report online bullying and empower parents with the methods to get help. Williamâs role as a dad of two has inspired his ongoing crusade against cyberbullying.

And he sees the initiative as part of his work with the

, which he started alongside wife

"People were impressed with his ambition. When he takes on these causes, he doesnât want to make a small difference, he wants to make a big difference," Brent Hoberman, who heads up William's cyberbullying task force, tells PEOPLE.

The tech world "is very happy to see a very modern monarchy," adds Hoberman, who invited William to the event.

"In side meetings, people were impressed with the way the Duke listened and added value and the way he adds gravitas, and uses his convening power in a serious way.â

And much of his motivation comes down to being a parent to

"Bullying is not a new cause to him, but having children now makes it even more important," Hoberman says. "As he said in his speech, cyberbullying is something you can't leave at the school gates and something parents and children and their peers are very confused about how to react to.

"There is clearly a lot that can be done to make peoples' lives better in this area – and he sees that."

The royal's appearance at the event also inspired Ivo Gormley, the founder of

, a national running charity where people meet up to exercise and help elders in their community.

"Instead of exercising on your own on a treadmill, you can keep motivated by doing useful things for other people. Many of us run to visit isolated older people, those who donât see family or friends regularly," Gormley tells PEOPLE.

Gormley praised Williamâs efforts to shine a light on the need for safer social media practices.

"It's really important and fantastic for him to make it a real focus of the day," Gormley says. "As we get busier and are online so much, anything that can make it easier for people to live happier, less stressful lives is a good thing."

William isnât the only one making strides in the online world. His grandmother

to express her gratitude for all the digital good wishes she's received for her 90th birthday.

Summary: Prince William is making a big impact in the tech world


You can tell a lot about the influence of a software company by the number of startups attempting to tie their own futures to the success of its technology.

The Salesforce-inspired mob scene in San Francisco last week is a vivid example: There were roughly 400 exhibitors in the tradeshow portion of the event, hawking everything from quote-to-cash management systems (Apttus) to enterprise resource planning intimately tied to the Sales Cloud (FinancialForce). Historically speaking, a healthy partner ecosystem has also been one of Microsoft’s MSFT biggest advantages over its competitors.

Expect to hear this refrain sounded more frequently within the increasingly competitive business collaboration software space.

Australian-founded disrupter Atlassian disclosed Monday that the marketplace that distributes roughly 1,800 apps that extend the features of its flagship business software products has reached $100 million in sales over the past three years. That puts this “store” in the same league as the ones backed by Salesforce CRM (AppExchange) and Amazon AMZN Web Services (AWS Marketplace), said Atlassian President Jay Simons.

We can’t know for sure, of course, because the other companies don’t share their numbers. “The growth of our marketplace has been totally organic—just like the rest of Atlassian,” Simons said. “We let our products speak for themselves rather than relying on a traditional sales team.”

The most successful business collaboration tools are inherently viral. That is, they become more useful as more people adopt them. Atlassian has reached 48,000 customers, including Citigroup C , Coca-Cola KO , eBay EBAY , NASA, and Netflix NFLX without building out a massive corporate sales organization. (That’s 5,000 more than when I last wrote about the company in April.)

Most of the add-ons in the Atlassian Marketplace are for Confluence, its collaboration platform, or JIRA, a project management framework widely used among software developers. Approximately 40% of the add-ons are “verified,” which lends them more credibility. (There’s no fee for that.) Atlassian takes a 25% cut of sales for handling processes such as marketing and billing.

San Francisco-based developer Gliffy, a 25-person company that sells a diagramming tool that can be used with Confluence, describes the marketplace as great exposure for small companies. “It’s an opportunity for us to get the product demoed within an entire account,” said founder and CEO Chris Kohlhardt.

For more on how technology is redefining workplace collaboration watch this Fortune video:

Subscribe to Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the business of technology.

Summary: Its business software store is following the lead of Salesforce AppExchange and Amazon Web Services Marketplace.


To find success as a startup, it helps to pay attention to shifts in the way we live. A concept can be compelling, but if it’s too far outside the realm of the average person’s day-to-day, it’s not going to fly. Remember Webvan? The company’s goal — to deliver groceries to people’s doors via the Internet — was solid, but its timing wasn’t. In 1999, it went public; in 2001 it went bankrupt. Fifteen years later, online grocery delivery is flourishing on the back of a smartphone-enabled, on-demand economy. The timing is right.

And the necessary stars are aligning for another shift. At least, that’s what Aman Advani is betting on. As CEO and co-founder of Ministry of Supply, a Boston-based men’s clothing startup, he believes high-performance clothing made for the office is the next big thing as the line between people’s work lives and personal lives has all but disappeared.

Related: The Best Marketing Tool is Already in Your Customers’ Hands

His theory: Consumers want the same performance from their office wear as they do their workout wear. Athleisure — a growing trend in which people wear sports clothes outside the gym — is simply a hacker’s solution. If true, people will embrace what Ministry of Supply is selling: a business–casual wardrobe complete with button-ups, chinos, dress socks and more that provides the same durability, comfort and performance as traditional workout clothes. The basic idea is clothing that it looks like J.Crew, but performs like Nike nke . (In the footwear world, this has been a focus for years: Cole Haan, when it was owned by Nike, used to incorporate the sneaker brand’s athletic technology into its dress shoes. Today, it continues the tradition with items such as this oxford shoe with a sneaker-like sole.)

To continue to test this hypothesis, Ministry of Supply has just raised $3 million in venture funding to in a round led by Tony Hsieh’s VTF Capital, Eric Friedman and Japanese soccer star Keisuke Honda. Founded on Kickstarter in 2012, the company has raised $9 million total. Much of the latest raise will go to adding new brick-and-mortar stores to its existing three in San Francisco, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

Around 90% of the company’s sales are domestic, but Honda’s involvement opens up a potential new market. “Japan is a culture that cares about style and values technology’s role in elevating style,” says Advani. It was this blend of style and functionality that convinced him to invest, Honda says.

That said, Ministry of Supply will likely live or die on its ability to convince American professionals that they want — and are willing to pay for — business-casual clothes equipped with laser cut ventilation zones, NASA temperature-regulating technology and moisture-wicking woven fabric. Button-downs range from $95 to $145, while jackets top out at $450.

Ironically, a large part of this may be focusing less on the above features and more on the brand’s conventional business-casual style. Early on, “we used to push the high-tech messaging,” says Advani. The strategy has attracted earlier adopters, but doesn’t necessarily resonate with mainstream bankers, consultants and other professionals. For many of these guys, Advani admits, trumpeting high-tech features may even be a turn-off (too geeky.) The goal now is to make clothes that emulate J. Crew, i.e. “provide a uniform — simplicity and intentionality without thought,” says Advani. Once that’s established, the clothes’ capabilities — from stain-resistance to extra stretch — can transition from primary selling point to a competitive advantage.

Related: How This Dad Developed a Better Car Seat and Raised Nearly $2 Million on Indiegogo

Ministry of Supply isn’t the only company betting that as our workdays extend beyond eight hours and bleed into our personal lives, we’ll demand more from our clothing. Lululemon is experimenting with higher-end, athleisure-inspired options, as are startups such as Outlier, Qor and Kit & Ace, which specializes in machine-washable cashmere. Meanwhile, more traditional players including Brooks Brothers, which has experimented with wrinkle-resistant clothing, and Ralph Lauren are “dipping their toes” into the space, says Advani.

But despite shifts in how we work and dress, the public’s interest in performance professional wear is largely unproven. A professor at Harvard Business School features Ministry of Supply as a case study in one of her classes. The topic? Category creation. Whole Foods (corporate organics) and Sundance (the independent film scene) are studied as examples of organizations that have done this successfully.

“Our case is called, Ministry of Supply: Will Professionals Demand Performance?” says Advani. “It’s open-ended — it invites itself to scrutiny.”

Summary: Athleisure grows up.


Bill Simmons hasn’t forgiven ESPN just yet.

On Wednesday, as he returned to the written Internet by announcing his new digital venture will be called The Ringer and will host his popular column, Simmons continued to take shots at his former employer.

When asked what he learned about the business of running Grantland, the buzzy sports-and-culture website that was shut down last year, a few months after he was forced out at the Worldwide Leader, Simmons tweeted: “Don’t do it with ESPN.”

The Ringer’s landing page was launched Wednesday. Simmons’ spokesman told CNN it will be “the exclusive home to all of Simmons’ written material,” and it will start as an email newsletter in mid-March. The actual site “will debut sometime this late spring or early summer,” the spokesman said.

Simmons also announced eight new hires for The Ringer — many of them Grantland alums — to join the four top editors who made the exodus soon after his divisive ESPN ouster.

Simmons has been heard again in the digital realm for months, releasing podcasts on the suitably named Bill Simmons Podcast Network, and previously announced a television production deal with HBO.

Summary: Bill Simmons hasn’t forgiven ESPN just yet. On Wednesday, as he returned to the written Internet by announcing his new digital venture will be called The Ringer and will host his popular column, Si…


Sophia Bush stars as Detective Erin Lindsay, a tough, no-nonsense detective in the NBC drama "Chicago P.D."Bush has captured film and television audiences alike with the diverse characters she portrays. Over the course of nine seasons, she portrayed Brooke Davis on The CW's hit drama "One Tree Hill," evolving from a troublemaking vixen to a fiercely loyal friend and a huge fan favorite. Most recently, Bush appeared opposite David Krumholtz, Michael Urie and Brandon Routh in the CBS comedy, "Partners."Bush starred opposite Sean Bean in the remake of the classic horror film "The Hitcher" produced by Michael Bay for Focus Features. She starred in Serenade Films' "The Narrows," the independent comedy "Table for Three," and the feature film "Chalet Girl" opposite Bill Nighy and Brooke Shields. Previously, Bush starred in 20th Century Fox's hit comedy "John Tucker Must Die" along with Jesse Metcalfe and Brittany Snow. She also starred in the Buena Vista Pictures thriller, "Stay Alive," opposite Frankie Muniz and Adam Goldberg.Bush has earned multiple Teen Choice Awards in the categories of "Choice Movie Actress: Comedy," "Choice Movie Actress: Horror/Thriller" and "Choice Movie: Breakout Female." In addition, she received the Rising Star Award at the Vail Film Festival, the New Hollywood Style Icon Award at the Hollywood Style Awards and the Bing Philanthropy Award at the Young Hollywood Awards.

Summary: Meet Detective Erin Lindsay from Chicago P.D. on NBC.com.


THE BOURNE LEGACY, from left: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, 2012. (©Universal/courtesy Everett / Ev)

Beginning more or less where “The Bourne Ultimatium” left off, “The Bourne Legacy’’ is interrupted from time to time for news bulletins about the search for Matt Damon’s rogue CIA agent Jason Bourne, last seen jumping into the East River to escape his former handlers.

Disappointingly, Bourne never resurfaces in this less-than-satisfying series reboot. The film is more a talky, convoluted, action-starved two-hour subplot starring Jeremy Renner as another, far less interesting special agent who goes on the run with Rachel Weisz for reasons that are never clearly explained.

Paul Greengrass, who took over the “Bourne’’ series from Doug Liman for the second and third installments, staged chases and action with such visceral excitement that the implausiblities of the labyrinthine plots whizzed past.

Tony Gilroy, who contributed to the writing of all four “Bourne’’ films, steps in as director (he previously did well with the drama “Michael Clayton’’ and the spy rom-com “Duplicity’’), and disastrously reverses the talk-to-action ratio.

Renner (“The Hurt Locker”) is a formidable actor, but having him open with a half-hour of eyeball-glazing exposition — even as the film fails to flesh out his underwritten character — does no favors to him or the audience.

Following Bourne’s defection, the CIA decides to shut down a program that’s created a race of super-agents using experimental drugs to enhance their mental and physical capabilities. Rather than simply issuing pink slips, the agency literally eliminates these agents as well as the scientists servicing them.

You’d think they’d do this in a less messy and highly publicized fashion than driving one of the scientists to massacre his colleagues in a laboratory, but this does make for a fairly suspenseful sequence as Weisz’s Dr. Marta Shearing manages to elude death.

Renner’s Aaron Cross, meanwhile, has not only eluded missiles aimed at him during a training mission in Alaska (where he wrestles a very phony-looking computer-generated wolf) but manages to fake his own death; a less loquacious super-agent played by Oscar Isaac isn’t so lucky.

For reasons that go inadequately explained, Aaron shows up at Shearing’s home just as a black-ops team is about to execute a terminal severance package. He fakes her death, too, and demands as repayment that she find a way to make his powers permanent.

Edward Norton, another formidable actor, spends an awful lot of time glowering at video-surveillance screens, since he’s not entirely sure that Shearing has been disposed of properly. He also hisses a lot at his superior (played by Stacy Keach, who looks as if he wants to punch out Norton).

After what seems like three hours, Aaron and the doctor sneak into a pharmaceutical lab in Manila to give Aaron his fix. I’m not sure whether they are there because hardly anybody uses the Philippines for Hollywood action films these days or because they offer more lucrative tax abatements than, say, Louisiana or Michigan.

This leads to a confusingly shot foot-and-motorcycle chase with a CIA assassin that goes on for so long, I forgot exactly what the point of it was.

“The Bourne Legacy’’ isn’t helped by cameo appearances by “The Bourne Ultimatum’’ co-stars Joan Allen, David Strathairn and Albert Finney, all of whom remind us of the sequel with Damon we’re not seeing.

The whole thing is sort of like watching George Lazenby playing James Bond in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’’ while knowing that the producers are desperately negotiating a deal with Sean Connery to return for the next film. Renner and the audience deserve better.

Summary: THE BOURNE LEGACY, from left: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, 2012. (©Universal/courtesy Everett / Ev)Beginning more or less where “The Bourne Ultimatium” left off, “The Bourne Legacy’’ is interrupted…


Donald Trump did a quick, 180-degree turn on Twitter after last night’s Miss Universe crowning fiasco.

The real estate mogul, who sold the Miss Universe Organization to talent agency and entertainment company WME/IMG three months ago, had been praising the pageant’s new owners throughout the night, urging his followers to tune in on Fox FOX . But, the morning after comedian Steve Harvey, the pageant’s host, mistakenly announced Miss Colombia as the winner only to take back the crown and give it to Miss Philippines minutes later, Trump tweeted out an admonishment of the mishap while implying that such a thing “would never have happened” under his ownership.

Very sad what happened last night at the Miss Universe Pageant. I sold it 6 months ago for a record price. This would never have happened!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2015

In a statement, the Miss Universe Organization apologized to both Miss Colombia and Miss Philippines for the mistake. “The excitement of live TV was evident tonight on The Miss Universe stage with over 10 million live fan votes tabulated,” pageant officials said. “Unfortunately, a live telecast means that human error can come into play. We witnessed that tonight when the wrong winner was initially announced.”

Meanwhile, Harvey apologized on air, calling the flub a “horrible mistake” and later tweeted out an apology that misspelled the words “Colombia” and “Philippines.”

WME/IMG did not immediately respond to Fortune‘s request for comment on Trump’s tweets. The former reality television star and current GOP presidential primary frontrunner sold the Miss Universe Organization to the entertainment group in September, just days after Trump bought NBC’s half of the organization. Trump’s filings with the Federal Election Commission showed that his Miss Universe stake was worth between $5 million and $25 million.

Trump took full control of the pageant company, which operates Miss Universe and Miss USA, through the deal with Comcast’s CMCSA NBCUniversal after the company said it would not air the pageants due to derogatory comments Trump made about Mexican immigrants when he first announced his candidacy for president. That deal also settled a lawsuit Trump filed against NBC, though he still has an ongoing lawsuit against Univision, the country’s largest Spanish-language television broadcaster, which also refused to air the Miss Universe/Miss USA pageants due to Trump’s comments.

In October, Fox agreed to a deal with the pageants’ new owners to air Miss Universe and Miss USA.

Summary: Pageant host Steve Harvey botched the winner's announcement.


The latest innovation in undergarments comes from the UK and it has quietly landed in the US.

Shreddies, as they are called, promise to suppress the odor from, ahem, flatulence.

The innovative undies, which will set you back between $37 and $75 a pair, come in both boxers and briefs and are for both men and women.

The maker of Shreddies claims its understated underwear is able to remove the foul odors because they are equipped with strategically positioned carbon fiber filters.

They are being marketed to people with digestive disorders — and, really, to anyone concerned about such an issue.

The new undies, a breath of fresh air in the undergarment sector, will be sold online at Amazon.com and other e-tailers, the company said.

A television infomercial is in the works with As Seen on TV, according to Adam Pollack, who secured the US distribution rights.

The infomercial will depict people in discomfort in a boardroom and on an elevator, but Pollack says he’s walking a fine line because “there is a serious aspect to this and we don’t want to make light of people who have these issues.”

Summary: Forget Spanx and Spandex. The latest innovation in undergarments comes from the UK and it has quietly landed in the US. Shreddies, as they are called, promise to suppress the odor from, ahem, flatu…


Legislation seeking to further tighten a San Francisco sanctuary-city law that restricts the city’s cooperation with federal immigration agents will come before a Board of Supervisors committee for the first time Thursday.

The law came under fire last year — with some critics hoping to get rid of it — after a man wanted for deportation by federal authorities was instead released from San Francisco County Jail and was then accused of killing a woman on Pier 14 on the Embarcadero.

The measure, introduced by Supervisor John Avalos in January, would bar city law enforcement officials from notifying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when an individual will be released from local custody, except in very limited circumstances. Immigration agents want to be notified about people they’re seeking to deport so they can pick them up.

San Francisco’s Sanctuary City and Due Process for All ordinance now prohibits the city from holding jail inmates flagged by immigration agents for hours or days past their release date, but it does not specifically forbid prerelease notifications.

In April 2015, the Sheriff’s Department released Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, who had been brought to the city after serving 46 months in federal prison for unlawful re-entry into the country. Though the federal government wanted to deport Lopez-Sanchez a sixth time, Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said the city sanctuary law restricted his office from turning the inmate over.

Critics of Mirkarimi, including Mayor Ed Lee, said he could have simply picked up the phone, called immigration agents and told them to pick up Lopez-Sanchez before his release. However, a month earlier, Mirkarimi had issued a department memo banning all communication with immigration agents seeking to deport jailed suspects absent a warrant or court order.

After the city was thrust into the national spotlight in July when Lopez-Sanchez was charged in the shooting death of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle on Pier 14, newly elected Sheriff Vicki Hennessy made it a priority to reverse that move.

During her campaign, Hennessy said she favored notifying federal agents about inmates with certain serious convictions on their record. Eileen Hirst, her chief of staff, said Hennessy will be testifying at Thursday’s hearing about her thoughts on the proposed legislation.

Avalos and the city’s immigration advocates have long been against any cooperation with immigration officials and what they describe as deceptive practices by the federal government. Avalos pointed to a case in which a San Francisco car-theft victim was jailed by federal immigration authorities for two months after he sought help from city police.

San Francisco police officials will also testify at Thursday’s hearing of the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee. The meeting starts at 12:30 p.m. in Room 250 of City Hall.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo

Summary: The law came under fire last year — with some critics hoping to get rid of it — after a man wanted for deportation by federal authorities was instead released from San Francisco County Jail and was then accused of killing a woman on Pier 14 on the Embarcadero.  The measure, introduced by Supervisor John Avalos in January, would bar city law enforcement officials from notifying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when an individual will be released from local custody, except in very limited circumstances.  San Francisco’s Sanctuary City and Due Process for All ordinance now prohibits the city from holding jail inmates flagged by immigration agents for hours or days past their release date, but it does not specifically forbid prerelease notifications.  [...] a month earlier, Mirkarimi had issued a department memo banning all communication with immigration agents seeking to deport jailed suspects absent a warrant or court order.  After the city was thrust into the national spotlight in July when Lopez-Sanchez was charged in the shooting death of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle on Pier 14, newly elected Sheriff Vicki Hennessy made it a priority to reverse that move.


A Rockland County village meeting devolved into a scene out of Maury Povich on Tuesday night when a resident accused the mayor of using his “power” to have sex with his wife.

Reginald Alfred, a 48-year-old maintenance man, took the microphone at the meeting and began sharing details of how Spring Valley Mayor Demeza Delhomme was a homewrecker who ruined his 12-year marriage, according to video recorded by The Journal News.

“He destroyed my house. He destroyed my family. I have two daughters,” he said during a 15-minute shouting fest that riled up city officials and other residents in the audience.

When another resident in the audience asked Delhomme if he knew Alfred’s wife, the controversial mayor yelled, “I know everybody in this community. I don’t know the person.”

He vehemently denied the claims while holding his phone that was recording the confrontation, yelling, “I don’t know this man. I’ve never met this man.”

Alfred went back up to the mic at least one more time, calling the mayor a “liar.”

“I saw him in my house for Thanksgiving with the food inside,” he said, although he failed to provide any physical evidence of the salacious affair.

The riled-up crowd cheered their support for Alfred.

“If you really did this, you should be ashamed of yourself,” one resident said when he was up at the podium. “You are supposed to be a counselor, man, to take care of families, not destroy them.”

Delhomme denied the allegations again to The Post on Wednesday afternoon, adding that he filed a police report after Tuesday night’s drama.

“I wish that man would get some kind of psychiatric help. I feel so bad for these kids involved,” he said of Alfred’s two daughters, who are 4 and 10.

He said he learned Wednesday that Alfred’s wife worked at the bank he goes to, but wouldn’t say whether he knew her personally.

“I don’t owe anyone that information,” Delhomme said.

He believes this is part of what he said is an ongoing smear campaign by two of the city’s trustees, Asher Grossman and Vilair Fonvil, who were also at the meeting.

“They’ve been battling me since I got elected,” he said. “They put him up to this.”

Fonvil lambasted Delhomme repeatedly Tuesday night, saying, “What I’m hearing here is public corruption.”

Alfred’s allegations are a new low for the mayor, who presides over the 2.5-square-mile village of 32,000 residents and has been embroiled in numerous scandals.

Last November, he pledged to nix any Jewish developer projects in secretly recorded conversations, saying it was payback for their lack of support in the 2013 election.

And during a massive snowstorm last January, he ordered the Department of Public Works to install a generator at his girlfriend’s house.

Summary: A Rockland County village meeting devolved into a scene out of Maury Povich on Tuesday night when a resident accused the mayor of using his “power” to have sex with his wife. Reginald Alfred, a 48-…


The strong American dollar may provide a bonus for your spring travel plans.

Since 2014, the greenback has soared against many other currencies, providing good deals for even far-flung locations such as Australia and Indonesia. On top of that, airfares have plummeted in recent months, thanks to lower fuel prices. Ticket prices to destinations in Europe declined almost 12 percent last year, for instance, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

So, where should travelers consider for spring travel options? Several locations offer a mix of favorable currency conversions and reasonable lodging costs, which may help pinpoint a destination. Many expensive cities, including London and Paris, are also more affordable today, thanks to the strong U.S. dollar.

In 2012, a weekend trip to London would have required an outlay of $930, according to UBS Wealth Management, which estimates the cost of a weekend trip based on two nights at a luxury hotel, two dinners, local transportation and theater tickets, although not including airfare. Today, a London weekend escape will cost a couple about $750, or almost 20 percent less than in 2012.

Of course, that weekend trip to London might be even more affordable if a traveler books through a vacation rental service such as Airbnb or chooses a less expensive hotel.

Travel experts are recommending visits to locations that are off the beaten path to find even better bargains. Read on to learn about some unusual vacation spots that offer good value from a currency and lodging perspective, based on rates found on TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals and Airbnb.

Summary: With a strong dollar and lower airfares, spring getaways even to far-flung locales are a lot more affordable this year


In the latest volley of the cola wars, the Coca-Cola Company announced a deal yesterday to become the exclusive supplier of fountain drinks to Subway Restaurants, wooing the chain away from its partnership with the Pepsi unit of PepsiCo.

The deal, which will put Coke fountain drinks in Subway's 20,000 restaurants around the world, will be effective in 2005. Pepsi had been the primary provider of fountain drinks served in the Subway chain since 1988, although Coca-Cola did supply about 15 percent of the restaurants with fountain drinks, bottles and cans.

Subway's decision to shift its business to Coke widens the Coca-Cola Company's lead over its competitors in the fountain business, which includes beverage service in restaurants and movie theaters.

Coke has about 68 percent of the domestic fountain business while Pepsi has 22 percent, according to Beverage Digest, a publication that tracks the industry. The fountain business is the second-largest sales channel for Coke and Pepsi after supermarket sales.

''It's very competitive,'' said John D. Sicher, the editor and publisher of Beverage Digest. ''Both these companies fight tooth and nail over every account and every case in the fountain business. It's a great vehicle for brand presence. It's also a great vehicle to get new products into consumers' hands.''

The Subway deal gives Coke the three largest fountain accounts in the country. Subway, with 14,149 sandwich shops, is the largest fast-food restaurant in the country. It is followed by two other Coke customers: McDonald's, which has about 14,000 restaurants, and Burger King, which has about 8,150 restaurants, according to Beverage Digest. Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, the fourth- and fifth-largest restaurant chains, are Pepsi customers.

The deal also helps Coke move beyond an embarrassing chapter in the history of its fountain business, which was accused of marketing fraud last summer.

In June, Coke admitted to rigging a marketing test for its Frozen Coke drinks at Burger King restaurants and later said that it would pay the company and its operators up to $21 million in restitution.

Officials at Subway said they began evaluating the company's beverage business about a year ago and ultimately decided that a single beverage distributor would best meet its needs.

They ultimately chose Coke, they said, because they felt that it would help Subway with marketing, innovation and global distribution.

''We can't say anything bad about Pepsi,'' said Kevin Kane, a Subway spokesman.

''It was a tough decision with everybody involved,'' he said, ''because it was a good partnership with Pepsi, and it was also a good partnership with Coke. But it just made sense for us to have one single beverage contract.''

Neither Coke nor Subway would disclose the financial terms of the agreement.

But, in an internal memo circulated among employees yesterday, Steven J. Heyer, Coca-Cola's president and chief operating officer, told employees that the contract was ''a testament to our ability to present Subway with an integrated beverage program, including both bottle/can and fountain, tailored to the needs of their franchisees.''

But officials at Pepsi were adamant that Subway's decision to sell Coke's products exclusively had little to do with service.

''We've been Subway's 'supplier of the year' for the past seven years in a row,'' said Larry Jabbonsky, a Pepsi spokesman. ''It's inconceivable to think that this has anything to do with products or service. This is about an incredibly big bag of cash.''

Officials at Coke denied that assertion.

''We understand this is an inconceivable loss for Pepsi, but Coke's global presence, service and capabilities carried the day,'' said Sonya Soutus, a Coke spokeswoman.

Analysts said that the Subway deal might add up to more in bragging rights than in actual profits and losses for either company.

''It's probably not as material as one would think just given the size of these businesses,'' said Bonnie Herzog, a beverage and tobacco analyst at Smith Barney.

''Just by gaining one account,'' she said, ''I don't see it necessarily equating to even a penny of earnings per share for either company.''

She added that the deal could actually be detrimental to Coke if the company paid too much for the Subway account.


Richard Nixon was a lunar buzzkill—but at least he was honest about it. During the early years of the space program, Nixon held no political office, which put him on the sidelines for all of the one-man Mercury flights and two-man Gemini flights, as well as the first two flights of the Apollo program. But he assumed the presidency in January of 1969 and was thus the one who got to spike the football in July of that year, phoning the moon from the Oval Office to congratulate the Apollo 11 crew on their historic lunar landing.

Not long afterward, the same President canceled the Apollo program—though he held off on making his announcement until after his reelection in 1972 was assured.

During the final lunar landing mission—Apollo 17, which left Earth on Dec. 7, 1972 and reached the moon on Dec. 11—Nixon was candid about what the future held for America’s exploratory ambitions, and it was not good. “This may be the last time in this century that men will walk on the moon,” he said in a formal pronouncement.

As it turned out, things have been even bleaker than that. It’s been 42 years since Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan climbed up the ladder of his lunar module, leaving the final human footprint in a patch of lunar soil. TIME’s coverage of the mission provides not only an account of the events, but a sense—unintended at the time—of just how long ago they unfolded. There are the quotation marks that the editors thought should accompany the mention of a black hole, since really, how many people had actually heard of such a thing back then? There was, predictably, the gender bias in the language—with rhapsodic references to man’s urge to explore, man standing on the threshold of the universe. It may be silly to scold long-ago writers for such usage now—but that’s not to say that, two generations on, it doesn’t sound awfully odd.

Over the course of those generations, we’ve made at least one feint at going back to the moon. In 2004, then-President George W. Bush announced a new NASA initiative to return Americans to the lunar surface by 2020. But President Obama scrapped the plan and replaced it with, well, no one is quite certain. There’s a lot of talk about capturing a small asteroid and placing it in lunar orbit so that astronauts can visit it—a mission that is either intriguing, implausible or flat-out risible, depending on whom you talk to. And Mars is on the agenda too—sort of, kind of, sometime in the 2030s.

But the moon, for the moment, is off America’s radar—and we’re the poorer for it. There were nine manned lunar missions over the course of three and a half glorious years, and half a dozen of them landed. That makes six small sites on an alien world that bear human tracks and scratchings—and none at all on the the far side of that world, a side no human but the 24 men who have orbited the moon have seen with their own eyes.

We tell ourselves that we’ve explored the moon, and we have—after a fashion. But only in the sense that Columbus and Balboa explored the Americas when they trod a bit of continental soil. We went much further then; we could—and we should—go much further now. In the meantime, TIME’s coverage of the final time we reached for—and seized—the moon provides a reminder of how good such unashamed ambition feels.

Read a 1973 essay reflecting on the “last of the moon men,” here in the TIME Vault: God, Man and Apollo

Summary: It's been two generations since the moon was eclipsed in NASA's priorities


The Rachel Maddow Show, 6/23/16, 9:32 PM ET

Rachel Maddow looks back on past gaffes and political embarrassments of Republican presidential candidates visiting the UK, and notes that while Donald Trump’s visit to Scotland may be ill advised from a campaign perspective, he may be better off for…

“Brexit,” the reporter repeated. “Hmm,” Trump responded, apparently unfamiliar with the term.

“Just arrived in Scotland. Place is going wild over the vote. They took their country back, just like we will take America back. No games!”

What Trump may not realize, or really even be able to fully understand, is that Scotland is “going wild” because Scottish voters overwhelmingly voted against leaving the E.U. Locally, people aren’t celebrating – because they see this as a disaster.

Trump proceeded to hold a press conference in Scotland, against the backdrop of one of the most important political moments in the modern history of the United Kingdom, where he spoke at great length, and in great detail, about his new golf resort. The Republican candidate boasted about refurbished holes on his course, plumbing, putting greens, and zoning considerations.

Even by the low standards of Donald J. Trump, it was among the most baffling press conferences anyone has ever seen. The entirety of Scotland is reeling; the future of the U.K. and the continent is uncertain; and an American presidential candidate arrived to deliver a testimonial about a country club and how fond he is of the design of a golf course.

“If the pound goes down, more people are coming to Turnberry, frankly,” he said, referring to the location of his resort. “For traveling and for other things, I think it very well could turn out to be positive.”

In a generational moment for the United Kingdom, Trump’s principal concern is what this means for Trump.

Look, I know Trump doesn’t know what he’s doing. I realize that he’s in over his head. I understand that the trip to Scotland was about giving one of his investments a high-profile boost, unrelated to his campaign for the nation’s highest office. But the fact remains that arriving in Scotland today, of all days, created an incredible opportunity for Trump to look and act like a president – or short of that, someone who’s at least vaguely aware of current events.

This was a test he failed so spectacularly, it’s as if Trump isn’t even trying to succeed.

The word “disqualifying” is probably thrown around a little too often, but in this case, if Trump didn’t prove this morning that he’s manifestly unprepared for the White House, honestly, what more would it take?

Summary: Trump had an incredible opportunity for Trump to look and act like a president -- or at least someone who's vaguely aware of current events. He failed.