Big tobacco may be scrambling to grab a hold of the e-cigarettes market, but there's a little-known 700-year old tobacco product from Europe that's also seen as having big potential.

Snus (pronounced "snoose") is similar to U.S.-style dipping tobacco. It's a derivate of snuff with the history records showing its use dating back to the late 1400s. It's placed inside the upper lip and is either sold loose in tins or in tiny tea bag-style pouches.

Snus is primarily manufactured and consumed in Sweden but is banned across the rest of the European Union. Nonetheless, the Swedish market is growing amid fierce competition from rival brands, according to Citigroup analyst Adam Spielman, who told CNBC that demand is growing in the United States too.

(Read More: E-cigarettes could significantly cut tobacco use: Study)

"We do recognize the U.S. snus business is an important investment consideration, and it could turn into quite a positive," Spielman said in a note on Tuesday.

Chad Jones, a U.S.-based snus user and blogger for Snubie.com, a website devoted to smokeless tobacco, told CNBC via email that he has witnessed growth in popularity with more retail outlets offering the product in his local area.

"I was looking for a way to quit smoking and discovered snus...what drew me in was how discreet snus was and the lack of dangerous health risks that other forms of tobacco carry. As a new parent, I also didn't want to expose my daughter to any of the second-hand effects of smoking, and I no longer wanted to subject myself to the effects and risks of cigarettes either," he wrote.

"Snus is a way that people who have been trying to quit smoking unsuccessfully can finally put down the cigarettes and move forward with their lives."

(Read More: Court ruling could deal blow to e-cigarette industry)

Shares in Swedish Match, one of the major snus manufacturers, fell around 5 percent Tuesday as Citigroup cut its rating to a "sell" from "neutral" citing "competition pressures" and a "price war" in Sweden that will continue into 2014.

One ray of light will be the U.S., Spielman said. Currently snus in the U.S. is generating sales of roughly 60 million Swedish Krona ($9 million) a year for Swedish Match, he said. That's 4 million cans of snus a year at approximately $1.50 to $2 per can. Swedish Match are currently pumping about 8 percent of its trading profit into growing its U.S. business, he said.

Statistics from research firm Euromonitor suggest that the U.S. will be snus' biggest growth area. Between 2013 and 2017 it expects retail volume to grow by 19.7 percent in the U.S., 11.1 percent in Sweden and 15.5 percent in the rest of the world.

Summary: Big tobacco may be scrambling to grab a hold of the e-cigarettes market, but there's a little-known tobacco product from Europe that's also seen as having big potential.


VIENNA - Austria's financial markets regulator FMA is investigating whether lenders Raiffeisen Bank International and Hypo Landesbank Vorarlberg followed rules against money laundering.

KIEV - The head of Ukraine's populist Radical party says parliament should launch an impeachment investigation into President Petro Poroshenko over allegations he used an offshore account to avoid tax.

STOCKHOLM - Sweden's Financial Supervisory Authority has contacted authorities in Luxembourg to ask for information related to allegations that banking group Nordea helped some clients to set up accounts in offshore tax havens.

OSLO - Top Norwegian bank DNB helped customers set up offshore companies in the Seychelles and the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway says it will ask for an explanation from the boards of affected banks.

LONDON - The British government has asked for a copy of the leaked data so it can examine the information and act on any possible tax evasion. PM David Cameron's late father, Ian Cameron, is mentioned in the documents, alongside some members of his Conservative Party in the upper house of parliament, former Conservative MPs and party donors, British media say.

KUALA LUMPUR - A group representing current and former MPs from Southeast Asian countries, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, is calling for governments in the region to crack down on large scale corporate tax evasion and pursue more equitable tax regimes.

MOSCOW - Russian media are keeping mum about the $US2 billion ($A2.61 billion) found in offshore accounts linked to close friends of President Vladimir Putin. In Russia, the investigation was published by independent Novaya Gazeta but Russian television made no mention of the scandal.

TOKYO - Japan's biggest security company Secom Co says it has disclosed to tax authorities all necessary information about the management of assets by Mossack Fonseca. Secom said in a statement it understood all services provided by the firm to Secom and its director Makoto Iida and late former director Juichi Toda were legal.

Summary: The Austrian watchdog is investigating two banks after the Panama Papers leak, as other countries react to the disclosures.


A Massachusetts whistleblower will share a $98 million payout in a large settlement federal prosecutors reached with Pfizer Inc. and its Wyeth Pharmaceuticals unit for overcharging Medicaid for drugs.

Under terms of the settlement, finalized Wednesday, Lauren Kieff, a pharmaceutical sales representative, and a second whistleblower from Louisiana will share the payment. Wyeth, owned by New York-based Pfizer, in February agreed to settle the case for $785 million.

According to US Attorney Carmen Ortiz, Wyeth failed to provide the goverment Medicaid program the same discounts on certain drugs that it gave to hospitals. Wyeth provided “deep discounts” on a reflux drug to local hospitals, including Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s, that it did not extend to the government insurance program for low-income patients.

As a result, Wyeth avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in rebates to Medicaid from 2001 to 2006, according to Ortiz’s office.

“We are pleased to have finalized the agreement to resolve these cases, which involve historic conduct that occurred at least 10 years ago, before we acquired Wyeth,” Doug Lankler, Pfizer’s general counsel, said in a statement.

As part of the settlement, Wyeth and Pfizer did not deny the government’s allegations. Pfizer acquired Wyeth in 2009.

Summary: The woman will share a $98 million payout in a settlement prosecutors reached with Pfizer Inc. and its Wyeth unit for overcharging Medicaid for drugs.


Some over-the-counter hay fever pills and sleeping aids could raise the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a US study has found.

Sleep remedy Nytol, anti-allergy meds Benadryl and Piriton, and some older antidepressants are among the products associated with an increased risk of the dementia disease, researchers found, the Daily Mail reported.

The drugs affect the brain by blocking acetylcholine, a key chemical messenger, the report found.

The risk of dementia is the highest when the so-called anticholinergic drugs are taken in high doses over several years.

“Health-care providers should regularly review their older patients’ drug regimens, including over-the-counter medications, to look for chances to use fewer anticholinergic medications at lower doses,” said Professor Shelly Gray of the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, the study’s leader.

Gray emphasized that people should talk to their doctors before they stop taking any of the drugs.

The connection between anticholinergic drugs and mental impairment among the elderly was shown in research last year.

The latest study — published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine — is the first that links higher doses with higher risks of dementia.

A group of 3,434 men and women age 65 and older were monitored for about seven years as they used anticholinergic meds. Of the group, 637 developed Alzheimer’s disease and 160 others were affected by other kinds of dementia.

The risk of dementia was 54 percent higher for those who took the highest doses of the drugs than for those who took none, the study found. The risk of Alzheimer’s was 63 percent greater.

A higher risk of dementia was seen in those who took at least 10mg a day of the antidepressant doxepin, 4mg a day of diphenhydramine, which is in Nytol and Benadryl, or 5mg a day of oxybutynin (Ditropan) — used for an overactive bladder — for at least three years.

Anticholinergic drugs lead to side effects including drowsiness and poor memory. Alzheimer’s sufferers also are known to lack acetylcholine, which is blocked by the drugs.

“This large study adds to some existing evidence linking anticholinergic drugs to a small increased risk of dementia, but the results don’t tell us that these drugs cause the condition,” said Dr. Simon Ridley of Alzheimer’s Research UK, adding that more research is needed.

Summary: Some over-the-counter hay fever pills and sleeping aids could raise the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a US study has found. Sleep remedy Nytol, anti-allergy meds Benadryl and Piriton, and some older…


In the history of New York nightclubs and the social scene, Studio 54 is legendary. During its most popular years between 1977 and 1981 it was the place to see and be seen and drew thousands that regularly included famous models, actors, rock stars, artists, fashion designers, politicians and even a few ballet dancers. Photographers were common although mostly paparazzi searching out only the rich and famous, but a few entered the club with different aspirations: that of transcending the obvious and transforming the superficial flash and glitter into something akin to poetry. Tod Papageorge was one of those photographers.

Papageorge is perhaps more commonly known as an educator, having spent three and a half decades heading and teaching the prestigious Masters program in photography at the Yale School of Art where his students were the likes of Gregory Crewdson, An-My Lê, Philip Lorca diCorsia, Katy Grannan, Justine Kurland and hundreds of others. His teaching credit aside, Papageorge is a photographer first and foremost who has published three volumes including; Passing Through Eden (Steidl, 2007) and American Sports, 1970 (Aperture, 2008).

Sixty-six of his best nightclub images form this new book from Stanley/Barker called Studio 54. Here, Papageorge speaks to Jeffrey Ladd.

TIME LightBox: Might I assume that you didn’t have the original impulse to go to Studio 54 for your own entertainment? Were you gaining access as a ‘photographer’ or just as a party-goer?

Tod Papageorge: A friend of mine, Sonia Moskowitz Gordon, was doing celebrity photography then, and was well-known and equally well-liked at Studio 54. She asked me if I’d be interested in photographing there and I jumped at the chance. Needless to say, though, I wasn’t a partygoer while I made the pictures. Photography is difficult to do well even with absolute concentration. Without it, mixing work and play, it becomes impossible, at least for me.

LightBox: Within the couple years these photographs span, would you be going frequently or was this book the fruit from a couple very successful evenings?

TP: My unreliable memory says, “neither.” I certainly wasn’t going to Studio 54 a lot. My best guess is I photographed there between a half-dozen and a dozen times, certainly not more.

LightBox: Had you gone to other clubs as well?

TP: I photographed in Roseland once, and also, I believe, at the Waldorf-Astoria—in any case, at a place where young Latin-America women in skimpy bathing suits were competing in a beauty contest.

LightBox: Was Studio 54 itself an attraction as a place or had you thought ‘it’ (whatever that is that draws one to photograph) might be happening in any number of other clubs?

TP: Again, I showed up there originally because I was offered the chance. But it was obvious from that first night that Studio 54 was a world, and institution, onto itself. It had originally been a theater, a roundabout space overlooked by a balcony, which created an up-and-down geography that, through some kind of alchemy, abetted the sense of frenzy that the music and audience-dancers were generating on the dance floor.

LightBox: You were using very similar tools as Brassaï had photographing Parisian nightlife in the 1930s (a 6×9 medium format camera and flash). Was Brassaï an inspiration for your own exploration of New York nightlife?

TP: Yes, as I say in my brief text in the book, Brassaï was my direct inspiration. A great artist, great writer, and great thinker. All in one small man from the Transylvanian mountains.

LightBox: Most photographers in nightclubs are paparazzi types but there are a few artists of your generation who also worked in such environments, Larry Fink being one. A few of his photographs from 1977 taken in Studio 54 were collected by MoMA and later showed up in his book Social Graces (Aperture, 1984). Had you been aware of his work?

TP: I’d seen Social Graces, of course, but hadn’t noted where Larry had made his nightclub pictures. I remember seeing him at Studio 54 one night while I was working there, though, and being curious about the way he was using his flash, away from the camera. But that was it. We were after very different things, then and later, there and elsewhere, the chief one being that, at least in the photographs you’re asking about, he was zeroing in on celebrities.

LightBox: Is this work some of the first where you were using the medium format 6×9 camera?

TP: I was also photographing in Central Park virtually every day then, using the same gear I brought to Studio 54, including the flash (which, in the park, served as fill-in light). So it’s accurate to say that this was the first time I used the 6×9 intensively or, more accurately, exclusively, since I’d bought an earlier iteration of the camera in 1973, when I tried it out on a cross-country trip. Landscapes only, though, with my Leicas reserved for everything else.

LightBox: Due to the nature of Studio 54, celebrities appear a few times in your photographs. Garry Winogrand once said that certain things in the world make the photographic problem more difficult (like monkeys), are celebrities one of those things too?

TP: Celebrity played no part in what I photographed at the club, or the way I did it. Again, because he did photograph them, I’d be curious to hear Larry Fink answer this question. Particularly when, as has happened a few times lately, I see someone who’s looking at my pictures at 54 spot one of the rare celebrities in them—Brooke Shields or Carolina Herrerra, for example—and then proceed to treat the particular photograph as little more than a vessel holding a star. Which has led me to think that perhaps Garry’s observation applies even more to famous people than it does to monkeys. In photographs, one monkey is all monkeys; Brooke Shields is only Brooke Shields, unique.

LightBox: You have been publishing books of mostly older work made in the 1960s to 80s. Until you recently published them, had you thought of the work at the time as just a continuum that could be divided later into loose subjects or were these conceived as ‘projects’ then as well?

TP: I ‘d like to start my answer by saying that I’ve been working in color with digital Leicas in Rome for the past few years (when I had the occasion and time and, sometimes, support to get there), and that I’m very excited about the photographs. But you’re correct in pointing out that my published books have concentrated on work I did a while ago, in some instances a great while. However, the ways in which they came into being were varied. For example, my sports book was a project, done on a Guggenheim Fellowship within a brief period of time. But Studio 54 and Central Park, which I worked on simultaneously, constituted together an elemental continuum: night and day. So, I suppose the shaping frame varies, but the overarching value is photography, and the pleasure it gives to do it.

LightBox: In making this book, had you an idea behind the sequencing? As the book progresses full intoxication is implied by the body language of the people, etc.

TP: Gregory Barker, the publisher of the book (with his wife, Rachel) came up with the idea, which I have to admit I originally thought was too obvious. As it turned out, though, I quickly saw that I was wrong to react that way: the photographs are so rich in detail and, from one to the next, active in their form, that anyone opening the book is forced to become a kind of slow reader, inoculated against the obvious.

I also think that having only three picture “templates” for the two-page spreads—i.e., double spreads; a vertical picture on a right-hand page, and single-page horizontals always appearing in pairs—lends a counterweight to the churning energy of the pictures themselves.

LightBox: The title of the book, Studio 54, implies in a way that this is ‘about’ the nightclub (like a document) but the pictures are really about, among other things; sex, decadence, body language, fashion that implies wealth, and a certain amount of outlandish spectacle. I know you are adverse to photographs being called documents so is there a conflict of calling this Studio 54 and your beliefs in photographs being fiction?

TP: No. We’re talking about photography here (at least as I understand and want to employ it): bound by fact, aspiring to poetry—or fiction, if you will. And, anyway, by now it seems to me that the phrase “Studio 54” inspires fantasy or reverie more than any other kind of response. Obviously, though, each individual viewer has to decide for him or herself whether the book works (or doesn’t) as a document or as a photographic song. I’d guess (and hope) that more will thrill to it, as they thrill to a poem or film or Champagne, than will feel dropped on the pavement outside a nightclub in midtown New York, circa 1978.

Photographer Tod Papageorge is a two time Guggenheim Fellowship and National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists Fellowship recipient. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Jeffrey Ladd is a photographer, writer, editor and founder of Errata Editions.

Summary: Tod Papageorge's new book offers a new look at Studio 54's flash and glitter


A two-and-a-half-year study carried out by U.S. federal agencies points to a link between cellphone radiation and heart and brain tumors—at least, in rats.

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) on Thursday released the peer-reviewed partial results of a study into the effects of mobile radiation on rats. It found low incidences of malignant gliomas in the brain, and schwannomas in the hearts of the subjects.

Two forthcoming NTP reports will lay out the full findings of the study and others like it, also involving mice. These reports will probably only be available for peer review and public comment by the end of 2017, although some additional results should be published later this year.

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For now, the researchers say the brain and heart tumors that they observed in some male rats “are considered likely the result of whole-body exposures” to radiofrequency radiation (RFR) modulated using the GSM and CDMA mobile industry standards.

RFR is non-ionizing, which is to say it doesn’t carry enough energy to remove the electrons from atoms or molecules. Ionizing radiation, such as X-rays, comes with known cancer risks. The evidence for RFR being any kind of cancer threat has so far been extremely limited.

Two things are very important to note here. Firstly, rats aren’t people. Secondly, the incidences of tumors in these tests were indeed very low—although with the ubiquity of this technology, even a low risk could be a serious public health concern.

According to former NTP project leader Ron Melnick, quoted by the Wall Street Journal, the new study “ends” the notion that there is no risk from cellphone radiation.

That said, other studies have suggested cellphone radiation is safe. For example, a study in Australia, the results of which were released last month, showed no increase in brain cancer in the country that could be tied to the widespread rise in cellphone use.

The NTP tests involved exposing rodents to the typical radio frequencies used in cellular communications in the U.S. (at 900MHz for the rats and 1900MHz for the mice) for periods of around nine hours per day, starting in the womb and continuing throughout their lives.

For more on health, watch our video.

The radiation using the widely-used GSM mobile communications standard resulted in low incidences (up to 3.3%) of malignant brain gliomas in all groups of male rats. Exposure to radio waves using the CDMA standard also caused statistically significant trends towards malignant gliomas (again, at 3.3%) at higher energies. There were no incidences of these lesions in control group rats, which were not exposed to RFR.

Incidences were lower for female rats, with just 1.1% of rats developing a brain lesion from GSM-modulated radiation at higher energies, and 2.2% developing malignant lesions from lower-energy CDMA-modulated radiation.

Heart lesions were again observed in some male rats in all the exposed groups, for both GSM and CDMA, although CDMA radiation caused significantly higher incidences (up to 6.6%). Again, the control group rats saw no incidences, and incidences were lower among females.

As it happens, the control group rats actually had lower survival rates at the end of the two-year study than those exposed to the radiation—the researchers said it was possible this could have had an effect on the comparison between exposed and non-exposed rats, if the tumors in question are late-developing.

“Most of the gliomas were observed in animals that died late in the study, or at the terminal sacrifice,” they wrote. “However, a relatively high number of the heart schwannomas in exposed groups were observed by 90 weeks into the study, a time when approximately 60 of the 90 control male rats remained alive and at risk for developing a tumor.”

The GSMA, which represents mobile operators around the world, stressed that previous studies over the last two decades have not shown any health risks associated with mobile use.

“The study findings will be considered by the scientific community in the context of the whole body of available research, the consistency of the findings and the importance of replication,” a spokesperson told Fortune.

Summary: Researchers have released preliminary results from a study that ties cellphone radiation with low incidences of brain and heart tumors.


When Apple CEO Tim Cook took one of many regular trips to Beijing in January, he wasn’t surveying the company’s many Chinese factories or hobnobbing with government officials. He was at a China Mobile retail store to mark the launch of the iPhone on the world’s largest wireless carrier. The two companies were joining forces to “deliver the best experience in the world,” Cook said.

The iPhone 6 will test how interested Chinese consumers are in the Apple experience. The newly announced phone, along with its big brother the iPhone 6 Plus, has already crashed the servers of Apple’s online store and are on back order for multiple wireless carriers in the U.S. But the launch of the devices is being delayed in China, and it’s not yet clear how the new iPhones will compete with a cadre of homegrown competitors which have rapidly gained market share over the last year.

Apple, no doubt, is on the rise in China. Sales jumped 18% to over $15 billion in the first half of 2014, making China the tech giant’s fastest-growing region by far. With the China Mobile deal now in place, the iPhone is available from all of the country’s wireless carriers, giving Apple access to 1.3 billion potential customers. Cook expects it to eventually overtake the United States as Apple’s biggest market.

But Apple’s competitors are rising too, some at an even faster clip. Xiaomi, often called the “Apple of China,” shipped about 15 million smartphones in the second quarter to surpass Samsung as the country’s largest vendor, according to research firm Canalys. Other Chinese manufacturers, such as Lenovo and Huawei are also beating Apple. There are literally dozens of other phone companies vying for customers’ attention in the highly fractured market. While Apple and Samsung pull in about two-thirds of all smartphone sales in the U.S., the top two manufacturers in China account for just one-fourth of sales, according to research firm IDC. Apple resides outside the top five.

The main issues holding Apple back in China are screen size and price. The company solved at least one issue with the iPhone 6 Plus, which boasts a 5.5-inch screen. The jumbo-sized display will help the latest iPhones be Apple’s most successful yet in China, says Ramon Llamas, a mobile analyst at IDC. “In the Chinese market, this is almost like a status symbol,” Llamas says of large-screen phones, also known as “phablets.” “All of these vendors, they are clearly playing in that phablet space.” Indeed, nearly 40% of smartphones sold in the country now have screens five inches or larger, according to Canalys.

Price may remain a prohibiting factor, though. According to IDC, the average selling price for an iPhone in China in the first half of 2014 was $539. Lenovo’s Android-powered smartphones sold for just $98 and are currently beating the iPhone in sales. The 6 Plus, while appealing to phablet lovers, will cost $100 more than previous iPhone models in the U.S., an extra cost that will likely translate to China.

Chinese carriers are also planning to drastically cut phone subsidies on the orders of the nation’s government. That will likely make consumers more price-conscious just as domestic competitors are figuring out how to make devices with iPhone-like features at a fraction of the cost. “It becomes a little bit more difficult [for Apple] when the specifications are close but the price is not,” says Bill Kreher, an equity analyst at Edward Jones.

There’s also a third, thornier wrinkle: the Chinese government seems less accommodating of Apple than in the past. Following Edward Snowden’s revelations about global surveillance by the National Security Agency, China’s state-run media called the iPhone a “national security concern” over a location-tracking feature in iOS 7. (Apple disputed the report.) Now the iPhone 6’s launch has been delayed in China because it has not yet been approved by the country’s Ministry for Industry and Information Technology, according to the New York Times. It’s part of an overall cooling toward U.S. tech firms in China, which has also included ongoing antitrust investigations into Microsoft and Qualcomm. “U.S. conglomerates will continue to have a difficult time in China, given heightened regulatory concerns,” Kreher says. “But Apple has done a better job than most in respecting the Chinese influence.”

Apple spokeswoman Teresa Brewer wouldn’t comment on exactly when the iPhone 6 might arrive in China. “China is a key market for us and we will get there as soon as possible,” she wrote in an email.

There is at least one broad trend-line moving in Apple’s favor. China’s carriers are racing to expand their high-speed data networks, and the iPhone is one of just a few phones currently on the market that is compatible. China Mobile has racked up more than 20 million 4G subscribers since it launched the speedier network in December in conjunction with the iPhone rollout. Predictably, the vast majority of the first 4G customers were iPhone users. Xiaomi, on the other hand, only just got around to launching a 4G phone last month.

With a wide range of homebred competitiors and a government that may be actively working against it, Apple certainly faces headwinds in China. But the company’s business there is still growing, and devoted fans are still lining up for new iPhones. “From an end-user perspective, a lot of folks in China still want the iPhone,” Llamas says. “We’re still seeing strong demand.”

Summary: The biggest test for the company's biggest phone


Spoilers for last night’s episode of New Girl below

Have New Girl‘s creators been reading Lean In?

Though the Zooey Deschanel sitcom usually sticks with silliness, last night’s episode showed its heroine learning one of the most often restated messages of Sheryl Sandberg-style feminism: nobody will give you a promotion if you don’t ask for it. In this case, Jess wants to be promoted to vice principal of the school where she’s a teacher; after she helps Coach get a job as the school’s new volleyball coach, he realizes how much extra work she takes on and advises her to stop silently accepting additional duties and just ask for the job she wants. She’s illustrating a pretty basic-level modern-workplace-feminism nugget, that one of the reasons women don’t get promoted more is that they — unlike men — are uncomfortable asking for it. As Sandburg put it in Lean In:

Women are also more reluctant to apply for promotions even when deserved, often believing that good job performance will naturally lead to rewards. Carol Frohlinger and Deborah Kolb, founders of Negotiating Women, Inc., describe this as the “Tiara Syndrome,” where women “expect that if they keep doing their job well someone will notice them and place a tiara on their head.” In a perfect meritocracy, tiaras would be doled out to the deserving, but I have yet to see one floating around an office. Hard work and results should be recognized by others, but when they aren’t, advocating for oneself becomes necessary. As discussed earlier, this must be done with great care. But it must be done.

Sandberg also cites a Google procedure whereby engineers get promotions by nominating themselves. When women were told that men nominated themselves more often than their female colleagues, the number of self-nominations from women increased. Other research has shown that men ask for raises more often — in 2008, that figure was as much as 85% more often — and that they negotiate less, too.

So what happens to Jess? She asks for the job and gets it, at which point she’s forced to confront another professional bugbear, the matter of work-life balance: she has to fire a friend and later falls asleep surrounded by all the extra paperwork of her new job. But, because this is a sitcom, it all basically works out.

In the real world, however, Jess’ job troubles may have been more difficult to deal with. Though her story arc perfectly illustrated the ask-for-it promotion, some research conducted since that axiom came into play suggests that the story is more complicated: one late 2011 study found that, in the business world, women were asking just as much but not getting as much in return. And notably absent from New Girl is any discussion of Jess’ salary changing with her new duties. Then again, maybe Jess doesn’t really have to worry about her negotiating skills. After all, the characters can afford pretty much the nicest loft ever on the combined salaries of a bartender, a would-be cop, a now-broke marketing guy, a volleyball coach and a teacher — er, make that vice principal.

Summary: On last night's episode, Jess leaned in


By most measures, the United States’ Women’s World Cup win last Sunday was a raving success: The final game garnered more U.S. viewers than any other soccer match in history. But so far, the public’s growing interest in women’s soccer hasn’t translated into better pay for its female players. The winning women’s team received $2 million, far less than the $35 million which FIFA, soccer’s troubled governing organization, awarded the first-place German men’s team after the 2014 World Cup (worse, it’s also less than the $8 million given to some of the losing men’s teams that same year).

While equal pay remains elusive, women’s soccer will soon be able to celebrate a different sort of victory—one that is small yet symbolic. For the first time, female players will be included in a new version of Electronic Arts’ popular soccer video game, FIFA 16. The game, recently announced by the company, will launch in September and is expected to feature women’s teams from the United States, Germany, France, Brazil, Mexico and a small handful of other countries.

With soccer poised to become the most popular women’s sport in the U.S., and women now accounting for half of the overall gaming population, it’s about damn time EA added women’s teams to the roster. In a recent interview with Fortune, Andrew Wilson, the game maker’s youngish and newish CEO, agreed but said it has taken the company time to do it “properly” and get the animation and physics right for female players.

“Football [what the rest of the world calls soccer] is now played by as many females as males and more and more girls are now playing our FIFA games,” said Wilson. “To not represent them in the game that they play in the real world and the game that they play in the virtual world doesn’t make any sense.”

According to Wilson, EA didn’t attempt to bring women’s teams to its FIFA games in the past because the split between male and female gamers was “never as profound as it is today.”

“It really grew rapidly over a short period of time,” said Wilson. “Once we reached critical mass and the feedback [to add women] started coming, it took us time to build it. We wanted to make sure that these women that were playing football in our game were playing as they did in the real world, that it was a realistic representation of the quality and caliber of the football that they play.”

Now, some fans are even petitioning EA to put the Women’s World Cup champions on the upcoming game’s cover, a slot that has been held by soccer superstar Lionel Messi in recent years. (Messi is still expected to grace FIFA 16’s cover, though EA has given fans the ability to vote for both male and female players to be featured on regional editions of the game and is expected to reveal those results soon.)

There is no doubt that female gamers have been marginalized for a long time—or worse, as in the case of last year’s vicious spate of cyber-bullying attacks, also known as Gamergate. But while game publishers have largely stayed silent in the past, the sheer numbers of female gamers now make it critical for them to not only make sure women don’t feel threatened by the gaming community, but also to find new ways to represent them in the actual games. To that end, adding women to FIFA 16 seems like a no-brainer for EA. No, it doesn’t solve the large issue—the massive pay gap between male and female players—but it does make a lot of sense for EA’s bottom line.

Summary: Electronic Arts is adding female soccer players to its popular FIFA 16 game. What took so long? The game maker's CEO explains.


In recent months, consumers having increasingly poured into gold and silver amid economic uncertainty.

But while the price of gold surges, the earnings at luxury jewelers Tiffany’s tif and Signet Jewelers sig are likely to flag in 2017, a team of Wells Fargo analysts led by Ike Boruchow wrote Sunday.

They noted that while precious metals including silver, gold, and platinum have “experienced significant deflation since peaking five years ago,” the prices of these precious metals and diamonds are now on the rise.

“Gold, silver and platinum are all up 15-25% year to date, and we believe that diamonds have become modestly inflationary as well,” the analysts note. “Thus, we believe the commodity cost benefit to retailers will ‘wind down’ in about 12 months, and will likely be a modest headwind to margins in the second half of 2017.”

That’s a chilling picture for Tiffany’s, whose profits have already sunk in past quarters as a result of a stronger dollar, and fewer wealthy tourists swinging by high-end shops. The lower cost of gold and diamond in years past has also been the main driver of profit margins for the jeweler—and within 12 months, that saving grace will be gone, Wells Fargo noted.

Diamonds alone account for 40% of Tiffany’s raw material costs—but the price of diamonds is expected to rise 2% in the first quarter of 2017—to $122. Wells Fargo based those numbers on the Bloomberg 1 CT Fine Diamond Index. Last year, the price of diamonds sank due to a large stockpile as demand in China fell following the market’s slowdown.

Silver, which accounts for 20% of raw material costs, is expected to rise 9% in 2016 and 11% in the first quarter of 2017 to $17.34. Though that’s still a far cry from the safe haven asset’s all-time high of $50.35 per troy ounce.

Meanwhile, although Wells Fargo predicts that price of gold, 10% of raw material costs, is expected to rise to $1,256 by the end of the year, the bullion reached a 15-month high, nearly $1,300 in trading Monday. This suggests that as long as investors continue to feel uncertain about the state of the economy, Tiffany’s and other jewelers will be facing stronger and stronger headwinds going into 2017.

Summary: The more bearish people feel about the economy, the more expensive jewelry will get.


Legendary Eagles bassist Randy Meisner threatened murder-suicide with an AK-47 and a pile of pills last January and will get round-the-clock supervision for the next few weeks, it was revealed in court Wednesday.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Cunningham appointed a temporary conservator to oversee the 24-hour management of Meisner's drug prescriptions and medical state pending a follow-up hearing set for September.

Meisner, 68, was in court to oppose the appointment but only spoke to confirm his age.

The singer's longtime friend, James Newton, filed papers in April asking that Meisner be placed under a court-supervised conservatorship governing both his personal and financial matters.

The emergency ruling related to Meisner's medical affairs came after Newton's lawyer Troy Martin argued in court that Meisner has been diagnosed as bipolar on more than one occasion and suffers from "suicidal ideations."

"(Meisner) threatened to gun everyone down with an AK-47," Martin told the court Wednesday, citing medical records related to the alleged incident at a hospital in Encino, Calif., earlier this year.

Meisner did not have a firearm in his possession at the time but made the threat to hospital staff, Martin said.

He made a separate threat to end his own life by taking all his medication at one time, the lawyer said.

Newton and Martin allege that Meisner's wife of the last two decades is in denial about the aging rocker's mental state and has done little to help him battle his addictions.

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The wife, Lana Rae Meisner, stormed out when Cunningham agreed to appoint professional conservator Frumeh Labow as Meisner's new guardian.

"If I'm going to err…it's going to be on the side of protecting Mr. Meisner," the judge said. "If it's overkill, it's overkill."

Martin said Meisner has been hospitalized several times for issues including alcoholism and was prescribed medication to treat a "mood disorder."

The judge also asked Martin about an incident last spring when Lana Rae allegedly left a bizarre voicemail that claimed some neighbors dressed "in clown suits" were spying on her and might report seeing her use cocaine.

Martin said the voicemail was preserved as evidence.

A lawyer for Meisner, meanwhile, said concerns about his client's mental state were "widely overblown."

Both sides agreed to try mediation ahead of the September hearing.

Meisner was a founding member of the Eagles and is best known for writing the hit song, "Take It to the Limit."

He wore a black blazer emblazoned with an eagle on the back and his long gray hair pulled back in a partial ponytail.

His wife complained outside court that the 24-hour care would cost about $10,000 a month.

A lawyer for Meisner said the musician's estate was valued at "a couple million dollars."

The judge said Wednesday that no changes should be made to Meisner's estate plan or the couple's prenuptial agreement pending the September hearing or settlement of the case.

Newton asked for a sheriff's escort out of the courthouse Wednesday saying Meisner's wife verbally "attacked" him in the hallway after the ruling.

Summary: Eagles bassist Randy Meisner threatened murder-suicide with an AK-47 and a will get round-the-clock supervision, it was revealed.


Investors looking for the best mutual funds for 2016 are likely to be disappointed: All but one equity mutual fund has lost money this year.

Among U.S. funds that invest in American companies as well as those that buy international stocks, just a single, tiny mutual fund has managed to post a positive return year to date, fund research institution Morningstar confirmed to Fortune on Friday. And even then, the fund’s returns are small.

The Hussman Strategic Dividend Value fund, with $7.4 million in assets under management, has gained just under 0.6% in 2016 so far, according to Morningstar, which rates the fund one-star out of five. Last year, it was down more than 8%, while its its peer mutual funds lost more than 4%.

The top equity holding of the nearly 4-year-old Hussman fund is currently Indian IT company Infosys infy , up nearly 5% year to date. Its second biggest position is Best Buy BBY , followed by Kellogg K , Campbell Soup CPB , and Kimberly-Clark KMB .

Mutual funds’ lousy performance as a whole is a sobering reminder that making money in the stock market is likely to be harder this year: Investors and financial advisors have been coaching their clients for months to expect lower returns—if any—this far into a bull market. Even though U.S. stocks just closed their first week of positive returns in 2016 so far, the S&P 500 has still lost about 6.6% year to date.

And despite the fact that many mutual funds have managers actively trading their stock holdings, they have slightly underperformed the broader market in recent weeks. The average 2016 return of all mutual funds in the U.S. is -7%.

Some well-respected funds have performed far worse: the Legg Mason Opportunity Trust fund has lost more than 20% in 2016, according to Morningstar, hurt by top holdings in Pandora Media p , which has fallen more than 29% year to date, as well as United Continental Holdings ual , down nearly 21%.

Professional stock pickers will now have to prove that they can generate returns in this year’s volatile market if they expect to attract shareholders to their funds.

Summary: And you've probably never heard of it: Hussman Strategic Dividend Value fund.


06/11/2016 AT 01:45 PM EDT

A beagle in Australia brought new meaning to the phrase "man's best friend."

The pup, who goes by the name Snoopy, saved the lives of his owners Bill Winter and his two adult children on Friday as a fire destroyed their two-story home near Brisbane.

The Australian family were asleep as the flames engulfed their house – their fire alarms failing to go off. Snoopy's barking was able to wake the family up in time for everyone to escape the house safely.

"He barked and woke us up," the 67-year-old owner

. "We only just got out."

Bill's son Brian said the family "probably wouldn't be here" if it weren't for the dog.

While the Winter family did have smoke alarms in their home, their positioning in their home caused them not to go off.

"They did have operating smoke alarms, but because the fire was very intense downstairs there was little to no smoke actually in the upstairs area of the dwelling," local fire station officer Owen George

The smoke alarms Bill had in the basement where the fire began had been taken down for cleaning, authorities said. Several refrigerators were also said to be in the area where the fire began – though no exact cause of the flames has been identified yet.

George said the dog had saved the family's lives "without a doubt."

The Winter family were reportedly able to escape their home with just their clothes on their back. They owned the home for nearly 40 years, according to reports. All of their belongings, including their car and boat, were ruined in the fire.

In December, Bill's wife died from cancer. Her ashes were said to be inside the home, as Bill planned to scatter them on the first anniversary of her death.

"Bill bought this beagle for his wife before she lost her life,"

pointed out. "It saved his."

This isn't the first time a dog has helped rescue its owners.

with the help of rescue Queensland terrier mix dog, Queenie.

Summary: The beagle by the name of Snoopy brought new meaning to the phrase "man's best friend"


Actor Donnie Yen dodges most questions about his top-secret role in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” with the agility of the martial arts master he is.

He is, after all, enlisted for director Gareth Edwards' upcoming take on the clandestine rebel spy mission to steal the Death Star plans before the events of the first “Star Wars.” But he hints that his kung fu may be a match for a good blaster in the franchise’s first stand-alone flick, which hits theaters in December.

“I can tell you that I will be kicking butt a little bit — that is something I believe that they’re clever about,” the actor tells the Daily News. “Instead of just having me in there riding around in a Y-wing or an X-wing and shooting laser beams, they’ve got to have me do something.”

RELATED: 16 MOVIES TO WATCH IN '16

Before they see the 52-year-old Yen’s kung fu moves in outer space, moviegoers on this side of the Pacific can see the skills that made him a star in Asian cinema with “Ip Man 3.”

In the movie, opening Friday, Yen reprises his role as the titular Wing Chun master, a real-life Chinese folk hero who also taught Bruce Lee.

And nothing Darth Vader and the Empire could throw at Yen can match his biggest opponent in the third installment of his popular kung fu franchise — ex-heavyweight champ Mike Tyson.

“When I fight him on screen, I told myself I had to have a (backup) plan,” says Yen, “because if something goes wrong, I’m going to get killed. He’s coming at me like a train.”

Getting injured is an occupational hazard in the genre. His closest shave — literally — on “Ip Man 3” came on the 27th take of filming the climactic fight involving Wing Chun knives.

The first 26 takes weren’t authentic enough for Yuen Woo-Ping, the choreographer behind the “Matrix” movies and “Hero.”

“He kept saying, ‘Faster, faster, closer, closer!’ Then the blade came so close it was shaving the beard on my face,” recalls Yen. “The handle, which was metal ... scraped the skin and flesh off the bridge of my nose. I ended up closing the wound and putting on a spray between takes to stop the bleeding.”

That’s the kind of dedication and emphasis on precision stunt work that Yen felt was missing the last time he tried to break big in Hollywood 15 years ago. He’s every bit as dedicated to his martial arts as the real Ip Man was in a previous era.

Following in the footsteps of Jackie Chan and Jet Li — and armed with fluency in English — the Boston-raised Yen starred in “Blade II” and “Shanghai Knights.”

“Now, I think the film industry has changed a lot,” says Yen. “But during that time, as a Hong Kong filmmaker specializing in these types of action, we were not given a lot of creative freedom.”

With “Ip Man 3” being released in theaters and having been personally recruited by Harvey Weinstein for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny,” Yen is ready to take another swing.

Besides, there was no way he’d miss out on the chance to fight his way through the “Star Wars” universe — and not just because he has an 8-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter who begged him to do it.

“I remember very clearly watching the (the first ‘Star Wars’ in 1977) when I was a kid in Boston,” says Yen. “It was the very first time I sat in a theater, with this spectacular imagination in front of my eyes.

“I sat there and said, ‘One day, I’ll be a part of this.’”

Summary: Donnie Yen, set to be in 'Rogue One' in December, brings to U.S. audiences the skills that made him a star in Asia.


If you're new to Amazon Echo -- hey! Welcome. Amazon Echo fans can be a fanatical bunch when it comes to the part-speaker, part-smart home device. We'll teach you the secret handshake later.

But jokes aside, we've gotten our hands on a lot of smart home gadgets over the years, and the Echo is among the most fun, easiest and intuitive to use. After all, Mashable named it the best tech product of 2015 for good reason. The company also recently announced a smaller, more portable-sized version called the Amazon Tap ($129, or $50 less than the standard-sized Echo) that does virtually all of the same things.

Whether it's with the Amazon Echo or Tap, you'll soon grow accustomed to using the device's voice assistant, Alexa, to read you the news or Kindle books, turn on the lights, play your favorite Spotify playlist and order an Uber ride or a Domino's pizza. Alexa is like Siri, but she makes things happen.

READ MORE: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Lego set makes its debut

Of course, Amazon Echo is far from perfect -- there are moments Alexa won't understand what you're asking, and you'll have to repeat your request a half dozen times. Kinks in the network connection will inevitably leave you frustrated, too; you'll ask Alexa to turn on the lights, waiting in a dark room until the issue works itself out, and realize you should have just gotten off of the couch to switch them on yourself.

The Amazon Tap (Image: Amazon)

But there's a lot to love about the Amazon Echo, and its best parts are solidified by the products and services that go along with it. Sure, it's an entertaining toy on its own -- "Alexa, tell me the local movie theater showtimes" -- but it becomes truly impactful when it simplifies your life at home. These possibilities come by way of Amazon's partnerships, whether you're asking Alexa to dim your Philips Hue smart lights or requesting an Uber ride.

While Amazon is adding more partners on what seems like a weekly basis -- and Nest is next -- here's a look at what you can do and buy to go along with the Echo and Tap now.

Amazon Echo is compatible with many light bulbs and switches so you can adjust lighting without ever lifting a finger. Beyond voice control, you can use the Amazon Alexa app to control the lighting via a smartphone or tablet, too. However, some of the Echo-compatible products require a hub -- an easy addition but an extra purchase.

If you want lights that work with Amazon Echo, here's what to choose from:

The WeMo Light Switch ($41.99): While this product doesn't require a hub to connect, you'll need to remove your existing light switch's face plate and install it (i.e. you'll need some basic wiring knowledge). Once it's set up, though, you'll be able to turn the lights on and off from anywhere, whether you're at work or in another country. At home, of course, you'll be able to turn the lights on and off with your voice via the Echo (or Tap) itself.

Philips Hue Starter Kit (white and color light) ($199): While this is a pricier option, the Philips Hue Starter Kit has everything you need: It comes with three smart bulbs and a "bridge" that syncs with your Wi-Fi. The LED bulbs are fun, too -- you can play around with colors to your heart's content. Another perk is flexibility: The starter kit works with Siri and Apple HomeKit, so if you're ever over the Echo, you can still get a voice control fix by talking directly to your iOS device.

The Philips Hue Bloom Light (Image: Philips)

If you're already have a Philips Hue system set up -- or if you want to bypass traditional lights and go for something a little different -- the Philips Lighting Bloom light ($59.99) and the Hue Lightstrip ($29.99) will add new flavor to your lights.

LifX lightbulbs ($59.99): There's no hub when you get the LifX bulbs (unlike the Philips Hue smart lightbulbs), but the high price for each light will surely run up a tab. However, this is a good starter option for those who don't want to invest in the full Philips Hue kit and want to get their feet wet with just a bulb or two.

Insteon Starter Kit ($100): This kit comes with the Insteon Hub and two dimmer modules, but it also works with other smart gadgets like the Nest thermostat and various third-party light bulbs, ceiling fans and even pool pumps. Apple Watch users can also control smart gadgets in the house remotely via their wrist when Alexa might be out of earshot.

Web-connected outlets aren't very sexy, but the can unleash some great conveniences. For example, by plugging in Christmas lights to a smart outlet, you can tell Alexa to turn on the tree without needing to get on all fours to do so. Other use cases for the outlet include plugging in a fan or space heater, a coffee machine or curling iron, so (for example) you'll never have to worry if you left something on when you're out for the day.

WeMo Switch Controls for Electronics ($34.99) and WeMo Insight Switch Controls for Energy ($49.99): These are the only two smart outlets that currently work with Amazon Echo that don't require a hub. You plug these bad boys into an existing outlet, and they'll turn your dumb products into smart ones. The latter outlet (WeMo Insight Switch Controls for Energy) allows you to control and manage energy usage so you won't rack up your monthly bills.

Others (with a hub): There's a whole collection of hub-dependent smart outlets that work with Amazon Echo, including the iHome Control Smart Plug ($34) -- which is also compatible with Apple HomeKit (with Siri) and Nest -- the Samsung SmartThings Outlet ($49.99) and the Insteon Outdoor outlet ($43), which can handle rain and snow (i.e. this will let you use Alexa to shut off the Christmas lights outside too).

The ecoobee3 smart thermostat (Image: ecobee)

The Nest Learning Thermostat may be the darling of the smart home world, and ecobee3 Smarter Wi-Fi Thermostat ($243.95): The ecobee3 learns you user habits, senses when you're not in the room (and adjusts the temperature to save on energy costs) and works with Apple HomeKit, too.

For a look at all Amazon Echo-compatible products, click here.

Image: Mashable composite. Uber, Facebook

There are a ton ways to get a lot out of your Amazon Echo, too. Here are a few of our favorite integrations:

Search: Ask for movie theater showtimes, local restaurant recommendations from Yelp, traffic updates, sports scores or a reminder for what's on your Google calendar for the day. You can also get news updates from NPR Business, Fox Sports Radio, TMZ, The Economist and ESPN via TuneIn, or answers to common questions that can be found on Wikipedia.

Storytime: Alexa will read your Kindle books or audiobooks from Audible aloud.

Shopping: Need to reorder shampoo? Since your Amazon Prime account is already synced with Amazon Echo, Alexa will restock what you need by looking at previously purchased items in your shopping history

Music: Amazon has new partnerships with Spotify Premium, Pandora, TuneIn and iHeartRadio, so the device can pull in streams from those services to its speaker. If you're not a subscriber to any of those platforms, Alexa can play you music from Prime Music and what's saved to your Amazon Music Library -- a feature that's included in your Prime membership.

Use Amazon's 'Third-Party Skills': Amazon launched its Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) in summer 2015 to allow developers to build integrations into the system. So far, we've seen partnerships from Uber, Domino's, StubHub and Fidelity, among others. More partnerships are certainly in the works.

READ MORE: Amazon Echo review: This is what the smart home should feel like

See more of Amazon's products below:

The best smart devices that work with the Amazon Echo and the new Tap

This Wednesday, March 2, 2016 photo shows an

in San Francisco. Amazon.com is introducing two devices, the

, that are designed to amplify the role that its voice-controlled assistant Alexa plays in people's homes and lives. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

FILE - This July 29, 2015 file photo made in New York shows

, a digital assistant that continually listens for commands such as for a song, a sports score or the weather. The company says Echo transmits nothing to Amazon's data centers until you first say "Alexa" or press a button. A blue light also comes on to let you know it's active. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - This July 29, 2015 file photo made in New York shows

, a digital assistant that continually listens for commands such as for a song, a sports score or the weather. The company says Echo transmits nothing to Amazon's data centers until you first say "Alexa" or press a button. A blue light also comes on to let you know itâs active. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

In this Wednesday, March 2, 2016 photo, David Limp, Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices, speaks in San Francisco. Amazon.com is introducing two devices, the

, that are designed to amplify the role that its voice-controlled assistant Alexa plays in people's homes and lives. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

This Wednesday, March 2, 2016 photo shows an Echo Dot, left, and an Amazon Tap in San Francisco. Amazon.com is introducing two devices, the

, that are designed to amplify the role that its voice-controlled assistant Alexa plays in people's homes and lives. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

In this March 2, 2016 photo, David Limp, Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices, center, speaks behind an Amazon Echo in San Francisco. Amazon.com is introducing two devices, the

, that are designed to amplify the role that its voice-controlled assistant Alexa plays in peopleâs homes and lives. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

In this March 2, 2016 photo, David Limp, Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices, center, speaks to reporters in San Francisco. Amazon.com is introducing two devices, the

, that are designed to amplify the role that its voice-controlled assistant Alexa plays in people's homes and lives. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

In this March 2, 2016 photo, David Limp, Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices, pushes down an Echo Dot in San Francisco. Amazon.com is introducing two devices, the

, that are designed to amplify the role that its voice-controlled assistant Alexa plays in people's homes and lives. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

This March 2, 2016 photo shows a Nest thermostat device in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

This Wednesday, March 2, 2016 photo shows an Echo Dot in San Francisco. Amazon.com is introducing two devices, the

, that are designed to amplify the role that its voice-controlled assistant Alexa plays in people's homes and lives. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

In this Wednesday, March 2, 2016 photo, Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices David Limp holds an Amazon Tap in San Francisco. Amazon.com is introducing two devices, the

, that are designed to amplify the role that its voice-controlled assistant Alexa plays in people's homes and lives. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Summary: Possibilities come by way of Amazon's partnerships, whether you're asking Alexa to dim your Philips Hue smart lights or requesting an Uber ride.


Jennifer Garner, who’s starting to flex her political muscles a bit more in her work with Save the Children, is also speaking out about that old bugbear, sexism in Hollywood. “The fact that there even needs to be a Women in Hollywood event is a little bit sad,” Garner said at Elle magazine’s Women in Hollywood celebration.. “I mean, the men in Hollywood event is every day—it’s called Hollywood. Fifty-one percent of the population should not have to have to schedule a special event to celebrate the fact that in an art that tells the story of what it means to be human and alive, we get to play a part.”

Garner, who recently sat down with Time to talk about her movie Men, Women & Children, in which she plays an overprotective mom, likes being known for her parenting skills. When told that she is known on the internet as “America’s most relatable celebrity mom,” she said she had no problem with that. “That’s great with me. I really appreciate that, internet,” she joked.

But at the Women in Hollywood event, Garner pointed out that she and her husband Ben Affleck get treated very differently. “My husband and I do kind of the same job, a little bit. Not long ago we both had one of those magical days, we call it a junket, where we both attended these lovely events where people come in every four minutes, they ask the same questions over and over again.” When they got home, the couple compared notes. “ I told him every single person who interviewed me, I mean every single one, and this is true of the red carpet here tonight Elle, asked me, ‘How do you balance work and family?’ and he said the only thing that people asked him repeatedly was about the tits on [his Gone Girl co-star Emily Ratajkowski], which, for the record if we’re talking about them, they are real and they are fabulous. Take a look and enjoy.”

Also for the record, at Time’s interview, we didn’t ask her about work life balance. We asked her about sex ed instead. See the video below.

Summary: "The men in Hollywood event is every day—it’s called Hollywood," says the actress


IBM Watson Health and the American Diabetes Association are teaming up to help create a new series of digital tools that will ultimately reimagine how diabetes is prevented, identified, and managed.

The two organizations announced a long-term collaboration Sunday that will take the wealth of data collected by the ADA and feed it into Watson — IBM’s computer system capable of understanding and answering questions using natural human language. The goal is to spur development of various apps that will help researchers make new connections, individuals better manage their disease, and provide doctors more tools to diagnose and care for patients. The partnership was announced as part of the Association’s 76th Scientific Sessions in New Orleans.

“Our hope is to impact not just the doctors, the researchers, the patients and caregivers but also the entrepreneurs. The folks who are trying to really be creative with how to engage mobile apps in cognitive to help people living with diabetes,” said Kyu Rhee, chief health officer at IBM Watson Health.

The ADA has collected over 66 years of data, including clinical research as well as information related to self-management, support groups, wellness activities, and diabetes education. IBM and the ADA initially plan to create a cognitive diabetes databases for both clinicians and researchers. For doctors, it aims to help inform the best treatment path for each patient as well as help identify potential risk factors based on an individual’s specific background. For researchers, it could provide unique insights that help highlight hidden patterns or new therapeutic targets. The data will also be open to outside developers to create apps that can help patients directly.

“The ADA is never going to be the next hot apps developer, but we can help the people who are the cool innovative folks,” says Jane Chiang, senior vice president of medical technology at the ADA. “We want to provide quality content to the technology community, so they can use our resources to get the correct information out there.”

Diabetes affects 29.1 million Americans, or about 9.3% of the nation’s total population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That includes the nearly 28% of people with the disease who go undiagnosed. Meanwhile, another 86 million–more than one out of three adults–have pre-diabetes, almost a third of which will develop the full-blown disease within five years.

The total number of people affected is staggering, but its effects go further. Medical costs plus the sum of lost work and wages for those with diabetes totals $245 billion, according to the CDC. The disease also accounts for some of the highest prescription drug expenditures. It’s the costliest traditional therapy class for health insurers, including Medicare and Medicaid, and prescription benefit manager Express Scripts ESRX projects that spending on diabetes medication will increase 18% in 2016.

Innovative solutions are necessary not just to ease the public impact but also for the day-to-day management of the disease. Diabetes is a time intensive disease: It requires individuals to check their blood glucose levels four to six times a day, dutifully count carbohydrates in meals, and carefully track insulin doses.

“Technology can’t cure diabetes right now, but it can help ease the burden by improving these complexities one step at a time,” said Chiang. “For example, rather than having to count each carbohydrate, a picture can facilitate that. Or at the end of the day, rather than checking all these blood sugars manually, a digital tool can do this.”

To help spur on such innovations, IBM and the ADA announced a developer challenge for new apps that use Watson’s cognitive computing power and the heaps of data provided by the ADA. They will be accepting submissions later this year.

This isn’t IBM’s first foray into diabetes management. IBM Research has published dozens of diabetes studies over the past decades, including a recent predictive model that can output individualized ranking of diabetes risk factors for patients. IBM is also working with both Medtronic MDT and Novo Nordisk NVO to create innovative diabetes solutions using Watson’s expertise, including the final beta testing of Medtronic and IBM’s “Sugarwise” app that can predict dangerous hypoglycemic episodes up to three hours in advance.

With this latest partnership, IBM IBM hopes to build on those partnerships to create a suite of tools that can make a meaningful dent in what is the world’s leading cause of death, using a multi-pronged approach that combines the expertise of the ADA with the power of Watson’s technology and the creativity and coding expertise of third-party developers.

“Those entrepreneurs, those innovators, to empower them through an open platform and open Watson APIs and the developer challenge, that’s a big piece of the equation here,” said Rhee. “There’s going to be extraordinary innovation coming from them as they leverage the power of cognitive.”

Summary: Big data is coming to the pockets of diabetes patients.


Ellen DeGeneres is all for it!

The talk show host has finally addressed rumors if there is a lesbian couple in "Finding Dory."

The trailer for the fish-tale made waves in the LGBT community after a pair of ladies was spotted with a baby in a stroller.

"I personally think it's a great thing," the talk host said during a recent press junket for the "Finding Nemo" follow up. "I think everything that we see in the media – whether it's television or film or anything you see – should represent everything that's happening in the world. I think everybody that is in the world should be seen and represented."

‘Finding Dory’ promo hints at Disney Pixar’s first lesbian couple

DeGeneres, 58, who voices the lovable Dory in the film, broke down barriers in Tinseltown when she was one of the first celebrities to publicly come out in 1997.

The movie's producers have yet to confirm if they are indeed a couple, making them the first same-sex partners to appear in a film created by Disney Pixar.

Still, DeGeneres couldn't help but to make light of how they are perceived onscreen.

"One woman has a very bad short haircut, which I find very offensive," she joked. "If that's the definition of a gay woman, then how dare you? Just because someone has a short, bad haircut doesn't mean she's gay. [She just has a] bad hairdresser. So I don't know that that's the case."

'Finding Dory' packed to the gills with surprisingly moving story

"Finding Dory" hits theaters Friday.

Summary: The talk show host has finally addressed rumors that a lesbian couple appear in "Finding Dory."


Greece’s powerful labour unions today began a 48-hour strike in response to government plans to “unleash a new tax raid on the working classes".

Tensions also increased between two of Greece's bailout monitors, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund, as IMF chief Christine Lagarde demanded urgent talks on Greek debt relief.

In a letter to eurozone finance ministers, Ms Lagarde said that talks on "contingency" tax measures that could raise cash if Greece's finances disappointed were breaking down.

“For us to support Greece with a new IMF arrangement, it is essential that the financing and debt relief from Greece’s European partners are based on fiscal targets that are realistic because they are supported by credible measures to reach them," she wrote in the letter seen by the FT.

Meanwhile, Adedy, the country’s biggest public sector union, labelled the proposed new pension cuts “despicable”.

The strike, which is also being joined by major private sector union GSEE, will be followed by a rally outside the Greek parliament on Sunday evening.


U.S. business software company AppDynamics has hired investment banks Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley as lead underwriters for an initial public offering (IPO) that could come later this year, a source said on Thursday.

If San Francisco, Calif.-based AppDynamics pushes on with its IPO plans, it will join a small club of U.S. technology IPOs this year. Market volatility has left investors wary of investing in companies with little or no near-term profitability.

The source asked not to be identified because the IPO plans are confidential. Goldman Sachs gs and Morgan Stanley ms declined comment. AppDynamics could not be immediately reached for comment.

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Only two U.S. technology companies have priced their IPO this year: Acacia Communications and SecureWorks Corp. Next week, cloud communications platform Twilio is expected to price its IPO.

AppDynamics makes software that manages and analyzes applications. It has 1,600 paying customers, including Citrix Systems ctxs , eHarmony, Kraft krft , NASDAQ ndaq , and Nike nke . It raised $158 million in November in a private round that valued the company at $1.9 billion.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on AppDynamic’s IPO plans on Thursday.

Summary: The company would join a small club of U.S. technology IPOs this year.


Update 11/21/12: On November 19, Facebook received a letter and affidavit purporting to be from federal prisoner James Charles Kopp, of the U.S. Penitentiary in Canaan, Pennsylvania, alleging that the earlier “motion to intervene” filed on Kopp’s behalf was filed by an imposter. Facebook then filed the new letter and affidavit with the court. They are here.”

Someone claiming to be the incarcerated murderer James Charles Kopp, has written a letter to the federal court in Buffalo claiming ties to Paul Ceglia, the man who is suing for 50% ownership of Facebook. Ceglia was himself arrested and criminally charged on October 26, with having fraudulently manufactured his federal court claim against Facebook.

The letter, drafted as a “motion to intervene” in Ceglia’s federal civil suit against Facebook (FB) and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, purports to have been written on November 2 by Kopp, who was convicted in 2003 of murdering abortion doctor Barnett Slepian in 1998. A U.S. Magistrate Judge ordered the letter filed in the public court docket yesterday.

According to the Buffalo News, which appears to have first reported on the letter, the letter was mailed from the Canaan Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania, the institution where Kopp is, in fact, serving a life term, but prison officials “said they could not confirm the authenticity of the letter.”

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Among many wild claims in the letter, the person purporting to be Kopp claims that Ceglia and he have been friends since 2008, and that Ceglia admitted to him in letters that “he was going to lie and create a fraud lawsuit” to get money to hire Kopp a top-notch attorney, ideally Bruce Cutler, to help get him out of prison. The person also claims to now “support all abortions” and says “I denounce the lambs of Christ” and “I’m a changed man.”

Ceglia is in custody, unavailable to comment. Asked by Fortune to comment on the letter, Ceglia’s attorney, Paul Argentieri of Hornell, N.Y., responded in an email, “The court has created a scheduling order about Kopp’s letter. Thus, you’ll have to be patient until Mr. Ceglia files his declaration.” Asked if the letter was really written by Kopp, he responded, “Honestly, I have no idea. The whole thing appears to be phantasmagorical to me.” U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie G. Foschio, of the Western District of New York, has ordered responses to the letter to be filed by November 19.”

A spokesperson for Facebook also declined comment on the letter.

Ceglia sued Facebook and Zuckerberg in June 2010, claiming that Zuckerberg had promised him a 50% share of the project that became Facebook in a contract signed in April 2003. Facebook and Zuckerberg have contended that Ceglia’s claims are fraudulent and that the contract he appended to his complaint was forged. Last week, federal authorities charged Ceglia with mail and wire fraud in Manhattan, evidently endorsing Facebook and Zuckerberg’s account of events.

Here is the letter: Kopp Letter

Summary: A strange letter to a federal court claims ties to Paul Ceglia, the man who is suing for 50% ownership of Facebook.


WHITE PLAINS— FIRST there were the cries of a healthy baby. Then the words, ''It's a girl.'' And then Gabriella Ruotolo, 7 pounds 1 ounce and about a minute old, was fitted with two tiny identification bracelets -- one on her ankle, one on her wrist.

''I was very conscious of its happening,'' said Karen Ruotolo, Gabriella's mother, who delivered her daughter on Aug. 12 at White Plains Hospital Center here. ''They showed me when they put the tags on her, and they even mentioned the number. They tagged me, and they tagged my husband with the same number before any of us left the delivery room.''

Like other parents across the country, Mrs. Ruotolo had recently heard about the incident of the two baby girls born at the University of Virginia Medical Center, who had been switched at birth and sent home with the wrong families. ''My husband and I discussed it a lot,'' she said. ''I just couldn't imagine something like that happening to me.''

The case in Virginia, which is still being investigated, was discovered last month, after the mother of one of the girls received the results of a genetic test for paternity. The results revealed that the child, now 3, was not related to either the woman who had raised her or the presumed father. (The couple were not married.)

The story has raised fears among many new parents and has also captured the attention of professionals on maternity wards throughout the country. The hospital in Virginia employed a widely accepted banding system to identify the babies that is also used, with slight variations, at hospitals throughout Westchester.

Mrs. Ruotolo's experience was the norm for maternity wards in the county. All hospitals queried for this article use what is known as the four-band identification system. Immediately after birth, the baby is fitted with two bands marked with an identification number. The mother and father are also fitted with bands that bear the same number as the baby's. All four bands are placed on the family before they leave the delivery room.

At most hospitals in Westchester County one band is put on the baby's wrist and another on the ankle. ''If the baby's hand is out, we don't have to unwrap the baby,'' said Mildred Howse, nurse manager of the maternity unit at St. Agnes Hospital in White Plains.

At Northern Westchester Hospital Center in Mount Kisco, each of the baby's ankles gets a band. ''We used to do one ankle and one wrist, but we went to the ankles because they come off much easier on the hands,'' said Barbara Mockel, a nurse and the business manager of Women and Children's Health at Northern Westchester. ''Babies in general tend to lose a little bit of weight, and that band has to be snug enough so it can accommodate the weight loss.''

Putting identification bands on parents and child while they are still in the delivery room is recommended by the New York State Department of Health, Ms. Mockel said. ''You want to identify the baby before it is moved to the nursery,'' she said. ''That's the first place where something can happen if you don't do it right away. The other thing that could happen is that the bands can fall off.''

If even one of the bands does fall off the baby -- a rare occurrence, local maternity nurses agreed -- the entire family gets new ones. The new bands are put on in the presence of the mother. At all hospitals in the county, the infant is only given to someone with a matching identification band. Any time the mother or father handles the baby, the numbers are checked to make sure they match. They are also checked when the nurses change shifts. When the mother and baby are being discharged from the hospital, the numbers are checked yet again, and then the mother signs a document confirming that she is indeed taking home her own child.

New York State also requires that babies' footprints be taken, along with a print of the mother's index finger. This method, a back-up system to connect mother with child, is largely considered obsolete. ''The foot print is really an old way,'' Ms. Mockel said. ''Technology has caught up with better things, and now DNA would be used as the defining clue.''

Hospital professionals said that the banding system serves a dual purpose: not only is it critical for identifying the baby but it can also help prevent abductions. It does so by limiting the number of people who are permitted to handle the baby. At times this policy has ruffled the feathers of extended family. At White Plains Hospital one excited grandmother was shocked that she was not permitted to carry her new grandson from the nursery to her daughter's room. At Phelps Memorial Hospital in Tarrytown, a new father went home after the delivery and cut off his identification band. When he arrived the next morning, he was more than a little upset to be told he could not touch his child.

Most families, though, understand the precautions and are grateful for the security. The bands are part of much larger safety systems established at all hospitals in the county. Maternity units have surveillance cameras and limited entries and exits. Some have alarm systems to alert staff members if a baby is moved off the maternity section. Mothers are not even permitted to walk down the hall carrying their new babies -- in part, in case they faint -- but also for security reasons. If a parent needs to move an infant down the hall, he or she must do so by pushing the bassinet.

''Once you see a baby in someone's arms, that's like a red flag,'' Ms. Mockel said.


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Banks must maintain enough liquid assets on hand to survive a 30-day squeeze. Banks with more than $250 billion in assets will have to tabulate their liquidity needs every day, while smaller institutions will calculate theirs monthly.

Fed staff said they want to work on a plan to eventually include the most liquid municipal bonds in the asset buffer, although for now they will not count, something that has frustrated state and local government officials.

Global regulators also are working on an additional requirement that would force banks to calculate their liquidity needs over a full year, the so-called Net Stable Funding Ratio.

On top of that, the Fed is working on rules to rein in banks that heavily rely on short-term funding tools.Staff also recommended that the Fed repropose margin requirements for swap trades conducted outside clearing houses, which function as middlemen by taking on the risk that trading partners cannot deliver on their promises.

Read MoreFed: US consumers have decided to 'hoard money'

Swaps, which mushroomed during the pre-crisis boom, must now be routed through clearing houses but some are so complex that they are still not cleared, and the new rules set out how much money trading partners need to set aside to cover risk.

The margin rules largely followed a global agreement released in 2013. The U.S. proposal was somewhat stricter in its definition of large financial end users, agency staff said.

Summary: U.S. bank regulators plan to adopt rules forcing big banks to hold more assets that they could sell easily in a credit crunch.


just bought himself a stairway to stalker-free heaven -- because the obsessed fan he accused of following him around the world has just been ordered to stay the hell away.

TMZ broke the story ... Plant obtained a temporary restraining order against 40-something-year-old Alysson Billings earlier this month, requiring her to stay 100 yards away from the singer at all times.

But today, a judge made the restraining order permanent, ordering Billings to stay even farther away -- 300 yards -- for the next three years.

Plant claims Billings has been harassing him for the last 3 years -- showing up at his concerts around the globe, sending him bizarre gifts and increasingly threatening messages.

He says the woman believed they were in a relationship ... even though they never met.

Now that's a whole lotta (unwanted) love.

Summary: Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant just bought himself a stairway to stalker-free heaven -- because the obsessed fan he accused of following him around the…


The sweeping plan to “deepen trust” between the NYPD and the community launched by Mayor de Blasio and top cop Bill Bratton last year has led to a slight uptick in overall crime where it has been rolled out, department brass revealed Monday.

Chief of Department James O’Neill acknowledged the increase during an update on the initiative, dubbed “One City: Safe and Fair — Everywhere,” to the City Council’s Public Safety and Finance committees as part of the budget process.

“Overall crime in neighborhood policing commands is up 1.2 percent, but a vast majority of that is probably five precincts, the 4-0, the 4-7, a couple of [other] precincts in The Bronx,” O’Neill said.

The numbers reflect crimes committed since the program began in each precinct.

Shootings in the roughly 20 precincts where the program is up and running are down by 18.7 percent, “so the violence is down,” O’Neill added.

Under the plan, specially trained patrol cops spend about one-third of each shift interacting with community members .

Summary: The sweeping plan to “deepen trust” between the NYPD and the community launched by Mayor de Blasio and top cop Bill Bratton last year has led to a slight uptick in overall crime where it has been r…


While Toyota and Honda can bicker about whether or not the Camry or Accord is the “real” best-selling car in America, there’s no mistaking that the 2015 Toyota Camry is now better positioned to put that argument to rest. Aside from the roof, the powertrains, and a few other bits and pieces, the 2015 Camry is essentially a new car, more stylish and engaging to drive than ever.

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This year, the Camry is available in LE, SE, XSE, and XLE trim levels, each equipped with a standard 178-horsepower, 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine. To get the optional 268-horsepower, 3.5-liter V-6 – a terrific engine, based on our experience – you need to upgrade to the XSE or the XLE model. A fuel-sipping Camry Hybrid is also available, and is covered in a separate report.

Perhaps most important, given its role as one of America's favorite family sedans, the Camry is also a "Top Safety Pick" according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

READ OUR REVIEW OF THE 2015 TOYOTA CAMRY.

Alternatives to the Toyota Camry

If the popular Camry is not what you’re looking for in a midsize family sedan, some of our favorites in this class include:

Did you find this article helpful? If so, please share it using the "Join the Conversation" buttons below, and thank you for visiting Daily News Autos.

Summary: The 2015 Camry is essentially a new car, more stylish and engaging to drive than ever, and a "Top Safety Pick" according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.


By CBSNews AP June 8, 2009, 9:54 PM

Korena Roberts is arraigned June 8, 2009 in Hillsboro, Ore. Roberts, 27, is charged with the murder of Heather Snively, a pregnant 21-year-old who was found dead in a crawl space of a suburban home. Snively had been cut open and her baby delivered from her womb, which Roberts claimed to be her own, investigators said.

A woman accused of killing her pregnant friend is believed to have cut open the 21-year-old's abdomen to take her baby and pass it off as her own, investigators said Monday.The infant also died, but it could not be determined whether he was alive when he was taken from Heather Snively's womb, the Washington County sheriff's department said in a statement.A 27-year-old woman, Korena Roberts, has been charged with murder in Snively's death. She appeared in court Monday but did not enter a plea.A 911 call on Friday brought emergency workers to Roberts' house in the Portland suburb of Beaverton. Workers found blood on the floor and Roberts' boyfriend trying to revive the infant.Investigators said Roberts claimed the baby was hers. At the emergency room, doctors, who were unable to revive the baby, determined that Roberts had not given birth.Police said they returned to Roberts' home and found Snively's body in a crawl space. Roberts' boyfriend is cooperating and doesn't face charges, the sheriff's office said.A medical examiner said Monday that Snively, who was in her last trimester of pregnancy, died of blunt and sharp force injuries."At this time, it has not been determined if she died because of head wounds she received or as a result of cutting injuries she received to her abdomen," the sheriff's office said.A grand jury will hear the case, the prosecutor said, and Roberts might also face charges in the infant's death  if lab tests determine he ever took a breath."The issue is was the child alive at all at any point in time," said Washington County District Attorney Bob Herman. "This is certainly unusual for its circumstances and nature."Investigators said Monday that Roberts, who has two children younger than 10, had been telling friends and relatives for months that she was pregnant, and told many people she would have twins.Snively had recently moved to Oregon from Maryland because her boyfriend and father of the child had found a better job.Snively's mother, Heidi Kidd of St. Albans, W.Va., said Snively met Roberts a few weeks ago through Craigslist, the online classified service. Police said Monday they are still trying to confirm that.Roberts told Snively she was pregnant and wanted baby clothes, Kidd said. They befriended one another and kept talking online.Kidd told The Associated Press on Sunday that her first grandson was to be named John Steven."I'm still in shock; it hasn't hit me," she said. "I mean, that initial phone call; I just couldn't believe it. I just could not believe I was talking about my own child."Neighbors on Monday said Roberts bought a stroller at a garage sale and set up a crib on the front lawn of her rental home. They said Snively was seen at Roberts' house more than once.On Monday outside the house, there was a blue plastic play pool, a broken yellow play tractor, offerings of flowers and a handwritten note, saying, "May God be with you."

© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Summary: 27-Year-Old Woman Charged In Death Of 21-Year-Old Victim Found In Ore. House's Crawl Space


To hear critics tell it, the media—including Fortune—are determined to bash Microsoft at every opportunity. Worse yet, they claim, the press are in the bag for Apple, ignoring big Apple snafus while turning a microscope on what Microsoft does. Their proof? Exhibit A, they claim, is the latest spate of stories about how Microsoft is handling an upgrade to Windows 10 from older versions of the operating system.

The criticism that Microsoft msft quietly switched the process—even changing an on-screen check box that once stopped the upgrade into an agreement to upgrade—is just another example of the kind of Microsoft coverage that’s got the pro-Windows folks in a lather.

“Why don’t you apply the same gimlet-eyed scrutiny to Apple aapl updates?” they asked. To which my response was initially: “This sounds wrong,” but then evolved into: “Let me look into it.”

‘Sneaky’ Windows 10 Update Raises a Ruckus

So I did, and here’s what I found: In recent months Fortune alone has detailed a series Apple iOS operating system update faux pas here, and here, and here. Oh, and here too. Across the internet, there were even more stories about how the latest iOS update could wreak havoc on iPads. That same story was recounted here, here, and here. Does this sound like the media is closing ranks around Infinite Loop?

One former colleague agreed that Apple gets off easy in comparison to Microsoft. If Microsoft did what Apple did with Quicktime (it discontinued support for the multimedia player on Windows) it would have been a full week news cycle, he noted. And guess what, it was! There were many stories about Apple deadending Quicktime for Windows. Fortune alone covered it three times in the space of a week: here, here, and here.

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And not even the most vociferous Windows jockeys can deny the furor provoked two years ago, after the Apple iTunes’ devious U2 album giveaway. That little adventure was, by all accounts, spectacularly misguided and led to an apology from Bono. From Bono for God’s sake! That snafu was covered by every outlet from Wired to Fortune’s sibling publication Time to well, everyone.

For more on Bono, watch:

So fanboys on both sides of the aisle need to take a moment to ponder why two multi-billion-dollar tech behemoths with an army of PR people at their disposal need unpaid foot soldiers to fight their battles for them. But maybe that’s why you don’t hear Microsoft or Apple cry foul over free passes—they already know that product evangelists provide publicity that money can’t buy.

Summary: Despite appearances, reporters throw equal shade towards Redmond and Cupertino.


Nadia and Benoit Busseuil’s 2014’s arrival in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, is typical for the burgeoning neighborhood. The recently married couple was ready to start a family and on the hunt for an affordable house with personality.

“We didn’t want some investor-renovated place,” Nadia says. They settled on a corner property with three apartments and a commercial space at 83 Saratoga Ave. — it was a deal, but it needed serious TLC.

The renovation took three years and a few contractors, a headache the couple found wasn’t uncommon for homeowners tackling historically sensitive restorations in the neighborhood, which boasts one of the highest concentrations of Victorian properties in all of New York City.

During the project, it became apparent to Nadia that “the community needed a sit-down place,” she says. “I had a daughter in a stroller and nowhere to go with her.” So they opened MacDonough Cafe on their ground floor this summer, with plenty of seating and a menu that focuses on fresh, healthy food, another thing they felt was lacking in their corner of the neighborhood.

It’s the still-gritty eastern chunk of sprawling Bed-Stuy, called Ocean Hill, with Bushwick to the north and Crown Heights and Brownsville to the south, and East New York to the east.

But the Busseuils’ cafe, which hosts storytime for children and comedy nights, “shows a sign of what’s to come,” says Nadia, who is ready for more growth but wants to preserve Bed-Stuy’s strong emphasis on community. The couple has caught the neighborhood in a time of flux, in which a strong real estate market, quickly rising prices and new commercial offerings spell a new future for the old area.

A building boom in the 1870s kicked off the neighborhood’s transformation from a rural area to an urban enclave for upper- and middle-class home-buyers. African Americans began moving here from Harlem in the 1930s, establishing the second-largest black community in New York. Throughout white flight and city disinvestment in the neighborhood from the 1960s through the 80s, homeowners took care of the historic brownstones, many of which were chock full of fireplaces, elaborately carved mantels, parquet floors and stained glass.

There have been a few cycles of neighborhood gentrification, according to Bed-Stuy resident and Halstead broker Morgan Munsey. “There was a wave of black gentrification in the 70s and 80s which brought high numbers of African American homeownership,” he says. Munsey arrived during the second wave, in the early 2000s, which brought many young black professionals. Residents fought for more landmark protection, and in 2013 achieved an expansion to the neighborhood’s only historic district. This December, the city designated the new Bedford Historic District, protecting 800 more buildings.

Today, though, “gentrifiers are mostly white,” Munsey said.

The demographics of the neighborhood are indeed changing: according to census data, the number of white residents have increased from 2.4 to 15 percent between 2000 and 2010. And prices are rising, too: the median price for Bed-Stuy homes jumped from $575,000 in 2013 to $890,000 in 2015, according to StreetEasy. The median asking rent has also increased from $2,150 two years ago to $2,395 a month.

Munsey says that well-maintained townhouses on prime streets are now commonly priced over $2 million. An extreme case: the extravagant mansion at 247 Hancock St. is on the market for $6 million — currently the most expensive home in the neighborhood.

Still, as Munsey points out, Bed-Stuy real estate is cheaper than just about any other brownstone-filled neighborhood in Brooklyn. It also proves appealing for buyers looking to design their dream home. When Talia Braude, one of the founders of Brooklyn-based Braude Pankiewicz Architects, started house-hunting nine years ago, she didn’t know much about the neighborhood.

“But I fell in love with the brownstones and decided to focus solely on Bed-Stuy,” she says. She found a brownstone on a landmarked block that had been used for single-room occupancy and needed a gut renovation: the perfect opportunity for her to build out a “bright, clean and simple modern space,” as she puts it.

After Braude moved in, she quickly discovered that “people in the neighborhood look after each other.” Residents concur that’s one of its biggest draws. “This community is tight,” says Ban Leow, a Halstead broker who works with Munsey. “As brokers who live in the neighborhood, we tell new buyers that they have to be a part of the community — that your neighbors will take care of you,” Leow adds.

That tight community, however, is in flux. “Bed-Stuy is not as friendly as when I first moved here,” Munsey says. “I do worry about this becoming a place where people don’t look out for each other.”

But one change that all denizens tend to welcome is all the new retail filling previously shuttered storefronts. Leow helped bring L’Antagoniste, an upscale French restaurant, to 238 Malcolm X Boulevard.

“Yes, the pricing is higher and the ambience is different, but it offers something different to the block,” Leow says. Locale Village Shop, a boutique that opened last year to vend lots linens, knickknacks and bath products, now offers yoga classes.

The mostly historic architecture is also changing, with an influx of new rental and condo projects. Hello Living, a prominent Brooklyn developer, is building a 50-unit luxury rental at 1520 Fulton St.

Hello Living founder Eli Karp says he was drawn to the location because of the “massive influx of businesses opening on Fulton.”

Also on Fulton Street, the Slave Theater, a derelict neighborhood landmark that was once a headquarters for civil rights activism, sold this November for $18.5 million to developer Eli Hamway. He promptly applied for a permit to demolish the building, which has 160,000 buildable square feet. Hamway did not respond to requests for comment, but speculation has centered on his putting up a residential building in the theater’s place.

At new condo development 171 Lexington Ave., five two-bedroom units priced from $760,000 to $990,000 sold less than five months after sales launched. “Our primary pool of buyers were Brooklynites currently renting and priced out of their current neighborhood,” says Aleksandra Scepanovic, managing director of Ideal Properties Group.

Former aptsandloft.com president, and now executive vice president of new developments, Brooklyn and Queens for Citi Habitats, David Maundrell is focused on “tons of projects” in the neighborhood, including the 14-unit condo at 1188 Bedford Ave., and a 41-unit building under construction at 691 Marcy Ave. The firm recently sold out a project at 1192 Bedford. “Bed-Stuy attracts people who like a sleepy, historic, tree-lined neighborhood,” he says. “This is not Williamsburg or Downtown Brooklyn.”

In the vein of those pricey predecessors, though, Maundrell estimates prices will continue to rise so long as buyers “continued to restore historic buildings to their former glory.”

“The whole landscape of the market has changed,” says Leow. “This is not [Notorious B.I.G.’s] ‘Do or Die’ Bed-Stuy anymore… now we say it’s ‘rent or buy.’ ”

Summary: Nadia and Benoit Busseuil’s 2014’s arrival in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, is typical for the burgeoning neighborhood. The recently married couple was ready to start a family and on the hunt…


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Summary: Jaycee Dugard, now 36, was 11 years old and in the 5th grade when she was kidnapped on June 10, 1991.