The measures, an elaboration on China's existing "general anti-avoidance rule" or GAAR framework, have more companies taking a hard look at how they structure their businesses.

Under the new policy, for example, a firm that invests in China through companies in Hong Kong or Singapore to take advantage of tax benefits that do not exist between China and its home country could find itself on the wrong side of Beijing tax authorities if it cannot prove it has substantial business operations there or employees on the ground.

Apple's success in China can teach US firms a lot

"Companies are increasingly putting substance in their holding companies," Chang said.

Andrew Choy, Greater China International Tax Services Leader at Ernst & Young, said the GAAR rules are a signal that companies need to pay attention to tax planning.

"In general, people will be more conservative," Choy said.

Chinese regulators hit Microsoft with about $140 million in back taxes last November, an early case of what could be a wave of "targeted actions" to stop profits going overseas, according officials at China's State Administration of Taxation.

With a slowing economy likely to reduce 2015 fiscal revenue growth to a three-decade low of just 1 percent, according to a Deutsche Bank report, it makes sense for Beijing to try to boost its coffers.

Tax specialists say companies need to be aware that China's tax regime is evolving, albeit as part of a global trend to curb tax avoidance.

At a meeting of G-20 leaders in Australia in November, Chinese President Xi Jinping endorsed a global effort to crack down on international tax avoidance.

"Compared to the U.S. or the UK, China's tax rules are still simpler. But China doesn't want to be seen as an undeveloped country with tax rules. It wants to catch up to other international players," Chang, of Hogan Lovells said.

At the forefront of evolving international tax policy is the debate about whether the right to tax should be tilted towards industrialized, capital exporting countries where firms reside, or so-called source countries such as China, where many generate significant profit.

"There is a large element from a government policy perspective that has to do with whether China is going to tax particular profits or some other country," said Jon Eichelberger, a tax expert and partner at Baker & McKenzie's Beijing office.

Chinese state media has said tax evasion and avoidance by foreign companies costs the world's second largest economy at least 30 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) in tax revenues each year.

Larry Sussman, managing partner at O'Melveny & Myers' Beijing office, said the scope of the scrutiny could also reach private equity firms and M&A activity.

"Anything cross-border coming in and coming out, for that matter, which could implicate Chinese investors," Sussman said.

Despite the elaboration to the GAAR rules, they remain loosely defined, giving tax authorities discretion on whether companies meet the demands for economic substance.

James Zimmerman, Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said Chamber members welcomed an upgrade to the tax regime, so long as the policies were consistent with China's World Trade Organization obligations.

"AmCham-China is hopeful that the Chinese government will apply the tax laws and regulations in a fair, uniform, and transparent manner, and we will be monitoring China's enforcement record going forward on behalf of our member companies," Zimmerman said.

Summary: China's vow to increase tax scrutiny of foreign companies has sent firms rushing to tax advisers ahead of the implementation of new rules.


Uber launched a $5 flat rate in San Francisco under uberPOOL in January.

The company said in a release the move is aimed at reducing the number of cars reducing traffic congestion in New York City.

There are, however, some catches to the offer.

Read MoreRetirees becoming Uber drivers

First, the $10 flat-rate only applies to rides south of 96th Street. Also, the offer will only be available for a limited time, but did not specify when the offer would end.

Uber later told CNBC there is no specific timetable in place for when the offer would conclude.

Summary: Uber says the move is aimed at reducing traffic congestion in New York City.


Gold could slide down to $1,000 before buyers jump back into the market, Colvin said. The metal right now sits at "a short-term top," he added.

Read MoreHedge funds snatch up gold, but where's it heading?

He noted, though, that geopolitical uncertainty could change the gold market dynamic.

"There's a lot of uncertainty out there and gold feeds on that—that as well as fear," Colvin said.

He cited pressures like ongoing sovereign debt negotiations in Greece and armed clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.

Read MoreIs this the start of a gold bull market?

Summary: Although it was up about half a percent on Monday, gold will slip roughly $90 lower than where it sat, a futures expert said.


Daimler has nothing to fear from an Apple electric car, the chair of the international automaker told CNBC on Tuesday, but professed bemusement as to why the tech giant would want to enter the auto space.

"I do not know the strategy of Apple: it is not that easy for me to understand why they would be interested in entering the auto industry," Dieter Zetsche, the chair of Daimler since 2006 and head of its premium Mercedes-Benz car division, said from the Geneva Motor Show.

Since last month, speculation has built that Apple could produce an electric car as early as 2020. Rival tech companies such as Google have also shown interest in building electric or self-driving cars.

Read MoreApple car: 5 reasons it's intriguing, 5 reasons it's nuts

So far, Apple's presence in the car space is limited to its CarPlay app that allows iPhone users to get directions, make calls, send and receive messages and listen to music from their car dashboard.

Summary: Daimler has nothing to fear from an Apple car, the chair of the automaker said, but professed bemusement as to why it would want to enter the auto space.


Raising tobacco taxes by 50 percent would cut the number of smokers within the next three years by 49 million and save 11 million lives, according to WHO estimates.

Video: Reynolds American, Lorillard deal up in smoke?

"Raising taxes on tobacco is the most effective way to reduce use and save lives," Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's director-general, said in a statement. "Determined action on tobacco tax policy hits the industry where it hurts."

Summary: The World Health Organization called Tuesday for a hike in tobacco taxes to encourage smokers to quit and nonsmokers from starting.


Taylor Swift is known for many things: her chart-topping hits and a long list of ex-boyfriends among them. But now she is earning a reputation as an advocate for artists, songwriters and producers, taking on tech giant Apple for not paying those professionals during a three month free trial for its new music streaming service. Over the weekend, Apple caved, saying it would be paying royalties after all during the free trial.

Swift's triumph against Apple is just the latest success for the singer as she carves out a name for herself as a multi-million dollar powerhouse.

Love her or hate her, the country turned pop singer is laughing all the way to the bank. The 25-year-old has a net worth of almost $200 million; a combination of the artist's impressive album and tour sales, real estate holdings, and endorsement deals, according to Vulture.

Forbes reported that Swift made $64 million between January and July of 2014. No doubt that figure has greatly increased after the October release of "1989," which sold 1.3 million copies in the first week of its release. The album was the first to go platinum in 2014, and has remained at the top of Billboard's albums chart for the last five weeks.

Read More Taylor Swift leverages social media to actually sell music

Having sold more than 2.7 million copies in its six week run, "1989" may surpass Disney's "Frozen" soundtrack, which has sold almost 3.4 million copies since its release in January and became this year's biggest selling album.

Additionally, Swift's Red Tour garnered more than $150 million in revenue during its 15 month run. The tour earned Swift almost $40 million alone from touring, album sales, royalties, and streaming fees, and that's just in the U.S., according to Billboard.

At only 25, Swift owns $86 million worth of real estate including a waterfront mansion in Rhode Island, a three bedroom house in Beverly Hills, and a Tribeca penthouse. She has made over $33 million from endorsements with Diet Coke, CoverGirl, Keds, Sony, Elizabeth Arden, L.e.i Jeans, and American Greetings.

"Brands are built by things that are highly differentiated." said Austin McGhie, president of Sterling Brand Strategy Group and author of the book "Brand is a Four Letter Word."

Taylor Swift "is kind of unique. A lot of music is about pushing back against culture and she is much more about embracing culture… She's got all the right attributes," McGhie said. "She's smart, she's attractive, she writes her own songs, she's vulnerable. She's got a universal appeal."

Summary: Taylor Swift may be known for her "long list of ex-lovers", but now she's made a name for herself as a multi-million dollar powerhouse.


Thirty-three lions rescued from circuses in Peru and Colombia will be flown to South Africa in October to live out the rest of their lives in a private sanctuary.

The president of Animal Defenders International, Jan Creamer, says the group is arranging the flight on a 747 from Lima, Peru.

Creamer said on Monday that placing the lions at the Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary in Limpopo province was all she could hope and dream for.

Original plans had called for sending them to the United States.

The lions suffered in captivity in South America, with some declawed, one had lost an eye and many had broken or rotting teeth.

Creamer says the entire trans-Atlantic transport operation will cost $US400,000 ($A562,153).

Do you have any news photos or videos?

Summary: The president of Animal Defenders International says they will send 33 lions, rescued from circuses and zoos in South America, to retire in Africa.


The rapid fall in U.S. crude oil production in recent weeks could be a sign the market is beginning to correct, Again Capital founding partner John Kilduff said Monday.

All eyes have been on U.S. oilfields as OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, has opted to maintain production levels and defend market share. In doing so, the group hopes to force North American drillers to make the first output cuts in order to balance an oversupplied market.

The boom in oil production in recent years, and the corresponding oversupply, has largely been driven by the North American shale oil and gas revolution.

Kilduff recently told CNBC oil could fall into the $20s, but said he is now less confident that crude would in fact dip below $30. He put the odds at 40 percent, citing weekly government data that suggest U.S. production has fallen to 9.1 million barrels per day from a recent high of about 9.6 million bpd.

Read More Oil selloff nearly done, may target $65: Trader

"The U.S. production is coming down faster than even I thought," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "I think it's starting to correct already."

Goldman Sachs recently followed Kilduff's call with its own projection that oil prices could fall into the $20s.

Summary: A rapid fall in U.S. crude oil production could be a sign an oversupplied market is finally correcting, John Kilduff said.


* Wing part from missing MH370 in hands of French judiciary

* Civil investigators fear safety work could be compromised

* Tensions emerged after Germanwings disaster

PARIS, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Air crash investigators risk being sidelined in a tussle to unlock the secrets of lost flight MH370, fuelling concerns that their role in making flying safer could be diminished.

By drifting on to Reunion Island, the barnacled remains of a Boeing wing part from the Malaysia Airlines jet have given the upper hand to a French judicial investigation, exposing for the second time this year how civil crash investigations struggle to compete with police-led probes.

For decades, reconstructions of disasters by specialist safety investigators have been seen as crucial to making aviation safer, with accident rates at historically low levels.

But in dozens of countries, notably France, they exist in uneasy co-habitation with separate criminal inquiries.

Simmering tensions over the sharing of evidence between civil and judicial investigators came into the open after the crash of a Germanwings jet into the French Alps in March.

They are under scrutiny again after Indian Ocean currents deposited the "flaperon" from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight into the hands of judges investigating the suspected manslaughter of four French citizens out of 239 people on board.

How France handles both cases could have a wider impact given its influence over aviation safety worldwide and the similarity between its civil-law system and most other jurisdictions.

Its BEA safety investigation board is regularly called in to look at incidents because France is home to Airbus, which makes up 42 percent of the world jetliner fleet.

"Criminal investigation should not compromise the important role that air accident investigation plays in keeping flying safe," said Kevin Hiatt, safety chief at the International Air Transport Association, the trade association for airlines.

Supporters of the French system of parallel investigations say it prevents cover-ups, supports families and benefits from stronger powers of discovery.

Concerns about judicial interference may cut little ice with MH370 families who have been frustrated at the apparent lack of results from the civil investigation into the disappearance of the Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight.

"This kind of closed, unjust, and totally inefficient investigation is really hard for me to understand," said Jiang Hui, a Chinese man whose mother was aboard Flight MH370.

Civil crash investigators follow United Nations guidelines from the International Civil Aviation Organization. Their sole aim is to help prevent future accidents by finding out causes.

"The idea has never been to establish who is the bad guy, for the simple reason that it does no good when it comes to improving safety," said Paul-Louis Arslanian, former director of France's BEA air safety investigation agency.

"It is better to understand why errors were committed and what prevented this being identified."

It is a rare example of an industry being granted a global remit to ensure its safe development. But the 70-year-old system must reckon with modern demands for stricter corporate liability and the social media storm generated by every crash.

Add to this the fact that human factors have become a priority as technology reduces mechanical vulnerabilities, and experts say the pressure to cast blame is greater than ever.

While families wait for clues about the missing jet, 17 months after MH370 mysteriously vanished, the flaperon risks being submerged once again by jurisdictional in-fighting.

It was recovered by the gendarmerie on the French island, a military force accountable to French judges leading the criminal probe and not to the BEA or its Malaysian counterparts.

Relations between the gendarmerie and BEA have been prickly for years and hit a new low hours after the Germanwings crash that killed 150 people.

In an unprecedented move, the BEA's current director was summoned to police offices to face questions about the speed at which it had shared just-deciphered cockpit recordings, according to several people familiar with the incident.

Those tensions are fresh in the minds of those now handling the MH370 investigation. While prosecutors have pledged to share their findings in due course, a judicial source stressed the flaperon would remain under judicial control.

Experts from several international agencies were allowed to witness its inspection but only after a delay of several days and under a judge's supervision, and not on BEA premises.

"However you paint it, it gives the impression that the BEA and other investigators are working for the judiciary," said another former air crash investigator.

"It is a power struggle and in the long term it may be damaging for credibility of crash investigators generally."

Malaysia played down any conflict between the judicial probe and its own civil investigation, of which the BEA is part.

"They will go hand in hand. There's no clear distinction between their report and our report. Whatever they find they will add onto our investigation later," Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told Reuters.

But experts say it is a further setback for the Southeast Asian nation which struggled to establish an independent investigation in the face of criticism, only to see the first physical piece of evidence fall into the possession of French judges who have been asserting primacy over air accidents.

That may in turn heap pressure on a landmark EU law designed to preserve a "balance" between judicial and civil probes.

"I get worried when I see that we are not advancing as quickly as we should, that we are going backwards or trampling on the confidence that should exist between different parties," said Arslanian, one of the architects of the 2010 regulation.

"For now the trust between national and international partners is there, but you have to keep building it every day."

The debate about the blurring of judicial and civil roles could complicate efforts to improve safety by openly discussing problems in everyday operations.

"A lot of aviation professionals are fearful that by being frank to technical investigators they could end up in court," said Andreas Matteou, an Airbus A320 training captain.

"The risk is that they will just fly on autopilot and share as little as possible."

(Additional reporting by Trinna Leong and Joseph Campbell; Editing by Keith Weir)

Summary: By drifting on to Reunion Island, the barnacled remains of a Boeing wing part from the Malaysia Airlines jet have given the upper hand to a French judicial investigation, exposing for the second time this year how civil crash investigations struggle to compete with police-led probes. But in dozens of countries, notably France, they exist in uneasy...


The median wage for the workers in the report was $8.69 an hour, and the workers were employed for a median of 30 hours a week. The figures are in 2011 dollars.

Sylvia Allegretto, an economist with Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education and one of the report's authors, said workers in the restaurant industry are especially likely to be enrolled in one or more government program.

But, she said, the findings are indicative of the broader challenges many low-wage workers are facing in trying to make ends meet without extra help. She noted that most recipients of the major government programs they looked at are in a household in which at least one person is working.

(Read more: From low to no wage: Shutdown hammers working poor)

"We have this problem in general of working poor," she said.

The National Restaurant Association, a trade group for the restaurant industry, released a statement criticizing the report as misleading. It said that 9 out of 10 salaried employees started out as hourly workers.

"America's restaurant industry provides opportunities for millions of Americans, women and men from all backgrounds, to move up the ladder and succeed," Scott DeFife, the association's executive vice president for policy and government affairs, said in the statement.

The U.S. job market has generally seen a shift away from highly paid manufacturing jobs and toward growth in lower-wage leisure, hospitality and retail jobs as well as health care, said Paul Ashworth, the chief North American economist with Capital Economics. He was not involved in the study.

That, combined with a weak economy, has meant that median household incomes are back to the same levels the nation saw in the mid-1990s, after adjusting for inflation.

But with the U.S. facing stiff global competition, Ashworth noted that there are no easy solutions.

"You can't deny what's happened to real median household incomes, but the question beyond that is well, what do you do about that? Are we advocating rolling back globalization and raising trade barriers and making the U.S. more isolationist, where you can only buy American-made products?" Ashworth said.

(Read more: Home health-care workers win new job protections)

The report released Tuesday used state and federal government data from between 2007 and 2012 to get a picture of how fast-food workers fared in different economic periods. They focused on nonmanagerial fast-food workers who had worked at least 11 hours a week for 27 or more weeks per year.

Many people think of fast-food work as a job for teenagers, but the report found that many people holding those jobs were adults. About 23 percent of the workers were teens ages 16 to 18, compared to about 26 percent of front-line fast-food workers who were adults with children of their own. About half were adults with no children.

—By CNBC's Allison Linn. Follow her on Twitter @allisondlinn and Google or send her an email.

Summary: Every time you go to a fast-food restaurant, you have a 1 in 5 chance of being served by a worker who's living in poverty.


are still "Hung Up" in court in a transatlantic custody squabble over 15-year-old son Rocco.

While the teen was traveling with his mom on her Rebel Heart tour for three months in the fall, a Ritchie source told PEOPLE he

in the U.K. in an act of rebellion. When he refused to return to the U.S. for the holidays, Madonna, 57, appeared in a New York City courtroom on Dec. 23, where a judge reportedly

to sort out his living situation.

Despite the judge's order, sources have alleged Rocco hasn't returned home yet, that he

since moving in with his dad in December, and that

between Madonna and Ritchie, 47.

The exes are due in court for a second hearing in New York on Feb. 3, and PEOPLE spoke to a divorce and family law expert who is not involved in their case to weigh in on what's next.

"The courts know how difficult it is to get a teenager to do what he wants to do, which as a practical matter gives the child a louder voice than maybe he should have," Michael Stutman – head of the family group at Mischon de Reya New York – tells PEOPLE. "Sometimes you're creating more problems than you solve by trying to force a teenager to do what they don't want to.

"And if the two parents are not united with respect to the child, the child will exploit those differences and get what he wants."

Below, Stutman answers the big questions regarding this international custody battle as it heats up.

I would be surprised if the judge's order did not say, "You are to return the child by such and such date." I doubt that the order was that open-ended because otherwise it's difficult to exploit it.

I would be asking if Mr. Ritchie bought Rocco a plane ticket. I wonder what he has communicated to Madonna to let her know he's trying his best to get Rocco back to New York. If he can't show he is making a significant effort, he has a long road ahead of him.

If there are procedures in England similar to a U.S. writ of habeas corpus, Madonna could petition for the courts to recognize the New York court order and force Guy Ritchie to produce the boy. Should she choose to do so and prevail, Rocco could be on the next flight back to New York.

Madonna and son Rocco Ritchie

That puts Mr. Richie in a very poor situation vis-a-vis the New York proceeding, and it puts him in

. Assuming that the judge's order is a valid and enforceable court order and the court has jurisdiction – and it seems as though it does – Guy Richie would have to bring the child into a courthouse in the U.K. or be arrested for his failure to do so.

But, you have a 15-year-old who apparently has some wherewithal and apparently a mind of his own. So judges can be extremely persuasive and probably can still impress upon a 15-year-old what that 15-year-old needs to do. I would suspect that when the judge would tell Rocco, "you are leaving now with your mom" that would happen, but what happens when Rocco gets home with his mom? That's anybody's guess.

To be clear, Rocco isn't a party in this case. The court ordered Guy Ritchie to return Rocco to his mother. Rocco's refusal to come home is merely a demonstration of the fact that he is still a teenager and will be treated as such by the courts.

Rocco missing school certainly doesn't help Guy Ritchie's case, but it doesn't necessarily help Madonna's. To the extent that Mr. Ritchie is responsible for Rocco's truancy, it reflects poorly on him as a parent.

The judge has mentioned that a lawyer will be appointed for Rocco, so I would suspect that that appointment has already been made or will be made sufficiently in advance of this Feb. 3 court appearance so that when the court appearance occurs, the judge can look at Rocco's lawyer and say: "What does your client think and why?"

He – the lawyer for Rocco – is there to advocate for Rocco's desires, so the lawyer is not some sort of a neutral who sprinkles the fairy dust of the child's best interest on the proceedings. And so to the extent that Rocco's interests are adverse to one of his parents, that's why he gets his own lawyer because there's a conflict of interest otherwise. And so the judge will begin the process of trying to determine what is in Rocco's best interest.

Guy Ritchie and Madonna in 2008

As most children are when the parents become adverse to each other, the children know how to manipulate that for their own personal gain. Children are very adept to this, and the older they get, the more precocious they are, the more able they are to manipulate it, so his legal posture may be as a subordinate but as a practical matter and as a represented party of the proceedings, he's kind of got the keys to the car. And I think his voice will be heard and given some significant weight and that is after there has been some level of inquiry as to the motivation for his position.

If he says, "I want to be with Daddy," and that's because it turns out that Daddy is a Good Time Charlie while Mommy makes him go to bed all the time or makes sure he does his homework, the bonafides of the child's expressed preferences may be questioned, and the kid may not get what he wants. If it becomes more along the lines of a kid saying, "Listen, I relate more to my dad; his interests are more like mine; he understands my issues with dating or with my friends or stuff like that and mom just doesn't" ... Depending on how sophisticated the child is in voicing his concerns, his voice will be given a lot of weight.

His court-appointed attorney would just speak for him. It would be very unusual for a child to testify. I don't know if Rocco will be personally present in the proceeding, ordinarily the child, even though he's represented, would not be in open court. He might be available to his lawyer by the phone somewhere, but there's no need to have the child because, again, the disputes between parents are between the parents. It's a matter for his parents to sort out: He's more than a bystander, but he's not a full-blown party.

It's not going to go on past Rocco's 18th birthday – we know that. And I don't imagine the judge would let this drag on because it's so contrary to the lives of all three of the people involved, and there are siblings and stuff, so it's kind of misery. So I would suspect [the judge] will find a way to put an end to this feud reasonably soon.


01/20/2016 AT 07:50 PM EST

may turn out to have been a blessing in disguise.

"That was almost a relief, because then he can take all the steps," Jenner, 60, told

of what's next for her son. "It was like a godsend, so it's all good."

Kardashian, 28, was hospitalized shortly after Christmas for stomach problems, with Jenner

he had been diagnosed with diabetes.

Kardashian has shied away from the public eye for almost two years after

Jenner said what happens next are up to her son.

"It's one thing to say, 'Oh, I'm going to get on the healthy path,' but then you really need to get on the healthy path," Jenner said. "Rob has been to that happy place before in his life."

Jenner also opened up to

in rehab late last year.

"Scott will always be part of our family and we love him very, very much. And he's the father of my grandchildren and he and I

having a great time," Jenner said. "And he's doing well and will always be a part of our family."

For more from Jenner and her family,

is new Sunday (9 p.m. ET) on E!

Summary: The reality star also opens up about Scott Disick, calling him "part of our family"


She's currently known for playing

has a long – and varied – history in the entertainment industry.

"When I was 12, I started working at the dance studio I'd been taking classes at since I was 3," the actress, 50, tells PEOPLE of growing up in Chicago "always" having a job.

After graduating high school, Meneses says she made use of her lifelong love of makeup by becoming a makeup artist to pay for her classes at Chicago's comedy and improv studio The Second City.

"I was actually starting to work with a lot of well-known photographers and I needed an agent, so I went into an agency to seek representation," Meneses says of submitting her book of work. "I was sitting outside the office waiting for their makeup artist agent to see me when the owner of the agency walked by and asked to see my book."

Meneses explained that the book was already on another agent's desk so the owner went in to find it.

As she recalls: "He said, 'It's not there.' I said, 'It's with Barbara.' And he said, 'That's our makeup person.' I said, 'Yes. I'm a makeup person not a model.' "

But he disagreed and sent Meneses on a "go-see" for a beer poster. She booked the job.

"I got paid $10,000 and I was, like, 'Bye makeup!' " says the actress, who was surprised her Ukranian-and-Mexican heritage was a sought-after look at the time. "Back in prehistoric days, there were no models that looked like me. Everyone looked like

. They were either white or black.

was modeling and she was considered really exotic."

But her look worked well for her and many beer posters followed. So did a two-year stint in Milan when she was 20, which she says was "late in life" according to the modeling industry.

"There were girls there that were 15 and 16, and their parents let them go by themselves. There were hundreds of girls," says the

. "The agencies said they'd take care of them, but as soon as the office closed at 6 p.m., it was, 'Okay. Bye, girls. Don't get killed.' "

Meneses says a lot of her fellow models spent their time in Europe "doing drugs and getting crazy," but she credits her work ethic for saving her from a similar fate.

Eventually she transitioned back into acting, booking arcs on

though the '90s and early 2000s, but "retired" after marrying hedge fund manager John Simpson in 2004.

But after getting a divorce, Meneses – who is mom to Stella, 4 – decided it was time to get back to work.

Alex Meneses (as Isabela) in Telenovela

"Last year at this time, I was a total soccer mommy," says Meneses, who currently graces the cover of the American Gem Trade Association's

magazine and is one of the celebrities wearing jewelry for the AGTA's 2016 Spectrum Award Jewelry competition. "I came out of retirement and

was the second thing that I auditioned for. I got it and I was, like, 'What?!' I missed that while I was married, so working again is so fabulous."

airs Mondays (at 8:30 p.m. ET) on NBC.

Summary: "Back in prehistoric days, there were no models that looked like me," Meneses, 50, tells PEOPLE


The two-day talks at the Daun-Kinssky Palace in Vienna, Austria,Â were part of a concerted attempt by major Western powers to resolve one of the toughest disputes left from the 1990s ethnic Balkan conflicts: whether Kosovo should gain full independence or remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.Â Albert Rohan, the UN's deputy envoy at the talks, said on Tuesday that the first encounter was held in a "cooperative spirit" and mediators found some common ground during discussions.

He set the next meeting for 17 March.Â Both delegations, which made their diametrically opposed ambitions clear before they came to Vienna, presented their positions for several hours on issues of how much power should be devolved locally in health care, education and police to municipalities, especially to areas where Serbs form a majority.

Rohan said the talks were not aimed at reaching a specific agreement but rather to listening to both sides and trying to find common ground on issues not directly linked to Kosovo's status.

"We want to identify the maximum of common ground, of partial agreements, all this knowing that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed," Rohan said.

Leon Kojen, a Serb delegate, said the talks were "useful" but that the two sides remained opposed on Kosovo's future status.

Mass graves unearthed in Kosovobear testimony to ethnic hatred"Solutions which contravene the territorial integrity of (Serbia - Montenegro) for us are unacceptable," Kojen said after the meeting.

Mass graves unearthed in Kosovobear testimony to ethnic hatred

Lutfi Haziri, the head of the Kosovo delegation, said the province should become independent "as soon as possible. If it is possible tomorrow, we would be happy", he said.Â Rohan said UN mediators were tackling practical issues in the hope of reaching a final agreement by the end of 2006.

"Discussions on status could have ended in two hours," Rohan said.Â Ethnic Albanians, who comprise about 90% of the province's population of two million, want independence.

Serbia insists on retaining some control over the region, which it considers an integral part of the nation and the birthplace of its national identity centuries ago.

The UN has administered the province since 1999, after Nato launched air attacks to stop a crackdown on independence-minded ethnic Albanians by Slobodan Milosevic's Serb forces.

"We want to identify the maximum of common ground, of partial agreements, all this knowing that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed"Albert Rohan,UN's deputy envoyThousands of people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced during the war, and the end of hostilities did not bring the two sides any closer to a resolution.

"We want to identify the maximum of common ground, of partial agreements, all this knowing that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed"Albert Rohan,UN's deputy envoy

Rohan conceded that it might take a generation to bring the two sides to live together in harmony after the bloodshed of the 1990s. For now the best hope for them is if they cohabit, Rohan said.

The overall process is being mediated by Martti Ahtisaari, theÂ former Finnish president.

Diplomats from the so-called Contact Group - the US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Russia - have already agreed on a set of guidelines for Kosovo's future.Â Status stipulations

Those rules say the province cannot return to its previous status under direct Serb rule, nor can it be partitioned along ethnic lines or be joined to another country in the region, such as Albania.

They also stipulate that any agreement should be acceptable to the province's ethnic Albanians.

The two sides have disagreed over how much power should be held locally, with the province's minority Serbs insisting they be allowed to run affairs in their communities, link up with other Serb areas and have special ties to Belgrade.Â Kosovo's ethnic Albanians say such a solution is a recipe for ethnic partition.

Summary: UN-mediated talks between Serb and ethnic Albanian negotiators have produced no agreement but the two sides said they would meet again next month.


The comments by Saeb Erekat, Palestine's chief negotiator andÂ a member of Abbas's Fatah group, highlighted a growing power struggle between the rival Palestinian groups.

Talking to reporters on SaturdayÂ in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Erekat said that evidence for the scale of the economic problems came from research by his own office, the Negotiations Affairs Department.

He said: "This economy is on the verge of collapse. The figures are extremely critical. The government must move to deal with this unprecedented crisis."Â Â Â According to Erekat, Palestine's gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to fall to $2.9 billion in 2006 from $4.04 billion in 2005.Â Â Â "We are revealing these figures on how the economy is collapsing not to score points but to deal with the crisis," he said.

Yahya Moussa, a Hamas lawmaker, said: "They destroyed the economy because it was built on the basis of international aid and Israeli goodwill gestures." Â Â Â Talks on a coalition government, which might have led to an easing of the international embargo, collapsed because Hamas and Fatah could not agree on the terms.Â Â The political tension has been exacerbated by an economic crisis since Western powers cut aid to the Palestinian Authority to push Hamas into recognising Israel's right to exist, renouncing violence and accepting past peace accords.Â Abbas wanted an agreement that would have at least implied recognition of Israel. Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel's destruction, said it would never recognise Israel, even implicitly.

Abbas is under pressure from some Fatah leaders to get rid of the elected Hamas administration.

Summary: A close aide to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has said that the territory's economy is close to collapse and urged the Hamas-led government to deal with the crisis.


Craig Strickland and his dog Sam

03/25/2016 AT 01:10 PM EDT

Craig Strickland's autopsy report reveals the country star died from hypothermia, the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's office tells PEOPLE.

His manner of death is listed as an accident, according to the office.

Strickland, a singer for Backroad Anthem,

at the age of 29 on a

in Kaw Lake in Kay County, Oklahoma. His friend Chase Morland also died.

on Dec. 27. After a lengthy search – which his wife Helen, 26, captured in

– Strickland's body was found in a "thick tree and brush area approximately 75 feet off the shoreline" on Jan. 4, a spokesperson for Oklahoma Highway Patrol Marine Enforcement Division told PEOPLE at the time.

"Even in the hardest of times we have so much to be thankful for!" Helen wrote of his final resting place via

on March 17. "Today we set Craig's headstone and our family could not be more happy with how it turned out!! It's everything I'd hoped it would be. Beautiful and Unique! It's carved in the shape of AR, with a guitar and music notes over Fayetteville and Craig's quote at the bottom."

She also showed her appreciation for the man who crafted the headstone, writing, "Thank you Matt Snow for doing a phenomenal job!!"

the news about Strickland's autopsy.

Summary: The country singer's death was ruled an accident, the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's office says


Employers, concerned that unguided participants could start to voice their dismay over disappointing returns—possibly making the case that plan sponsors were not fulfilling their fiduciary duties—are taking action to ensure that retirement savers get on the right track.

One solution that employers have turned to is something called re-enrollment. It moves employees out of self-directed investment plans.

Much like auto-enrollment for new employees—who are defaulted in to target date funds across many plans—re-enrollment defaults all employees into target-date funds. Employers often use this tactic when they transition to a new plan provider. However, there has been an uptick in plan sponsors who are re-enrolling without changing providers. It's a sign that resetting employee investments into more balanced portfolios is becoming a priority.

(Read more: Signs that your 401(k) really stinks)

In order to go back to your "do it yourself" investment strategy, plan participants must choose to opt-out on their own and then decide on where they want to stash their cash. Hess said, "When re-enrollment happens, they are staying." Only a third or less decide to opt out once they have been re-enrolled into default funds, JPMorgan found.

David Blanchett, head of retirement research at Morningstar Investment Management, said he would recommend plans go even further than only taking advantage of a plan move to re-enroll employees in target-date funds.

Blanchett thinks plans should re-enroll participants every year in target-date funds—or require them to opt out—even when the plan is not changing administrator. "One thing that I am certain the research on individual investors shows is that when it comes to investment decisions, people are bad investors," Blanchett said.

Do-it-yourself investors "need to be forced to revisit that decision once a year," Blanchett said. He said the problem is particularly acute for participants who have already been in plans for five to 10 years and may have enrolled before there were target-date funds.

"It's relatively uncommon to re-enroll automatically in target-date funds because it costs a bit, but it is the best outcome for participants," Blanchett said.

—By Anthony Volastro, CNBC Segment Producer

Summary: Participants in 401(k)s have demanded more choice and employers responded. The result: more investments, worse performance, JPMorgan found.


Fiji is still recovering from Cyclone Winston which killed 44 people. (AAP)

Fiji is preparing for another tropical cyclone, just weeks after the most powerful storm in the Pacific nation’s history left 44 people dead and crippled infrastructure.

The Fiji Meteorological Service said Tropical Cyclone Zena formed overnight when a depression west of the main island Vita Levu intensified.

It said the category two cyclone, with wind gusts of up to 130 kilometres an hour, was gathering strength, prompting extreme weather warnings across the nation.

Heavy rain from the weather system has already caused flash flooding on Viti Levu, with police confirming a 70-year-man had been killed and a 13-year old girl was missing after swollen rivers burst their banks.

Roads have been cut by floodwaters and landslides, hampering disaster relief efforts in areas already reeling from super cyclone Winston in February.

Cyclone Zena has been classified as a category two cyclone. (AAP)

That storm lashed Fiji with gusts of 325 kilometres an hour, destroying 32,000 houses, 500 schools and 88 health facilities.

The Red Cross said volunteers were ready to distribute water purification tablets, jerry cans, and tarpaulins but had to wait for the weather to clear.

"As soon as the situation is safe, we will get out and assess the damage," the charity's Viti Levu western division coordinator, Mohammed Hafiz, said.

"But it could be Friday, or at worst, Saturday, before this will be possible."

The UN children's organisation UNICEF said the latest emergency "could not come at a worse time for children and families in Fiji".

"These are the same families that were directly affected by Cyclone Winston just over a month ago," Suva-based spokeswoman Alice Clements said.

"Far too many are sheltering under tarpaulins, pieces of salvaged corrugated iron, in tents or again in evacuation centres."

The cyclone is forecast to pass within 150 kilometres of Viti Levu's west coast early Thursday, although the path and intensity of such a storm is hard to predict.


Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg topped the list of US philanthropists who opened their cheque books to make big donations in 2013, with his gift of almost $1 billion to a Silicon Valley charity.

Mr Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, his wife, gave 18 million Facebook shares worth about $990 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in December, nearly 30 per cent of the $3.4 billion total given to charity last year.

The gift – to a charity which works to support the neighbourhood where Facebook has its headquarters – marks the first time a philanthropist under the age of 30 has given the largest single donation.

(Read more: Facebook still a firm adult favorite, Twitter falls behind)

The year also saw a rise in the number of donations of more than $100 million, with 14 US citizens including Michael Bloomberg and David Koch giving at least that sum, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which compiled the list. This compares with 11 who gave more than $100 million in 2012.

Stacy Palmer, the Chronicle's editor, said the rise in large gifts was a sign of the improvement in the economy and the stock market. She said it made her "optimistic" that 2014 could be a strong year for philanthropy.

"I think this is a good sign. I've noticed a lot of non-profits saying their end of year fundraising has gone well, which was not the case in the past few years when it was a real struggle," she said.

(Read more: The great Google, Facebook and Apple cash pile)

But gifts are not yet back to the level seen before the recession, with a total of $4.1 billion donated in 2007.

Mr Zuckerberg is "remarkably young" for such a large donation, which follows another gift of shares worth $500 million to the same foundation last year, Ms Palmer said.

Summary: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave almost $1 billion to a Silicon Valley charity. The FT reports.


05/04/2016 AT 09:00 AM EDT

is going on tour, PEOPLE confirms exclusively.

"I can't wait to head out on tour and see my fans," the singer tells PEOPLE. "Music connects us all, and there's nothing like experiencing that connection face to face. We're going to have an awesome time!"

Since winning season nine of

, Smith has been keeping busy.

, the singer is also in the midst of planning his

Tyler Golden / NBC / Getty

The star quickly became the best-selling artist in

history after releasing his debut album.

"I've always dealt with self-image issues, and when I saw that my singing could move people, that's when I started to gain confidence," he

. "Music saved me. It opened my world and made my life a lot more beautiful."

Smith will be kicking off his tour May 31 in San Francisco, and tickets in most cities will go on sale starting Friday.

May 31: San Francisco, California – The Chapel

June 1: Los Angeles, California – The Lyric Theatre

June 4: Houston, Texas – Zilkha Hall at the Hobby Center

June 6: Chicago, Illinois – City Winery

June 7: New York, New York – Highline Ballroom

June 8: Wilmington, Delaware – World Café Live

June 11: Boston, Massachusetts – Red Room @ Café 939

June 12: Atlanta, Georgia – City Winery

June 14: Alexandria, Virginia – The Birchmere

June 16: Lexington, Kentucky – The Lyric Theatre

June 18: Chattanooga, Tennessee – Tivoli Theatre

June 19, Knoxville, Tennessee – Bijou Theatre

Summary: The Voice champ will be kicking off his tour at the end of May


Our topic from Monday morning’s news is a leadership style that never goes away, despite its remarkably poor record: dictatorship. While the relevant news is usually about nations, the issue arises often in business, as anyone with much organizational experience knows well.

-The crisis in Venezuela is worsening to the point that U.S. intelligence officials said over the weekend they believe violent insurrection is becoming likely. Food and even water are in desperately short supply, and electricity is so scarce that the government operates only two days a week; blackouts strike other areas often and without warning. Hospitals struggle to carry on; one effect is that infant mortality has increased by 100 times – not 100%, but 100 times – from three years ago. President Nicolàs Maduro has responded by claiming dictatorial powers, and on Friday he extended the self-declared state of emergency by another 60 days. On Saturday, he announced military exercises because his enemies, he says, are planning to orchestrate foreign intervention.

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This is the classic dictator playbook when things are going badly. Maduro blames “foreign threats,” the U.S., and “the bourgeoisie” for Venezuela’s troubles. But the real problem is low oil prices in a market-hostile, centrally directed economy. Like most dictators, Maduro is doubling down rather than unshackling the forces that could stop the disaster. Analysts wonder how much longer he’ll stay in power.

-A raft of Chinese economic statistics over the weekend came in below expectations and below last year’s results. President Xi Jinping and other top leaders, whose instinct is to make things happen rather than let things happen, are apparently divided over what to do. Articles in the official People’s Daily last week featured Xi and an unnamed “authoritative person” criticizing China’s current policy of monetary and fiscal stimulus. But if there’s disarray at the top, there’s also agreement on at least one policy: intimidating researchers, stock brokers, and journalists into reporting only upbeat economic news by threatening them with prison or fines for doing otherwise. This also is classic. Dictators may be the only ones who don’t realize that squelching accurate information makes the problem worse, not better.

-And yes, a system of all-powerful rulers can give way gracefully to democracy over time. Exhibit A will be on view Wednesday, when Queen Elizabeth II opens Parliament. She will enter the House of Lords chamber, and an official will be sent to the House of Commons chamber, where the door will be slammed in his face, a reminder that since 1642 the monarch has been barred from entering the Commons while it’s meeting. The members will eventually walk down to the Lords to hear Her Majesty read the Queen’s Speech. But she only reads it; the government writes it. The people have all the power, the monarch virtually none. But she’s still called the queen, and the people love her.

Of course you’re not a dictator. But business leaders who are perceived by their followers to be gathering power to themselves, or blaming implausible sinister forces for problems, or punishing unwelcome accurate news in favor of happy talk, are heading down a well-worn path that leads nowhere good.

Summary: Despite its remarkably poor record, dictatorship has staying power in politics and business.


Over the last year this newspaper has shone the bright light of hindsight on decisions that led the United States into Iraq. We have examined the failings of American and allied intelligence, especially on the issue of Iraq's weapons and possible Iraqi connections to international terrorists. We have studied the allegations of official gullibility and hype. It is past time we turned the same light on ourselves.

In doing so -- reviewing hundreds of articles written during the prelude to war and into the early stages of the occupation -- we found an enormous amount of journalism that we are proud of. In most cases, what we reported was an accurate reflection of the state of our knowledge at the time, much of it painstakingly extracted from intelligence agencies that were themselves dependent on sketchy information. And where those articles included incomplete information or pointed in a wrong direction, they were later overtaken by more and stronger information. That is how news coverage normally unfolds.

But we have found a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been. In some cases, information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged -- or failed to emerge.

The problematic articles varied in authorship and subject matter, but many shared a common feature. They depended at least in part on information from a circle of Iraqi informants, defectors and exiles bent on ''regime change'' in Iraq, people whose credibility has come under increasing public debate in recent weeks. (The most prominent of the anti-Saddam campaigners, Ahmad Chalabi, has been named as an occasional source in Times articles since at least 1991, and has introduced reporters to other exiles. He became a favorite of hard-liners within the Bush administration and a paid broker of information from Iraqi exiles, until his payments were cut off last week.) Complicating matters for journalists, the accounts of these exiles were often eagerly confirmed by United States officials convinced of the need to intervene in Iraq. Administration officials now acknowledge that they sometimes fell for misinformation from these exile sources. So did many news organizations -- in particular, this one.

Some critics of our coverage during that time have focused blame on individual reporters. Our examination, however, indicates that the problem was more complicated. Editors at several levels who should have been challenging reporters and pressing for more skepticism were perhaps too intent on rushing scoops into the paper. Accounts of Iraqi defectors were not always weighed against their strong desire to have Saddam Hussein ousted. Articles based on dire claims about Iraq tended to get prominent display, while follow-up articles that called the original ones into question were sometimes buried. In some cases, there was no follow-up at all.

On Oct. 26 and Nov. 8, 2001, for example, Page 1 articles cited Iraqi defectors who described a secret Iraqi camp where Islamic terrorists were trained and biological weapons produced. These accounts have never been independently verified.

On Dec. 20, 2001, another front-page article began, ''An Iraqi defector who described himself as a civil engineer said he personally worked on renovations of secret facilities for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in underground wells, private villas and under the Saddam Hussein Hospital in Baghdad as recently as a year ago.'' Knight Ridder Newspapers reported last week that American officials took that defector -- his name is Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri -- to Iraq earlier this year to point out the sites where he claimed to have worked, and that the officials failed to find evidence of their use for weapons programs. It is still possible that chemical or biological weapons will be unearthed in Iraq, but in this case it looks as if we, along with the administration, were taken in. And until now we have not reported that to our readers.

Summary: New York Times editors say review of hundreds of articles written during prelude to war in Iraq and into early stages of occupation found much solid journalism and number of cases in which controversial data was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged; note many problematic articles depended in part on data from circle of Iraqi informants, defectors and exiles bent on 'regime change,' whose credibility has come under increasing public debate; hold exile accounts were often eagerly confirmed by United States officials convinced of need to invade Iraq; say editors at several levels share responsibility with reporters; cite specific articles (M)


As a child, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos spent his summers fixing windmills and repairing equipment on his grandparents’ ranch in Texas. Though these experiences might have seemed insignificant at the time, today Bezos credits his summers tinkering with ranch equipment for his penchant for experimentation. And it’s his drive to push the boundaries of what’s possible that have helped Amazon AMZN gain — and maintain — its reign as the largest and most successful Internet retail company in the world.

Last month’s New York Times feature on Amazon’s culture — and the ensuing media frenzy — has raised many critical questions about the price people pay when working for a company committed to perpetual reinvention. While I don’t have deep inside knowledge about the average working experience at Amazon (and it’s most likely somewhere in between the worst and best case scenarios), I have occasionally crossed paths with Bezos through my research for The Innovator’s DNA (co-authored with Jeff Dyer at BYU and Clayton Christensen at Harvard Business School). I believe that Bezos’ start-up story offers one of the strongest cases for how to build a new or better business through experimentation.

In our research interviews for The Innovator’s DNA, we asked Bezos about the crucial role experimentation plays at Amazon. “Experiments are key to innovation because they rarely turn out as you expect and you learn so much,” he told us. “We’ve tried to reduce the cost of doing experiments so that we can do more of them. If you can increase the number of experiments you try from a hundred to a thousand, you dramatically increase the number of innovations you produce.”

Innovators like Bezos see the world as a laboratory. They continually seek to answer those “what-if” questions as they search for new solutions. Our research of other high-impact leaders shows that experimentation is the discovery skill that most commonly differentiates innovators from non-innovators. Becoming a master experimenter requires consciously approaching work and life with a hypothesis-testing mind-set. Here are three ways to do this:

Take on new, unique experiences

Discovery-driven leaders embrace new experiences as a means to engage in interactive learning. Bezos probably never expected that taking apart his grandfather’s Caterpillar tractor would lay the foundation for his disruptive thinking later in life. Similarly, the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs likely didn’t think taking a calligraphy class in college would provide the inspiration for the typography on Apple AAPL computers years later.

Diverse experiences allow for divergent thinking and increase the capacity for innovation. It’s important to approach new activities with an open mind. Try taking time out of your day to learn a new skill, like acting or photography. When you’re working with a variety of people, processes and products or solving new, complex problems, you’ll see a big boost in creative thinking and you’ll gain new perspectives on the world around you.

Deconstruct products, processes and ideas

In 1994, before the Internet was truly valued, Bezos came across an article stating the Internet was growing 2,300% a year. Instead of shrugging the statistic off, he asked, “What kind of business opportunity might this new-fangled thing called the Internet represent?” Bezos deconstructed a traditional business process for delivering goods and “The Earth’s Biggest Bookstore” was born. Just as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his team took apart a brand new Mercedes Benz to better understand how it worked before building their own, experimenters seize opportunities to learn more about the world (and items) around them.

You may not have a brand new car that you’re willing to part with, but there may be items laying around your house or at a local market that no longer work. They offer opportunities for learning something you’ve always been interested in but have never taken the time to explore. In the process of taking things apart, you’ll inevitably ask questions and trigger new ideas for how to make things work better.

Focus on process, not failure

Experimenting is the ultimate way to transform an idea into reality – it’s the mechanism by which great new insights translate into new markets. When Amazon became profitable beyond bookselling, Bezos made a risky bet to build a number of large warehouses throughout the country, a decision which initially sank stock prices but later helped the company become the leading online discount store.

True innovators have an experiential approach to business and go out of their way to enable others to do the same. They understand testing new ideas will rarely bring instant success, but see each experiment as an opportunity to gather data to improve for the next time. In fact, the value of experimenting most often comes through the process. “The only way to know how a complex system will behave — after you modify it — is to modify it and see how it behaves,” said George Box, former president of the American Statistical Association. Do the same by reinforcing the power of the experimental process, instead of obsessing over instant outcomes. Embed “try and learn” as the operating mantra of your own organization.

Innovators must have the courage to fail and learn from failures. So whether you’re reconstructing a product like Bezos did on his grandfather’s farm, or testing a new idea after getting a little inspiration at work, remember that it is the spirit and action of experimentation that can lead you to unexpected places and great new ideas. The more experiments you conduct, the closer you’ll get to powerful, positive results.

Hal Gregersen is executive director of the MIT Leadership Center and a senior lecturer in leadership and innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is director of “The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering Five Skills For Disruptive Innovation,” which is an MIT Sloan School Executive Education program built around his book, The Innovator’s DNA. To view the full Innovator’s DNA video series, click here.

Summary: Jeff Bezos’ start-up story offers one of the strongest cases for how to build a new business through experimentation.


The future will likely include a lot more drones buzzing overhead.

Drone sales are expected to grow from 2.5 million this year to 7 million in 2020, according to report released this week by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Hobbyist sales will more than double from 1.9 million drones in 2016 to 4.3 million in 2020, the agency said. Meanwhile, business sales will triple over the period from 600,000 to 2.7 million.

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The FAA believes that 2017 will be the big turning point in drone adoption by businesses, which use them for everything from scanning power lines to inspecting rooftops for insurance companies. Commercial sales are expected to reach 2.5 million, after which sales will increase only slightly for the next few years.

Currently, companies must obtain FAA certification to fly drones for business purposes. Some businesses and drone lobbying groups have grumbled that the regulation is partly to blame for preventing the drone industry from taking off in the United States.

New rules are in the works that are aimed at streamlining the process for businesses. They are expected to be completed by the later this Spring, the FAA report said.

As of March, the FAA has granted over 3,000 drone-related certifications to businesses.

For more about drones, watch:

The FAA report also shows the markets that the administrations expects will be big users of drones after the regulations are finalized. Industrial inspections will be the biggest use, the agency said, followed by real estate and related aerial photography, agriculture, insurance, and government.

Summary: Total sales are expected to grow 180% from 2.5 million drones in 2016 to 7 million drones in 2020.


03/08/2016 AT 12:30 PM EST

A Vietnamese couple recently took their 2-year-old fraternal twins for DNA testing and discovered that while they have the same mother, they shockingly have different fathers.

The couple, whose names have not been released, were pressured from extended family members who noticed the children did not look alike, Le Dinh Luong, president of the Genetic Association of Vietnam

According to the news outlet, one child has thick and wavy hair and the other has thin and straight hair.

While this is reportedly the first case of bi-paternal twins in Vietnam, a woman in New Jersey had the same revelation in May 2015.

When the mother was in the process of applying for benefits from the man she claimed was the father of the babies, a paternity test was ordered after she revealed that she had sex with another man that same week,

Results from the test revealed that he was the father – but only for one of the twins.

While it's rare, Dr. Keith Eddleman, director of obstetrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York told CNN that it's definitely possible.

A woman's egg has a life span of 12 to 48 hours, and a sperm is viable for seven to 10 days. This makes it possible for two eggs to be fertilized by sperm from two different men during the same ovulation period.

Summary: Le Dinh Luong, president of the Genetic Association of Vietnam, said the family was surprised by the results and are looking for the best way to handle the situation


Before you go, we thought you'd like these...

While playing the role of a lifetime, Matthew Perry was battling addiction.

During a recent interview on BBC Radio 2 in Britain, the 46-year-old actor found himself unable to recall his least favorite episode of Friends due to his admitted substance abuse at the time.

"I think the answer is I don't remember three years of it," he candidly admitted. "So none of those... somewhere between season three and six."

MORE: 'Friends' Cast Reunites to the Delight of Kaley Cuoco: 'I Died and Went to Heaven' See the cast through the years:

Matthew Perry says past substance abuse has caused him to forget 'three years' of 'Friends'

FRIENDS -- Season 6 -- Pictured: (l-r) David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani -- (Photo by: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

FRIENDS -- Season 10 -- Pictured: Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, David Schwimmer as Dr. Ross Geller (Photo by NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

FRIENDS - 'The One With The Engagement Picture' -- Episode 5 -- Aired 11/2/2000 -- Pictured (l-r): Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing -- NBCU Photo Bank

This photo released by Warner Bros shows the cast of "Friends" from the final episode which wil air May 6, 2004 on NBC. It was taken in Burbank, Calif, Friday, Jan. 23, 2004. From left are Jennifer Aniston as Rachel, Matt LeBlanc as Joey, David Schwimmer as Ross, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe, Matthew Perry as Chandler and Courteney Cox Arquette as Monica. (AP Photo/Danny Feld, Warner Bros)

The cast of television's "Friends", from left: Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox Arquette, Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer appear during the 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards Sunday, Sept. 22, 2002, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

The cast members of the television show "Friends" arrive at New York's Rockefeller Center for NBC's 75th Anniversary event Sunday May 5, 2002. From left: Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox Arquettte, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

FRIENDS -- Season 6 -- Pictured: (l-r) David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani -- (Photo by: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

FRIENDS -- 'The One with the Fake Monica' Episode 21 -- Pictured: (l-r) Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Courteney Cox Arquette as Monica Geller (Photo by NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

FRIENDS -- Pictured: (l-r) Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Courteney Cox Arquette as Monica Geller, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani (Photo by Andrew Eccles/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

FRIENDS -- 'The One After 'I Do' -- Episode 1 -- Aired 09/27/2001 -- Pictured: (l-r) Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller-Bing, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green-- Photo by: Danny Feld/NBCU Photo Bank

FRIENDS -- 'The One With The Christmas In Tulsa' -- Episode 10 -- Aired 12/12/2002 -- Pictured: (l-r) Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Courteney Cox-Arquette as Monica Geller Bing, Lisa Kudrow Phoebe Buffay, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green -- Photo by: NBCU Photo Bank

FRIENDS -- 'The One Where the Stripper Cries' -- Episode 11 -- Aired 2/5/2004 -- Pictured: (l-r) Courteney Cox Arquette as Monica, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel, Matthew Perry as Chandler -- Photo by: NBCU Photo Bank

FRIENDS -- 'The One With The Boob Job' -- Epsiode 16 -- Aired 2/20/2003 -- Pictured: (l-r) Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Courteney Cox-Arquette as Monica Geller Bing, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing -- Warner Bros. Photo

FRIENDS -- 'The One With Monica And Chandler's Wedding' -- Episode 24 -- Aired 5/17/2001 -- Pictured: (l-r) Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller-Bing, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green -- Photo by: Danny Feld/NBCU Photo Bank

FRIENDS -- 'The One With The Embryos' -- Episode 12 -- Aired 1/15/1998 -- Pictured: (l-r) Matt Le Blanc as Joey Tribbiani, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller (Photo by NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

FRIENDS -- Season 2 -- Pictured: (l-r) Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay (Photo by NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

FRIENDS -- 'The One with the Embryos' Episode 12 -- Pictured: (l-r) Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing (Photo by J. Delvalle/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

FRIENDS -- 'The One That Could Have Been: Part 1, 2' Episode 15, 16 -- Pictured: (l-r) Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green (Photo by Chris Haston/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

FRIENDS -- 'The One with the Embryos' Episode 12 -- Pictured: (l-r) Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Debra Jo Rupp as Alice Knight Buffay, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Giovanni Ribisi as Frank Buffay Jr., Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay (Photo by J. Delvalle/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

This is not the first time Perry has opened up about his struggles with Vicodin and alcohol. In August, the actor gave a very candid interview with the Hollywood Reporter, where he explained, "You can't have a drug problem for 30 years and then expect to have it be solved in 28 days," adding, "Getting sober is a really hard thing to do."

In 2013, Perry -- who has been to rehab twice -- turned his former Malibu home into a sober living facility called Perry House.

WATCH: Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow Have a Super Sweet Friends Reunion at the 2015 Emmys

Meanwhile, the cast of Friends just celebrated a mini-reunion!

With the exception of Perry, whose rep told ET that he couldn't join due to a scheduling conflict -- the actor is currently preparing for his upcoming play, The End of Longing -- the whole gang got together over the weekend to participate in a tribute broadcast honoring legendary TV director James Burrows. It marked one of the rare appearances of our favorite Friends ever reuniting since the show went off the air in 2004.

Summary: While playing the role of a lifetime, Matthew Perry was battling addiction -- and has taken a toll on his memory of the experience.


This essay originally appeared in Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily tech newsletter. Sign up here.

I have to admit that I’m a bit jaded by some of the technology industry’s so-called innovation. After 16 years as a Silicon Valley journalist, I have trouble getting excited about yet another messaging app or service for posting goofy selfies.

That’s why it’s good to be reminded, like I was on Thursday, about some of the tech industry’s truly remarkable accomplishments—the kind that change lives. It came in a blog post from Google celebrating the tenth anniversary of Translate, its tool for deciphering 103 languages.

The service is used by people to translate more than 100 billion words daily: Arabic into Russian, French into Indonesian, and Persian into Polish. Language barriers evaporate by merely typing some words in a box, speaking into an app, or scanning street signs with a phone’s camera. Google googl makes the service look so easy. But of course, the tool’s technology is incredibly complex—albeit still imperfect.

I don’t mean to go on about Google and translation. I could substitute a few other technologies developed over the past decade that have made a huge impact like Skype, Twitter, and smartphones.

The longtime joke in Silicon Valley is that many of the technology industry’s best minds are devoted to getting people to click on ads (or, more recently, entice hungry millennials to order takeout from one of the many restaurant delivery startups). There’s more than a grain of truth to it.

But still, more worthwhile innovation is coming. At least that’s what I tell myself when the latest hot and frivolous startup hogs the attention and gets the multi-billion-dollar valuation.

Self-driving cars, although still a work in progress, promise to eliminate countless hours of wasted time behind the wheel and save lives by reducing accidents caused by human error. Meanwhile, clean energy companies are steadily reducing the cost of solar and wind power so that it becomes more financially attractive than coal.

So please, Silicon Valley, think big. Keep this journalist from becoming even more jaded.

Summary: Aim higher please.


Bobby Moynihan is returning to "SNL" for his eighth season.

Moynihan plays the fan-favorite character Drunk Uncle on "Weekend Update" as well as other original characters, including Riblet, Kirby the Astronaut, and Anthony Crispino, a secondhand news anchor who misguidedly reports anything but the truth. His impressions include Guy Fieri, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Newt Gingrich.

Moynihan voices the role of Panda on the Cartoon Network animated series "We Bare Bears," and also voices several different characters on Hulu's original animated series "The Awesomes." In addition, he'll lend his voice to the upcoming PBS animated series "Nature Cat." His other television credits include HBO's "Girls," IFC's "Portlandia" and "Comedy Bang! Bang!."

His past film credits include "Staten Island Summer," Pixar's "Inside Out," "Monsters University," "The Invention of Lying," "Grown Ups 2" and "When in Rome." He will next be seen in the upcoming films "Brother Nature," opposite his "SNL" co-star Taran Killam, and "Sisters," starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

Moynihan is a fixture at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, where he performs at the signature weekly "Assssscat" show. He is also a co-founder of the sketch group "Buffoons" with friends Charlie Sanders and Eugene Cordero.

Moynihan graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1999. He hails from Eastchester, New York, and lives in New York City. His birthday is January 31.

Summary: Meet Bobby Moynihan on NBC.com.


Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

"Back then, we believed the party was great and graceful and correct, and you were obedient to the party."NIE YUANZI

A four-hour television series and interactive web site by The Times, The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the ZDF network of Germany.

Hans Rudolf Oeser for The New York Times

"I was transported to the time the Nazis took power."WANG RONGFEN

NIE YUANZI was an ambitious college professor whose "big character poster," displayed on the grounds of Beijing University, was said to have ignited the Cultural Revolution, a prairie fire of violent purges and denunciations that quickly spread across the nation.

Wang Rongfen was a student of German at Beijing's elite Foreign Language Institute who was imprisoned after writing a bold letter to Mao challenging his judgment in unleashing the self-destructive frenzy of his young vigilantes, the Red Guards.

Even today, the history of that time has been shunted into a dark corner. There have been no news reports or public memorials of the catastrophe, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed and China's economy was devastated. Yet four decades after the start of the Cultural Revolution in May 1966, there remains a compelling symmetry to the experiences and reflections of the two women who played such prominent roles at the outset of this disastrous era, and had their lives tragically derailed as a result.

However different, they were both, in the phrase of Ms. Wang, "bold and straightforward" women.

After the publication of an article criticizing Mao's political rivals, Ms. Nie, then Communist Party secretary of Beijing University's philosophy department, put up a poster that claimed the university was under the control of the bourgeoisie. Mao had the poster read over the radio, giving it his stamp of approval and encouraging attacks on authority figures.

Vaulted into the leadership of the Red Guard, she was detained only a year later after becoming disenchanted with its excesses, and was jailed for 17 years.

Now, she is an 85-year-old who survives on the charity of friends. Looking back, she insists that she had no idea that the poster she made would have such terrible consequences. "I didn't know we were heading toward disaster," she said, describing herself as a party loyalist who executed orders. "Once I understood, I stopped following them. I opposed them, and for that I was punished."

Ms. Wang, then 20, was selected to attend one of the earliest mass rallies of the period at Tiananmen Square, when the Maoist personality cult was being whipped into a frenzy.

The speeches she heard there reminded her of the language of the Third Reich, and she watched, horrified, over the ensuing weeks as teachers committed suicide, students denounced one another and her own mother was assigned to forced labor. "I was transported to the time the Nazis took power," she said.

Ms. Wang gathered her courage to write a fateful document of her own, a signed letter to Chairman Mao asking: "What are you doing? Where are you leading China?" It concluded with a judgment that the country's leaders shy from even now. "The Cultural Revolution is not a mass movement," she wrote. "It is one man with a gun manipulating the people."

The letter, which has never been published, earned her a life sentence, which was lifted after 12½ years, following Mao's death in 1976, which also spelled the end of the Cultural Revolution.

THOUGH frail, Ms. Nie remains feisty. She recently published a book in Hong Kong about her experiences. She greets visitors with a bright red business card that bears her portrait. And she takes calls on a tiny cellphone every few minutes during days spent at her writing desk.

"The lessons," she said, when asked what she drew from her experience. "Democracy should be really promoted so that each person can express their opinions about state affairs and the work of others. Even if an opinion is not correct, it must be allowed, and allowed to be contradicted. Even today, posters should be allowed."

Ms. Nie readily acknowledges helping to visit suffering on others, like officials of Beijing University, the target of her poster. They were paraded around the grounds of the university in a dunce cap and signboard. Others, labeled reactionaries, were beaten or tortured by the Red Guards.

The greater culprit, now as then, she said, is the country's system. "Back then, we believed the party was great and graceful and correct, and you were obedient to the party," she said. "You went wherever it pointed you."

Once the chaos set in, though, Ms. Nie came to regret her role. At a meeting of party leaders in August 1967, she tried to quit the leadership of the Red Guard, but was refused by Mao's powerful wife, Jiang Qing. A few months later, she helped avert a gun battle at the university between rival groups and was arrested soon afterward.

Summary: Four decades after the start of the Cultural Revolution, there remains a compelling symmetry to the experiences and reflections of Nie Yuanzi and Wang Rongfen.


Broadway isn’t the only place that “Hamilton” is a religious experience.

Trinity Church, where Alexander Hamilton worshipped and is buried downtown, offers a free pop-up exhibit about the life of the founding father as a parishioner on Friday from 2-5 p.m.

The display in the church at Broadway and Wall St. includes rare archival documents.

As seen in Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit musical expected to sweep the Tony Awards on Sunday, Hamilton always spoke his mind and knew exactly what he wanted.

Top ‘Hamilton’ premium ticket pushed to record $849

Church records echo that notion. In a document from 1787, Hamilton pledged to give 2 pounds to help the church support itself. In one from 1792, he threw his support behind the hiring of Rev. John Bisset

“Whether or not the petition influenced the vestry's decision isn't recorded, but we do know that Hamilton and the Bisset faction got their wish. On October 1st, 1792, the Vestry called John Bisset as the parish's new Assistant Minister,” said Trinity archivist Anne Pretrimoulx.

Hamilton’s relationship with Trinity Church lasted to the bitter end. Trinity's website relates the story of Hamilton’s final hours, when he called for the Church rector to visit him.

The runaway success of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Pulitzer-winning musical has boosted traffic to the burial site of Hamilton and his wife, Eliza, who outlived him by 50 years.

Summary: Broadway isn’t the only place where “Hamilton” is a religious experience.


IN 1984, Isabele Carmichael of New York, a top road racer, qualified for the first Olympic marathon trial for women. Later that year she developed recurring tightness in her right leg that caused her foot to grow numb. Forced to cut her high-level training to mere jogging, she desperately sought a medical solution to her problem.

''I saw a lot of different doctors, including one who gave me injections in the lower back,'' Carmichael said. ''Nothing helped.''

It was not until this past summer that Carmichael, 38 years old, began to find relief. Dr. Garry Sherman, an Englewood, N.J., podiatrist who has treated other runners successfully, found that Carmichael had a leg-length discrepancy - her left leg is about a half-inch shorter than her right - and prescribed orthotic inserts to be placed in her shoes.

Carmichael wears the inserts not only while running but at all other times as well. ''I would not be comfortable running without them,'' she said. ''The symptoms have diminished. They are less intense and they appear less often.''

While Carmichael's recovery is far from complete, she is yet another example of a runner frustrated by pain who seems to have been ''saved'' by orthotics. What was once a hit or miss art practiced by a handful of specialists, orthotics use is standard practice in podiatric sports medicine. Its design and application are being refined by increasingly sophisticated methods, including computer technology.

In evaluating Carmichael, Sherman used electrodynography, in which sensors are placed on the foot, a microprocessor is attached to the back and information is fed into a computer. The resulting data provided a biomechanical profile of Carmichael to be considered in treatment. This process has been called an E.K.G. of the foot.

With orthotics, says Sherman, the doctor errs if he deals exclusively with the foot. ''The whole body must be taken into account,'' he said. ''The hips, the back. All systems are interrelated.''

This recognition has led to some fancy footwork on the part of researchers and orthotics specialists. Peter R. Cavanagh, Ph.D., director of the Center for Locomotion Studies at Penn State University, recently opened a running injury clinic at which high-speed film of patients and other instruments pinpoint the subtleties of running form. ''The computer measurements reduce the modifications in orthotics, bringing us closer to perfection faster,'' Cavanagh said.

Most doctors rely on outside labs to make orthotics. The doctor will send the lab a cast of the runner's feet, along with specifications based on an examination and the nature of the injury. Orthotics are made of leather, fiberglass, polypropylene, graphite and other substances and weigh only a couple of ounces.

Doctors have found that a variety of ailments, from runner's knee to shin splints, can be treated effectively with orthotics. These so-called foot appliances correct biomechanical weakness that causes pain under the stress of running. For example, an orthotic will prevent a high-arched foot from flattening, resulting in knee strain.

While some runners do experience immediate success, ''orthotics do not perform miracles,'' said Dr. Justin Wernick, a podiatrist and co-founder of Langer Biomechanics in Deer Park, L.I., the nation's largest orthotics supplier. ''The runner has to give it time, and accept some responsibility.''

Wernick says running shoes must have heel counters that are deep enough and strong enough to accommodate an orthotic. Matching the shoe to the orthotic is as critical as the orthotic itself, and runners sometimes end up switching from preferred brands.

What's left of the guesswork in orthotics may be further reduced by a new computer scanner developed by Dr. John Bergman, a Northfield, Ill., podiatrist, and the Ammon Corporation of Mesa, Ariz. The scanner, says Bergman, produces a topographical image of the foot and allows for more precise construction and fine-tuning. Also, instead of the traditional plaster cast, Bergman uses a wax cast which, he said, permits greater variety in the use of materials.

These bells and whistles come at no extra cost, insists Bergman. The steep price of orthotics has kept runners on guard, however. Langer and Bergman declined to say what they charge doctors but, according to Dr. Paul Taylor, of Silver Spring, Md., president of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine, lab fees range from $60 to more than $100. For an initial visit, casting, the orthotics and follow-up work, the cost to the runner-patient can come to several hundred dollars.

Is it worth it? ''Definitely,'' said Taylor, who pays fees in the $200 to $300 range. ''For many patients, surgery or cessation of activity are the alternatives. We have found 90 percent success in restoring runners to full activity.''

Many leading sports podiatrists are former students of Dr. Richard Schuster, professor emeritus of biomechanics at the New York College of Podiatric Medicine. In the 1970's, Schuster pioneered the use of orthotics for running injuries, making orthotics like an old world cobbler in a garage in College Point, Queens. He remains the conscience of the industry.

Currently based in Merritt Island, Fla., Schuster questions high-tech methods that remove the human touch. ''I would never make orthotics without looking at the worn shoes of a runner,'' he said.

One Manhattan podiatrist who uses Schuster's orthotics, among others, and claims an 80 percent success rate, is Dr. Murray Weisenfeld, author of ''The Runner's Repair Manual.'' He says runners used to consider orthotics to be a status symbol but have outgrown that.

Even so, a runner and his orthotics are rarely apart. Like Greg Louganis and his teddy bear. Dr. Richard Schuster on Running and Orthotics The type of pain that begins after about a mile or so can almost certainly be cured by orthotics.

While pain may strike in the leg, knee or hip, typically it emanates from a structural imbalance in the foot.

Vulnerable runners tend to develop pain when their training reaches 30 to 35 miles a week.

Properly made orthotics extend to the forefoot, as opposed to ending before the ball of the foot.

Orthotics must be flexible but not compress under the weight of a runner's foot.

The edges of orthotics must be smooth so as not to irritate the foot, causing further damage.

Running shoes must provide a stable foundation for orthotics.

Shoes should be shaped like a runner's functioning foot; avoid models that are severely curved at the arch.

Generally, remove the insole before putting orthotics in your shoes.

Orthotics use should be one remedy among many to promote pain-free running. Others include: change in running shoes, stretching exercises, reduction in running intensity, change in running surface, avoidance of hills.

Summary: LEAD: IN 1984, Isabele Carmichael of New York, a top road racer, qualified for the first Olympic marathon trial for women. Later that year she developed recurring tightness in her right leg that caused her foot to grow numb. Forced to cut her high-level training to mere jogging, she desperately sought a medical solution to her problem.


Some photos go viral. Others are chronic. Such images not only spread rapidly through the bloodstream of social media like an acute infection, they crop up again and again in the popular imagination after lying dormant for months or even years. This is the case with a photo whose recurring poignancy flared up again last week, having done so unpredictably ever since it was first captured nearly a decade ago. The raw message that the image communicates is one of archetypal sadness: an elderly retired soldier knuckling away tears from his eye as he marches, alone, down a doleful street in a municipal parade.

Clocking up over a million likes on Facebook, the photo by Alexander Petrosyan has resonated globally in spite of the fact (or, more likely, because) the precise identity of the man, his nationality and allegiances, were unknown, if not unknowable. Untethered to the prejudices of time and place – to the biases of victory or defeat – the man’s grief-stricken countenance has propelled itself to the level of symbol, perennially resurfacing as a universal emblem of human heartache.

But will the photo continue to have such power? Recent investigations into the origin of the image have managed to pin down the decorated soldier’s location to St Petersburg in 2007 and to a parade celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany. More photos have emerged of the veteran receiving flowers and the photographer has recounted that the unidentified man “was upset that he was behind the column with other veterans and could not catch up with them”.

Whether widespread knowledge of such specificity will rupture the image’s sweeping appeal remains to be seen. How, one wonders, might the image look if it were stripped utterly of its worldly signifiers – the military medals pinned to the soldier’s chest, the swoosh of the Nike logo emblazoned on his windbreaker, and the flags fastened to the streetlamp behind him – leaving behind nothing more than the irreducible contours of his deep interior suffering?

What would such an isolation of sadness look like? It would look like Vincent Van Gogh’s affecting portrait Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity’s Gate). More so than other notable depictions of tearful subjects (from Il Guercino’s St Peter Weeping Before the Virgin (1647) to Picasso’s serially weeping women), Van Gogh’s painting resists the burden of religious and stylistic encroachment.

Painted just two months before the troubled artist’s death in July 1890, the portrayal of a mournful old man wringing his eyes in intolerable despair finds Van Gogh returning to a subject he’d first approached eight years earlier as a drawing entitled Worn Out. Like the photo circulating in social media last week, Sorrowing Old Man captures the unguarded moment when an anonymous soldier is overcome with emotion (the artist’s model was the Dutch war veteran Adrianus Jacobus Zuyderland).

Undertaken while Van Gogh was recuperating in an asylum to which he’d committed himself in spring 1890, Sorrowing Old Man is not just autobiographical in its encapsulation of the artist’s own tormented state. It offers itself as an universal emblem of sadness – a lonely tune to which all of us have found ourselves marching.

100 Works of Art That Will Define Our Age by Kelly Grovier is published by Thames & Hudson.

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Summary: The photo of a soldier weeping as he takes part on his own in a WWII Victory March has captured the popular imagination. Kelly Grovier looks at timeless images of loss.


Billionaires like SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos aren’t the only ones attempting to reinvent spaceflight.

India’s space agency is blasting ahead in the race to provide cheap access to the stratosphere. The country plans to pack a record 22 satellites on a single rocket that will hoist them into orbit in a launch scheduled for June 20, Bloomberg reports.

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The launch is set to be India’s biggest to date. Russia’s space agency holds the international record, having sent 33 satellites skyward in a single trip in 2014; a year prior the United States’ NASA took 29 satellites up in one go.

A.S. Kiran Kumar, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, told Bloomberg that he’s focused on staying competitive with low-cost spaceflight options to carry satellites to orbit as demand for connectivity, fueled by a global mobile boom, escalates—especially in countries like India.

For more on India’s space program, watch:

“If tomorrow, Elon Musk is able to do what he is working on today, he can launch every day, every week, every month, and obviously, if he is able to do that, he will capture a large market,” Kumar told Bloomberg. “If you don’t have a capability, you have to build that capability.”

“It is not trying to emulate,” he added, “but you also have to be relevant.”

Kumar also told Bloomberg that India has to double the number of satellites it has in orbit—currently 35—to keep pace with the demand on the network.

Summary: India's space agency plans to cram 22 satellites on a single rocket.