Young adults could pay relatively little up front for Obamacare, only to pay a lot later.

They may be more likely to buy cheaper plans on the health care exchanges, but they are often less informed about how high out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles, can erase any savings realized from the lower premiums, potentially leaving them with crippling bills, experts told CNBC.com.

"I think the exposure is pretty high. It's way higher than most people are used to," said Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation, the health policy research group. "There will be some people who will, for whatever reason, end up getting high-deductible health plans, and I think some of them may not like it."

Under the Affordable Care Act, plans being sold on new government-run exchanges are grouped into four tiers—bronze, silver, gold and platinum—whose monthly premiums reflect the percentage of covered benefits, with the bronze having the lowest premiums.

As a rule, the cheaper a plan's monthly premiums, the higher its deductible and other out-of-pocket costs.

"I was looking at Texas earlier today," Pollitz said. "They had a bronze Blue Cross plan that was $250 a month ... for a 40-year-old. The bronze had a $6,000 deductible, but the silver had a $3,000 deductible."

(Read more: Aetna chief says "so much wrong" with Obamacare rollout)

"The bronze plans, all the ones I've seen, have $5,000 or $6,000 deductibles," she said.

Summary: Young adults may buy cheaper plans but are often less informed about their high out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles, experts told CNBC.com.


Global benchmark Brent was down from $115 in June and has dropped for eight weeks in a row, its longest weekly losing streak since records began in 1988, based on Reuters data.

Oil supply and demand balances of the IEA and other forecasters point to a rising supply surplus in 2015 because of increasing production from the United States and other countries outside OPEC.

OPEC meets on Nov. 27 to discuss its response to falling prices. While some members such as Venezuela want OPEC to reduce output, top exporter Saudi Arabia has yet to say if it supports a cut.

Read MoreLow oil prices to bite into 2015 US shale growth: IEA

While top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia has yet to say if it backs a supply cut, more smaller producers are supporting the need for action. Algeria and Venezuela will join forces to defend prices, Venezuela's Foreign Minister was quoted on Thursday as saying.

"I think Algeria and Venezuela are saying that they are willing to commit if the rest of OPEC is willing," Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodity analyst at SEB in Oslo, told the Reuters Global Oil Forum.

"Hopefully we will have enough pain ahead of the OPEC meeting in order for OPEC to become OPEC again."

Supply disruptions still have the potential to support prices. In Libya the Hariga oil port reopened after a protest ended but the El Sharara oilfield remains shut.

Read MoreOil prices collapse as OPEC stands back, while US booms

Adding to oil glut worries, crude stocks at the key Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub climbed by a larger-than-expected 1.7 million barrels last week, the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration said on Thursday.

But U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly fell 1.7 million barrels in the week to Nov. 7, against analysts' expectations of a 750,000 barrel build in inventories, the EIA reported Thursday.

--CNBC contributed to this report.

Summary: Oil futures bounced Friday but prices fell for a seventh week in the longest losing streak since 1986.


Michigan Pioneer ACO was the most successful Pioneer ACO in 2014 for benchmark savings improvement

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tenet Healthcare Corporation’s (NYSE: THC) Michigan Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) generated an estimated savings of nearly $17 million in its third performance year, making it the most successful Pioneer ACO in 2014 for benchmark savings improvement.

The Michigan Pioneer ACO is affiliated with Tenet’s Detroit Medical Center and is one of only 19 organizations nationally participating in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) accountable care initiative. This initiative is designed to achieve CMS’s “triple aim” of providing more coordinated care to Medicare beneficiaries at a lower cost to the Medicare program, while achieving rigorous quality standards. The Michigan Pioneer ACO yielded nearly $39 million of savings over a three-year period, during which time the ACO also experienced consecutive year-over-year improvement in quality results.

“The focus of our Michigan Pioneer ACO is to improve care transitions and care coordination, supported by efforts to ensure patients see their primary care physician within seven days after hospital discharge and encouraging every patient to see their primary care physician for their Medicare annual wellness visit,” said Joe Mullany, chief executive officer of Detroit Medical Center. “This program demonstrates DMC’s and Tenet’s long-standing commitment to improving the health of our patients and the delivery of healthcare services to our communities.”

More than 20,000 Medicare beneficiaries receive their care from providers in the Michigan Pioneer ACO. Improved access to services, including preventive medical care, is facilitated by physicians participating within the ACO and is achieved through enhanced coordination and communication among patients, physicians, hospitals and other caregivers.

“We are proud of DMC’s Michigan Pioneer ACO and the achievements realized during the first three years of the program," said Trevor Fetter, chairman and chief executive officer of Tenet Healthcare. "These results are made possible when patients, physicians, hospitals and the entire medical community collaborate effectively. Tenet is pleased to continue its engagement in Medicare ACOs and plans to expand these programs for 2016, building upon our commitment to improve quality and achieve better outcomes.”

Seventy-five percent of Tenet’s hospitals across the U.S. have affiliated ACO networks that provide care to nearly 700,000 Medicare and commercial patients.

Tenet Healthcare Corporation is a diversified healthcare services company with more than 125,000 employees united around a common mission: to help people live happier, healthier lives. Through its subsidiaries, partnerships and joint ventures, including United Surgical Partners International (USPI), the company operates 80 general acute care hospitals, 19 short-stay surgical hospitals and over 400 outpatient centers in the United States, as well as nine facilities in the United Kingdom. Tenet’s Conifer Health Solutions subsidiary provides technology-enabled performance improvement and health management solutions to hospitals, health systems, integrated delivery networks (IDN), physician groups, self-insured organizations and health plans. Tenet also operates six health plans. For more information, please visit www.tenethealth.com.

The terms "THC," "Tenet Healthcare Corporation," "the company," "we," "us" or "our" refer to Tenet Healthcare Corporation or one or more of its subsidiaries or affiliates as applicable.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150831005689/en/

Tenet Healthcare CorporationCorporate CommunicationsDonn Walker, 469-893-2640mediarelations@tenethealth.comorInvestor RelationsBrendan Strong, 469-893-2387investorrelations@tenethealth.com

Summary: This initiative is designed to achieve CMS’ s“ triple aim” of providing more coordinated care to Medicare beneficiaries at a lower cost to the Medicare program, while achieving rigorous quality standards. “The focus of our Michigan Pioneer ACO is to improve care transitions and care coordination, supported by efforts to ensure patients see their primary care...


Aside from earnings news, the Federal Open Market Committee begins a two-day meeting Tuesday, with an interest rates decision due on Wednesday. The announcement of the rates decision could offer more clues about when interest rates in the U.S. will be raised.

U.S. stocks traded mostly higher, recovering morning losses as investors eyed Apple earnings and the beginning of the Fed meeting.

However, the interception of a cargo vessel heading to the Marshall Islands by Iran added to market jitters.

Summary: European equities closed lower on Tuesday, as investors took a breather from a stellar rally in the previous session and looked ahead to a meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve.


Also on Friday, copper prices fell to their lowest levels since 2009, after a widely followed index of Chinese economic activity came in at a 15-month low for July.

Gold also slumped during trade, falling over 1 percent to its lowest since early 2010 on Friday. However, it pared some losses by the close of European trade.

Read MoreGold could plunge to $1,000 quicker than you think

In other earnings news, Thales shares surged to the top of the Stoxx 600, finishing up 7.5 percent, after the company reported first half profits that beat market expectations.

Vodafone, one of the world's biggest telecoms companies, announced better-than-expected sales Friday as its 4G plans grow. This sent shares in the company almost 4 percent higher after the open. Paring gains, the firm closed around 2.8 percent higher.

However, Aggreko shares tanked over 12 percent after the power company said warned that its full-year results could fall short of market expectations.

Summary: European stocks finished off Friday in the red, following a volatile five days of mixed earnings and a sell-off in commodities.


Chinese Internet company Baidu dropped nearly 3 percent in extended trading after a mixed quarterly earnings report. Despite beating Wall Street's earnings expectations, Baidu missed on revenue and issued light guidance for the second quarter.

The limited downward move shows that the company remains in decent shape, said trader Dan Nathan. He said the stock looks appealing if it falls below $210 per share, $3 lower than where it traded Wednesday.

Social media company Twitter reeled for the second straight day, closing 9 percent lower in the wake of Tuesday's disappointing earnings report.

Read MoreTwitter CEO: Early release gaffe 'not pleasant'

Trader Steve Grasso said Twitter is "failing tragically" but bought stake in the company Wednesday. He noted that Twitter's weakness makes it a potential takeover target or ripe for activist investor influence.

Trader Brian Kelly said he like the wearable camera maker GoPro's stock even after a 12 percent jump Wednesday. The company reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations Tuesday.

He compared GoPro's brand recognition to Heinz ketchup, contending that "you can buy ketchup from anybody, but people want Heinz ketchup."

Dan is long BBRY June call spread, M May call spread, T, NKE call spread, QQQ May 108/ 98 put spread, WMT June call spread, IWM May put fly, XLP May put spread, XLY May puts, LULU May puts and INTC May /July put spread. Today, he bought TWTR and sold SHAK.

Steve Grasso is long AAPL, BAC, BTU, DD, EVGN, MJNA, PFE, T, TWTR and GDX. His firm is long IBM, AMZN, AMD, MCD, KO, FCX, OXY, RIG, NE, TSE and VALE. His kids own EFG, EFA, EWJ, IJR and SPY.

Brian Kelly is long BTC=, crude oil, GLD, GSG, BBRY, SPY puts and U.S. dollar. He is short 30-year bond futures, Australian dollar, DAX, yen and yuan. Today, he bought crude oil and GLD. Today, he shorted DAX.

Karen Finerman is long BAC, C, FINL, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, M, MA and KORS. She is short SPY. Her firm is long AAPL, ANTM, BABA, BAC, C, CMLS, DIS, FINL, FBT, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, GPS, IBB, JPM, M, KORS, XBI, SUNE and URI. Her firm is short IWM, MDY and SPY. Karen Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International.

Summary: "Fast Money" traders discussed how to play Salesforce, Twitter, GoPro and other notable tech companies on big stock moves.


10/22/2015 AT 10:40 AM EDT

After rolling in to the special

accessory he couldn't wait to show off.

Fox took the stage for a solo interview wearing the film's iconic "self-lacing" tennis shoes.

That's right, in honor of

Nike has officially created the self-lacing Air Mags.

But the technology isn't even the best part about the shoes – all proceeds from the sneakers will go toward to the

given to Fox by Nike Wednesday, the company said it hoped sales of the shoes would "raise even more than the $9.4 million collected in 2011, and contribute in some way to eliminating Parkinsonâs Disease in our lifetime!"

The letter I received from Tinker today. Thanks @Nike pic.twitter.com/UIolXrkUVC

Fox showed off his one-of-kind pair on Wednesday, but more will be available for auction in 2016.

Demonstrating the "power laces" that tighten with just a click of a button, Fox couldn't help but brag about how much he loved his new kicks.

"It's fun being me," he said.

But the shoes weren't the only piece of

swag the actor received in honor of the special day. Fox also got an action-figure of his Marty McFly character – although there was one problem with it: the doll's stand is in a less-than-desirable location.

"Originally they had this thing going right up my ass," he said, pointing to the stand. "So I said that has to be redesigned."

Luckily, the problem was an easy fix, and now the doll is a "non-violated Marty McFly."

And while the sneakers certainly add to the list of things the

would exist in 2015 (along with hoverboards and fingerprint identification), there is one thing Fox isn't too thrilled about becoming a reality.

"The one thing they really got right was Marty McFly's receding hairline," he joked, pulling back his hair to confirm.

Kimmel then pulled out a picture of what

predicted the actor would look like at 47 years old, saying that the movie Trump-ified him.

"They had you like a young

," Kimmel said, pointing to the wispy blonde hair that the actor featured in the photo.

"It does kind of look like Donald Trump," Fox agreed, adding that the resemblance was "huge!"

Summary: Michael J. Fox also admits an aging Marty McFly's receding hairline resembles Donald Trump's famous hairdo


Barack Obama is on his way to the White House, so the polls suggest. But how are we going to feel once he’s President of the U.S.? And if–just if–McCain upsets Obama, where will our heads and hearts be then?

Added Value, a brand consultancy that has worked with such companies as Honda , Kimberly-Clark , Coca-Cola , Nestle and Wyeth , explored the emotional connections between consumers and the candidates in a survey of 2,677 likely voters. The survey was conducted a month ago, and the results are just out. Added Value came up with an “Emotional Intensity Index” (EII) to measure the way people envision their daily lives two years from now under four different scenarios: with McCain in office; with Obama in office; with McCain/Palin in office and with Obama/Biden in office. The EEI is an index of emotions (anger, anticipation, fear, sadness, acceptance, disgust, joy and surprise) evoked by the those imagined scenarios. And the higher the score, the greater the emotional connection–and supposedly the greater the motivation to vote.

So, who is most invested in a big win? Obama supporters, according to the survey. People “definitely voting” for Obama imagine a brighter future under his leadership, with an average EII score of 66 vs. 62 for McCain supporters.

The survey also showed a generational divide: Younger voters tend to feel trust and support for Obama–and fear and sadness about the prospect of a McCain win. Meanwhile, older voters tend to feel joy and optimism as they envision McCain in the White House, and a sense that something is being taken away from them if Obama would win.

Added Value also found that woman are more intensely engaged in the election than men. That’s a good sign for Obama because he’s favored among women.

We’ll see on November 4 whether the pollsters and prognosticators are right. For another oddball survey, check out the just-released study by TV ratings agency Nielsen that shows the connections between TV and political preferences. If you’re a fan of South Park, you’re likely Republican. If Deadliest Catch is your bag, you’ll likely be voting for Obama. Hmm, I wonder how Deadliest Catch can be Cindy McCain’s favorite show.

Summary: by Jessica Shambora Barack Obama is on his way to the White House, so the polls suggest. But how are we going to feel once he's President of the U.S.? And if--just if--McCain upsets Obama, where will our heads and hearts be then? Added Value, a brand consultancy that has worked with such companies as…


How compassion became the secret sauce for my small business.

By Mark Murrell | Black Point Seafood

Five years ago, my business fell into my lap.

I was living in Chicago, working as a marketing consultant for a variety of clients. An old friend of mine who owned a fish market in Bath, Maine, said he wanted to sell live Maine lobsters and seafood online. I decided to do some research for him before he got into something that wasnât viable or profitable.

Little did I know that this exchange would later become the inspiration behind GetMaineLobster.com.

I soon realized that there was a real business opportunity here â¦ if handled the right way. My friend lacked the resources and time to pursue this idea.

So I decided to give it a try.

Fast forward to February 2011, one day after the Super Bowl. Iâm in Las Vegas for a guysâ trip with friends. My phone starts ringing off the hook. Customers are trying to purchase lobster off my website but canât check out.

Where did this demand come from?

I placed a deal on Groupon â people from all over the country flocked to it. The problem? I was a one-man show. I needed to buckle down for my new customers.

Thatâs when I realized I was in the business of delivering exceptional experiences. Thatâs how I would keep my customers happy.

I was in the business of delivering exceptional experience. Thatâs how I would keep my customers happy.

That was my eureka moment.

I knew what I needed to do, but didnât know exactly how to do it.

Fifteen years earlier gave me a clue. I was working at L.L. Bean in the call center during the holiday season, my latest stop in the hospitality industry.

L.L. Bean is an exceptional company, one that makes bold promises and delivers on them. Most importantly, when they fail to do so, they always make it right. After working two holiday seasons, that mantra was forever ingrained in me.

Thatâs when I discovered the power of empathy. Thatâs when I realized that many companies talk a big game about making their customers happy but do little to distinguish themselves in that area. Thatâs when I found my competitive advantage.

Now â¦ back to the lobsters. How would I grow my customer base and design an experience to meet their needs?

How would I grow my customer base and design an experience to meet their needs?

For the first two years, I didnât change anything at GetMaineLobster.com. I just tried to keep my head above water and treat every customer like a family member.

But that wasnât enough â I knew that I had to make some changes. I just had one other person on my team. Lacking the best technology, we spent too much time on logistics.

I needed to think less about logistics and more about the customer experience. So I hired one more person, invested in logistics technology, and started modernizing the business.

My new promise? To deliver an exceptional experience from the dock to your doorstep.

Sure, customers want to be treated fairly. But thatâs not enough.

You can get all the technical details right, even ace the logistics. But youâll still be missing something: heart.

My competitive advantage: I have a team that is really empathetic. They take it personally when something goes wrong with a customer and will do everything possible to fix it. Thereâs always something thatâs going to come up â companies like UPS get that. My folks do the same for our customers.

Our fondest memories happen around the dinner table. Lobster is a food for celebration. Itâs delicious, fun, messy, and an adventure. If we do our job right, weâre delivering magical moments.

Our task seems simple. But you must have empathetic people to execute it. Empathy, by definition, means the ability to understand and share feelings of another. Thatâs not easy to do. Weâre all motivated by self-interest.

So, whatâs our secret sauce? A recent customer summed it up best.

Jeffrey in Buffalo explained, “You guys treat me like a king.”

This was tremendous validation. Here are four reasons why I believe Jeffrey came to that conclusion.

In the end, weâre a customer-centric, e-commerce company that happens to sell lobster. But really, weâre in the business of selling empathy â and weâll never run out of stock.

Click here to learn how UPS helps Black Point Seafood move live Maine lobsters from dock to dinner plate in one to two days.

The Wall Street Journal news organization was not involved in the creation of this content.

Summary: Mark Murrell from GetMaineLobster.com explains how he grew his business with an intense focus on customer service.


03/02/2016 AT 09:15 PM EST

channeled the late Jacqueline Kennedy while on the set of her latest project

, follows the First Lady's story in the days after becoming a widow at the young age of 34.

The Oscar Award-winning actress, 34, was pictured descending the steps of a plane wearing the iconic Chanel pink skirt suit – recreating the day (Nov. 22, 1963) that John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas.

, Portman stuns while portraying an emotional but poised First Lady.

is expected to be released in 2017.

Summary: The Oscar Award-winning actress channels the late First Lady while recreating the day John F. Kennedy was shot and killed


Outlets have also become a popular channel for designer labels and department stores. According to estimates from Bain, the off-price luxury market will grow by 24 percent in 2013, on top of the 30 percent gain seen in 2012.

In its third-quarter earnings statement, Nordstrom said its off-price Rack stores have contributed 23 percent of the company's net sales so far this year, and it plans to open roughly 30 more locations in 2014. Coach will also increase its already heavy off-price presence by opening 20 new factory units in 2014. Already, Wells Fargo analyst Paul Lejuez estimates that four out of five Coach handbags sold at U.S. retail come out of a factory outlet, he said.

Off-pricers such as TJ Maxx provide another opportunity for bargain hunters, as do H&M's designer collaborations, which most recently drew a crowd for its tie-up with French runway designer Isabel Marant. TJ Maxx parent company TJX has been listed as a top pick this holiday by analysts, including Stifel Nicolaus' Richard Jaffe, who cited its compelling assortment and value.

"People are aspirational in terms of the brands they want to own and wear, but I think they are as particular as ever in terms of really requiring a discount and really waiting for sale periods to make those purchases," said Lejuez.

(Read more: Holiday study highlights US wealth gap)

Accenture's Jacobson said there has been a generational shift among today's young shoppers, who have come to be "conditioned for the rebate, or discount, or financing." This shift will last much longer than the luxury items they buy, and will have long-term implications on the segment, he said.

"It's the [question of] luxury or the egg?" he said. "Did the access come first, or did your need come first? The both seem to coexist well."

On the flip side, higher-tier brands are also doing a better job of reaching the aspirational consumer through social media and advertisements, which position pricier items, such as apparel, next to their lower-ticket products, such as sunglasses, A.T. Kearney's Ben-Shabat said.

Online revolution is slowly taking hold

Another way aspirational shoppers have evolved is in their desire to shop online. The personal luxury goods market is expected to grow its online sales by 28 percent in 2013, on top of last year's 33 percent gain, according to Bain.

The off-price market makes up nearly a third of this segment, including flash-sale sites such as Gilt Groupe. Gilt CEO Michelle Peluso told CNBC that its Black Friday weekend sales were "phenomenal" in 2013, rising 45 percent on the year. Some have speculated that Gilt, along with online home goods discounter One Kings Lane, will go public, but Peluso said the company is not in any rush. What's more, Nordstrom's flash-sale site, HauteLook, has seen same-store sales rise by more than 25 percent this year, boasting nearly 15 million members.

Still, there is much more room for luxury to grow in the online space. According to Bain, 40 percent of high-end brands still do not sell online, which can be a major disadvantage to brands looking to recruit new customers.

(Read more: Let it snow! Determined shoppers will find a way)

Harley Finkelstein, chief platform officer for Shopify, a company that powers the websites of more than 80,000 retailers, said luxury brands with an online presence have an opportunity to create an emotional bond with consumers before they even see their product.

"It's a much tailored experience for the merchant," he said.

Experts agree that those companies who meet consumers' needs will be the ones who succeed in bringing back the aspirational shopper.

"Luxury brands cannot think that the aspirational consumer is coming back in the same way as they were before the recession," Ben-Shabat said.

—By CNBC's Krystina Gustafson. Follow her on Twitter @KrystinaGustafs.

Summary: Experts have begun to see the return of the aspirational shopper, but she doesn't spend as freely as she did before the recession.


Apple's first phablet, the iPhone 6 Plus, has been well received by consumers, but its smaller-screened cousin is far outperforming in terms of sales, according to new research.

AppLovin, a mobile advertising firm, estimates that the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 accounts for 80 percent of new iPhones in use globally, with the 5.5-inch screen iPhone 6 plus taking the remaining share.

The firm, which processes 25 billion ad requests daily, looked at the high volume of data to ascertain its estimate.

Read MoreRent, don't buy, the new iPhone 6: Pros

"Since interaction and usage differences between the 6 and 6 Plus on our network are negligible, it's fair to estimate that roughly one in five new iPhones sold is an iPhone 6 Plus," AppLovin said in a blog post on its website.

The highly-anticipated iPhones were unveiled on September 9, drawing enthusiasm from consumers worldwide.

Read MoreOff the charts! New iPhone 6 sales smash record

In their debut weekend, Apple sold 10 million of the devices, up from nine million sold when the previous generation of iPhones debuted last year.

Bigger is better, in Asia

Western nations have demonstrated a clear preference for mid-sized phones, but the same cannot be said for Asia.

In countries such as China, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, the iPhone 6 Plus accounts for 35 percent of new iPhones in use.

Summary: Apple's iPhone 6 Plus has been well received, but its smaller-screened cousin is far outperforming in terms of sales, according to new research.


A prime piece of state-owned land at the southern entrance to downtown Boston is going on the market.

State and city officials said Tuesday they are seeking developers for a 5.5-acre parcel of land along Kneeland Street near the Southeast Expressway that is now home to an office building for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Veolia steam plant.

It’s the highest-profile parcel yet to be marketed in a new push by the Baker administration to put state-owned sites into the hands of private developers. And sitting near the Financial District, a block from South Station and alongside highway off-ramps for Interstate 93 and the Massachusetts Turnpike, it’s a prime spot for a major development.

Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack, with Governor Charlie Baker (left) and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, behind her, discussed the plan at a news conference on Tuesday.

“This is something I believe has tremendous potential,” Governor Charlie Baker said at a news conference Tuesday announcing the plan.

The state and city of Boston will launch a series of community meetings next month to gather input from neighborhood groups. They’ll use that information to help craft a request for proposals that will be used to select a developer.

Any plan would need to incorporate the Veolia steam plant, which provides heating and cooling to many downtown office building. The plant must be taken down and a replacement steam facility built underneath the new buildings. Meanwhile MassDOT would either get offices inside the new development or relocate.

City and state officials said the Veolia site — which runs along Kneeland Street between Albany Street and the I-93 off-ramp alongside South Station — could house 1.5 million to 2 million square feet of new development, including housing, offices, and open space.

“This is fundamentally a blank canvas,” said Brian Golden, director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. “We’re anticipating great things occurring here.”

The focus at Tuesday’s announcement was on housing. Mayor Martin Walsh and his housing chief Sheila Dillon both spoke about the need for more housing for lower- and middle-income Boston residents, and the rare opportunity to guide development of such a big parcel of land in the heart of the city.

“Boston is just 48 square miles, which makes building lots of housing that much harder,” Dillon said. “Our land resources are finite, which is why this is so important.”

Housing has also been a priority for neighborhood groups in Chinatown, which will have a voice in designing the request for proposals.

A similar process a decade ago on a state-owned parcel nearby on Kneeland Street resulted in a new apartment development, known as One Greenway, that set aside 40 percent of its units at affordable rents — more than three times the typical set-aside in Boston. Both the market-rate and affordable apartments opened last year, while a second building of affordably-priced condos is expected to break ground this spring.

Angie Liou, acting executive director of the Asian Community Development Corp., said Chinatown housing advocates will take an active role in deciding what goes on the Veolia site.

“Whenever they have these meetings, we’ll be there,” she said.

Whether for housing or job-creating activities or open space, many underused state-owned properties could — and should — be repurposed, Baker said. The state is the biggest property owner in Massachusetts, and Baker said too much of it sits vacant, or in this case not used to its fullest potential. The governor is pledging to make hundreds of state-owned properties easier to acquire, and build on.

“It makes me crazy when I look out and see all these sites,” Baker said. “It’s a big missed opportunity.”

An aerial view of the property, which is marked in red.

Summary: State and city officials will seek developers for a 5.5-acre parcel of land along Kneeland Street.


The blog, titled "A Fair Price", drew overwhelming support from China's active netizens. One reader survey on popular site QQ.com, which received over 80,000 votes, showed that 90 percent of consumers supported the U.S. carmaker's move.

Analysts said the lower price strategy could deter premium segment buyers, who are usually willing to spend extra to guarantee quality and cachet.

"Price transparency helps because people see that as different, but the lower price itself, I don't see a big impact from that," said Andreas Graef, Shanghai-based principal focused on automotive at consultancy A.T. Kearney.

(Read more: Will Tesla's Model S succeed in China?)

Car makers often charge steep mark-ups in China. Daimler high-end Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG model costs 3.1 million yuan ($509,000) in China, according to its local website, 150 percent above its starting price in the United States. Volkswagen's Audi TT Coupe costs 519,000 yuan ($85,800) in China, over twice the U.S. starting price.

While other auto firms already offer price rebates to lure China buyers, Tesla is the first to make a clear statement about charging Chinese shoppers the same as in overseas markets, turning transparency into a neat marketing ploy.

"It's not just about the pricing strategy, but more to show how to communicate with Chinese consumers in the context of a more transparent pricing world," said Shawn Wu, Shanghai-based project manager at consultancy SmithStreetSolutions.

Last year, Tesla's total car sales were around 22,500, mostly in the United States. The California-based company, which plans to open stores in 10 to 12 Chinese cities by the end of 2014, says it expects China to contribute to one-third of its sales growth this year.

Summary: U.S. carmaker Tesla is taking a bold step to win over Chinese clients by curbing the markup to just half of what its rivals can command.


Angela Wrightson suffered more than 100 injuries.

Two teenage girls who took selfies as they beat a vulnerable British woman to death before phoning police to ask for a lift home have been jailed for life.

The pair, aged 13 and 14 at the time of the murder, battered frail Angela Wrightson over five hours in her own home with household items including a shovel, a coffee table and a television set, eventually leaving her for dead.

The rare case -- and the young age of the killers -- has sparked comparisons with the 1993 murder of toddler Jamie Bulger by two 10-year-old boys.

Almost 400 children under the age of 18 have reportedly been convicted of murder in Britain over the past two decades.

Sentencing the girls yesterday, judge Henry Globe called the crime a "cowardly attack" that involved "gratuitous degradation".

Wrightson, 39, was found with more than 100 injuries in her blood-spattered living room in the industrial town of Hartlepool in northeastern England.

"This was a sustained attack over a long period of time carried out with weapons in many different ways," the judge told the girls, both now 15.

Pathology evidence revealed "an absolute minimum" of 70 separate slash injuries, 54 separate blunt force injuries and wounds to the victim's hands, wrists and arms as she tried to deflect the blows.

The seven-week trial heard that the girls, who came from troubled backgrounds, were frequent visitors to Wrightson's house and that she would often buy them alcohol and cigarettes.

On the day of the attack, the pair let themselves into her home before restraining and torturing her.

During the attack, one of them shared a picture on social media site Snapchat showing them smiling in front of their victim.

One also talked to a friend over Facebook who overheard her say: "Go on. Smash her head in. Bray (hit) her."

The teens, who cannot be named due to their age, called the police at around 2 am in order to get a lift home.

While in the van, they posted another photograph on Snapchat with the message: "Me.... in the back, on the bizzie (police) van again."

The judge at Leeds Crown Court summarised a statement from Wrightson's mother, Maureen, in which she described "the horror of seeing Angie's battered body in the mortuary".

"She does not think she will ever be able to blink those images away," he said. "She had been disgusted by the laughing and giggling and sharing of photographs."

Prosecutor Gerry Wareham said the girls, who will serve a minimum of 15 years, had shown little remorse.

"The attack that the girls committed against Angela Wrightson was brutal and sustained. One can only imagine the fear and distress that she must have felt," he said.

The case has revived memories of the Bulger killing.

The little boy was abducted from a crowded shopping centre in Liverpool by 10-year-olds Jon Venables and Robert Thompson who took him to a nearby railway line where they tortured him and battered him to death.

Venables and Thompson became the youngest convicted murderers in Britain for 250 years but were released on parole in 2001 after serving the minimum term of eight years.

They have since started new lives under different identities.

Summary: Two teenage girls who battered a woman to death in her own home have been jailed by an English court for life with a minimum non-parole period of 15 years.


Harvard University could begin work this summer on a $1 billion science and engineering complex in Allston after receiving approval Thursday from the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

At almost 557,000 square feet, and with room for 80 faculty and 450 researchers, the complex along Western Avenue will be the largest academic center in Allston.

Harvard hopes the facility is completed in time for the 2020-2021 academic year. The new complex will feature laboratories, classrooms and research space and is slated to house two-thirds of the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

“The growth of our campus in Allston is an extraordinarily exciting opportunity in the Greater Boston region for collaboration, discovery, and innovation,” Harvard University president Drew Faust said in a statement.

The university also received approval on Thursday for a $183.5 million renovation of the Soldiers Field Park graduate housing complex. The project involves renovating the existing four-building housing complex over four years.

Summary: Work could begin this summer on a $1 billion science and engineering complex in Allston after receiving approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority.


PepsiCo pep has reintroduced an old ingredient into Sierra Mist, and fans of the drink appear to be pretty unhappy about it.

The stevia that has been used to sweeten the lemon-lime soft drink is now being switched out for high fructose corn syrup, Consumerist reports. This move has elicited big reactions from consumers, many of whom are saying that they will no longer buy the beverage.

PepsiCo originally removed high fructose corn syrup from Sierra Mist in 2010 and replaced it with cane sugar. That allowed the company to market the drink as “natural,” distinguishing it from other soft drinks on the market that are sweetened with corn syrup or artificial sweeteners and gaining the loyalty of customers who perceived it as a healthy alternative. It then modified the recipe to include stevia instead of cane sugar, but since stevia comes from a plant it was able to keep its “natural” label.

Now Sierra Mist is being rebranded as Mist TWST and will be sweetened with high fructose corn syrup again. This is an interesting decision, considering consumers are more concerned about what goes into their bodies today than they were six years ago.

Fans of the drink have taken to social media to express their disappointment:

@pepsi so disappointed you removed Sierra Mist &replaced with Sierra Twist! Will not B drinking/serving it due to High Fructose Corn Syrup!

— Toby Blessings (@toby_dorena) May 7, 2016

@MistTwst Why would you go back to High Fructose Corn Syrup? I bought Sierra Mist because it was HFCS free. Now you do this #disappointed

— Alex Clement (@AlexHClement) May 8, 2016

Sierra Mist, is being replaced by Mist Twist, going from sugar to high fructose corn syrup. I guess I just quit drinking soda.

— pslgreg (@pslgreg) April 15, 2016

Sad that Sierra Mist has become Mist Twist replacing the sugar with high fructose corn syrup. We don't want HFCS.

— Buckeye Mom (@buckeyemomof2) April 28, 2016

PepsiCo could not immediately be reached for comment.

Summary: PepsiCo can no longer call the drink "natural."


When Red (James Spader) discovers the Russians are sending Liz (Megan Boone) to Moscow, he calls Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff). The Cabal is behind all of this; the second Liz gets on the plane she's dead. Ressler smashes into the Russian convoy, and Liz saves his life in the ensuing firefight, then sprints off to rendezvous with Red at Chui's diner. An anonymous tip is called into the FBI, and pretty soon Ressler has the diner surrounded and is taking Red's list of demands. Specifically, Red wants a consult with his lawyer Marvin Gerard (guest star Fisher Stevens), now in jail. Days away from parole and a reunion with his young fiancée, Marvin is none too happy to see Red, who quickly sets him working on the contents of the Fulcrum. Once Marvin has the framework of an unspecified plan together, Red decides it's time to decamp, and he leads Marvin and Liz down a secret elevator and through Chui's hidden money-laundering operation to the street, blocks away. In return for the work he'll do with the contents of the Fulcrum to take down the Cabal, Marvin is reunited with his fiancée and dispatched to Red's Tahitian banana plantation, while Red and Liz repair to a finely appointed storage container, loaded atop a transatlantic barge.

Back in the world, Reven Wright has scraped together a deal to get both Cooper (Harry Lennix) and his wife Charlene out of prison, putting him back to work as a low-level paper pusher. Eager to help his former team members, Cooper's first task on the job is to start researching Karakurt. Mr. Solomon (Edi Gathegi) strips down for his own workday, trying to beat Red's location out of Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq) with a sock filled with pool balls. And after another day of failure on the job, Ressler is surprised by a midnight visitor... Tom Keen (Ryan Eggold).

Summary: When the Russians try to dispatch Liz to the motherland, Red calls the one Blacklister who can help - his lawyer. Fisher Stevens guest stars.


A senior public servant has confirmed the government raised its plan for cuts to low income family payments at a meeting with crossbench senators about extra assistance for the car industry – a link the Labor party says amounts to “a blackmail proposition”.

Treasurer Scott Morrison has been in negotiation for several months with the crossbench about the new package cutting $4.8bn from family benefits, unveiled this week. Guardian Australia revealed Friday that innovation minister, Christopher Pyne, had told crossbench senators at a private meeting the government would only provide up to $200mn extra assistance for the car industry if the family benefit cuts passed the Senate.

Related: Scott Morrison willing to sacrifice $3bn in family benefit cuts if senators agree

Peter Chesworth, a division head with Pyne’s department of innovation and industry told senate estimates he had been in the meeting last week about car industry assistance and that the issue of cuts to family tax benefits “was raised” although he “couldn’t comment on the conditionality aspect.”

Labor senator Kim Carr said he regarded linking the family benefit cuts with extra assistance for the car industry as being a “blackmail proposition”.

New figures show that single parents who earn less than $100,000 a year and have teenage children make up the biggest group of losers under new cuts, which the federal government is describing as being like a game of “snakes and ladders”.

The new cuts, which save the budget $4.8bn over four years, remove family tax benefits worth $2,737 a year from single income families when their youngest turns 13 and reduces the payment to $1,000 for sole parents of teenagers and grandparents caring for teenagers.

The human services minister, Christian Porter, says the aim is to try to get single parents and stay at home parents back into the workforce.

Senate estimates heard the changes to the family tax benefit B payments – available to families earning up to $100,000 – would hit 136,000 single parents in the first year, as well as 76,000 single income couples and 3,900 grandparent carers.

The same families will also lose around $900 per child in end of year benefits.

Porter said the cuts were like the “snakes” in a game of snakes and ladders – with the small increase in general family payments and the proposed $3.5bn childcare package being the “ladders”.

That childcare package – announced in the 2015 budget but not yet legislated and scheduled to come into effect in 2017 – gives higher benefits right up the income scale, paying 85% of childcare costs for families earning up to $65,000 and 50% for those earning over $170,000. These payments are uncapped until family income reaches $185,000 and then the proposed cap is higher than the one that applies now - rising to $10,000 per child from $7,500.

Related: Crossbench seek sweeteners for supporting revised family benefit cuts

“In the measures that we have put before parliament there are snakes and there are ladders but there are a lot of ladders in the package,” Porter told Sky news.

“We’re not saving as much as the first iteration of this package and that’s because we are giving a lot back to people. But, ultimately, the package is about trying to devise ways to increase female workforce participation amongst mums, single mothers, mothers in couple families,” he said.

“When your child turns thirteen, having had the benefit of a childcare package up to that point, you should be moving back into greater workforce participation.”

The new package replaces 2014 budget measures that had been stalled in the Senate, which would have saved $8.5bn according to the parliamentary budget office.

It remains unclear whether the government will get the new package through the senate.

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie says she is unlikely to vote for it. Senators Glenn Lazarus, Dio Wang, John Madigan, Ricky Muir, Bob Day and Nick Xenophon are all undecided. Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm supports the changes.

Summary: Senior official confirms that the government raised the stalled family tax benefit cuts in discussions with crossbench on extra auto industry assistance


03/17/2016 AT 05:45 PM EDT

An alleged child victim of

filed a civil suit for emotional distress, alleging Fogle received video footage of the underage girl captured when she was changing clothes, PEOPLE confirms.

The lawsuit, which was obtained by PEOPLE, was filed Tuesday in the federal district court for the Southern District of Indiana and seeks at least $150,000 in damages. The victim is not named and is referred to only as "Jane Doe."

The suit alleges the footage of the underage girl was captured between March 2011 and January 2015. The videos were all made during the victim's numerous visits to the home of Russell Taylor, the former head of Fogle's charity. Russell Taylor was named in the suit.

The suit claims Taylor –

– shared the videos with Fogle.

The suit says Fogle and Russell Taylor "had knowledge of the presence of hidden cameras throughout the Taylor residence and knowledge that said hidden cameras were being used with the intent that they would capture various minors changing clothes, showering, bathing, or engaging in other personal and private activities."

Taylor then distributed "sexually explicit images of Jane Doe and videos of Jane Doe and other minor children to Jared Fogle," according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges Taylor used cameras hidden in clock radios placed in bathrooms and bedrooms to film several underage children in various stages of undress.

The suit contends the Taylors assumed responsibility for the minor children who visited their home but failed to protect them. The lawsuit further alleges Fogle knew about the hidden cameras and that he failed to take any action to protect the children.

to more than 15 years in prison.

Both of Fogle's attorneys did not return PEOPLE's calls for comment. Taylor's attorney did not return a call as of press time.

Summary: The suit, filed this week in Indiana, seeks at least $150,000 in damages


A New York Post delivery truck collided with a police car headed to a report of gunfire early yesterday morning, killing the driver of the truck and a police officer, the authorities said.

The authorities described the accident as a horrendous crash.

The 33,000-pound truck struck the passenger side of the police car at 3:37 a.m. at Bay Ridge Parkway and 18th Avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. The truck driver, Jacques Lavache, 38, was thrown from the cab. He was pronounced dead at Lutheran Medical Center.

The authorities said the truck barreled on after the collision, pushing the police cruiser over the curb and crushing it against the wall of the New Way Supermarket.

Two police officers -- David Regan, 27, and Kenneth Waszak, 34 -- were trapped inside the car.

An Emergency Service Unit removed them from the wreckage, but Officer Regan, who was in the front passenger seat, was pronounced dead at Maimonides Medical Center.

Officer Waszak, the driver, suffered internal bleeding and a fractured spine. He was listed in serious condition at Lutheran Medical Center. Capt. June Martucci, a police spokeswoman, said he was expected to recover.

''As of now, they said he is not going to be paralyzed,'' she said. ''But they said he is going to be hospitalized for a while.''

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who offered condolences to Officer Regan's parents at the hospital, said he reviewed pictures of the accident. ''It was one of the worst impacts I have ever seen,'' he said.

No citations were issued after the crash.

The authorities said Mr. Lavache, of the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, had a valid driver's license and the truck appeared to have no mechanical defects or safety problems.

The cruiser's flashing lights and siren were on before it entered the intersection, they said. It was not clear whether the truck had a green light as it drove through the intersection.

The police said the matter was being investigated, as was the reason for the 911 call reporting gunfire. No evidence of gunfire was found, the police said.

Mr. Lavache was the father of a newborn, the police said. Formerly a longtime driver for The Daily News, he had recently been working part time for The Post.

Mr. Lavache's phone number is unpublished, and efforts to reach his family were unsuccessful.

Ken Chandler, the publisher of The New York Post, issued a statement. ''This was a tragic accident,'' he said. ''Our sympathies go to the families and we hope the injured policeman recovers quickly.''

Officers Regan and Waszak both joined the department in the fall of 1998. They were classmates at the Police Academy and were assigned to night tours on patrol in the 62nd Precinct.

The authorities said Officer Regan, who lived in Garden City, N.Y., would have turned 28 on Thursday and planned to ask his girlfriend to marry him when she visited him from Texas next weekend.

Officer Regan had recently told the department that he would leave his job this summer to move to Texas, and he had begun packing for the move, said Chief Christopher T. Austin of the Garden City Park Volunteer Fire Department, in which Officer Regan served as a lieutenant.

Chief Austin, who is also a New York City police officer, said Officer Regan wore badge 102 -- the number that was on his grandfather's shield when he served in the same fire department years ago -- on both his police and fire uniforms.

''He was always there for us with whatever we needed,'' the chief said. ''The guys are taking it rough.''

Photo: Police officers inspect the wreckage of a police car that collided with a New York Post truck, in background, yesterday at Bay Ridge Parkway and 18th Avenue in Brooklyn. One officer and the driver of the truck died. (William C. Lopez for The New York Times)


DESPITE HIS thick glasses, rumpled jacket, a tie that barely reaches past his sternum and the obligatory chalk-covered pants of a professor, he cuts a handsome figure. Striding across the room in long, sure steps, he conducts his lecture like a maestro, the rat-a-tat-tat of the chalk on the board providing a counterpoint to his high, breathy, sometimes inaudible voice. He talks of ''vector bundles,'' ''spin groups,'' ''Dirac operators,'' ''connected Lie groups,'' ''trivial modules,'' ''free loop spaces.'' At one point he pauses: ''We've been living in a finite dimensional world. Now I'm inviting you to jump into a world of infinite dimension.''

He is Edward Witten of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. At the age of 36, he is among the foremost physicists of his day, and he is in New York lecturing the Columbia University mathematics department on, of all things, the applications of physics to mathematics. Math - which has to do with abstract, intangible relationships - has always been an important tool in physics - which has to do with concrete forces and objects in the actual world. Witten has turned things upside down, attempting to show how physics can provide new insights into math. Turning things upside down is something he seems to do as a matter of course.

''We shouldn't toss comparisons with Einstein around too freely,'' says Sam B. Treiman, a member of the physics department at Princeton, ''but when it comes to Witten. . . .'' His hands open in a gesture of helplessness. ''He's head and shoulders above the rest. He's started whole groups of people on new paths. He's started whole new fields. He produces elegant, breathtaking proofs which people gasp at, which leave them in awe.''

Harvard physicist Sidney Coleman calls Witten, simply, ''smarter than anyone else. He's brought light where there was darkness. Everything he does is golden. If you go to any theoretical physics department in the world, you can see that people are touched, and touched deeply, by Ed's work.''

Witten is everywhere at once, publishing papers and lecturing on cosmology, mathematics and many different aspects of physics. When Witten talks, physicists listen. In particular, they perked up their ears several years ago when he began to pay serious attention to a seemingly bizarre and long-forgotten theory that turns our current picture of the physical universe on its head. Although it is nearly impossible to put a finger on the single contribution that has made Witten such a force in physics, his passion for this controversial theory makes him a leading proponent of what may be the most revolutionary idea in physics in more than half a century - as revolutionary, claims Witten, as relativity; as revolutionary as quantum theory.

If the theory is right, as Witten believes it may ultimately prove to be, it could provide entirely new answers to fundamental questions asked by philosophers, poets and theologians since the beginning of human time: Why is the universe the way it is and what is the origin of matter? (Box, page 24.) Although the term makes Witten uncomfortable, some people call it a ''theory of everything.''

''String theory,'' as it is commonly known (some scientists call it ''superstring theory''), does away with the familiar image of a universe composed of billiard-ball-like particles pushed and pulled by familiar forces like gravity and electricity. Quantum theory had already revealed in the 1920's that the billiard balls have curious wave-like properties: they are more like vibrations than well-defined points in space. Now string theory is proposing that these points, in fact, are tiny loops, or closed ''strings,'' that the universe is built not of Grape-Nuts but of Cheerios. The strings, too, vibrate invisibly in subtle resonances. These vibrations, so the theory goes, make up everything in the universe - from light to lightning bugs, from gravity to gold.

These strings are not, of course, visible, nor are they like rubber bands or pieces of twine. Impossible to detect by any means known to science today, they are mathematical curves. Talking about strings, like talking about billiard balls or waves, is a crude way of trying to comprehend the unfamiliar in familiar terms. But then, physics has always had to resort to metaphor. As the late Niels Bohr, the father of quantum theory, once put it, ''When it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry. The poet, too, is not nearly so concerned with describing facts as with creating images.''

Previous scientific theories describing the universe have not yet been able to create an image that fits all the pieces of the universe together within a single conceptual framework. Physicists have opened the atom, like a series of Russian dolls, to reveal, first, electrons, protons and neutrons - then, more exotic entities like neutrinos and quarks. They have learned how nuclear, gravitational and electromagnetic forces mold these particles into molecules and galaxies. But nobody knows why, among other things, there should be electrons at all, or why particles are affected by gravity. String theory, according to its adherents, has the potential of offering a single consistent explanation for everything from the inner workings of the atom to the structure of the cosmos.

Summary: LEAD: DESPITE HIS thick glasses, rumpled jacket, a tie that barely reaches past his sternum and the obligatory chalk-covered pants of a professor, he cuts a handsome figure. Striding across the room in long, sure steps, he conducts his lecture like a maestro, the rat-a-tat-tat of the chalk on the board providing a counterpoint to his high, breathy, sometimes inaudible voice.


June 7, 2016 2:27 p.m. ET

Q: I’m a marketing manager, and I’d like to find a full-time job with benefits that would allow me to work from home. Any suggestions? —B.P.

A: New hires who work from home full-time have more than doubled to 2.2 million from about one million in 2011, according to an estimate by Ray Boggs, a vice president at IDC, a market-research...

Q: I’m a marketing manager, and I’d like to find a full-time job with benefits that would allow me to work from home. Any suggestions? —B.P.

A: New hires who work from home full-time have more than doubled to 2.2 million from about one million in 2011, according to an estimate by Ray Boggs, a vice president at IDC, a market-research company.

Postings for work-at-home management jobs, including marketing and sales managers, are the fastest-growing category, based on an internal analysis of postings on Indeed.com. This reflects an overall trend toward more hiring of skilled telecommuters, says Paul Wolfe, senior vice president, human resources, for the job board. About 30% of all U.S. work-from-home postings are for computer and math-related jobs, followed by management jobs at 16.2% and health-care jobs at 15.9%, he says.

A helpful subscription site for job seekers is FlexJobs, which vets telecommuting and other flexible jobs and also publishes lists of the best companies for flexible work, says Sara Sutton Fell, chief executive officer. Some employers offer “work from home” as a search option on the job or career pages of their websites. Most job boards are searchable for remote work, but you’ll need to screen your findings to avoid scams.

To impress hiring managers, be prepared to show you have strong communication, organizational and time-management skills and the ability to troubleshoot minor computer issues on your own, Ms. Sutton Fell says. Employers look for people who can take the initiative to communicate with co-workers and managers, contacting them with questions or important information, she says.

Summary: How to find a full-time job that lets you work from home. Hiring of skilled telecommuters is growing; job boards and websites can help. Wall Street Journal columnist Sue Shellenbarger answers a Work & Family question.


RISHON LEZION, Israel — The scam had all the trappings of a major con. Working from a dingy office building just a short drive from the glittering Mediterranean Sea, eight immigrants from Europe formed an unlikely team that allegedly conspired to dupe major multinational companies out of millions of dollars.

Most of them spoke French, the others Italian. Using their language skills and familiarity with European business practices, they telephoned employees at some of Europe’s biggest companies, identified themselves as top executives and tricked workers into transferring large sums of money to bank accounts in their control, police said. Among the companies targeted, according to police and suspects’ lawyers: Kia Motors, Hugo Boss, and Chanel.

It was a classic ‘‘fake CEO’’ or ‘‘fake president’’ scam, a scheme used by various criminals worldwide that has robbed companies of some $1.8 billion in just over two years, according to the FBI. Most of the eight suspects in the latest case are either jailed or under house arrest.

But not the man who boasts of pioneering the scam years ago, inspiring copycats like these around the globe: French-Israeli con artist Gilbert Chikli. He mysteriously remains a free man, living in luxury in his villa in a seaside Israeli city as French authorities try to bring him to justice over a massive con for which he was previously convicted.

‘‘If they have a problem, they can come see me. They know my address. I am not fleeing,’’ Chikli said by telephone. ‘‘Send them my regards.’’

The case illustrates how financial crime has globalized faster and more efficiently than the law enforcement that is trying to fight it.

Israel extradited Chikli to France to stand trial in 2008 for defrauding HSBC, Thomson, Accenture, and other companies out of 6.1 million euros ($6.9 million), and attempting to extract more than 70 million euros ($79.5 million) from at least 33 others. But in 2009, Chikli says he chartered a private plane and flew back to Israel.

A French court in May 2015 sentenced him in absentia to seven years in prison. Instead, he’s been sipping coffee at a portside café in Israel and hanging out at his private swimming pool.

France issued two requests to Israel for Chikli’s arrest, the French Justice Ministry said. The first request came the year after he escaped prosecution in France.

The second came this January, according to a copy of the Interpol notice. It was issued just two weeks after the release of a new heist-thriller film based on Chikli’s life story, starring Julie Gayet, the companion of French President Francois Hollande. Chikli’s wife, Shirly, attended the Paris premiere.

Still, Israeli officials show no signs of going after Chikli, even as they prosecute his alleged copycats for similar crimes. Israel’s police and Justice Ministry declined to explain why, saying they do not discuss individual cases.

France’s Justice Ministry said the Interpol notice issued against Chikli, called a ‘‘diffusion,’’ is the equivalent of a provisional arrest warrant, with an aim to extradite a criminal to France. Interpol cannot force a country to comply with arrest notices and some countries routinely ignore them. Israeli Justice Ministry spokesman Noam Sharvit said Israel adheres to extradition requests when warranted.

French Justice Ministry spokesman Olivier Pedro-Jose said Israeli-French cooperation on such cases comes with delays. ‘‘The execution of requests for help from French officials by their Israeli counterparts often relate to extremely complex financial affairs, which demand long and considerable investigations,’’ he said.

Irit Kohn, a former director of the Israeli Justice Ministry’s international department, said the countries’ differing legal systems have held up cooperation on criminal cases.

Criminals, in contrast, have been far more nimble at running their cross-border activities, keeping a step ahead of the law.

In the case of the eight immigrants in Israel, police began tracking them in November, secretly videotaping them from inside their office in an old building housing a car-repair shop in Netanya, a Mediterranean city north of Tel Aviv that is home to a large French immigrant community.

On May 2, police raided the suspects’ office. Suspects tried to destroy computers and telephones, police say, in an effort to get rid of evidence.

Summary: The scam had all the trappings of a major con, eight immigrants from Europe formed an unlikely team that allegedly conspired to dupe major multinational companies out of millions.


If you don’t snore, you likely know someone who does. Between 19% and 40% of adults snore when they sleep, and that percentage climbs even higher, particularly for men, as we age. It’s a nuisance for bed partners, but researchers say we shouldn’t be so quick to write off snoring or other forms of disrupted breathing while asleep as mere annoyances; instead, they could be affecting the brain, according to new research.

Snoring is a form of sleep apnea, in which people stop breathing for a few seconds or several minutes dozens of times in an hour. Any disruption of breathing during sleep can affect the brain, say researchers of a new study published in the journal Neurology. They found that people with sleep apnea tended to develop memory problems and other signs of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) earlier than people without such sleep disorders.

MORE The Power of Sleep

Ricardo Osorio, MD, research assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Center for Brain Health, and his colleagues studied 2,000 people enrolled in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI)—a population of 55 to 75 year olds, some of whom are cognitively normal, some who have mild cognitive impairment and others who have Alzheimer’s dementia. Everyone was asked about their snoring or sleep apnea, and researchers followed up every six months for two to three years to record any changes in their cognitive status.

Those who reported having sleep apnea or snoring tended to develop signs of mild cognitive impairment, including memory lapses and slower speed on cognitive skills, about 12 years earlier on average than those who didn’t report any sleep-disordered breathing. Mild cognitive impairment often precedes Alzheimer’s dementia, but not all people who develop MCI go on to get Alzheimer’s. The connection between disrupted sleep breathing and MCI remained strong even after Osorio accounted for the effects of Alzheimer’s-related genes, gender, education, depression and heart disease risk factors, all of which have been associated with increased risk of cognitive decline.

MORE Alzheimer’s Linked to Sleeping Pills and Anti-Anxiety Drugs

Osorio also saw a connection between sleep apnea or snoring and Alzheimer’s dementia, but it wasn’t as robust as the link to MCI. That might be because other studies have found that not only are sleep disorders a risk factor for Alzheimer’s, but they are also a symptom of the degenerative brain disease—so those who already developed Alzheimer’s dementia may not have been accurately reporting their sleep habits.

Osorio is careful not to implicate all snoring as a precursor to memory problems or Alzheimer’s. But particularly in the elderly, he says doctors should consider the potential effect that disrupted breathing during sleep can have on the brain. While it’s not clear how sleep disorders might be increasing the risk of MCI or Alzheimer’s, it’s possible that the cumulate effects of even the short periods when the person isn’t breathing could deprive brain neurons of critical oxygen, and Alzheimer’s has been linked to slower or abnormal blood flow caused by hypertension and high cholesterol levels. Other studies have also shown that the protein responsible for Alzheimer’s, amyloid, tends to build up during the day when the nerves are active and decline at night during deep sleep. If people are being roused from deep sleep by their apnea or snoring, then they aren’t enjoying prolonged periods of low amyloid production, so the substance can build up and potentially form plaques.

MORE Here’s How Much Experts Think You Should Sleep Every Night

Osorio also found that it’s possible to counteract some of the effects of sleep apnea or snoring. He also studied people who used a device to prevent apnea, known as a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, which keeps airways open during sleep. Even though they snored or had sleep apnea, people who used the device developed MCI or Alzheimer’s at the same rate as those who didn’t have these sleep problems. CPAP machines are cumbersome and uncomfortable to use, and many people drop them after a few weeks. But, says Osorio, they may have more reason to stick with them now. “A lot of people don’t use them because they see no benefits,” he says, “but if they know it can improve their memory, they may definitely try to do better.”

Read next: 7 Signs You’re Not Getting Enough Sleep

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Summary: Sleep disorders, including sleep apnea and snoring, can have harmful effects on the brain over the long term


Deakin University has sacked journalism professor Martin Hirst for serious misconduct, citing three tweets they claimed breached the institution’s code of conduct for academics.

Hirst, 59, was informed by letter on Thursday afternoon that his employment in Deakin’s school of communication and creative arts had been terminated. He has until 23 June to appeal.

Deakin found that content posted to Hirst’s private Twitter account @ethicalmartini was “offensive and/or disrespectful and/or threatening and had the potential to damage the reputation of the university”.

The former journalist was suspended without pay on 19 April after being accused of serious misconduct.

Hirst told Guardian Australia he was disappointed and saddened by the university’s decision and denied threatening a student in one of the tweets.

Related: Deakin university journalism professor suspended without pay over tweets

The university received a complaint about an exchange on 20 March 2016 in which Hirst said “so are you happy to fail commerce?” to a Deakin University student, Lachlan McDougall, who had insulted his teaching.

The exchange came about after the News Corp columnist Rita Panahi said Hirst was a “rent-seeking simpleton full of bitterness & bile” after he called her unstable.

McDougall replied: “I’m glad I’m a commerce student and not subject to this man’s [Hirst’s] stewardship.”

Hirst argued in his formal response to the allegations that he was not threatening McDougall in the tweet but was merely questioning his intelligence, and he didn’t realise McDougall was a student at Deakin at the time.

The university disagreed and said the tweet would be interpreted by a reasonable person as a threat to the academic progress of McDougall.

After an investigation the university identified two other tweets and accused Hirst of breaching the code of conduct for academics.

The second tweet contained a photo of a knitted beanie on which the words “fuck it” are printed, with the caption: “Back to work after the Easter break? You need this beanie. I’ve got mine on today, it’s a subtle hint to your boss.”

A third was a retweet of a comment by the ABC host Mark Colvin about Andrew Bolt’s relatively small audience on Sky News, to which Hirst had added the words “reassuring, masturbating chimps”.

Deakin’s school of communication and creative arts told Hirst his Twitter use constituted “repeated instances of misconduct”.

The sacking comes despite protests from the National Tertiary Education Union.

The Victorian division secretary of, the NTEU, Colin Long, had demanded Hirst be reinstated and his salary backdated because the allegations were not of a “serious enough nature” to warrant suspension under the university’s enterprise agreement.

Comment on the termination has been sought from the university.

In 2014 Hirst narrowly escaped losing his job after Bolt drew attention to his Twitter account by posting a series of his tweets on his blog.

The university said it had taken his conduct in 2014 into account when deciding to terminate his employment.

When asked about Hirst’s 2014 suspension a Deakin university spokeswoman said at the time: “It is the university’s practice not to comment on individual staffing matters. All staff are expected to comply with their employment obligations and the university’s code of conduct.

“Deakin university respects academic freedom and has clear policy on the protection afforded its academic staff in this regard.”

Summary: Uni says Martin Hirst breached code of conduct with tweets that included an exchange in which he asked a student ‘are you happy to fail commerce?’


A group of companies including Facebook fb and Koch Industries is pledging to give ex-cons a second chance.

The 19 major companies convened at the White House Monday, where they pledged to overhaul their hiring practices to lower the barriers to employment for those with a criminal record. Under the Fair Chance Business Pledge, the companies agreed to take measures such as “banning the box,” or delaying questions about an applicant’s criminal record until it can be placed in context.

President Obama’s push to reform the criminal justice system, which includes easing ex-cons’ re-entry into society, has received support from both sides of the aisle. The arch-conservative Koch brothers, who control Koch Industries, have made criminal justice reform a priority, too; over the past decade, the Kochs have poured seven figures worth of donations into the cause, according to the Atlantic.

“We believe that we shouldn’t be rejecting people at the very start of the hiring process who may otherwise be capable and qualified, and want an opportunity to work hard,” Koch Industries and its subsidiary Georgia-Pacific said in a joint pledge, according to the White House. The other companies in attendance echoed those sentiments their pledges.

Along with Facebook and Koch Industries, companies that signed the pledge include American Airlines aal , The Coca-Coca Company ko , PepsiCo pep , Xerox xrx , Unilever ul , Starbucks sbux , Uber uber , Prudential puk , and Google googl .

Summary: Including Facebook, Google, and Starbucks


Hugh Dancy has been cast in "Fifty Shades Darker," the next film based on EL James' erotic book series.

Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, who starred in 2015's Fifty Shades of Grey, will reprise their roles in the Universal sequel, playing Anastasia and billionaire Christian Grey, respectively. In the follow-up, Ana starts a new job, and at the same time she's faced with dealing with the reappearance of some of Christian's former flames.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: 'KNICK' ACTOR ERIC JOHNSON JOINS 'FIFTY SHADES DARKER'

Dancy will play Dr. John Flynn, a psychiatrist that Grey begins seeing after the reappearance of his former lover (who initiated him into the world of S&M), Mrs. Elena “Robinson” Lincoln (played by Kim Basinger). Originally from England, Flynn moved to Seattle after he married an American woman.

Tyler Hoechlin, Rita Ora and Marcia Gay Harden also star in "Darker," which is filming in Vancouver.

James Foley is directing both Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, based on a script by Niall Leonard. Universal has slated "Darker," which sees producers Michael De Luca, Dana Brunetti and James returning, for release on Feb. 10, 2017. Marcus Viscidi also produces.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: BELLA HEATHCOTE JOINS 'FIFTY SHADES DARKER'

Fifty Shades Freed, which will be filmed back-to-back with Darker, is set to open Feb. 9, 2018. The first installment, Fifty Shades of Grey, was a huge hit, earning $560 million at the global box office.

English actor Dancy currently stars on Hulu’s drama The Path with Aaron Paul and Michelle Monaghan. He previously starred on NBC’s Hannibal, for which he received two Critics’ Choice Award nominations, and he was nominated for an Emmy for playing the Earl of Essex in HBO's miniseries Elizabeth I.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: KIM BASINGER IN FINAL TALKS FOR 'FIFTY SHADES DARKER'

Dancy is repped by UTA, United Agents, Parseghian Planco and Jackoway Tyerman.

Summary: Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan are returning for the sequel to Universal's hit adaptation of EL James' erotic novels.


The job search is kind of a touchy subject for Garett Bonk and his peers.

The Crown Point, Ind., native nailed down a job with elder-law firm Delaney, Delaney & Voorn earlier this year, but not all of his peers at The John Marshall Law School can say the same. So they just don't talk about it.

It's not that job hunting is particularly rough for this spring's crop of law school grads — it's just ultracompetitive, said Bonk.

The job market for students getting their law degrees and MBAs has steadily improved since it bottomed out during the recession, experts say, but finding work after the intense, expensive years in graduate and professional school is still no walk in the park.

It won't be known for a year how 2016 graduates were hired and in what fields. But industry watchers say the job market is stable and steady for graduates with advanced degrees.

It's been an uphill climb for those grads since the job market dried up in the depths of the recession. On-campus recruiting tanked in 2009 but started showing signs of improvement in 2011 and has continued to climb every year since, according to Megan Hendricks, executive director of the MBA Career Services & Employer Alliance.

"Based on our most recent recruiting trends survey as well as anecdotal information from our members, we expect to see a steady increase in recruiting in 2016," said Hendricks.

Three out of four employers said they expect to hire MBA graduates in 2016 and 85 percent of that group plans to hire as many or more of these candidates as they did in 2015, according to a poll of employers conducted late last year by the Graduate Management Admission Council.

Like the market for MBAs, recruitment of law school graduates to law firms and corporate America vanished in 2009. "It's been one step forward, two steps back since then," said James Leipold, executive director of the National Association for Law Placement.

Take, for example, firms making job offers after callback interviews, Leipold said. Before the recession, 60 percent of firms typically made offers, but it plunged to 37 percent in 2009. Only in the last three years has it been steadily on the rise again.

Last year, 54 percent of firms made job offers after callbacks, Leipold said.

Prospects also have gotten brighter because there are fewer law school graduates at a time of increased recruiting, according to Leipold.

Earlier this year, the association reported 95.3 percent of 2015 summer associates — who will graduate this spring — received an entry-level law associate position offer, up from 93.4 percent last year. That's in stark contrast to 2009, when only 69 percent of summer associates received offers.

About half of law grads wind up at law firms. For the other half, hiring is also challenging, competitive and improving in other sectors, except in the public sector where funding is limited and positions are scarce, experts say.

If law firms brought on 100 summer associates a generation ago, these days the class size is a fraction of that, meaning increasing numbers of new lawyers are looking for jobs in burgeoning fields such as compliance, legal technology and even at legal outsourcing firms.

"There will be a lot of new roles for lawyers that may not be in the traditional practice of law," said Bill Chamberlain, assistant dean and director for law career services at DePaul University College of Law. "We'll see more and more people being hired in heavily regulated industries," he said.

Despite the changing face of the industry, "it looks like it'll be as good as last year if not slightly better," Chamberlain said.

That's good news for Bonk, 27, and his peers who entered law school in August 2013, when the economy was still recovering from its recession-era wounds.

It was tough to find a job with an undergraduate degree in 2012, so when he entered law school in Chicago that same year — in a city chock full of wanna-be lawyers, including those at two of the nation's top law schools — he expected a lot of competition.

"By the time I graduated I knew it would be very competitive in Chicago, given the number of law schools," he said. "Chicago is a major city that's attractive to students from all over the country."

So Bonk focused on the growing field of elder law in hopes giving himself an edge. He also developed a career plan and worked with the career services office at John Marshall. "The strongest thing I did was network and practice mock interviews," he said.

His strategy worked, since he found the internship during his second year of law school at Delaney, Delaney & Voorn.

Last fall, Bonk began looking for jobs because he wasn't sure Delaney would hire him full-time. He set up casual coffees with contacts. Some of those turned into lunch dates. "I don't think they would have been as receptive when the economy was rougher. Now there's less pressure," Bonk said.

Three interviews with potential employers followed. Then the job offer from Delaney arrived in early March. "In the back of mind I had a sense of urgency," Bonk said.

Hussam Bachour has also found the job search to be a lot smoother than expected.

Bachour, 30, will complete his master's degree in supply chain management this month and his MBA from Loyola University Chicago's Quinlan School of Business later this year. He's had several interviews, a few offers and is weighing "the opportunity that most closely aligns with my career aspirations," he said.

Bachour, a native of Damascus, Syria, said he has applied for roughly 30 jobs. He wants to work in supply chain management and he and his wife, who is a physician, would prefer to remain in Chicago.

"When I started the program, the economy was still recovering and I didn't expect companies to bang on my door," said Bachour. "Now I think things are changing, I have seen many opportunities and the economy is doing better."


Andrew Ng, chief scientist at Chinese Web giant Baidu, isn’t concerned about the idea of killer robots. But he does foresee advanced robotics using artificial intelligence taking people’s jobs.

Speaking at the Structure Data conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Ng said, “Worrying about killer robots today is like worrying about overpopulation on Mars.”

While he admits some day it’s possible that robots might be intelligent enough for us to worry about them killing people, they aren’t even close to capable today. “I don’t object to people starting committees to study this, but I don’t want to be on it,” he said.

Instead, Ng is thinking about the short-term effect of greater access to deep learning, which is currently being applied to things such as identifying images, understanding speech, and improving things like web search or advertisement engagement. Ng also anticipates the advantages of deep learning to make their way into areas like farming, reading medical images and other industries where the use of AI and robots will replace jobs.

“It will replace jobs in the next couple of years,” Ng predicted. He added that we have seen the impact of technology replacing jobs throughout history, and he anticipates a painful middle area where people will need to be retrained. To mitigate this rapid fire shift in jobs, Ng suggested implementing some type of basic income in which the government pays a living wage to people.

“However, I’m not sure the U.S. is ready for a basic income, so something like paying people to study, might work better,” Ng explained in an interview after his talk.

Others in Silicon Valley have also echoed the call for some type of basic income. Last year, Zipcar CEO Robin Chase called for some type of basic income as she worried about the impact of technology on jobs. Finland and Switzerland have proposed some type of basic income program while Ontario, Canada is testing its own policy.

Despite the potential for job losses, Ng is optimistic about the overall changes to society that will come from investing in artificial intelligence. From the hope of safer roads thanks to self-driving cars to real-time translations, the impacts of AI will be felt everywhere.

Furthermore, AI is making money for businesses already. Ng cited Baidu bidu generates huge amounts of revenue from better search powered by deep learning and better ads delivered.

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Even Google goog is turning to deep learning to improve its own search results. Ng reflected these sorts of changes are only near-term benefits driven by supervised learning in which the computer is given an item and must make a prediction. For example, showing the computer an image and having it identify the objects or people depicted. Another instance could be presenting the computer with an email and having the system decide if it’s spam or not.

Those supervised learning advances are being applied today, but research into other types of learning, such as the types of artificial intelligence that led to Google’s algorithms beating Go on Tuesday night, are coming. Those should be even more powerful.

But in order to take advantage of them, we will have to build new infrastructures first. Some sort of safety net for displaced jobs is part of the equation, but other priorities such as rethinking transportation infrastructure to account for self-driving cars is another.

Ng offered the example of a self-driving car meeting a worker in a construction zone as an example. Today, with a human driving the car, a construction worker simply holds up his hand to stop the car and then motions it forward. To better serve self-driving cars, society will have to adapt to keep the construction worker safe. Ng suggested the worker would have a Wi-Fi beacon or some other machine-readable object to communicate with the self-driving car.

Yes, building that type of high-tech infrastructure into a roads, signage, and traffic cops is a big task. But the Department of Transportation is already mulling over standards to implement, such as vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. Forcing a self-driving car to interact with humans in the same way human drivers interact with humans would be impractical. But building an infrastructure where both AI and humans can work together is what Ng hopes can happen.

It’s no surprise he doesn’t have time to worry about killer robots.

Summary: But at least they won't kill you.


Any Apple fan knows that the company’s keynotes aren’t just about the products being unveiled — it’s about the way Apple does it.

Apple’s late co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs had a reputation for captivating the audience during big events and announcements.

The phrase “one more thing” became famous because of Jobs’ tenancy to surprise the crowd with another announcement after the keynote was expected to be over.

Here’s a look at some of the greatest moments Apple has had on stage so far.

Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 after being fired by the board in 1985, and it was a huge moment for the company. Apple was in trouble — the Mac was tanking and the company was on the cusp of bankruptcy. You could tell just by the crowd’s energy that Job’s return to Apple seemed to indicate that a big change was about to come.

Jobs introduced the first iMac by pointing out all of the issues with computers that were current at the time in 1998 — a lot of them were slow, ugly, and difficult to use. That’s why the original iMac was pitched as the first truly user-friendly computer. The translucent colorful design is still memorable today.

At an event in 1999, Jobs showcased the iBook’s Wi-Fi capabilities by picking it up and moving it while he was still browsing the web. That’s an every day task in today’s world, but about 16 years ago it seemed like magic.

The iPod was nothing short of a groundbreaking device — one that’s largely responsible for the shift from CD players to MP3 players to storing music on our phones like we do today. The crowd was pretty silent when Jobs initially introduced the iPod and explained what it does. But when he pulled the device out of his pocket and showed the world what it looked like, the crowd erupted in cheer.

When Jobs announced the first iPhone, he initially made it sound like Apple was going to announce three new devices:

“An iPod…a phone…and an internet communicator.”

He then showcased the iPhone, which he pitched as all three gadgets rolled up into one device. The audience loved it.

After Jobs officially took the wraps off the new phone, he famously prank called Starbucks and asked for 4,000 lattes to go. The demo was meant to show how easy it is to find a specific location on a map and then call that place seamlessly using the new iPhone.

“Just kidding, wrong number!” he said after the crowd laughed and applauded.

The unveiling of the iPad itself wasn’t too much of a surprise — as is the case with tech news cycles today, many had speculated back in 2010 that Apple was indeed working on a tablet computer. But many had expected the iPad to cost around $1,000, which is why it was a bit of a shock when Jobs revealed that the starting price was actually $499.

Jobs loved to tease specific demos, products, and announcements that he was particularly proud of by saving them for last and telling the crowd there was “one more thing” he had to show them.

One of the most memorable of these was when he demoed FaceTime for the first time on the iPhone 4 by calling Jony Ive back in 2010. Back then, the ability to have clear face-to-face phone calls that worked seamlessly was a game changer.

“It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough,” Jobs said on stage when Apple unveiled the second iPad in March 2011. “That it’s technology married with liberal arts married with the humanities that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.”

The image became iconic because it sums up Apple’s values so well. It’s not all about how powerful the technology is — it’s about how simple and easy it is to use.

The Apple Watch was the first new product category that Apple has unveiled since Jobs’ passing in 2011, and Cook introduced the device with Jobs’ own famous catch phrase. The unveiling was also significant because the watch had been anticipated for more than a year before its official introduction. Although it wasn’t surprising to learn that Apple had been working on a watch, no one had known what it would be called or what it would look like until last year’s keynote in September 2014.

When Apple bought Beats Electronics for $3 billion last year, Dr. Dre and renowned record executive Jimmy Iovine were brought on as official Apple employees. They’re titles at Apple are simply “Jimmy and Dre,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

Summary: Steve Jobs once pranked Starbucks and ordered 4,000 lattes


Brown had both an extraordinary eye for landscape and the practical ability to deliver hugely ambitious schemes that reshaped the way that more than 170 of this country’s most special historic houses relate to their surroundings. These wonderful landscape gardens are now places of incomparable beauty and many, including some that are not usually open to the public, will welcome visitors in this anniversary year, as will many other gardens around the country. I am delighted to say that this will also include a festival week for my own garden at Highgrove.

The gardens at Blenheim Palace, designed by Capability Brown Photo: Blenheim Palace

I think it is important to remember that the gardens designed by Capability Brown, and by many of his successors, were not only designed to sit in harmony with the countryside, they were created to be an integral part of its living and working fabric. As such, they have always helped the rural economy in surrounding areas. Today, the ability of those magnificent gardens to generate income from visitors makes a real difference to many hard-pressed communities.

"I personally believe that we are incredibly lucky to be blessed with such a rich assortment of historic and cultural gems in this country"

"I personally believe that we are incredibly lucky to be blessed with such a rich assortment of historic and cultural gems in this country"

I happen to know that it takes a special kind of resilience to live and work in the countryside, coping with both shifts in the wider economy and the ever more extreme vagaries of the weather, thanks to dangerously accelerating climate change. But in the same way that gardens and entire landscapes can amaze us with their ability to recover relatively quickly from floods and storms, so too can their people.

The way that local communities have pulled together to ensure a speedy recovery – even after the devastation and heart-breaking losses we have seen in recent months – has been truly remarkable. I know from the work that my Countryside Fund has been doing to help in these stricken areas that even those that were hardest hit are once again “open for business”. There is no doubt in my mind that the best way to help flooded areas recover is by people continuing to visit and stay in these beautiful places in order to keep the vital local businesses going.

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales disembarks a police boat as he visits flood affected parts of Somerset Photo: GETTY IMAGES

I am, therefore, delighted to hear of the initiative around the “Countryside is GREAT” campaign to encourage people to do exactly this in spring this year. From first-hand experience I know this initiative will give a much-needed and welcome boost to our rural economies.

But, perhaps more notably, I personally believe that we are incredibly lucky to be blessed with such a rich assortment of historic and cultural gems in this country, not to mention the jewel of our national parks and, above all, some of the wonders of our many hidden gardens, which are once again ready to amaze and delight visitors.

I can only encourage you, therefore, to enjoy the best of what Great Britain has to offer this spring, and to take this opportunity to wish the Countryside is GREAT Campaign and English Tourism Week every possible success, for both hosts and visitors alike.

Summary: This spring, we should rediscover these beautiful places in the heart of the   countryside - a visit will lift the spirits and boost our rural economies


As it prepares to spin off PayPal over the summer, eBay reported stronger than expected first quarter earnings Wednesday thanks to its growing payments business. But eBay’s marketplace is declining, which doesn’t bode well for its success after saying goodbye to PayPal.

Indeed, the report hammered home the divergent trajectories of the two businesses in one nugget of data. PayPal, the one-time upstart in the corporate family, has finally eclipsed eBay’s marketplace in revenue.

Sales in EBay’s bazaar of antique vases, used cars and outlet clothing fell 4% to $2 billion. Meanwhile, PayPal’s revenue grew 14% to $2.1 billion, slightly edging out its sister division.

The payments arm has long been the fastest growing business for eBay. The core marketplace business was still growing, although at a slower rate than PayPal. But while digital and mobile payments take off, the marketplace business has recently floundered amid stiff competition from Amazon and others. The changing of the guard was inevitable.

In anticipation and under pressure from investor Carl Icahn, eBay decided to spin-off PayPal, the company it acquired more than a decade ago. CEO John Donahoe explained that the once-symbiotic relationship between the two divisions wasn’t as tight as it used to be and that they could do better alone while focusing on their respective businesses.

While all signs point to PayPal emerging from the spinoff as a healthy company, it will likely be a different story for eBay. Without PayPal, eBay would merely be a slow-growth business at best and a possible acquisition target, and a possible acquisition target of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba could be an interested buyer as it looks to expand to the U.S.

Short term, however, Devin Wenig, the future CEO of eBay’s marketplace business, mentioned another challenge for eBay’s marketplace. Recent changes by Google to its search algorithm has negatively impacted product listings in results and that eBay is looking to fix the problem.

Thankfully for eBay, it doesn’t look like the company will face competition from PayPal anytime soon. Earlier this month, the company revealed additional terms of the split, with eBay and PayPal entering into a deal that prohibits them from competing against each other after they’ve parted ways. PayPal is blocked from creating its own marketplace for physical goods, while eBay has promised to steer clear of building a payments system. As part of the agreement, the two companies will share data around payment risk and security.

In prelude to the split, eBay and PayPal still report their earnings as a combined company. Its overall quarterly revenue increased 4% from a year earlier to $4.45 billion, in line with analyst expectations. Profits excluding certain expenses came in at $943 million or 77 cents per share, slightly higher than the 70 cents that analysts had predicted.

EBay’s core marketplace quarterly revenue declined for first quarterly decline since 2009. Gross merchandise volume for fell 2% to $20.1 billion. International volume, which was always touted as a huge growth opportunity for eBay, was down 4% in the quarter.

As expected, PayPal had a strong quarter in which payment volume rose 18% to $61 billion and the number of transactions grew 24% to over 1 billion. Mobile payments through PayPal are up 40% year-over-year and now represent 30% of all transactions.

PayPal isn’t immune from competition either, especially on mobile, with Apple Pay, fast growing payments unicorn Stripe, Google and others all vying to power payments for consumers. We’ll see how Wall Street values both PayPal and eBay in the coming months.

This article originally appeared on Fortune.com

Summary: All signs point to PayPal emerging as a healthy company