Alphabet’s exec Ruth Porat spoke on a conference call this week about the company’s Q1: “Our revenues of $24.8 billion in the first quarter demonstrate our broad-based strength globally, with revenues up 22% year on year. In constant currency, our consolidated revenues grew 24% versus 1Q 2016. Growth in advertising revenues was again driven by … Read more
The Faroe Islands are experiencing a woman shortage. The Island’s population is 50,000, and they have a “gender deficit” of 2,000 more men than women. Increasingly, Faroese men are bringing women in from Asia, and there are currently 300 women from Thailand and the Phillipines, and Asians now make up the largest ethnic minority. The … Read more
The U.S. is one of only two countries that allow drug ads on TV (the other is New Zealand), and spending keeps rising. Most other markets have not increased spending since 2012. $6b was the amount spent last year, mostly on TV, and the ads are shown most heavily during major network’s evening news, Mike … Read more
Facebook has acknowledged that they are exploited by governments in manipulating public opinion, and also said they would try to do something about reducing these types of “information operations.” Governments use Facebook to amplify a view, sow distrust, and spread confusion, according to the company. Recently, Facebook made an attempt to cut down this use … Read more
Indonesian female clerics issued a fatwa (nothing legal but a matter of religion) after holding a 3-day meeting. They also want the government there to make marriage illegal for women under 18. Currently, 16 is the marriage age. According to the UN, 1/4 of Indonesian women marry before they are 18. The fatwa is unusual … Read more
Protest over President Michel Temer’s austerity measures are crippling public transport in several major cities, and many factories, businesses and schools are closed, including in major tourist areas. Police have barricaded protesters from entering airports (some flights were delayed and cancelled earlier) and are trying to clear up roadways. Brazil has not had a nationwide … Read more
Citizens are protesting the government after a March 20 attempt by the country’s highest court to dissolve the national assembly, which would in turn weaken President Maduro’s opponents. Read more
The Australian Federal Police announced this week that they illegally obtained a journalist’s phone records under the Turnbull government’s new metadata retention plan. The breach was accidental, according to the police, and happened as part of an investigation into a leak of police material. The journalist was not notified about their data being accessed, due … Read more
A temporary funding bill was approved by the House and Senate. Read more
Email and texts will no longer be collected just for mentioning a target of the agency, according to the NSA; only communications sent to and from a target will be collected Read more
April 24: Wall Street rallied amid an outlook that a centrist will likely win the French presidential election. April 25: Bull run amid strong earnings by Caterpillar, MacDonald’s. Nasdaq rose 41.65 point to close above 6,000 for the first time ever. April 28: Stocks edged lower after first quarter growth turned out to be the … Read more
The secretary of state warned the UN Security Council that failure to act now on North Korea may bring “catastrophic consequences.” He called for “painful new sanctions” to pressure North Korea to give up it’s nuclear and missile programs. North Korea tested another missile day of the meeting. Reportedly, the test likely failed. Read more