Wednesday 31 October 2018

Lion Air crash: Passengers recall 'panic' over engine problems on previous flight from Bali

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Lion Air crash: Passengers recall 'panic' over engine problems on previous flight from BaliDivers searched on Tuesday for victims of the Lion Air plane crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people and high-tech equipment was deployed to find its data recorders as reports emerged of problems on the jet's previous flight that had terrified passengers. Search and rescue personnel worked through the night, sending 24 body bags to identification experts while the airline flew dozens of grieving relatives to the country's capital, Jakarta. The two-month-old Boeing jet crashed into the Java Sea early on Monday, just 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta for an island off Sumatra. Its pilot had requested clearance to return to the airport just 2-3 minutes after takeoff, which aviation experts said indicated a problem, though its cause is still baffling. The National Search and Rescue Agency said 10 intact bodies as well as body parts have been recovered. Aircraft debris and personal belongings from ID cards to clothing and bags found scattered in seas northeast of Jakarta are being spread out on tarps at a port in north Jakarta. The disaster has reignited concerns about safety in Indonesia's fast-growing aviation industry, which was recently removed from European Union and US blacklists. Jakarta plane crash: Flight Lion Air JT610 Two passengers on the plane's previous flight from Bali to Jakarta on Sunday have described issues that caused frustration and alarm. Alon Soetanto told TVOne the plane dropped suddenly several times in the first few minutes of its flight. "About three to eight minutes after it took off, I felt like the plane was losing power and unable to rise. That happened several times during the flight," he said. "We felt like in a roller coaster. Some passengers began to panic and vomit." His account is consistent with data from flight-tracking sites that show erratic speed, altitude and direction in the minutes after the Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet took off. A similar pattern is also seen in data pinged from Monday's fatal flight. Safety experts cautioned, however, that the data must be checked for accuracy against the plane's so-called black boxes, which officials are confident will be recovered. Lion Air's president Edward Sirait said there were reports of technical problems with the flight from Bali but said it had been resolved in accordance with the procedures released by the plane manufacturer. In a detailed post online, Indonesian TV presenter Conchita Caroline said boarding of Sunday's flight was delayed by more than an hour and when the plane was being towed, a technical problem forced it to return to its parking space. She said passengers sat in the cabin without air conditioning for at least 30 minutes listening to an "unusual" engine roar, while some children vomited from the overbearing heat, until staff faced with rising anger let them disembark. After about 30 minutes of passengers waiting on the tarmac, they were told to board again while an engine was checked. Caroline said she queried a staff member but was met with a defensive response. "He just showed me the flight permit that he had signed and he said the problem had been settled," she said. "He treated me like a passenger full of disturbing dramas even though what I was asking represented friends and confused tourists who didn't understand Indonesian." Women, who are relatives of passengers on the crashed Lion Air flight JT610, cry at Bhayangkara R. Said Sukanto hospital in Jakarta Credit: Reuters Distraught family members struggled to comprehend the sudden loss of loved ones in the crash of a plane with experienced pilots in fine weather. "This is a very difficult time for our family," said Leo Sihombing, outside a crisis centre set up for family members at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport. "We know that it is very unlikely that my cousin is still alive, but no one can provide any certainty or explanation," he said as other family members wept and hugged each other. "What we hope now is rescuers can find his body, so we can bury him properly, and authorities can reveal what caused the plane crash," Sihombing said. Specialist ships and a remotely operated underwater vehicle have been deployed to search for the plane's hull and flight recorder. At a glance | Annual aviation deaths Search and Rescue Agency chief Muhammad Syaugi has said he's certain it won't take long to locate the hull of the aircraft and its flight recorders due to the relatively shallow 30 meter (115 foot) depth of the waters where it crashed. The crash is the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore plunged into the sea in December 2014, killing all 162 on board. Indonesian airlines were barred in 2007 from flying to Europe because of safety concerns, though several were allowed to resume services in the following decade. The ban was completely lifted in June. The U.S. lifted a decadelong ban in 2016. Lion Air, a discount carrier, is one Indonesia's youngest and biggest airlines, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations. Earlier this year it confirmed a deal to buy 50 new Boeing narrow-body aircraft worth an estimated $6.2 billion. It has been expanding aggressively in Southeast Asia, a fast-growing region of more than 600 million people.




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Protests greet world's biggest statue in remote corner of India

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Protests greet world's biggest statue in remote corner of IndiaAngry local communities have warned India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stay away from the inauguration on Wednesday of the world's biggest statue, a 182 metre (600 feet) high tribute to an independence hero. The Statue of Unity, which is twice the size of the Statue of Liberty, has been built in a remote corner of Gujarat state as a flagship project of conservative leader Modi who is to open it on Wednesday. Posters of Modi with Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani in a town near the statue were torn down or had the faces blackened at the weekend.




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Over nearly a century, Rose Mallinger saw the best and worst of America. Until Saturday.

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Over nearly a century, Rose Mallinger saw the best and worst of America. Until Saturday.The oldest victim of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting had seen anti-Semitism rise and fall over the years, but was shielded from the worst of it. Until Saturday.




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Buffalo diocese says '60 Minutes' report 'incomplete'

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Buffalo diocese says '60 Minutes' report 'incomplete'BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The Diocese of Buffalo declined to address details of a television report where diocesan insiders called for the bishop's resignation Monday, saying he hadn't done enough when confronted with reports of clergy sexual misconduct.




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Nature pushed to the brink by 'runaway consumption'

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Nature pushed to the brink by 'runaway consumption'Unbridled consumption has decimated global wildlife, triggered a mass extinction and exhausted Earth's capacity to accommodate humanity's expanding appetites, the conservation group WWF warned Tuesday. From 1970 to 2014, 60 percent of all animals with a backbone -- fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals -- were wiped out by human activity, according to WWF's "Living Planet" report, based on an ongoing survey of more than 4,000 species spread over 16,700 populations scattered across the globe. "The situation is really bad, and it keeps getting worse," WWF International director general Marco Lambertini told AFP.




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Trump Calls Florida's Andrew Gillum A 'Thief' In Tweet Supporting Ron DeSantis

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Trump Calls Florida's Andrew Gillum A 'Thief' In Tweet Supporting Ron DeSantisPresident Trump referred to Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum as a “thief” in a tweet supporting Republican Ron DeSantis.




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Lion Air passenger flight carrying 189 people crashes into sea in Indonesia

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Lion Air passenger flight carrying 189 people crashes into sea in IndonesiaAn Indonesian aircraft with 189 people on board crashed into the sea on Monday as it tried to circle back to the capital, Jakarta, from where it had taken off minutes earlier, and there were likely no survivors, officials said.




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UN rights chief wants 'international experts' to help probe Khashoggi hit

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UN rights chief wants 'international experts' to help probe Khashoggi hitThe UN rights chief called Tuesday for "international experts" to help investigate the murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and called on Riyadh to reveal the whereabouts of his body. "For an investigation to be carried out free of any appearance of political considerations, the involvement of international experts, with full access to evidence and witnesses, would be highly desirable," Michelle Bachelet said in a statement. Khashoggi, a 59-year-old Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor, was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain paperwork ahead of his upcoming wedding.




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Beloved brothers, devoted doctor remembered as Pittsburgh funerals begin

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Beloved brothers, devoted doctor remembered as Pittsburgh funerals begin"At synagogue, Cecil handed out prayer books and told people what page they were on,” said Marci Caplan, who worked at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh and frequently drove Cecil, 59, and David, 54, home. At the Jewish Community Center, about 2,000 people, including nurses in surgical scrubs, turned out for services for Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, a family physician who still made house calls.




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Midterms 2018: The battle between Democrats and Republicans for Congress explained in graphs

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Midterms 2018: The battle between Democrats and Republicans for Congress explained in graphsNovember could see the highest turnout across the United States in recent midterm history, with battleground states seeing an unprecedented surge in voter registration and early voting. Democrats have sought to flip dozens of House and US Senate seats currently held by the Republican majority as a “blue wave” of first-time, minority and female candidates threaten the GOP’s control of Congress. The latest generic ballot polling reflected a surge in support for Democratic candidates, with 57 per cent of likely voters saying they will support Democrats while just 40 per cent of respondents said they favoured Republicans.




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'Project Gold' Porsche becomes most expensive 993 Turbo ever

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'Project Gold' Porsche becomes most expensive 993 Turbo everPorsche's first factory restomod has sold for over $3 million at RM Sotheby’s Porsche 70th Anniversary auction, making it the most expensive 993 Turbo ever




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Brex has partnered with WeWork, AWS and more for its new rewards program

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Brex, the corporate card built for startups, unveiled its new rewards program today.

The billion-dollar company, which announced its $125 million Series C three weeks ago, has partnered with Amazon Web Services, WeWork, Instacart, Google Ads, SendGrid, Salesforce Essentials, Twilio, Zendesk, Caviar, HubSpot, Orrick, Snap, Clerky and DoorDash to give entrepreneurs the ability to accrue and spend points on services and products they use regularly.

Brex is lead by a pair of 22-year-old serial entrepreneurs who are well aware of the costs associated with building a startup. They’ve been carefully crafting Brex’s list of partners over the last year and say their cardholders will earn roughly 20 percent more rewards on Brex than from any competitor program.

“We didn’t want it to be something that everyone else was doing so we thought, what’s different about startups compared to traditional small businesses?” Brex co-founder and chief executive officer Henrique Dubugras told TechCrunch. “The biggest difference is where they spend money. Most credit card reward systems are designed for personal spend but startups spend a lot more on business.”

How the 22-year-old founders of Brex built a billion-dollar business in less than 2 years

Companies that use Brex exclusively will receive 7x points on rideshare, 3x on restaurants, 3x on travel, 2x on recurring software and 1x on all other expenses with no cap on points earned. Brex carriers still using other corporate cards will receive just 1x points on all expenses.

Most corporate cards offer similar benefits for travel and restaurant expenses, but Brex is in a league of its own with the rideshare benefits its offering and especially with the recurring software (SalesForce, HubSpot, etc.) benefits.

San Francisco-based Brex has raised about $200 million to date from investors including Greenoaks Capital, DST Global and IVP.  At the time of its fundraise, the company told TechCrunch it planned to use its latest capital infusion to build out its rewards program, hire engineers and figure out how to grow the business’s client base beyond only tech startups.

“This is going to allow us to compete even more with Amex, Chase and the big banks,” Dubugras said.



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The Tissot Seastar 1000 is a low-cost and high-quality Swiss diver

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In the pantheon of watches there are a few that stand out. Looking for your first automatic watch? Pick up a Seiko Orange Monster. Looking for a piece with a little history? The Omega Speedmaster is your man. Looking for an entry-level Swiss diver that won’t break the bank? Tissot’s Seastar has always had you covered.

The latest version of the Seastar is an interesting catch. A few years ago – circa 2010 – the pieces were all black with bold hands and a more staid case style. Now Tissot, a Swatch Group brand, has turned the Seastar into a chunkier diver with massive bar hands and case that looks like a steel sandwich.

The $695 Seastar 1000 contains a Powermatic 80/ETA C07.111 movement with an eighty hour power reserve which means the watch contains a massive mainspring that keeps things going for most of three days without winding. The Seastar is also water resistant to 1000 feet thanks to a huge screw down crown and thick casing. The new model has an exhibition back where you can see the rotor spinning over and balance wheel. The watch also has a ceramic bezel, a fairly top-of-the-line feature in an entry level watch.

Tissot has a long and interesting history. Best known for their high-tech T-Touch watches which had touchable crystals, allowing you to activate a compass, barometer, or altimeter with a single tap, the mechanical pieces have always seemed like an afterthought. The company also produces the classic Tissot Le Locle as well as a chronograph that I absolutely loved, the T-Navigator, but that has been discontinued. The Seastar, then, is one of the few mechanical pieces they sell and at sub-$1,000 prices you’re basically getting a Swiss watch with solid power reserve and great looks.

Watch folks I’ve talked to over the past few months see a distinct upturn in the Swiss watch market. Their belief that the Apple Watch is driving sales of mechanical watches seems to be coming true, even if it means cheaper fashion watches are being decimated. Tissot sits in that sweet spot between luxury and fashion, a spot that also contains Tag Heuer and Longines. Ultimately this is an entry level watch for the beginning collector but it’s a beautiful and beefy piece and worth a look.

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As stock rises on a slim earnings beat, eBay tells analysts to focus on payments and ads

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Despite increasing competition from traditional retailers like Walmart and Target, which have invested heavily in e-commerce, and the whupping it’s routinely taking from Amazon among pure e-commerce companies, eBay the 20-year-old lumbering Pez dispenser of an e-tailer, keeps plugging along.

Now, as it manages to eke out another earnings win by matching analysts’ expectations, the company is telling the bankers that watch it to look to advertising and payments for its future growth.

The company met analysts’ estimates of revenue totaling $2.65 billion, up from $2.41 billion in the year-ago period. That amounts to adjusted earnings of 56 cents per share, up from 48 cents per share in the year-ago period and beating analyst estimates of 54 cents per share. Profits for the company hit $720 million for the quarter.

The news sent shares up over 4 percent in trading after the market closed on Tuesday.

But more interesting than the the tepid results was its outlook for the future. Right now, eBay is at a crossroads as it tries to get a new group of users to forget about its past as a marketplace for used goods and resellers — and as a more pure e-commerce company.

“This quarter we continued to make foundational investments to improve the long-term competitiveness of our marketplace while setting the stage for significant growth opportunities,” said CEO Devin Wenig in a statement. “We will continue to innovate the customer experience while executing our growth initiatives in Payments and Advertising to position eBay for future success.”

The fact is, eBay is growing. It saw the number of active buyers across the platform increase by 4 percent, and has 177 million global active buyers. While that number is dwarfed by Amazon’s over 300 million global buyers (as of 2017), it’s one of the largest retailers in the U.S. The company’s StubHub business saw revenues of $291 million, up 7 percent from the year-ago period and sales of $1.2 billion. Its classified payments also grew.

As eBay looks ahead, payments and advertising are going to receive a bulk of the company’s internal investment dollars as it tries to complete the rollout of a new payment experience in the wake of its divorce from PayPal and its embrace of Adyen, Apple Pay, and the technology-based financial services company, Square.

Ebay to add support for Apple Pay, partners with Square Capital on seller financing

The company has already processed $38 million in payments and through the partnership with Apple Pay has grown that payment method to 12 percent on the platform. Advertising on eBay has seen 400,000 sellers promote over 160 million listings.

“We continue to grow the inventory on the marketplace,” Schenkel. “Just recently we rolled out a direct from brand and direct from authorized resellers… Brands want choice and they want to sell on a marketplace with 177 million users that doesn’t compete with them.”

The company will also continue to have an aggressive investment and mergers and acquisitions strategy, the executives said. Especially since the company found its earnings buoyed by the $1 billion it brought in from the sale of its stake in Flipkart, href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/09/walmart-confirms-16b-flipkart-investment-giving-it-77-in-indias-e-commerce-leader/"> when it was bought by Walmart for $16 billion.

Walmart confirms $16B Flipkart investment, giving it 77% in India’s e-commerce leader

What’s somewhat interesting is that there are new companies in the retail space that are making a mint doing things that eBay once dominated. Vinted and DePop are both used-clothing e-tailers that have enviable cache and significant revenues, while LetGo and OfferUp are also raiding used goods to turn trash into treasure.

A quick trip to eBay’s homepage shows that the company has all but consigned its collectible past to the trash heap. Given the death and dissolution of so many of its peers from the first generation of internet giants, it’s worth keeping an eye on eBay if only to see how the 20-something company approaches middle age as an independent entity.

“We have a unique situation. [The] eBay brand is very well recognized and not as well understood. We’re seeing this; that new buyers are responding really well to the changes that we made in the last few years and we need more of them and part of that is messaging our brand,” said Wenig on the earnings call with investment analysts.



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Facebook bans the Proud Boys, cutting the group off from its main recruitment platform

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Facebook is moving to ban the Proud Boys, a far-right men’s organization with ties to white supremacist groups. Business Insider first reported the decision. Facebook confirmed the decision to ban the Proud Boys from Facebook and Instagram to TechCrunch, indicating that the group (and presumably its leader Gavin McInnes) now meet the company’s definition of a hate organization or figure.

Facebook provided the following statement:

“Our team continues to study trends in organized hate and hate speech and works with partners to better understand hate organizations as they evolve. We ban these organizations and individuals from our platforms and also remove all praise and support when we become aware of it. We will continue to review content, Pages, and people that violate our policies, take action against hate speech and hate organizations to help keep our community safe.”

Facebook’s policy on white supremacy plays right into a racist agenda

Even compared to other groups on the far right with online origins, the Proud Boys maximize their impact through social networking. The organization, founded by provocateur and Vice founder McInnes, relies on Facebook as its primary recruitment tool. As we reported in August, the Proud Boys operate a surprisingly sophisticated network for getting new members into the fold via many local and regional Facebook groups. All of it relies on Facebook — the Proud Boys homepage even links out to the web of Facebook groups to guide potential recruits toward next steps.

At the time of writing, Facebook’s ban appeared to affect some Proud Boys groups and not others. The profile of Proud Boys founder McInnes appears to still be functional. Facebook’s decision to act against the organization is likely tied to the recent arrest of five Proud Boys members in New York City on charges including assault, criminal possession of a weapon and gang assault.

Facebook is the recruiting tool of choice for far-right group the Proud Boys



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