Mercyvill

Lost in translation. There’s a real fight brewing between the State Department and the outspoken Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko over the watchdog’s staffing levels at its office in Kabul. And the two sides have very different versions of a recent meeting, the Situation Report has learned. During testimony Wednesday before a House of Representatives oversight committee , Sopko -- according to his prepared remarks first reported here -- complained that “within the past week,” he was told by State officials that he must reduce his Kabul staff from 42 to 25 positions by summer 2016. SIGAR was told that the cut “is non-negotiable,” Sopko said. “This arbitrary number was developed without SIGAR’s input, and embassy officials did not provide any explanation for how they determined these cuts.”

Islamic State terror chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is badly wounded with spinal injuries and being treated at a secret hideout by two loyal doctors, it was claimed yesterday Hurt: ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ISIS terrorists may launch a brutal terror attack on the West in revenge for badly wounding its leader with an airstrike. Islamic State terror chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is badly wounded with spinal injuries and being treated at a secret hideout by two loyal doctors, it was claimed yesterday. And there are fears that to avenge their leader’s wounds his fighters are planning a spectacular terror attack somewhere in Europe, possibly in the United Kingdom. The Iraqi leader of the network was hit by a US airstrike in north west Iraq two months ago and survived while three armed henchmen were killed in the blast.

Ikpeazu Abia state governor-elect, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dismissed the resolve of his All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) opponent in the gubernatorial contest, Dr Alex Otti to challenge his victory at the election tribunal, describing it as a threat of a bad loser. He said that he would await Otti and others that would go to the tribunal to challenge his victory, which he claims was ordained by God. He however added that he anticipated such challenges hence he is fully prepared to defend it. “I expected it but they will lose again.”

INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega Following the successful conduct of elections into the 24 seats of the State House of Assembly, 22 of the newly elected representatives have been issued their Certificates of Return by the state INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof Selina Oko. The winners for Umuahia South and Isiala Ngwa South Constituencies were not issued their Certificates even when it was stated that PDP won the Isiala Ngwa South and APGA won that of Umuahia South constituencies.

LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 30: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, with a graphic unveils suite of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at the Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) Tesla Energy ’s new foray into providing energy storage products to service not just homes but also utilities is bringing much-needed attention to the accompanying technologies. That, in turn, may attract new capital and help bring about economies of scale that would further reduce those prices.

Electric car pioneer Telsa Motors unveiled a ‘home battery’ Thursday which its founder Elon Musk said would help change the ‘entire energy infrastructure of the world.’ (Photo by DAVID MCNEW/AFP/Getty Images) It would be almost three hours until Tesla’s big announcement, but inside a Northwestern University classroom near Chicago Thursday night, the famed nuclear critic Arnie Gundersen had the inside scoop: Tesla Motors TSLA -0.04% CEO Elon Musk was about to announce an industrial-scale battery, Gundersen said, that would cost about 2¢ per kilowatt hour to use, putting the final nail in the coffin of nuclear power. Thus Tesla’s big news broke first not amongst the throng of reporters gathered under swirling colored lights at the carmaker’s Hawthorne, Calif. headquarters, but in the middle of a debate on the future of nuclear power sponsored by students agitating for a “ Fossil Free NU .” It was Gundersen vs. Jordi Roglans-Ribas,...

Jonathan and Muazu during a political rally By May 29, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that has ruled Nigeria in the last 16 years will become opposition party. This is fallout of the party’s dismal performance in the just concluded general elections which it lost the presidential seat for the first time to the major opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Since the elections were concluded, and it dawned on all PDP members, including President Goodluck Jonathan that PDP will now be in opposition, there has been blame-game going on among the party’s major stakeholders.

The Galaxy S6 may be a bad Galaxy S5 successor , but it is a brilliant phone in its own right. For my money it is Samsung playing Apple at its own game and coming out on top . Yet not all is well and, following a barrage of complaints from users, Samsung has now admitted the Galaxy S6 has a serious memory problem… Perhaps unsurprisingly Samsung chose to make the admission in as low profile a manner as possible. The company took to its Samsung UK Facebook page to confirm that both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge have memory mismanagement problems which cause them to slow and apps to forcefully close. The root of the problem: how RAM is consumed and freed up. Galaxy S6 (left) and Galaxy S6 Edge (right) – image credit Samsung What should happen is RAM used by apps and services is released when those apps and services are not in use. Instead it is not being released which means each new app or service has to eat into addit...

The LG G4 is a big deal. After producing brilliant under the radar smartphones in recent years like the G2, G3 and Nexus 5 (still the best Nexus phone ) the G4 could be the model to capture public imagination. Why? Because it might just be a better Galaxy S5 successor than the troubled Galaxy S6 … Let me tell you why: Four Reasons For 1. Design – Premium Build Quality Without Compromise Samsung wisely upgraded the build quality of the Galaxy S6, but it did so by compromising features Galaxy S5 users love: the removable battery and expandable storage. By contrast LG also upped the G4’s build quality but kept both options. (left to right) Galaxy S6, Galaxy S5, LG G4 How LG did this was simple: it made the removable back more premium. Leather is currently the top of the line finish (and provides better grip than the glass back of the Galaxy S6), but I’m sure many more options will follow.

Elon Musk claims at launch that two billion large batteries could provide enough electricity to meet the world’s needs. 0:00 / 2:19 Embed Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Motors, announces the company’s entry into the energy market. The electric car company Tesla has announced its entry into the energy market, unveiling a suite of low-cost solar batteries for homes, businesses and utilities, “the missing piece”, it said, in the transition to a sustainable energy world. The batteries, which will retail at $3,500 in the US, were launched on Thursday at a Tesla facility in California by the company’s ambitious founder, Elon Musk, who heralded the technology as “a fundamental transformation [in] how energy is delivered across the earth”.

Living with mast cell disease 04:02 Story highlights Brynn Duncan has mast cell disease, which causes her to be allergic to almost everything Duncan has a feeding tube and is on constant doses of antihistamine Easley, South Carolina (CNN) The cracker or the bite of ice cream -- Brynn Duncan still isn't sure which one sent her into anaphylactic shock that day. Her food allergies change so frequently, keeping track is almost pointless. It was just another day with another massive allergic reaction. She can always tell when one is coming on. "I just get this overwhelming sense of -- they call it impending doom." Her labradoodle, Moose, starts alerting, licking her hands frantically.

Chinese factories are mass producing novel psychoactive substances that mimic banned substances, destined for an eager market in the US and UK Time magazine called China the ‘new front in the global drug war’, as local labs are willing to churn out legal highs to ship abroad to the US, the UK and Europe. Photograph: Nicola Davison for the Guardian At the Chemsun Global pharmaceutical laboratory in an industrial park in Shanghai, the smell of fumes is so intense it leaves a bitter, chemical aftertaste in your mouth. At midnight on a recent Friday, a Chinese chemist who called himself Terry was eager to close a deal.

Drama starring Pacino as an ageing small-town locksmith has been reclassified as PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America ‘for sexual content, language and for accident and surgery images’ Volcanic brooding … Al Pacino in Manglehorn. Photograph: Planet Photos David Gordon Green, the director of Manglehorn , which stars Al Pacino as a small-town locksmith dodging sex, death and violence, has won an appeal to overturn the film’s original R rating. It’ll be released in the States as a PG-13, according to the Hollywood Reporter . The “restricted” classification, as decided by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), dictates that under-17s must see the film with a parent or guardian. It can hobble a film’s chances at the box office, with many US cinemas refusing to show R-rated films.

Microsoft Edge - formerly known as ‘Project Spartan’ - will be the default browser for Windows 10 and promises to be faster and leaner than the hated IE Microsoft’s new browser is called Edge, as the company tries to kill off its ‘toxic’ Internet Explorer brand. Photograph: Microsoft It’s official, Microsoft has killed off Internet Explorer , its new browser will be Microsoft Edge … although you’ll be forgiven for thinking nothing has changed if you’re looking at the logo. The browser, formally known as Project Spartan after the protagonist of Microsoft’s Halo game series, is completely new according to the company. It announced the new name as part of its Windows 10 presentation at its Build developers conference in San Francisco.

Marc Lore, the founder of Amazon.com challenger Jet.com, is finally ready to put his money where his mouth is. On Thursday, the fledgling e-commerce company rolled out to its first 10,000 users, allowing them to browse and buy from a website that offers anything from toilet paper to trampolines at prices, it says, which are significantly lower than anywhere online. While a small group of family and friends have tested Jet, the soft launch marks the first time the product will be in the hands of independent consumers.

The Scots-born software entrepreneur says hit men are on his tail after a hasty exit from Belize but his focus is on warding off tech companies’ all-seeing eye John McAfee: ‘There are 10m waterproof phones in circulation. You have teen girls frequently texting in the shower. While we’re speaking, people are spying on teen girls.’ Photograph: Canadian Press/Rex Shutterstock Deep in the heart of the Bible Belt, John McAfee, the tech millionaire, eccentric and one-time fugitive, appears to have finally settled down – in his way. A few months shy of his 70th birthday, McAfee, as famous for his plentiful eccentricities as the anti-virus software he created, is living somewhat in the open again, this time in Lexington, Tennessee , a rustic and unassuming town with a population of less than 8,000.

Apple AAPL -1.21% is unstoppable. In this latest quarter, it was the Chinese that helped give it an extra boost. The Cupertino geek gear maker released its earnings late Monday showing a whopping 27% increase in top line growth, thanks in large part to their new iPhone models in China. But in China, Apple did even better than their overall revenue growth. Apple’s top line grew 71% in China compared to the first quarter. “China was was the shining spot for Apple”, says chief market analyst for AvaTrade International , Naeem Aslam.  ”The potential for Apple in China is still massive and China is the single most important market for Apple,” Aslam says. In a picture taken on April 24, 2015, a woman shows a Chinese-made watch, claimed to be a copy of the Apple watch, in Huaqiangbei Commercial Street in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images) Within Apple’s operating segments, only China revenue grew sequent...

This is the 26th President of the United States. His last name is Roosevelt. Credit: WikiMedia Commons. I pulled the Crius ( Crotty + Prius ) into the Union 76  gas station off the Arlington entrance to the 10 Freeway in L.A. Saturday. Waiting on an island between the petrol pumps were two affable girls selling large milk chocolate candy bars out of a shoe box, ostensibly to raise money for their schools. Though I respect any young person courageously hawking a product in such a ruggedly entrepreneurial way, I usually do not donate to such causes because I have no clue where the money actually goes.

A man walks past a billboard showing the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge at a store in Seoul on April 29, 2015 (Photo credit: JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images) Samsung may have helped pioneer bigger screen phones, but it’s struggling to keep its profits from cratering now that Apple has picked up the trend too. Samsung’s net profits dropped by 39% in the first quarter as the booming popularity of the iPhone 6 put pressure on the Korean electronic giant’s mobile-phone making business, whose earnings more than halved.

Story highlights Thousands remain missing in Nepal after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Social media has helped people overseas tracked down their loved ones in Nepal Technology has helped those stranded after the quake reach out for help Are you looking for ways to help? Visit CNN's Impact Your World page for details on how to help victims of the Nepal earthquake. (CNN) Thousands remain missing in Nepal after a devastating earthquake struck the region on Saturday. A majority of them are Nepalese, Indian and Chinese residents, but a handful are adventurers, trekkers and vacationers who have not been heard from since the catastrophe.

. People protesting against xenophobia in South Africa hold placards in front of the South African consulate … JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The recall of Nigeria's top diplomat after a spate of xenophobic attacks in South Africa follows several similar spats that expose the two countries' deep rivalry for economic and political dominance in Africa. Nigeria's Acting High Commissioner to South Africa Martin Cobham said on Saturday he had been ...

President Jonathan.  Thirty days to the official handover of the reins of power to government to President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian government has warned the incoming administration and the All Progressive Congress (APC) against forming a parallel government as incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan remains in charge till May 29. 

  Denrele Edun Though he looks thin and fragile, Adenrele Oluwafemi Edun has a larger than life image in the entertainment industry. In this interview with BUSOLA AFOLABI, the Soundcity presenter says he is at home with controversies. Excerpts: Where did you grow up? I was born in Germany (Hamburg) June 13, 1983. My dad is a Yoruba man from Ogun State while my mum is half Indian - her dad is an Indian and her mom is from Mauritius. So I tell people that I am nationality confused. I do not know where I am from. I am the first and only son, I have two sisters - one is 20 and the other is 17. Presently, I am with my dad and grandma. My mum is out of the country. She is in Dublin so we hang out with some of my cousins, who are also crazy like me.

Situation Report: Baltimore is burning, IEDs and drones in Ukraine, the F-35 gets dinged again, and lots more           situation report   The National Security Daily Brief from Foreign Policy       Follow Us:                 Tuesday, April 28, 2015     By Paul McLeary and Ariel Robinson RED SIREN Up to 5,000 armed Maryland National Guard troops are currently on their way to patrol the streets of Baltimore after a series of rolling street fights between rioters and a disorganized and mostly ineffective Baltimore Police Department. The rioting comes in response to the funeral of Freddie Gray, the African-American man who died in police custody.  

It’s earnings season again and Amazon, for the first time ever, has broken out the financial results of its cloud services division, Amazon Web Services (AWS).  The  results  are impressive .  In less than a decade, Amazon has grown AWS into a $5 billion business that is still growing at 50%. Yet even more impressive—and strangely unnoticed—is that at IBM cloud services is now a $7.7 billion business growing at 75%, according to IBM CFO Martin Schroeter’s  prepared remarks  during the company’s recent earnings call.  Even for Big Blue, that’s a big business. ( TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP/Getty Images) Amazon and IBM run vastly different operations, so making a direct comparison between the two announcements isn’t exactly apples to apples.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) It’s been a good few days to be a tech billionaire. The Nasdaq finally breached its dot-com bubble closing high after a fifteen-year roller coaster ride Thursday and earnings from a trio of tech-land heavyweights were padding the multi-billion dollar fortunes of Amazon.com's AMZN -1.4% Jeff Bezos , Google's GOOGL +0.2% Larry Page  and  Sergey Brin , and former Microsoft MSFT +2.13% chiefs Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates . According to Forbes’  real-time ranking of the World’s Billionaires , Bezos was Friday morning’s biggest winner as Amazon shares surged nearly 15%. The gains came on the back of quarterly earnings that broke out Amazon’s fast-growing cloud business for the first time and boosted Bezos’ fortune by $4.9 billion to $40.4 billion.

The image security expert Seth Wahle took of himself from a hacked Android device, after sending it a malicious link from an NFC chip in his hand. Going by hacker stereotypes, it’d be pretty easy to physically identify anyone committing an act of digital crime. A combination of pallid skin, hoody and laptop is the biggest giveaway. Such hackneyed images of hackers are, of course, evidently wrong, bordering on offensive. Real hackers penetrating business networks have the common sense to avoid cliched clothing and try to conceal their tools.

Micromax, India’s biggest maker of mobile devices, is to divest a 25% stake to a consortium of investors led by Alibaba Group’s online financial services firm, Ant Financial, which owns the payment platform, Alipay. The deal is to value the Gurgaon-based Micromax at an estimated $4 -$5 billion, the Economic Times newspaper said on Monday. In response to Forbes’ emailed query, Micromax refused to confirm the story. But for months, rumors have swirled around the company’s intent to make a public offering or sell substantial stake to an investor.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably noticed the Internet of Things (IoT) is hot. Everyone from chip makers to software companies to retailers are getting in on the act, all trying to figure out how to capitalize on what many pundits believe is the next big disruptive wave in technology. Family social app Life 360 Integrates with your car and home. One group that’s particularly interested in IoT are social media companies.

It’s hard to believe the design of a luxurious, custom 78-foot yacht could be done in a day. But for interior designer Frances Herrera , a one-day luxury makeover is her trademark. Starting out as an interior designer in New York thirteen years go, Herrera focused on residential interior design . It wasn’t until she moved to Florida two and a half years ago when she began to dip herself into the design of yachts.

IN 1976 an investment banker turned adventure novelist, Paul Erdman, penned a best-selling thriller, The Crash of ’79 . Center to the plot was the Shah of Iran making a grab for the oilfields of the Arab Middle East, with a well-armed military, thanks to rising oil prices. Of course, barely 24 months later the Shah was ousted by radical Islamists, who subsequently bled the country white in a bloody and futile eight-year war with Iraq. Oil prices crashed after Ronald Reagan took office, and all thoughts of an Iranian version of a Nazi blitzkrieg disappeared. Well, if Erdman were still alive (he died in 2007), he could write a very plausible updated version of his novel, with—very frighteningly—the all too likely possibility that this time fiction would turn into fact. Iran doesn’t possess a passel of Panzer divisions and have a murderous Luftwaffe at its disposal.

Ukrainian weekly Novoye Vremya shows First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Eka Zguladze, who held the same position during similar reforms in Georgia. The headline reads “The First Real Reform.” (image credit: Novoye Vremya) In just over a year, Ukraine has seen a political revolution, two elections (one presidential, one parliamentary), an economic collapse and a Russian invasion resulting in a “hybrid war” that has ravaged the country.  Its new western-leaning government has struggled to maintain sovereignty as well as stability. This past February, a new ceasefire was signed, which seems to be holding up for the most part.  But even now, Russia, is  beefing up its forces at the border, threatening a new offensive.  By all accounts, the situation in Ukraine remains precarious.