Apple’s Tim Cook Says He Is ‘Proud to Be Gay’

Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said he was “proud to be gay” in an essay published early Thursday, becoming by far the most prominent executive of a public company to come out.

Zambia's Guy Scott makes history as white president in sub-Saharan Africa

When Guy Scott takes the reins as Zambia's interim President, he'll become the first white African head of state in sub-Saharan Africa since apartheid.

Scott became vice president three years ago.

His boss, President Michael Sata, died Tuesday while undergoing treatment for an unknown illness in London.

What different religions say about aliens

Religions have surprisingly diverse approaches to the issue of possible extraterrestrial life, David Weintraub found. Below, a quick survey adapted from his book “Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It?” and interviews with the author.

2 drug chains disable Apple Pay, as a rival makes plans

NEW YORK — Apple Pay, the Silicon Valley giant’s highly anticipated mobile wallet, has been available for only one week but already may be inciting a battle within the payments industry.

Breaking: Possible Ebola Patient Rushed To Maryland Hospital For Testing

A hospital in Baltimore told staff to prepare for a “potential Ebola patient” Monday night. The University of Maryland Medical Center in downtown Baltimore sent a memo saying it had accepted the patient from the state health department, later confirming the details on its Twitter account.

Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter V" Pushed Back

Young Money president says they're looking for a new release date for Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter V."

Although most of us were expecting this, the time has come to formally announce that Lil Wayne's Tha Carter V will not be dropping on October 28th as originally expected. There have been mixed signals concerning whether or not a pushback would actually occur, as we reported, Weezy is reportedly hosting a pre-album release party in New Orleans, but on the other hand, we've yet to receive any official tracklisting (despite a few circulating on the internet), and there has been no iTunes pre-order for the LP.

Today, Karen Civil gets confirmation from the Young Money president that they are looking for a new release date for Tha Carter V. That's all the information we have at the moment concerning the album delay, but we'll keep you posted when any new information surfaces. Here's all we know about Tha Carter V so far.

In the meantime, Nicki Minaj has announced a new single "Only" to feature Lil Wayne, Drake and Chris Brown.

Marissa Mayer Trying to Poach Top Amazon Sales Exec to Help Turn Around the Turnaround at Yahoo

Last week, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer bought herself some time with increasingly disgruntled investors by turning in a better than expected performance for the third quarter, with a small uptick in revenue rather than an expected decline. While still full of signs that Yahoo’s core business was still struggling, the results were good enough that Wall Street bid up the stock anyway.

Magic Leap: startup promises a leap forward for virtual reality

                               
Like fusion power or jet-packs, virtual reality has always been 20 years away. Matrix-inspired dreams of being transported via headset to another realm have been held back by poor graphics, high costs and, most damagingly, nausea. Virtual reality has had an unfortunate habit of making the users really sick. Products have been announced with fanfare, come and then slipped away.

Steenkamp mother: 'Arrogant Pistorius was sure to kill'

It was bad luck Reeva Steenkamp met Oscar Pistorius, her mother has said, as the "volatile" athlete "would have killed someone sooner or later".

Speaking to The Times, June Steenkamp calls Pistorius "pathetic", "moody", "gun-toting" and "possessive".

She rejects both his apology and his version of events, but admits: "He's the only one who knows the truth."

US nurse sues after being forced into quarantine as she returned from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone

A US nurse who says she was treated like a "criminal" after returning from caring for Ebola victims in West Africa has hired a top human rights lawyer to challenge her enforced quarantine.

Kaci Hickox, the first person to be placed under a new mandatory quarantine for health workers who arrive back in the US via airports in New York, New Jersey and Chicago, was ordered into a 21 day period of isolation despite testing negative for the disease.

Washington High School Shooting Victim Gia Soriano Dies: Official

One of four students seriously wounded in the shooting at a Washington high school on Friday has died, a hospital official said.

Gia Soriano, 14, suffered a head wound during the shooting attack at Marysville Pilchuck High School and had been in critical condition at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett. She died around 9:30 p.m. PT on Sunday evening.

Dilma Rousseff is reelected president of Brazil in bitterly fought runoff

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was reelected by a whisker in a second-round head-to-head vote, after one of the closest, most aggressive campaigns in the country’s recent history.

Rousseff, whose left-wing Workers’ Party has governed Brazil since 2003, had 51.6 percent with 99 percent of votes counted. Aécio Neves, the center-right candidate for the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, came second, with 48.4 percent.

S Africa football captain Senzo Meyiwa shot dead

He was reportedly attacked after men entered his girlfriend's house in Vosloorus, south of Johannesburg.

The 27-year-old played for Orlando Pirates and had played in South Africa's last four Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

EBOLA WORLDVIEW: Who has it and where?

A New York doctor is the fourth person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. after reporting a fever and nausea on Oct. 23.

The Manhattan-based doctor had been treating Ebola patients in Guinea earlier this month, authorities said.
A Liberian man visiting the U.S and two nurses who treated him were also diagnosed in the U.S. with the deadly virus in the previous weeks.

lil Wayne set to Release last solo Album. "CARTER V" on 28th October

Lil Wayne has revealed the cover and release date for Tha Carter V, billed as the final LP in his multi-million selling Carter series. Due out on 28 October, the rapper’s 16th studio album could also be his last solo outing: he claims he will only make another if he is offered at least $25 million (£15 million).

As with the album art for Carters III and IV, the final volume shows 31-year-old Wayne at an earlier, more innocent time. “I always go with a baby picture,” he said during a Thursday appearance on ESPN SportsCenter, “and I wanted to go with one with my mom on it this time”. Not that the MC asked his mother’s permission: “I didn’t tell her,” he admitted. “I don’t think she’s going to be upset but I know personally that she don’t really like that picture of herself.”

The 'religious crack addict’ who took a well-worn path to jihad

At the Ottawa Mission shelter for the homeless, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau was a new arrival who quickly made his mark among the down-and-outs of the Canadian capital.

A loud-mouthed drifter, lecturing fellow residents about Islam, ranting about the government's failure to issue him with a passport, he also spoke of his drug habit, which he had tried to kick but pursued even while staying there.

It is an odd contrast on the surface. But among the violent underworld of misfit youths attracted to conversion and jihad, mental ill-health and drug addiction are a recurring theme.

Isis puts out another John Cantlie propaganda video

Isis hostage John Cantlie has told how captives have been waterboarded for trying to escape in the latest video released by the terror group.

The 43-year-old British photojournalist, who has been held for over two years, appeared in the fifth episode of propaganda films entitled Lend Me Your Ears. 

Its release comes just days after his father, Paul Cantlie, 80, died from complications following pneumonia.

As in previous instalments, Cantlie can be seen delivering his message under duress from behind a desk, wearing an orange jumpsuit and criticising the British and US governments. 

In the apparently scripted footage, which lasts six and a half minutes, he says: “Now, unless we tried something stupid like escaping or doing something we shouldn’t, we were treated well by the Islamic State.

“Some of us who tried to escape were waterboarded by our captors, as Muslim prisoners are waterboarded by their American captors.” 

He also reads from emails allegedly exchanged between IS and the families of American captives who complained about the US government’s refusal to negotiate their loved ones’ release. 

One message, which Cantlie dates to July 17 this year, reads: “We have begged them so many times already. Everyone has buried their heads in the sand. 

“We feel we are caught in the middle between you and the US government, and we are being punished.”

Cantlie’s sister Jessica Cantlie, has previously appealed for there to be “direct contact” with the militants holding him. 

In his latest statement, Cantlie makes no reference to recent events and it is not clear when the footage was filmed. 

He is reported to have written on the group’s English-language online propaganda site that he had recorded eight episodes which would be released one by one. 

Cantlie, who has worked for newspapers including the Sunday Telegraph and the Sunday Times, signs off by saying that in the next instalment he will talk about a failed rescue mission.

And he says he will explain how “one soldier was worth five prisoners and we were worth none”, in apparent reference to the deal the US government made with Taliban fighters to free Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for five detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Since August, Isis has posted films online of the deaths of four western hostages. 

UK aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines, and American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were beheaded on camera by the jihadist organisation.

AWC: Falcons rule Africa again

Spank Cameroon 2-0

THE Super Falcons of Nigeria on Saturday won the ninth edition of the African Women’s Championship (AWC) with a 2-0 spanking of the Les Lioness of Cameroon at the Sam Nujoma Stadium, Windhoek, Namibia.

Second Vodafone theft victim sent huge mobile bill for calls made by crooks

Just days after Vodafone sparked outrage by demanding £15,000 from the victim of a mobile phone theft in Barcelona, it emerged that it has slapped a £4,300 bill on a second holidaymaker on the same college reunion trip to the city, who also had his phone snatched.

Last week, the Welsh primary school teacher Osian Rhys Edwards, 29, was facing financial ruin after Vodafone insisted he was liable for its “reduced” bill of £10,500-worth of premium rate calls made by organised criminals – money he simply doesn’t have and would wreck his chances of buying a home.

Beware! Boko Haram now franchise for criminals

US expert warns FG negotiators

AHEAD of the scheduled meeting between officials of the Federal Government and the Boko Haram sect in Chad Republic tomorrow, many experts have expressed doubts on the fruitfulness of such negotiations with the sect, saying Boko Haram has become a franchise for all sort of criminals, citing disharmony, lack of organisation and clear-cut leadership on the part of the deadly sect.

Creator of Parkinson’s disease app is diagnosed with the illness

Computer expert Roger Eglin recently unveiled a smartphone app that he had developed to help patients with Parkinson’s disease. The program was designed to tackle one of the degenerative brain disorder’s most common symptoms: poor speech.

People with Parkinson’s often fail to realise they are speaking very quietly. They frequently mutter and slur their words. Communication becomes difficult and patients feel increasingly isolated. Eglin designed his app – which tells patients how their voices compare with background noise – so that they could monitor their speech levels and maintain better links with the outside world. Essentially it trains them to speak louder and more clearly and keeps them in contact with the rest of society.

Ebola advice emails from 'World Health Organization' are malware spam

If you’ve got an email in your inbox from the World Health Organization offering “information and prevention” tips about Ebola, don’t click on its attachment – you’re likely to end up with a nasty digital infection.

Cybercriminals are using the current Ebola outbreak as a topical hook for spam emails that can install malware giving them remote access to computers, including logging key presses, capturing video from webcams and stealing passwords.

Spanish duchess gives away fortune in order to marry civil servant

She is one of the richest women in Spain, owns a dozen castles whose walls are hung with works by Goya, Velázquez and Titian and is a distant relative of King James II, Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales. Now, however, the 18th Duchess of Alba is giving away her immense personal fortune in order to be free to marry a minor civil servant.

Iran executes Reyhaneh Jabbari despite global appeals for retrial

Iran has ignored an international campaign to spare the life of a 26-year-old woman convicted of murder by hanging her at dawn on Saturday.

Reyhaneh Jabbari had spent five years on death row for stabbing a 47-year-old surgeon who had previously worked for the intelligence ministry, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The UN and bodies including the European Union and Amnesty International had said that the interior designer’s confession for killing Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi in 2007 was obtained under intense pressure and threats from Iranian prosecutors, and she should have had a retrial.

Marijuana Addiction Help – How to Stop Smoking Weed

It has been a long journey since last November when I hit the point where I knew I had to do something about my marijuana addiction and learn How to quit smoking marijuana.

REAL MADRID CONQUER BITTER RIVALS

After four months out it took Luis Suarez just three minutes to make his mark for Barcelona, crossing for Neymar to score, but there was no happy ending to his long awaited debut as Real Madrid won the first Clasico of the season.Suarez then laid on what should have been goal number two for Leo Messi but the Argentine saw his chance saved by Iker Casillas.

On such a meeting of two of the game’s greats – the Real Madrid keeper coming out on top – the game turned with Real running out comfortable winners.

Ebola cases hit 10,000 mark

The number of people infected in the outbreak of Ebola has risen above 10,000, with the mortality rate now approaching 50%.

The World Health Organisation said on Saturday that the death toll had risen to 4,922 out of 10,141 known cases globally in eight countries as at 23 October. Those figures show about 200 new cases since the last report, four days ago.

Nike and Apple working on ‘stylish’ new wearable technology

                                           Nike has long madebeen making wearable technology. Photograph: Nike

Apple and Nike are working on new item of wearable technology that will have greater integration into existing gadgets, and is less obvious and more “stealth”, according to the Nike chief executive, Mark Parker.

Nike has long been making wearable technology, originally partnering with Apple for its Nike+ running sensor range in 2006, which connected wirelessly to the iPod

British serial entrepreneur missing as $1.4m bitcoin is apparently stolen

Almost $1.5m of bitcoins formerly held by cryptocurrency exchange Moolah have gone missing, after the exchange declared bankruptcy. The cash is believed to be in the personal wallet of the company’s founder and chief executive, Alex Green, who has not been heard from since Moolah went bust.

In the last public communication from Green on 19 October, he revealedthat he was previously known as Ryan Kennedy until a name change by deed poll “in an attempt to start my life over and have some peace”.

BOKO HARAM TO RELEASE GIRLS

Ray of hope reappears for the release of the abducted Chibok school girls as self acclaimed secretary General of Boko Haram, Mallam Danladi Ahmadu said that the group’s cease fire agreement with the Federal Government is very much on course.
Ahmadu disclosed that the final meeting between the group and the Federal Government to finally seal the ceasefire agreement has been scheduled for Monday in Ndjamana, Chad and to be supervised by the Chadian leader, Idris Derby.