US on Turkey's Twitter ban: more tweets than before

Google – AFP, 24 March 2014

Protesters demonstrate against the ban on Twitter in Ankara on March 22, 

2014 (AFP/File, Adem Altan)

Washington — The United States on Monday noted there have been more Turkish tweets since the prime minister controversially banned the micro-blogging service than before.

Turkey's telecommunications authority blocked local access to the US social network Thursday under orders of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after opposition members used the social network to post telephone recordings implicating him in a major corruption scandal.

The move has attracted ire from the international community, with Washington on Friday denouncing the blow to "the right to free speech."

But State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf noted Monday that "there have been more tweets from Turkey since the government blocked (Twitter) than there were before."

"Which is an interesting, I think, signal to people who try to clamp down on freedom of expression: that it doesn't work, and isn't the right thing to do," she said.

"What the world saw was the number of people inside Turkey tweeting about what they thought about it being blocked there," Harf continued, as she also reiterated her government's condemnation of the ban.

The United States "said very clearly to the Turkish government that this is not acceptable and that we do not think they should be able to block their citizens' access to these kind of social media platforms," Harf said.

The spokeswoman noted that the US government was also "in contact with Twitter," but did not say if the United States would go to court to force Turkey to restore access to the service.

Washington and Ankara have a long-standing military alliance, including through NATO, and the two countries work together closely to support the opposition and the rebellion in Syria.

But relations have chilled in recent months as the United States has increasingly criticized the government's record on respecting civil liberties and human rights under Erdogan.

Online news attracts star power and big money

Google – AFP, Rob Lever (AFP), 23 March 2014

Journalist Katie Couric speaks during a keynote address by Yahoo! President

 and CEO Marissa Mayer at the 2014 International CES on January 7, 2014

in Las Vegas, Nevada (Getty/AFP/File, Ethan Miller)

Washington — The news media is generating some big news of its own, as a growing number of star US journalists move online, bringing followers and financial backers with them.

Online news sites have been around for years, but in recent months the trend has gained momentum, defying predictions of a troubled media industry.

The latest was the relaunch of FiveThirtyEight, headed by Nate Silver, a statistician and journalist who made his own headlines with his accurate prediction of the 2012 presidential election.

Yahoo! Vice President of Editorial David

Pogue speaks during a keynote address by

 Yahoo! President and CEO Marissa Mayer

at the 2014 International CES on January

7, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada (Getty/

AFP/File, Ethan Miller)

The site, which covers a range of news with a statistician's eye, is backed by the sports broadcaster ESPN, after Silver left The New York Times with his blog.

Also joining the fray was The Intercept, a news site backed by tech entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar with an editorial team led by Glenn Greenwald, the former Guardian reporter who broke news with documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Omidyar has pledged to invest $250 million in his First Look Media, which includes a not-for-profit news operation and a separate technology arm for new media.

The Washington Post's popular "Wonkblog" columnist Ezra Klein meanwhile left the newspaper to start a news website backed by Vox Media.

Yahoo wooed television news star Katie Couric and former New York Times tech writer David Pogue. And journalists at The Wall Street Journal-backed tech blog AllThingsD broke off in January to create Re/code, a separate website with support from Comcast's NBCUniversal.

The new energy in Internet news comes as the entrenched news industry faces deepening financial woes, and the model for online profits remains unclear.

Dying or reviving?

So is the news business dying or being reborn?

Alan Mutter, a former Chicago newspaper editor who consults for journalism and technology ventures, said that while traditional newspapers are withering, online news sites may be working.

But the digital news business is likely to be "vertical," covering a segment such as technology, sports or politics, unlike a newspaper, which aims to cover all sectors. Online news can get money from subscriptions, premium content or links to shopping, for example.

"The future of digital publishing is the antithesis of traditional publishing," Mutter told AFP.

Journalist Ezra Klein speaks

during the opening plenary

session of Families USA's 

Health Action 2014 conference 

January 23, 2014 in 

Washington, DC (Getty/

AFP/File, Alex Wong)

Newspapers try to get a broad audience by offering comics, coupons and recipes, while covering news ranging from local crime to politics to walks on the moon, and online sites are changing that model.

The shift is similar to what happened in retailing, with multi-sector department stores hammered by specialty apparel, housewares or electronics stores.

"Newspapers are basically following a publishing-model mindset that is locked in 1958," Mutter said.

"They take the same content and put it on a website or put it on mobile and they say they have a digital strategy."

Low cost of entry

Ken Doctor, a media analyst with Outsell who writes the Newsonomics blog, said it has become easier to launch news sites.

"The technology has gotten much better and cheaper in the past few years," Doctor said.

"And once you create the content, the social world is able to find new audiences at practically no incremental cost."

News startups can expand internationally and gain a far larger audience than they would with a local or even national US newspaper, he noted.

"You can ramp up one of these businesses and create a national or international brand for $5 million to $10 million," Doctor said.

Without the legacy costs of newspapers like printing, distribution and longstanding pensions, websites can become profitable relatively quickly.

While not all ventures will succeed, they are attracting venture capital because "you could double or triple your money if you pick a winner," Doctor said.

The startups are often personality driven -- Klein has 441,000 Twitter followers and Silver 680,000. Former Daily Beast journalist Andrew Sullivan got 35,000 paid subscribers for his "The Dish" blog.

'Golden age of journalism'?

One of Silicon Valley's most prominent venture capitalists, Marc Andreessen, sees huge potential.

Glenn Greenwald testifies in Brasilia on

 October 9, 2013 before the investigative

 committee of the Senate that examines

 charges of espionage by the United States 

(AFP/File, Evaristo Sa)

"I am more bullish about the future of the news industry over the next 20 years than almost anyone I know," said a blog post by Andreessen, who founded the early Internet group Netscape Communications.

"Maybe we are entering into a new golden age of journalism, and we just haven't recognized it yet."

Andreessen said the news business is breaking free of the "monopolies and oligopolies" that controled it for much of the post-World War II era and that the Internet is allowing new businesses to get to a scale where they can support high-quality journalism.

"On the Internet, there is no limitation to the number of outlets or voices in the news chorus," he said.

The economics of online news has allowed some sites to move beyond the practice of "aggregation," and into more in-depth reporting traditionally seen as the domain for newspapers.

But analysts point out that while Internet news outlets which can gain readers nationally and internationally can thrive, the same is not true for local news organizations, which many Americans rely on for coverage of their communities.

"It's a tale of two worlds," Doctor said. "Local newspapers are still in a death spiral, with layoff after layoff."

Related Articles:

Pierre Omidyar commits $250m to new media venture with Glenn Greenwald

Greenwald quits Guardian for 'dream' project

WeFightCensorship publishes banned articles

Washington Post sold to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for $250m

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…6 - The News

Number six. I'll be brief. Watch for your news to change. It has to. When the media realizes that Human Beings are changing their watching habits, they're going to start changing what they produce for you to watch. Eventually, there's going to be something called "The Good News Channel," and it will be very attractive indeed. For it will be real and offset the drama of what is today's attraction. This is what families at night, sitting around the table, will wish to watch. They'll have something where the whole picture of a situation is shown and not just the dramatic parts. You will hear about what's happening on the planet that no one is telling you now, and when that occurs [we have no clock, dear one], it's going to compete strongly with the drama. I keep telling you this. Human nature itself is starting to be in color instead of black and white. Watch for it. And that was number six ….”

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…  Government

Let us speak of government. We're not speaking of your government, but of any government - the way it works, how it survives, how it has survived, the way it campaigns, and how it elects leaders. It's going to change.

Years ago, I told you, "When everybody can talk to everybody, there can be no secrets." Up to this point on this planet, government has counted on one thing - that the people can't easily talk to each other on a global scale. They have to get their information through government or official channels. Even mass media isn't always free enough, for it reports that which the government reports. Even a free society tends to bias itself according to the bias of the times. However, when you can have Human Beings talking to each other all at once, all over the planet without government control, it all changes, for there is open revelation of truth.. …”

Tech-savvy Turks, led by President Gul, flout attempted Twitter ban

Deutsche Welle, 21 March 2014

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has criticized government attempts to block microblogging site Twitter. He did so in a series of messages on Twitter. Gul was by no means the only Turk to wriggle out of the restrictions.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's attempt to block the Twitter social media platform proved neither popular nor particularly effective on Friday. The site went black in Turkey late on Thursday, after Erdogan said in a speech that he intended to "wipe out" the service.

Twitter, a brief, 140-character format well suited to sharing links to information elsewhere online, had become a popular vehicle to spread audio recordings that appeared to incriminate Erdogan and other top government officials in corruption cases.

"A complete ban on social media platforms cannot be approved," President Abdullah Gul, a former ally of Erdogan who has become increasingly critical in recent months, wrote in one of five Twitter messages published during the blackout.

"I hope this implementation won't last long," he said in another Tweet. Gul has almost 4.5 million "followers" on the social media platform.

Above-average Turkish traffic

Twitter's own @support handle issued a message telling Turks how they could still write messages on the social media site using SMS "text" messages from their mobile phones. Meanwhile, cheat sheets in the Turkish language, explaining how to circumvent such bans more completely using Internet proxies and other workarounds, were distributed by members of the public in response.

According to the social media analysts at Brandwatch, more Twitter messages emanated from Turkey on Friday - in spite of the ban - than was the case on Wednesday before Erdogan's announcement.

Twitter boasts some 10 million Turkish users, with Turkish-language hash-tags regularly making the list of global trending topics. "#TwitterIsBlockedInTurkey" and "#TurkeyBlockedTwitter" both made the list on Friday.

Turkish voters will take part in local elections on March 30; the campaign has been impacted by the corruption allegations against the government.

The European Union commented critically on the attempted ban, after Erdogan had said he was "not interested" in the international reaction to his decision.

"The ban … raises grave concerns and casts doubt on Turkey's stated commitment to European values and standards," EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle said in a statement. Turkey has long sought EU membership but is struggling with several outstanding hurdles to this target - not least the division of EU-member Cyprus.

msh/rc (AFP, Reuters)

Related Article:

Turkish court orders lifting of Twitter ban

Supermarkets fighting losing battle with China's e-commerce

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-03-17

A dying mode of grocery shopping. (Photo/CNS)

The growing popularity of e-commerce has now taken up competition even with traditional supermarkets, whose annual gross margins have posted annualized declines in China, according to the Party-run Beijing Youth Daily.

A woman surnamed Sun said her trips to the supermarket have decreased after becoming used to placing orders online for commodities, such as home appliances, clothing, books and food products, according to the report. The change in buying behavior, with fruits and daily necessities making their way to homes through e-commerce websites, has impacted the traditional physical retailer significantly. According to the semi-annual financial reports of public retail firms in 2013, at least 80% reported that they had incurred growing management costs and decreasing gross margins.

Official data show that the foreign supermarket in China has been in a crisis since 2012. The world's largest retailers — Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco — slowed down expansion in the mainland market by 27% in 2013, with all of them closing some of their respective branches. Wal-Mart shut down five, Carrefour two, and Tesco five.

Refrigerated and frozen products are being pushed to boost sales of traditional supermarkets and attract customers and because of their high gross margin. Frozen products are also more difficult and expensive to keep chilled during shipping.

Beijing-based Wumart Stores said sales of its refrigerated and frozen products registered two-digit percentage growth in 2013. In addition, a Wal-Mart executive pointed out that the retailer has established new distribution centers to attract new customers.

This has not stopped e-commerce companies from eyeing the frozen and fresh food sector. Another senior analyst is of the view that the revenue generated from fresh foods could touch 40% on average for e-commerce companies, with seafood and frozen meat reporting the highest revenue, followed by fruit.

China's internet giant Alibaba said its sales for fresh and agricultural products surged by 195% in 2013, with fruit, seafood and vegetables posting the largest growth.

Video: classical canal house being 'printed' in Amsterdam

DutchNews.nl, Monday 17 March 2014

A classical-style canal house is currently being ‘printed’ in Amsterdam using a giant 3D printer.

The printing site on the former Shell complex in Amsterdam Noord also houses an exhibition on the project, developed by architects bureau DUS.

Related Article:

Researchers Are Making A 3D Printer That Can Build A House In 24 Hours

US to relinquish key oversight role for Internet

Google - AFP, Rob Lever (AFP), 15 March 2014

A picture taken on March 15, 2013 in Paris shows the screen of a computer

connected on the internet and displaying a webpage (AFP/File, Lionel Bonaventure)

Washington — The US government announced Friday it was giving up its key role in charge of the Internet's technical operations, handing over those functions to "the global multistakeholder community."

The US Commerce Department said it would seek "to convene global stakeholders to develop a proposal" for a transition away from US government oversight of the Internet's domain name system.

The move "marks the final phase of the privatization" of the Internet domain system, a statement said.

In 1997, the Internet domain system was handed over by the US government to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a non-profit group.

The decision comes with Washington under pressure following revelations about vast surveillance programs operated by the secretive National Security Agency to collect data through a variety of methods.

The end of the US oversight role has no immediate impact for Internet users, and ICANN will continue to administer the network's key technical functions.

The shift seeks "to support and enhance the multistakeholder model of Internet policymaking and governance," said the statement from the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The US agency's role administering changes to the so-called "root zone" of databases underlying the Internet makes it a steward of that system, even though the functions are contracted out to ICANN and the infrastructure company Verisign.

"The timing is right to start the transition process," said Assistant Commerce Secretary Lawrence Strickling.

"We look forward to ICANN convening stakeholders across the global Internet community to craft an appropriate transition plan."

The statement said the US hopes to "support and enhance the multistakeholder model," and "maintain the openness of the Internet" under any new system.

ICANN welcomed the announcement and said it was moving forward on a transition plan.

"We are inviting governments, the private sector, civil society and other Internet organizations from the whole world to join us in developing this transition process," said ICANN president and CEO Fadi Chehade.

"All stakeholders deserve a voice in the management and governance of this global resource as equal partners."

- ICANN administrator role unchanged -

ICANN said its role as administrator of the Internet's unique identifier system remains unchanged.

"The Internet's Unique Identifier functions are not apparent to most Internet users, but they play a critical role in maintaining a single, global, unified and interoperable Internet." ICANN said.

A screen shows a rolling feed of new 'Generic Top-Level Domain Names

 (gTLDs) which have been applied for during a press conference hosted by

ICANN in central London, on June 13, 2012 (AFP/File, Andrew Cowie)

But the change leaves some questions unanswered on the future stewardship of the Internet.

Daniel Castro, analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, criticized the "negative" move.

"And the government knows it's negative," he told AFP. "That's why they released it on a Friday afternoon."

Castro said the change opens the door to other governments modifying the Internet architecture for political reasons.

"It's one thing for the US government to step back," he said.

"The concern is how do we make it work in practice. Given that other countries have said they will use the Internet for political purposes this threatens the long-term stability of the basic technical functions of the Internet."

In a blog post, Castro said the US has been a force for openness of the Internet.

"Internet users and businesses worry that countries such as Russia or China may manipulate ICANN to censor online content that is outside their borders," he wrote.

"Currently, the US government acts as a deterrent... It is unreasonable, however, to expect all foreign governments to continue to respect ICANN's operating principles in the absence of the US government's oversight and protection of core values."

The leaders of the Internet technical organizations welcomed the news.

"The transition of the US government stewardship has been envisaged since the early days of (ICANN) functions contract," said a statement from the World Wide Web Consortium, Internet Engineering Task Force and other groups.

"This transition is now feasible due to the maturity of the Internet technical organizations."

Related Article:

Internet privacy as important as human rights, says UN's Navi Pillay

International Women's Day celebrated in Google doodle

Rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai features in doodle providing 'a glimpse' of what some women across the world are doing

theguardian.com, Saturday 8 March 2014

Google is celebrating International Women's Day with a homepage doodle featuring footage of women from around the world including the education rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai and the British businesswoman and charity worker, Camila Batmanghelidjh.

The search engine's creative team put together the doodle, which features 27 female chromosomes and a video package with the faces of more than 100 women as well as a musical soundtrack from the Belgian-Congolese vocal group Zap Mama. Others who make an appearance include the President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė.

The doodle was designed by Google with the intention of providing "a glimpse" of what some women across the world are doing and to focus in a positive way on their lives.

International Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900s, a time of turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. The first National Woman's Day (NWD) in the US was observed across the United States on 28 February, 1909.

Clara Zetkin, a German Social Democrat, tabled the idea of an International Women's Day in 1910 during an international conference on women's rights in Copenhagen.

The day is being marked in a variety of ways in countries around the world, from Afghanistan to Zambia. In the UK male presenters are to be banished from BBC Radio 1 for 39 hours this weekend to celebrate International Women's Day.

Related Article:

Archangel Gabrielle: This is the Longest War in Human History

Apple sent billions offshore to avoid Australia tax, report says

Google – AFP, Martin Parry (AFP), 6 March 2014

A worker is seen cleaning glass panels of the Apple store in Sydney,

on April 8, 2013 (AFP/File, Saeed Khan)

Sydney — Apple shifted billions in untaxed profits from its Australian operations to Ireland over the past decade, a report said on Thursday, as the government vowed to stop global companies from dodging their fair share of tax.

An investigation by the Australian Financial Review obtained 10 years worth of financial accounts for Apple Sales International -- an arm of the organisation it described as the "secretive" Irish company at the heart of the group's global tax arrangements.

The newspaper said the US tech giant moved an estimated Aus$8.9 billion (US$8.1 billion) in untaxed profits from Australia to a tax haven structure in Ireland, paying just 0.7 percent of its turnover in tax.

Customers visit Apple store in the central

 business district of Sydney, on September 17,

2013 (AFP/File, Saeed Khan)

Last year, Apple declared pre-tax earnings in Australia of only Aus$88.5 million after sending an estimated Aus$2 billion from its Australian sales to Ireland via Singapore, it reported.

Apple in Australia declined to comment to AFP, but the company has previously said it has complied with the law and done everything required by the tax office. There is no suggestion it has done anything illegal.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said in response to the report that the government was determined to recover tax that companies have inappropriately avoided and that Canberra was pursing the issue through the G20.

"Businesses operating around the world are not necessarily paying their fair share of tax where they're earning their profits," he said, without naming any firm.

"Our view is, and that is a view that's shared around the world, businesses should pay their fair share of tax where they earn profits."

Trade Minister Andrew Robb added to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: "In most cases the companies are doing what is legal, but is it fair?

"Is it what they should do as companies that are benefiting greatly from the Australian commerce?

"No they're not, and we've got to look in a global sense at how to tackle this problem, that's why it's on at the G20."

Concerns are mounting that global companies, particularly those involved in the digital and Internet sectors, can reduce their tax bills by shifting profits around the world to areas where rates are lowest.

Ahead of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Sydney last month, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said accounting for revenues from global businesses was a "big ongoing problem and process".

She urged governments to radically rethink international tax arrangements to deal with it.

The G20 meeting agreed to new measures to crack down on international tax evasion, including the automatic exchange of information between member nations.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is expected to present a report looking at the increasingly digitalised global environment to another G20 meeting in Cairns, in northern Australia, in September.

Christine Lagarde, International Monetary Fund Managing Director, speaks

 during a press conference at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank

Governors meeting in Sydney, on February 23, 2014 (AFP/File, Saeed Khan)

Apple and other multinational US companies have also been under fire in the US Congress, with lawmakers accusing them last year of using a web of foreign subsidiaries to dodge taxes.

Senators Carl Levin and John McCain held a hearing last May that examined offshore profit shifting and tax avoidance by Apple through the use of three Irish subsidiaries that claimed they were not tax residents anywhere, saving tax on billions of non-US income.

Apple chief Tim Cook told the hearing the issue was "complex" and often misunderstood.

Research into the California-based multinational's global tax minimisation strategy by Antony Ting, senior lecturer in Taxation Law at the University of Sydney Business School, is due to be published in the prestigious British Tax Review next month.

Ting told AFP that the figures given in the Australian Financial Review's investigation were not surprising.

"Apple has been successful in avoiding tax of US$44 billion worldwide in the last four years alone," he said, citing his research, adding that other multinationals were doing the same.

"But its structures are perfectly legal. That is the problem and governments should be doing more to close down these loopholes."

Offshore Secrets

Related Articles:

German feminist Alice Schwarzer admits to Swiss account, then goes on offensive
Illicit savers admit to stashing away €552m, minister says

Hundreds confess to tax office about secret foreign savings accounts

Offshore tax evaders targeted with new ad campaign of warnings

New asset declaration rules linked to China's anti-graft efforts
The Netherlands and US agree tax information exchange
Cayman Islands and Costa Rica agree to share bank account details with US Liechtenstein ends banking secrecy, accepts OECD tax rules
G20 to share tax information by 2015

China joins anti-tax evasion convention

Dutch polish tax image, to 'update' treaties with 23 poor countries

G20 backs plan to stop global tax avoidance and evasion

G8 leaders agree tax evasion measures

Indonesia Welcomes Tax Haven Transparency

British PM strikes 'tax havens' deal ahead of G8

Andorra to introduce income tax for first time

Swiss strike bank deal with US over tax evasion

Singapore Boosts Measures Against Global Tax Cheats

Bermuda and UK territories sign anti-tax evasion deal

Austria to loosen bank secrecy laws within weeks

Luxembourg to ease the secrecy surrounding its banks

Australia to force multinationals to disclose tax arrangements

HMRC in offshore tax evasion crackdown after receiving fresh data

G20 urges global community to end banking secrecy

Major EU countries to tackle tax havens

France's President Hollande: Eradicate tax havens

Dutch MPs call for action on tax havens, plan should be ready by summer

EU deal to tackle mining corruption

French ministers to declare assets publicly

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

China Offshore Secrets

Offshore tax-dodging piece shows anti-Chinese bias: report

Chinese oil giants make use of offshore shell companies in Caribbean

China's cash haven in the British Virgin islands – the key points
China's princelings storing riches in Caribbean offshore haven

EU Offshore Secrets

Swiss bank accused of helping clients evade US taxes

Gibraltar tries to lure London hedge fund bosses with promise of low taxes

Dutch savers have €1.1bn in Luxemburg and Austria: tax office

100 of UK's richest people concealing billions in offshore tax havens

The 'who's who' of European tax havens

Accountancy firms 'use knowledge of Treasury to help rich avoid tax' – MPs

The nation at the heart of the offshore scandal: Britain

Leaks reveal secrets of the rich who hide cash offshore

Dutch finance ministry denies Starbucks tax secrecy claims