Country crooner Jason Aldean walked away from Monday night's American Country Awards with a pack-leading six trophies, but event cohost Kristin Chenoweth did something even more impressive: She defied gravity.
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Badoo, the online network for meeting new people recently reached 130 million registered users and now brings in $100 million a year. Based out of London's Silicon Roundabout, Badoo would be the 4th biggest social network if it was just a social network. But Badoo adapts to the local needs of its international user base. To give us insight into how Badoo reached its stellar revenues, built its user base, and succeeded in Europe, we brought Chief Marketing Officer Jessica Powell in to talk to us on TechCrunch TV. Watch as she tells us how 50% of the conversations on Badoo now lead to an offline meetup.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Gy-kaMMl3KE/
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National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said the time has come for India to have a "controlled democracy" on the lines of Malaysia to get quicker results of long-pending issues.
? read more ?Source: http://www.humsurfer.com/india-has-too-much-democracy-farooq-abdullah
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) ? The U.S. military returned its biggest base in Iraq to the government on Friday, a huge compound near Baghdad airport that housed the American war operations centre and hosted a captive Saddam Hussein before his execution.
Victory Base Complex, a site ringed by 42 kilometers (27 miles) of blast walls and razor wire, was the U.S. command centre for the Iraq war almost from the moment American troops entered the capital and pulled down Saddam's statue in 2003.
The handover of Victory Base marks a major milestone in the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as Washington consolidates its presence in Baghdad at its huge embassy on the Tigris River in the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone.
Only 12,000 troops remain, down from a peak of about 170,000 at the height of the war. Almost all of the remaining forces are due to leave Iraq by the end of this year, except for a small contingent of under 200 attached to the U.S. embassy.
"The Victory Base Complex was officially signed over to the receivership of the Iraqi government this morning," Colonel Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman, said by email. "The base is no longer under U.S. control and is now under the full authority of the Government of Iraq."
American forces have been closing down operations for months at the Victory complex, which once housed around 42,000 U.S. military personnel and another 20,000 support staff.
The top U.S. war leaders from Ricardo Sanchez to David Petraeus to the current commander, General Lloyd Austin, lived at one of Saddam's villas on the base, a 20-room, 25,000-square-foot mansion where King Hussein of Jordan was said to have liked to fish off the back porch during Saddam's reign.
U.S. officials said Saddam built the network of palaces and villas and a complex of lakes on the grounds, including his Victory over America palace feting the 1991 Gulf War, in which U.S. forces drove Iraq out of Kuwait, and the Victory over Iran palace commemorating the 1980s campaign against his neighbor.
U.S. forces used as their war operations centre Saddam's al-Faw Palace, a 450,000-square-foot edifice of 62 rooms, including 29 bathrooms, designed with France's Versailles in mind and decorated with French provincial furniture.
U.S. officials said they would leave behind a massive, throne-like wooden chair given to Saddam by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Saddam Hussein was imprisoned at Victory Base for about two years in a maximum-security facility built in the bombed wreckage of a villa once used by security forces headed by his son Uday, U.S. officials said.
"Building 114," as U.S. troops knew it, was located on a small island in a lake, connected by a causeway and a drawbridge, and was shared by Saddam and his henchman, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, or Chemical Ali. Both were executed.
The base was a home-away-from-home for hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops who served in Iraq and was thoroughly Americanized over the course of eight years with everything from water and power plants to Burger King and Subway restaurants.
U.S. soldiers could be seen jogging around the lakes in off-duty hours or smacking golf balls into the water from the terraces of Saddam's palaces.
(Additional reporting by Patrick Markey)
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Frederic J. Brown / AFP - Getty Images
A man opens the passenger door of a Jeep Wrangler on display at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show. Chrysler's November sales rose 45 percent, helped by strong sales of its Jeep brand.
By Msnbc.com staff and wire
Automakers, including?Chrysler, GM, Ford, Toyota and Nissan?reported healthy?sales gains in the U.S. last month in a good sign for the overall economy and consumer demand.
The results underscore projections that Americans bought new cars at the fastest pace in more than two years as they replace aging cars. Analysts expect that the annual sales rate for November could range between 13.3 million and 14 million cars and trucks. That is far better than the rate of 12.6 million through the first 10 months of the year.
November sales also could approach the 14.1 million annual rate from August of 2009, when the government offered big rebates for drivers to trade in their gas-guzzling clunkers.
Chrysler led the pack with a 45 percent jump in sales it attributed to strong demand for its Jeep vehicles.
2:07 p.m. EST: Toyota said its U.S. sales rose 7 percent in November, boosted by the introductions of new models and improved dealer inventories.
Toyota's sales have suffered in the months since the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which resulted in parts shortages that limited how many vehicles it could build.
Toyota sold a total of 137,960 new cars and trucks, up from 129,317 in the same month last year.
Car sales rose 18.8 percent, as sales of the Prius hybrid, including its new Prius V model, increased by nearly half and Camry sales, including its new gas and hybrid versions, jumped 13 percent.
Truck sales fell 5.4 percent, as sales of nearly every model fell.
12:33 p.m. EST: Ford said its U.S. sales rose 13 percent in November, as higher sales of trucks and sport utility vehicles countered a decline in cars. Sales totaled 166,865 vehicles last month, compared with 147,338 a year earlier.
The automaker says sales of cars last month fell 9 percent, while sales of SUVs jumped 29 percent. Truck sales were up 22.8 percent. Ford-branded sales were up 20 percent from a year earlier. Sales of the Explorer tripled, while sales of the Ford Escape were up 46 percent.
Ford Motor Co. also said?it believes the current momentum in the industry should continue. It plans to build 675,000 vehicles in the first quarter of next year, up 3 percent, or 18,000 vehicles, compared with the same period this year.
10:42 a.m. EST: GM sales climbed 7 percent while Nissan's sales rose 19 percent, below Chrysler's 45 percent rise, but still strong.
Buyers snapped up GM's small cars and pickup trucks. Sales of the Chevrolet Cruze compact rose 54 percent, while the Chevrolet Silverado pickup, GM's top-selling vehicle, saw sales jump 34 percent.
"We are seeing a broad spectrum of customers return to the market," said Don Johnson, GM's U.S. sales chief.
At Nissan, the tiny Versa led sales with a 38 percent increase, but SUV and truck sales also rose 32 percent.
8:30 a.m. EST: Chrysler's U.S. sales jumped 45 percent last month thanks to strong demand for the Jeep brand.
Chrysler sold 107,172 new cars and trucks last month compared with 74,152 a year earlier. Jeep sales rose 44 percent on strong demand for the Compass crossover and the Liberty small SUV.
Higher incentives in November also brought buyers into showrooms. TrueCar.com says Chrysler's incentives rose 6 percent from October to nearly $3,300 per vehicle.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CNBC's Phil LeBeau has the numbers from GM and a company outlook, with Don Johnson, General Motors VP of U.S. sales.
Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/01/9140673-chrysler-gm-nissan-post-big-sales-gains
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Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton embrace while speaking to the press after meetings at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton embrace while speaking to the press after meetings at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tour the grounds after meetings at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tour the grounds after meetings at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, right, talks with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton following a meeting at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Soe Than Win, Pool)
Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tour the grounds after meetings at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, two of the world's most recognizable women leaders, pledged on Friday to work together to bring democracy to Suu Kyi's long isolated and repressive nation.
Wrapping up a historic three-day visit to Myanmar, Clinton held hands with Suu Kyi on the porch of the Nobel peace laureate's lakeside home where she spent much of the past two decades under house arrest and thanked her for a her "steadfast and very clear leadership." The meeting was the second in as many days for the pair who appeared to have bonded almost as sisters after a private, one-on-one dinner in Yangon on Thursday.
"You have been an inspiration but I know that you feel you are standing for all the people of your country who deserve the same rights and freedoms as people everywhere," Clinton told Suu Kyi. "The people have been courageous and strong in the face of great difficulty over too many years. We want to see this country take its rightful place in the world."
Suu Kyi has welcomed Clinton's visit and tentatively embraced reforms enacted by Myanmar's new civilian government. She thanked the secretary and U.S. President Barack Obama for their "careful and calibrated" engagement that has seen the U.S. take some modest steps to improve ties.
"We are happy with the way in which the United States is engaging with us," she said. "It is through engagement that we hope to promote the process of democratization. Because of this engagement, I think our way ahead will be clearer and we will be able to trust that the process of democratization will go forward."
As she did in the capital of Naypyidaw on Thursday, Clinton said more significant incentives will be offered but only if the government releases all political prisoners, ends brutal campaigns against ethnic minorities, respects the rule of law and improves human rights conditions.
Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won 1990 elections that were ignored by the then-military junta but now plans to run in upcoming parliamentary elections, endorsed that approach and called for the immediate release of all political prisoners and cease-fires to end the ethnic conflicts..
"If we move forward together I am confident there will be no turning back on the road to democracy," Suu Kyi said, referring to her party, the government, the United States and other countries, including Myanmar's giant neighbor China. "We are not on that road yet, but we hope to get there as soon as possible with the help and understanding of our friends."
Suu Kyi, a heroine for pro-democracy advocates around the world, said Clinton's visit, the first by a secretary of state to Myanmar in more than half a century, represented "a historical moment for both our countries."
With U.S. assistance and pressure on the government, which is still backed by the military, she said she believed change was on the horizon for Myanmar
"There have been times that Naypyidaw has weakened but I don't think it has ever really broken," she said.
Clinton's meetings with Suu Kyi were the highlight of the U.S. secretary of state's visit to the long-isolated country known as Burma and forcefully underscored a U.S. challenge to Myanmar's leaders: The new civilian government must expand recent reforms, including the release of political prisoners, to improve relations as it emerges from more than a half-century of repressive military rule.
"We believe that any political prisoner anywhere should be released," the Clinton told reporters on Thursday. "One political prisoner is one too many in our view."
U.S. officials warned that even the modest incentives Clinton offered to Myanmar's new, military-backed leaders this week would come off the table if the country fails the political-prisoners and other tests of reform.
In meetings with top Myanmar officials in the capital of Naypyidaw and then with Suu Kyi in the commercial hub of Yangon, Clinton said the country's leaders must end violent campaigns against ethnic minorities and break military ties with North Korea
Clinton offered a small package of rewards for steps President Thein Sein and other leaders have already taken but said the U.S. was not ready to lift tough sanctions on the country. Removing some of those sanctions would require approval by Congress, where many lawmakers have criticized the Obama administration for rewarding Myanmar too quickly without enough evidence of change.
The modest first steps Clinton announced include Washington no longer blocking enhanced cooperation between Myanmar and the International Monetary Fund that could lead to the approval of much-needed loans and support for the poorest nation in the region. Also, the U.S. would support intensified U.N. health and microfinance programs and resume bilateral counternarcotics efforts.
Those steps could be followed by an upgrade in diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Myanmar, Clinton said, although U.S. officials stressed that concrete action on American concerns must be completed first. The U.S. has not had an ambassador in Myanmar since the early 1990s and is represented now by a charge d'affaires.
___
Associated Press writer Aye Aye Win in Yangon contributed to this report.
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