Ahead of the Independence Day celebration, many museums across the country inaugurate special exhibits dedicated to the most important moments in American history. VOA Russian’s Maxim Moskalkov went to a vast display at the National Museum of American History.
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We’re counting down the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending July 8, 2017.
It’s a big week on the Hot 100, as we finally break a 12-week chart drought.
Number 5: Ed Sheeran ” Shape of You”
Ed Sheeran slips a slot to number five with “Shape Of You.” Ed is vocal in opposing ticket re-sellers, and now he’s taking the fight to another level.
When fans come to see him in one of his seven U.K. stadium dates in 2018, they’ll need four forms of identification. In a statement, Ed’s label Atlantic says the security measures are meant to ensure fans aren’t ripped off by inflated prices on secondary ticket sites.
For 12 weeks, a female voice wasn’t heard in the Top Five. That drought has ended and you can thank Rihanna.
*Hot Shot Debut* Number 4: DJ Khaled Featuring Rihanna & Bryson Tiller “Wild Thoughts”
DJ Khaled takes Hot Shot Debut honors, opening in fourth place with “Wild Thoughts” featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller.
Female artists had gone missing from the Top Five for 12 weeks…a streak not equaled since 1972, when the women were shut out for 13 weeks.
Number 3: Bruno Mars ” That’s What I Like”
From here, things quiet down considerably. Bruno Mars spends another week in third place with “That’s What I Like.”
Last week, Camila Cabello announced that she’d go on tour with Bruno here in North America – needless to say she was happy about it! Their joint dates begin July 20 in San Jose, California and run through August 22. September finds Dua Lipa taking over, touring with Bruno into 2018.
Number 2: DJ Khaled Featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper & Lil Wayne ” I’m The One”
DJ Khaled, Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper and Lil Wayne stay put in second place with “I’m The One.”
TMZ has video footage of Justin meeting Khaled’s little son Asahd during the video shoot for “I’m The One”…and the eight-month-old promptly bursts into tears. Asahd is a celebrity thanks to his father’s social media posts…and he also graces the cover of Khaled’s new album Grateful.
Number 1: Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Featuring Justin Bieber “Despacito”
Here’s something for Justin Bieber to be grateful for: Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber are your Hot 100 champs for a seventh week with “Despacito.”
Late last month, Justin threw his Yeezy shoes into the crowd at the Wireless Festival in Frankfurt, Germany. The right shoe is being auctioned on ebay…current bid nearly $8,000 — while the left one is now an Instagram star with nearly $10,000 followers.
And so it goes…until we do it again next week!
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One thing is certain: Culture has not been lacking in takes on Spider-Man for the past 15 years. First there was Tobey Maguire, who under the direction of Sam Raimi for three films ushered in the modern superhero era, and then there was Andrew Garfield whose two films with Marc Webb were immediately forgettable. And now, like all obedient franchises, they’re trying to start all over again, this time with the much more age-appropriate Tom Holland in ” Spider-Man: Homecoming .”
And you know what? Superhero cynicism aside, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” is really fun. Director Jon Watts, whose only previous feature film credit is the indie thriller “Cop Car,” has confidently put his stamp on the friendly neighborhood web-slinger by making one bold move: actually casting teenagers to play teenagers.
Yes, after two films with late 20-somethings donning the Spidey suit and getting bitten by that pesky spider, Spider-Man finally gets to be a kid (and we get to skip over the whole origin/ Uncle Ben story). Instead, Watts’ film, which is upsettingly credited to six screenwriters, picks up with Peter Parker (Holland) right before, during and after the events of “Captain America: Civil War,” which introduced Holland’s Spider-Man in that epic airport Avengers battle.
Instead of a “last week in Marvel” segment to catch up, we’re given a refresher via Peter’s perspective. He’s just an excited kid who filmed the whole adventure and ever since has been thirsting for more Avengers action. He tries, endearingly, to prove his mettle on his own as he waits idly in Queens for a call from Tony Stark — giving directions to the elderly, retrieving stolen bikes and doing flips on command.
What he doesn’t know is that for eight years, there has been a supervillain emerging in his town in the form of a wronged construction worker, Adrian (Michael Keaton), who decided to break bad after losing a job to a government crew that clears post-superhero fight disaster areas. Peter, with his true-blue heart and naivete and eagerness to prove himself, of course takes on more than he can handle, while also trying to navigate high school, homework, crushes and the awkwardness of just being a teenager. Time passes easily and just when you might worry that you don’t actually care about any of the characters, the story throws a great curveball that carries interest to the end.
The film is overflowing with stellar talent, even in the smallest of roles and not counting the Marvel loaners in Robert Downey Jr. (who oozes charisma and charm even when phoning it in for a handful of scenes) and Jon Favreau. In the high school alone, there’s the too-cool Michelle (Zendaya), the crush Liz (Laura Harrier) and the adorable breakout best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon). Hannibal Buress and Martin Starr are there, too, to add reliable laughs. Adrian’s bad-guy crew includes Logan Marshall-Green and Michael Cernus. Even Spider-Man’s suit has an Oscar winner behind its voice (Jennifer Connelly).
Then of course there is Holland, a terrific actor since “The Impossible,” who is the perfect amount of empathetic, excitable and clueless to make Peter Parker work now and for years to come. For the most part, “Homecoming” is a joy. It’s light-hearted, smart, a little meta and the first Marvel film to really consider what it might be like for kids living in a world where superheroes are real.
My only quibble with “Spider-Man: Homecoming” is that for all of its charming and infectious realism about race, high school life and class issues, it has a bit of a woman problem. Simply: every significant and semi-significant female character looks like a model. It wouldn’t be an issue were the film not so spot-on with casting such a realistic variety of men and teenage boys, or if it were less concerned with hammering down on the “Aunt May is hot” bit that goes a little too far, but when taken together you start to wonder if maybe things would have been different if just one of the six screenwriters was a woman.
But just as Peter has some growing up to do, so does this young franchise.
“Spider-Man: Homecoming,” a Sony Pictures release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “sci-fi action violence, some language and brief suggestive comments.” Running time: 133 minutes. Three stars out of four.
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You would think you were on the lawn of Washington’s National Cathedral in the 1920s. Women dressed like flappers; and men like F. Scott Fitzgerald. The sound of Jazz is in the air. The dead give way that it’s 2017 is the cell phone in everyone’s hands. VOA Russian’s Masha Morton has more.
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The dream of performing on Broadway came true last month for 74 high school actors, singers and dancers, selected from 50,000 young performers from across the United States. They came to New York to compete for the Jimmy Awards.
While the Tony Awards celebrate the best of Broadway’s professional theater, the Jimmy Awards, named for the late Broadway theater owner and producer James Nederlander, are given to the country’s best high school musical theater performers.
Seventeen year-old Felix Torrez came from Green Bay, Wisconsin. His performance as the Beast in Beauty and the Beast at his high school won him a spot in the competition.
“Being here already is an award itself,” Felix said. “Being able to perform on Broadway as a high-schooler … I just want to soak it all in.”
That’s how 18-year-old Jasmine Rogers from Houston, Texas, felt, too. She played the Witch in Into the Woods. Unlike Felix, she’s seen many Broadway shows.
“I didn’t get into musical theater until I was seven. I used to play the violin and I was bad at it,” she admitted with a laugh. “And one day a flier came home to do a production of Peter Pan. And so I auditioned and I fell in love with it from there on and I’ve been doing it since.”
Rehearsals and opportunities
For eight days, these teenagers were pushed hard. Only a few days after that first rehearsal, they had staged the opening number.
Kiesha Lalama, the show’s choreographer, said she expects a lot from these teenagers. “You know, if you treat them like professionals and really just challenge them to rise up, they do. And that’s what I think is so amazing about it, is that these kids are willing and able. And if you provide them with the opportunity they can thrive.”
Each participant is coached by a Broadway actor, including Howard McGillin, who has performed The Phantom of the Opera more than anyone else.
Monday morning was dress rehearsal, and just a few hours later, the curtain went up before a sold-out house on Broadway.
When the finalists were announced, Rogers was one of them. And so, in front of friends, family and a lot of important Broadway producers and casting directors, she sang, all alone, in a spotlight, center stage.
She didn’t win the best actress award, but the experience was a bigger prize.
Both Rogers and Felix made new friends, polished their performing skills, and came away with the confidence that they would definitely be back on Broadway.
LISTEN: Jimmy Awards
A British hospital trust misused patient data when it shared information with Google for work on a smartphone app to help detect kidney injuries, a British data protection watchdog said Monday.
The Royal Free NHS Trust failed to comply with the Data Protection Act when it passed on personal information of around 1.6 million patients to Google’s DeepMind.
“There’s no doubt the huge potential that creative use of data could have on patient care and clinical improvements, but the price of innovation does not need to be the erosion of fundamental privacy rights,” Elizabeth Denham, head of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), said in a statement.
The data was provided in a medical trial that integrated information from existing systems used by the Royal Free to alert clinicians when signs of deterioration in a patient with Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) were found.
The investigation found that many patients did not know their data was being used as part of a test.
“We accept the ICO’s findings and have already made good progress to address the areas where they have concerns,” the trust said in a statement.
As a result, the trust has signed a document agreeing to make change to the way it handles data.
Although the ICO’s findings related to the hospital, Google’s artificial intelligence arm has also taken responsibility, admitting it underestimated the complexity of Britain’s state-run National Health Service and the rules around patient data.
“We were almost exclusively focused on building tools that nurses and doctors wanted, and thought of our work as technology for clinicians rather than something that needed to be accountable to and shaped by patients, the public and the NHS as a whole,” Google DeepMind said in a statement.
“We got that wrong, and we need to do better.”
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Venus Williams wiped tears from her eyes during her Wimbledon news conference Monday.
She shook her head, fiddled with her hair and sat, silently.
The wave of emotion came as Williams attempted to answer a question about the two-car crash that police say she caused June 9 in Florida; a 78-year-old passenger in the other vehicle died 13 days later. Williams’ 7-6 (7), 6-4 victory over Elise Mertens at the All England Club was the five-time Wimbledon champion’s first match anywhere since the accident — and the first time she has spoken about it publicly.
Well, tried to speak about it. She began by saying: “There are really no words to describe, like, how devastating and …”
Williams paused.
“Yeah, I’m completely speechless,” she briefly continued.
“It’s just …”
“Yeah, I mean, I’m just …”
Then she sat there, silently. Eventually, the moderator seated next to Williams temporarily halted the news conference, allowing the 37-year-old American to leave the room for a bit. She huddled nearby with her older sister, Isha, before returning. When the proceedings resumed, the moderator asked that the topic of the crash be avoided, saying, “Venus is willing to take a couple more questions about other things. Tennis, perhaps.”
The 10th-seeded Williams’ return to action, and difficulty in addressing the off-court matters with the media — just last week, the police report was released, and a day later, the estate of the man who died sued her — were the most noteworthy happenings on Day 1 at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
Williams has not been cited or charged, and police say she was not drunk, on drugs or texting, but that she drove her SUV into the path of a car carrying a married couple. Williams, who owns a home near the crash site, told investigators her light was green when she entered the six-lane intersection but she got stopped midpoint by traffic and didn’t see the other car before she crossed their lane.
“I mean, obviously, I think it would weigh on any human being, and Venus is no different,” said Williams’ coach, David Witt. “Venus is the nicest person, and [this is] just some random thing that could happen to anybody, any day. But she’s looking to focus on the tennis. I’m sure it’s weighing on her but we’re going day by day and getting good practice in. Once she enters the court, I think her mind’s on the match and tennis and winning here at Wimbledon.”
Asked Monday how difficult the recent weeks have been, Williams replied: “Tennis is still the love of my life. You know, it gives me joy.”
She is a former No. 1 and the owner of seven major singles titles, along with 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, all won with her younger sister, Serena.
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Two sites with cultural treasures separated by more than 40,000 years — caves with art dating to the Ice Age and buildings designed by a Bauhaus master less than 100 years ago — highlight Germany’s submissions for the prestigious World Heritage Site designation by the U.N.’s cultural agency, UNESCO.
The six caves are in the western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, where archeologists have discovered flutes made from mammoth ivory along with other ancient instruments and carvings. The Bauhaus buildings in northeastern Germany were designed by the school’s second director, Hannes Meyer.
A World Heritage designation brings sites some protection from development, pollution, and other threats. It can also raise a region’s profile and draw more visitors.
UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee is meeting in Poland in early July. This year’s nominations for World Heritage sites include seven natural sites, one both natural and cultural and 27 cultural sites. Other cultural sites being considered include the Valongo Wharf in Rio, the Sambor Prei Kuk archaeological sites in Cambodia, the Kujataa subarctic farming landscape in Greenland, and the landscapes of Dauria in Mongolia.
The caves in Baden-Wuerttemberg in the valleys of the Ach and Lone rivers have been excavated since the 19th century and have yielded hundreds of personal ornaments, at least eight musical instruments and more than 40 small figurines carved from mammoth ivory.
Archaeology professor Nicholas Conard, whose team discovered a 40,000-year-old mammoth ivory figure known as the Venus of Hohle Fels after the cave in which it was found, said the site fulfills the outstanding universal cultural value that UNESCO is looking for.
“They have produced the most abundant, richest and oldest record of early art works and also musical instruments, along with a whole range of other innovations, that are part of the cultural development at the time when modern humans spread across Europe and the Neanderthals went extinct,” said the University of Tuebingen professor.
Stefanie Koelbl, the executive director of the area’s Museum of Prehistory in Blaubeuren, said the Venus of Hohle Fels is the oldest known image of a human.
“This figure has a very special charisma also carved from ivory — she has this typical pattern for artworks from the younger Paleolithic Age here in southern Germany, these notch lines and cross lines,” Koelbl said. “She has no head but a loop to carry her and probably was carried as an amulet. It belonged to one special person.”
Other finds in the caves include a 20-centimeter (8-inch) phallus carved from siltstone, believed to be 32,000 years old, a water bird figure, unique in early Ice Age art, that is about 40,000 years old and a broken figure of a half man-half lion carved from mammoth ivory.
“This was an exceptional area,” Conard said.” Each year we find new examples of Paleolithic artworks that can be up to 40,000 years old or even a little bit older. And they are typically beautifully formed objects cut with stone tools and made from mammoth ivory.”
Fast forward from the Baden-Wuerttemberg caves to the 20th century, when the Bauhaus school of architecture revolutionized design and aesthetic concepts between 1919 and 1933. Some Bauhaus buildings were already inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1996.
Under consideration this year are buildings designed by Meyer known as Laubenganghaeuser — literally “housing with balcony access” — in the housing estate in Dessau, southwest of Berlin, as well as a trade union school he designed in Bernau, north of Berlin.
The yellow-brick school, built for the ADGB union in 1930, was designed by Meyer and colleague Hans Wittwer and is “today still a paragon of functional architectural design, which is freely and thoughtfully integrated into its natural surroundings,” according to the foundation that looks after it.
The five Laubenganghaeuser buildings, first occupied in 1930, have 90 apartments arranged in rows on three levels, each only 48 square meters (517 square feet), reflecting Meyer’s focus on making Bauhaus designs affordable yet still comfortable and with the same aesthetic, said Monika Markgraf of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation.
“They are very small, precisely laid-out apartments,” she said. “They are oriented so the living rooms facing south will get a lot of sunlight, and the side rooms like the kitchen, hallway and bathroom are to the north, so it’s very functional.”
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The annual July Fourth concert near the U.S. Capitol will include an appearance by two droids who fought for independence in a galaxy far, far away.
The two “Star Wars” characters will be on stage Tuesday evening while the National Symphony Orchestra plays John Williams’ music from the beloved sci-fi movie. The performance will celebrate the 40th anniversary of “Star Wars,” which was released in 1977.
R2-D2 and C-3PO are veterans of the Washington stage, having participated in the Kennedy Center Honors when “Star Wars” creator George Lucas received the award.
The July Fourth concert, known as “A Capitol Fourth,” will also feature performances by the Beach Boys, the Four Tops and Trace Adkins, among others. John Stamos will host the show.
A solar-powered drone backed by Facebook that could one day provide worldwide internet access has quietly completed a test flight in Arizona after an earlier attempt ended with a crash landing.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s long-term plan for the drone, called Aquila, is to have it and others provide internet access to 4 billion people around the world who are currently in the dark.
“When Aquila is ready, it will be a fleet of solar-powered planes that will beam internet connectivity across the world,” he wrote on Facebook.
The drone’s second flight was completed in May at Yuma Proving Ground, The Yuma Sun reported.
The drone flew with more sensors, new spoilers and a horizontal propeller stopping system to help it better land after the crash in December. It was in the air for an hour and 46 minutes and elevated 3,000 feet (910 meters).
The drone flew with the engineering team watching a live stream from a helicopter chasing the drone, said Martin Luis Gomez, Facebook’s director of aeronautical platforms.
The team was thrilled with the outcome, Gomez said.
“The improvements we implemented based on Aquila’s performance during its first test flight made a significant difference in this flight,” he said.
The drone weighs about 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) and has a longer wingspan than a Boeing 747.
The drone runs mostly on autopilot, but there are manned ground crews to manage certain maneuvers.
“We successfully gathered a lot of data to help us optimize Aquila’s efficiency,” Zuckerberg said. “No one has ever built an unmanned airplane that will fly for months at a time, so we need to tune every detail to get this right.”
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The roster of American musicians was impressive: Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, Booker T. and the MGs. They arrived in Europe in 1967, bringing with them the powerful, soulful Memphis Sound. Ahead was a tour with stops in London, Paris and elsewhere.
These artists from the Stax Records music studio captivated audiences with their music born from blues and gospel — a mesmerizing sound created from the black experience in the U.S. last century.
Fifty years later, a group of young musicians educated at Stax Music Academy are newly bringing the music of Memphis back to Europe. They are set to perform at festivals and music halls in England, France and Ireland from July 9 until July 22, joining Stax legends Mavis Staples and William Bell for a couple of shows.
The teenage musicians are eager to follow in the footsteps of their influential predecessors. Created in 2000, their academy is an after-school program for youngsters from some of Memphis’ poorest neighborhoods who learn how to dance, sing and play instruments. They pay nothing to attend.
“Just to be able to say that I was part of this upcoming overseas tour, being able to sing songs by Otis Redding and William Bell, it’s monumental not only for Memphis, but for Stax,” said Johnathon Lee, a 17-year-old academy vocalist. “To know that Stax music is still relevant today, and to know that was done in 1967, that’s monumental as well.”
Before it went bankrupt, Stax Records in Memphis generated some of America’s most memorable soul music of the 1960s and 1970s, including songs like Redding’s “Dock of the Bay,” Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man,” Floyd’s “Knock on Wood,” and Booker T. and the MGs’ “Green Onions.” Driven by tight horn and rhythm sections and strong-voiced singers, the Memphis Sound had a raw, emotional quality to it. Some Stax songs were energetic and raucous, others smooth and sexy.
Stax had a sister record label called Volt, so when they put together the 1967 trip, it was called the Stax/Volt European Tour.
The tour came at a time when Stax was having trouble getting its music aired on larger U.S. radio stations because of racial issues during the civil rights era, said Al Bell, who at the time was the music label’s national promotions director. So, when the Stax musicians hopped off a plane in London, they were surprised by the welcome they received.
“It stunned us. We didn’t know how to act,” Bell said. “All these white people in the airport and everywhere, hollering about Stax, calling the artists’ names.”
In Paris, fans “were going crazy” over the Stax musicians, especially Redding, Bell said.
“If there was ever a question in my mind about our music being acceptable to the masses and to whites, Paris, France, removed that completely from my mind,” he said.
Bell said Europeans told him that they viewed the music as an art form that comes from the African-American culture.
“And I’m saying, what?” Bell said, laughing. “We hadn’t even thought about having a `culture,’ let alone our music being considered an art form because it came out of slavery.”
When they returned to Memphis, the Stax artists used the momentum from the successful tour to churn out hits.
“When we came out of Europe, you couldn’t tell us nothing,” Bell said. “Writers got to writing, producers got to producing. You couldn’t get the musicians out of the studio.”
Some of the momentum stalled when Redding was killed in a plane crash in December 1967.
Bell later ran Stax before the company was forced into involuntary bankruptcy in 1975. Bell was indicted on bank fraud charges related to the company’s demise, but was acquitted.
The glory days of Stax Records are gone, but the Stax Music Academy is going strong. About a dozen teenagers ranging in age from 15 to 18 will be on the Europe tour, and they’ve spent hours rehearsing in the academy’s studios.
It will be the first time Lee will travel out of the country, and he’s looking forward to staying in new places and eating foreign foods. He called the trip “a big deal.”
“I’m a little nervous, but I’m excited,” Lee said. “I’m ready to venture out.”
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Samsung Electronics said Sunday it will start selling refurbished versions of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone this week in South Korea.
The Note 7 was recalled last year because its batteries would overheat and catch fire. The refurbished versions will use different batteries.
The new Galaxy Note FE phone, built with unused components of the Note 7, will cost $611, a significant drop in price from the Note 7’s price tag of nearly $1,000.
Samsung recalled the Note 7 less than a month after its launch when reports of the phone’s batteries catching fire emerged.
The company released another Note 7 with replaced batteries, but those batteries also overheated and Samsung discontinued the Note 7.
Earlier this year, the tech giant released the results of an investigation that determined the phone fires were the result of flaws in the design and production of batteries supplied by two battery makers.
Close to 3 million Note 7s were returned to Samsung, prompting environmental groups to urge the South Korean company to reuse the electronics parts of the Note 7 to reduce waste.
“The latest launch of the Galaxy Note FE … has a significant meaning as an environment-friendly project that minimized the waste of resources,” Samsung said in a statement.
Samsung said it has not decided if it will sell the Note FE internationally.
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Samsung Electronics said Sunday its recalled Galaxy Note 7 phones will be recycled and sold starting this week in South Korea.
The Galaxy Note FE phone, using unused parts in the recalled Note 7 smartphones, will go on sale in South Korea Friday at 700,000 won ($611), about three quarters of its original price.
The company said the supply will be limited to 400,000 units. Overseas sales plans will be determined later, it said in a statement.
Samsung said the Note FE has “perfect safety.”
Black eye for Samsung
The original Note 7 was one of the biggest black eyes in Samsung’s history. When it was launched in August 2016, the Note 7 was Samsung’s answer to Apple’s upcoming iPhone. It was also one of the most expensive Samsung phones with the price starting at $850.
But after reports emerged that its batteries were prone to overheat and catch fire, Samsung recalled the phone in less than a month of its launch and released another one with replaced batteries. But the second batch also tended to overheat, prompting Samsung to discontinue the Note 7.
The debacle dealt a blow to Samsung’s corporate image. Aviation authorities around the world banned the pricy phone on flights and photos of scorched Note 7s circulated on social media. Samsung spent billions of dollars to recall the Note 7 and fix its damaged brand.
Earlier this year, the company released the investigation results and blamed flaws in design and production of batteries supplied by two battery makers.
Environmentalists urged reuse of parts
After Samsung recalled millions of Note 7 phones, environmental activists have pressured the South Korean tech giant to reuse the electronics parts to reduce waste. Samsung said the Note FE is part of its efforts to minimize waste.
The Note FE, short for “Fan Edition,” features the screen measuring 5.7 inches (14.48 centimeters) diagonally and the stylus pen.
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Manny Pacquiao lost his WBO welterweight world title to Jeff Horn in a stunning, unanimous points decision in a Sunday afternoon bout billed as the Battle of Brisbane in front of more than 50,000 people.
The 11-time world champion entered the fight at Suncorp Stadium as a hot favorite but got more than he bargained for against the 29-year-old former schoolteacher.
Still, Pacquiao dominated the later rounds and had Horn wobbling at the end of the ninth.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said the result was a close call after some close rounds late in the bout as both fighters looked for a decisive blow.
“It was a close fight, it could have gone either way,” he said. “A couple of close rounds, but you can’t argue with the result.”
Pacquiao’s long-time trainer Freddie Roach predicted the fight would be short and sweet but Horn, unbeaten in his 17 previous professional fights, applied pressure by winning some of the early rounds, and Pacquiao needed treatment during the sixth and seventh rounds for a cut on the top of his head that resulted from a clash of heads.
The judges scored the fight 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113, with Horn immediately calling out Floyd Mayweather Jr., after the fight, declaring himself “no joke.”
Roach had said earlier in the week that he’d think about advising Pacquioa to retire if he lost the fight, but that would depend on how he fought.
Pacquiao’s camp had talked about a rematch with Mayweather if he got past Horn, hoping to avenge his loss on points in the 2015 mega fight. That seems to be a distant chance now.
Pacquiao, who entered the fight with a record of 59-6-2, 38 knockouts, was defending the WBO title he won on points against Jessie Vargas last November.
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Reigning champion Chris Froome wasted no time flexing his muscles at the Tour de France as he powered to sixth place Saturday in a treacherous opening time trial won superbly by Team Sky colleague Geraint Thomas.
Heavy rain turned what, on paper, had looked like a regulation 14-kilometer circuit alongside the Rhine river into an incident-packed Grand Depart that could have major consequences in the three-week battle for the yellow jersey.
While it was a great start for Team Sky, with Thomas, three-time champion Froome and Vasil Kiryienka all in the top six of the 198 riders to start, a sickening crash ended the Tour for Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde.
Several riders continued after crashing on the greasy roads, but there was no getting up for Valverde, third overall in 2015, after he skidded off the route and careered into crowd barriers. He was taken to a hospital with leg injuries.
It was heartbreaking for Valverde and also a huge blow for teammate Nairo Quintana, who was counting on Valverde’s experience in the mountain stages to come.
Welshman Thomas, riding his eighth Tour, looked completely at home in the puddles as he became the eighth Briton to wear the yellow jersey — making up for the disappointment of crashing out of the Giro d’Italia as team leader.
Five seconds up
He displayed brilliant handling to cross the finish line at the huge Messe Duesseldorf exhibition complex in 16 minutes, 4 seconds. He was five seconds ahead of BMC’s Swiss rider Stefan Kueng, who was two seconds ahead of Kiryienka in third.
Froome, the last rider out, was 12 seconds slower than Thomas, but significantly quicker than all his main General Classification (GC) rivals.
Quintana was 48 seconds slower than Thomas, with Australian Richie Porte one second quicker than the Colombian. French GC hopefuls Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet were 50 and 51 seconds off the pace, with Spain’s Alberto Contador 54 down.
Thomas said it had been a great day for Welsh sport, after Sam Warburton captained the British and Irish Lions to victory over the New Zealand All Blacks in rugby.
“That inspired me, to be honest,” he said. “I didn’t believe I would hang on, felt sure Tony [Martin] or someone would beat my time. This is amazing for me after what happened at the Giro, and massive for the team. The jersey is a huge bonus.”
Hopes that Martin would mark the first German Grand Depart since Berlin in 1987 with a home win were washed away as he could only manage fourth quickest.
While Porte will be concerned to be trailing Froome before the Tour starts for real, he said at least he had not suffered the same fate as Valverde.
“It wasn’t a day to take risks,” Froome’s former teammate said. ” … I was petrified, to be honest. It was such a slippery course.”
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Ukraine has blamed Russian security services for a massive cyberattack that started in the last week in Ukraine and eventually spread to computers across the world.
Ukraine’s security agency, the SBU, said in a statement Saturday the attack bore resemblances to past hacks of Ukrainian infrastructure by the Russian security services.
“The available data, including those obtained in cooperation with international antivirus companies, give us reason to believe that the same hacking groups are involved in the attacks, which in December 2016 attacked the financial system, transport and energy facilities of Ukraine, using TeleBots and BlackEnergy,” the statement said.
Russia has denied involvement in the recent attack that halted operations at large companies and government agencies in more than 60 countries around the world. The hackers encrypted data on infected machines and demanded a ransom to give it back to its owner.
Europol Director Rob Wainwright called Tuesday’s hack “another serious ransomware attack.” He said it bore resemblances to the previous “WannaCry” hack, but it also showed indications of a “more sophisticated attack capability intended to exploit a range of vulnerabilities.”
The WannaCry hack sent a wave of crippling ransomware to hospitals across Britain in May, causing the hospitals to divert ambulances and cancel surgeries. The program demanded a ransom to unlock access to files stored on infected machines.
Researchers eventually found a way to thwart the hack, but only after about 300 people had already paid the ransom.
The most recent hack has been largely contained, but now some researchers are questioning the motivation behind the attack. They say it may not have been designed to collect a ransom, but instead to simply destroy data.
“There may be a more nefarious motive behind the attack,” Gavin O’Gorman, an investigator with U.S. antivirus firm Symantec, said in a blog post. “Perhaps this attack was never intended to make money [but] rather to simply disrupt a large number of Ukrainian organizations.”
Russian anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab similarly noted that the code used in the hacking software wouldn’t have allowed its authors to decrypt the stolen data after a ransom had been paid.
“It appears it was designed as a wiper pretending to be ransomware,” Kapersky researchers Anton Ivanov and Orkhan Mamedov wrote in a blog post. “This is the worst case news for the victims – even if they pay the ransom they will not get their data back.”
The computer virus used in the attack includes code known as Eternal Blue, a tool developed by the NSA that exploited Microsoft’s Windows operating system, and which was published on the internet in April by a group called Shadowbrokers. Microsoft released a patch in March to protect systems from that vulnerability.
Tim Rawlins, director of the Britain-based cybersecurity consultancy NCC Group, says the attacks continue to happen because people have not been keeping up with effectively patching their computers.
“This is a repeat WannaCry type of outbreak and it really comes down to the fact that people are not focusing on what they should be focusing on, the very simple premise of patching your systems,” Rawlins told VOA.
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One of Dakar Fashion Week’s biggest events is free and high-end — a fashion show in a working class neighborhood. The event’s founder, Senegalese designer Adama Paris, says the “Street Show” is her favorite show of the week because she gets to take fashion back to the streets where it belongs.
Just across the street from where fast-moving public buses pause briefly to pick up passengers, Moussa Diouf lines up Nike, Adidas and Puma shoes on a short cement wall. The wall sits on one side of a makeshift catwalk in the Niary Tally neighborhood of Dakar, Senegal.
Across the flashy stage, Nicole Coly sells shiny fabrics by the meter in her small corner store. Lace is one of her top sellers right now, she says.
These fashion vendors flank a large catwalk set up for the 15th annual Dakar Fashion Week’s “Street Show.” In addition to their traditional fashion shows in high-class hotels, every year DFW holds a free fashion show in a working class neighborhood of Dakar.
“This show is my favorite show, because we’re bringing back fashion to the streets,” says Paris, a designer and Dakar Fashion Week founder. “For the years coming, I want this show to become more popular because it’s important to inspire the young people and come to this street with high fashion. Fashion is from the streets, so basically what we’re doing is taking back fashion where it belongs.”
Locals inspired
This fashion week show is open to the public, and 11 of the more than 30 designers from nine countries are participating to show off their new lines. A few meters away from the models rehearsing before the show, local tailor Al Hassane Diallo says he is looking forward to seeing new designs.
“I am very inspired because I see what is new. I see something that I didn’t know about before,” Diallo says.
The 25-year-old tailor is just wrapping up one of his busiest seasons of the year, a few days after the end-of-Ramadan parties have quieted down.
Down the street from the tailor shop, Ramatoulaye, a 21-year-old communications student sits next to her grandmother while sporting stylish sunglasses.
“I adore what Adama Paris does,” she says of the Dakar Fashion Week founder and Senegalese designer. “She’s a star.”
Ramatoulaye’s friend, Marie Beye, chimes in: “She could have chosen a nice hotel (for this fashion show), but she loves her country.”
No cheap or little show
As the music starts, children line up in the front row and clap loudly for the different sartorial creations. The crowd dances along as golden-clad models sway down the runway in Paris’ golden, shiny dresses to the French rapper Maitre Gims’ song, Sapeur Comme Jamais (Dressed Like Never Before).
“I don’t want to do, just do a cheap or little show,” Paris said of the Niary Tally fashion event. “I just want to do just actually what were doing in fancy places.”
Another designer comes out with funky dresses that highlight the colorful wax fabric so popular in West African streets, as models march down the runway, knees high, to the 1950s American song, Lollipop. This year there are 100 models walking in the street parade — more than any other year.
In it’s 15th year, DFW has grown from six designers its first year, to 36 this year from nine countries.
After this night’s street parade, the catwalks of Dakar will move to an upper-crust hotel, but for this night, it’s Niary Tally’s moment in the spotlight.
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When Goktug Yilmaz, a game developer in Ankara, Turkey, wanted help with his business, he turned to Y Combinator, a prestigious startup accelerator firm in Mountain View, California.
Yilmaz recently completed Y Combinator’s first free online course, called Startup School. He was among 7,000 founders from more than 140 countries who participated.
“You talk, you get feedback,” he said, about why he wanted to be part of Startup School. “Just seeing this process would help us get better on focusing on our goals.”
Y Combinator is known for its competitive twice-yearly program that brings companies to Mountain View, California, for 10 intensive weeks of training and advice. Founders receive mentoring from its alumni network that includes such companies as Airbnb, Dropbox, Reddit and Instacart.
YC arrangement for startups
As part of the arrangement, YC, as it is known, invests $120,000 in each startup for 7 percent of common stock. The program culminates in Demo Day, when participants give their pitches to a room full of potential investors.
Since it was founded in 2005, Y Combinator has worked with more than 4,000 founders.
But just 2 percent of applicants make it into Y Combinator’s program. Yilmaz was one of those who tried but didn’t make it.
Then, Yilmaz heard about Y Combinator’s effort to expand its reach with Startup School. He signed up.
Steven Pham, who helps run Startup School, said the firm wanted to reach entrepreneurs beyond Silicon Valley.
“Internet access has been only something people have access to very recently in a lot of these markets,” Pham said. “In a lot of these communities where startups are super, super early, we wanted to get in there and help them learn best practices … best ways to think about building their product, best ways to think about sales strategies and market.”
The demand for Startup School surprised Y Combinator, Pham said. More than 13,000 companies and nearly 20,000 founders applied. The firm had to limit the first class to 3,000 companies and about 7,000 founders so that it could provide enough alumni advisers.
Ti Zhao, a Y Combinator alumnus, was a mentor to 30 companies during Startup School.
“People kind of have this idea of Silicon Valley as where the startups are at and it’s really cool for me to see so many diverse companies from so many places around the world,” she said.
Online pitches
Startup School culminates with Presentation Day, when entrepreneurs around the world make their pitches online. The aim isn’t necessarily to woo investors but to present a prototype of an idea in a clear and succinct way.
It included pitches from war-torn Syria, where one group is teaching children how to create circuits.
Others applied technology to fields such as transportation, travel and education. SocialEyeze, based in Sudan, is trying to help the blind engage on social media more easily.
“I’ve learned many useful skills, and those skills appeared in the modifications we made on our solution,” Hussam Eldeen Hassan with Socialeyeze said.
In the end, about 56 percent of the first Startup School class, or 1,580 firms, completed the course.
Y Combinator plans to expand the number of companies it can include when it does Startup School again, currently slated for early next year.
“In Startup School, we made a bunch of friends from the online chat,” Yilmaz said. “We are probably going to continue those friendships with other founders.”
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One of the themes of this year’s Smithsonian Folk Life Festival is immigration. As part of the festival events, a group of 25 children were sworn in as U.S. Citizens, just ahead of America’s Independence Day holiday. VOA’s Elizabeth Cherneff reports.
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The U.S government warned industrial firms this week about a hacking campaign targeting the nuclear and energy sectors, the latest event to highlight the power industry’s vulnerability to cyberattacks.
Since at least May, hackers used tainted “phishing” emails to “harvest credentials” so they could gain access to networks of their targets, according to a joint report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The report provided to the industrial firms was reviewed by Reuters Friday. While disclosing attacks, and warning that in some cases hackers succeeded in compromising the networks of their targets, it did not identify any specific victims.
Industry looking into intrusions
“Historically, cyber actors have strategically targeted the energy sector with various goals ranging from cyber espionage to the ability to disrupt energy systems in the event of a hostile conflict,” the report said.
Homeland Security and FBI officials could not be reached for comment on the report, which was dated June 28. The report was released during a week of heavy hacking activity.
A virus dubbed “NotPetya” attacked Tuesday, spreading from initial infections in Ukraine to businesses around the globe. It encrypted data on infected machines, rendering them inoperable and disrupting activity at ports, law firms and factories.
On Tuesday the energy-industry news site E&E News reported that U.S. investigators were looking into cyber intrusions this year at multiple nuclear power generators.
Reuters has not confirmed details of the E&E News report, which said there was no evidence safety systems had been compromised at affected plants.
Worry since 2016
Industrial firms, including power providers and other utilities, have been particularly worried about the potential for destructive cyber attacks since December 2016, when hackers cut electricity in Ukraine.
U.S. nuclear power generators PSEG, SCANA Corp and Entergy Corp said they were not affected by the recent cyberattacks. SCANA’s V.C. Summer nuclear plant in South Carolina shut down Thursday because of a problem with a valve in the non-nuclear portion of the plant, a spokesman said.
Another nuclear power generator, Dominion Energy, said it does not comment on cyber security.
Two cyber security firms said June 12 that they had identified the malicious software used in the Ukraine attack, which they dubbed Industroyer, warning that it could be easily modified to attack utilities in the United States and Europe.
Industroyer is the second piece of malware uncovered to date that is capable of disrupting industrial processes without the need for hackers to manually intervene.
The first, Stuxnet, was discovered in 2010 and is widely believed by security researchers to have been used by the United States and Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear program.
The U.S. government report said attackers conducted reconnaissance to gain information about the individuals whose computers they sought to infect so that they create “decoy documents” on topics of interest to their targets.
In an analysis, it described 11 files used in the attacks, including malware downloaders and tools that allow the hackers to take remote control of victims’ computers and travel across their networks.
Chevron Corp, Exxon Mobil Corp and ConocoPhillips, the three largest U.S. oil producers, declined to comment on their network security.
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