Google announces London cloud computing data centre
Google has revealed it has built a London data centre for the cloud computing services it rents to third parties.
The facility is its second in Europe, after Brussels, and promises to provide faster access times to nearby clients.
Google is currently the third most capable cloud computing service provider, according to a recent study.
But the report, by Gartner, suggested Amazon and Microsoft had a clear lead.
The technology consultancy added that in terms of sales to the "cloud infrastructure as a service" market, Google's share was also a "distant third".
Until now, the search giant has focused on opening data centres for its cloud computing platform in the US and Asia, where it has bases in Singapore, Taiwan and Tokyo.
But in announcing the London centre, it also disclosed plans to open facilities in Finland, the Netherlands and Frankfurt.
"GCP [Google Cloud Platform] customers throughout the British Isles and Western Europe will see significant reductions in latency when they run their workloads in the London region," said product manager Dave Stiver, referring to processing delays caused by the distances data has to travel.
"In cities like London, Dublin, Edinburgh and Amsterdam, our performance testing shows 40% to 82% reductions in round-trip latency when serving customer from London compared with the Belgium region."
A spokeswoman for the company added that the decision to build a London centre had been taken before the Brexit vote and was therefore unrelated to speculation that the UK's data privacy laws may diverge from the EU's in the future.
Google's platform allows clients to offload data processing tasks and information storage, including support for apps they may offer to the public and analysing feedback gathered from internet-connected devices.
By charging customers for the amount of compute time they use rather than a flat rate, Google seeks to provide IT departments with a cheaper alternative to maintaining their own data centres.
The company's existing customers include the Telegraph newspaper, Coca-Cola and the online education service Khan Academy.
At present, GCP offers fewer features than Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, but it is catching up, according to Gartner.
"Google uses deep discounts and exceptionally flexible contracts to try to win projects from customers that are currently spending significant sums of money with cloud competitors," its June report said.
And that had led some companies to use Google to supplement their use of Amazon or Microsoft's rival platforms.
Source-BBC
Gartner added: "GCP is increasingly chosen as a strategic alternative to AWS by customers whose businesses compete with Amazon."
Last month it emerged that Wal-Mart had urged its IT vendors not to use Amazon's service because it did not want its "most sensitive data... sitting on a competitor's platform".
Google does not disclose revenue for its cloud platform, but analysts estimate that it generated about $1bn (£776m) of sales last year and forecast it will double that amount in 2018.
FORECAST FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT THURSDAY 13TH JULY 2017
GENERAL SITUATION: A BROAD LOW-LEVEL TROUGH FEATURE FORMED FROM THE REMNANTS OF FORMER TROPICAL DEPRESSION FOUR OVER THE NORTHWEST BAHAMAS CONTINUES TO WEAKEN AS IT SHIFTS WESTWARD.
TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS
WEATHER: PARTLY TO MOSTLY SUNNY AND HOT WITH ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. MOSTLY FAIR WITH THE CHANCE OF ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT.
ADVISORY: SMALL CRAFT SHOULD BE ALERT FOR GUSTY WINDS AND HIGHER SEAS IN OR NEAR HEAVY SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS.
WINDS: EASTERLY AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS OVER OPEN WATERS.
SEAS: 2 TO 4 FEET OVER THE OCEAN.
DAYTIME HIGH TEMPERATURE: 92F 33C
OVERNITE LOW TEMPERATURE: 79F 26C
SUNRISE: 6:29AM SUNSET: 8:03PM
MOONSET: 10:22AM MOONRISE: 11:16PM
HIGH TIDE: 11:16AM LOW TIDE: 5:30PM
HIGH TIDE: 11:41PM LOW TIDE: 6:08AM FRI.
EXTENDED FORECAST: A TROPICAL WAVE ACROSS PUERTO RICO WILL CONTINUE WEST THROUGH THE UPCOMING WEEKEND INTO THE BAHAMAS BY SATURDAY AS A RIDGE NORTH OF THE AREA WILL SHIFT NORTHWARDS OF THE AREA AS THE TROUGH CONTINUE WESTWARD, THEN REBUILD AND MEANDER ON SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT CELEBRATES COMPLETING FIRST YEAR OF SUCCESSFUL BREAKFAST PROGRAMME
Popular Italian Restaurant hosts intimate family style dinner in its enchanting pizza garden, raising over $8,500 for the charity’s new food bank project.
On Saturday 8 July 2017 almost 100 guests filled the charming pizza garden at Bella Luna to dine al fresco in support of Food for Thought who have finished the first year of their breakfast programme on a high note, with teachers reporting increased concentration and improved attendance in their classes.
Lucky diners were treated to delicious fare donated by Bella Luna - including caprese salad, a variety of artisan pizzas, homemade meatballs with spaghetti, and mouth-watering tiramisu. They also enjoyed a discounted cash bar, and a raffle sponsored by Turks & Caicos Banking Company, while reveling in the musical talents of Brentford and Brenten Handfield. There was also a pop up shop on the night, with a night’s stay donated by Amanyara helping to boost sales.
The owner of Tangled Hair Salon, Brigitte Wildt, kindly ran an accompanying promotion o.n the same day, offering special deals to customers - with all funds raised being donated to Food for Thought.
Co-founder of the charity Karen Savory thanked supporters and donors, especially Food for Thought’s breakfast programme partners: Quality Food Centre, Tropical Shipping, Lew 1 Shipping and Caicos Express Airways; as well as Partner Sponsor Sotheby’s International Realty. Tribute was also paid to the charity’s invaluable honourary member, Joan Connolly-Gregg, for all of her hard work and support.
Karen also took the opportunity to announce Food for Thought’s plans to expand its reach in the new school year - to the ten government schools not currently in the breakfast programme. The new food bank programme will seek donations of non-perishable breakfast items to fill Breakfast Boxes in each of the guidance counsellor’s offices, to discretely provide some food to those students most in need of a nutritious breakfast.
Food for Thought co-founder Jeanne Savory said “We are so grateful to Cosimo and his superb Bella Luna team for hosting such a delightful evening, and for donating all the wonderful food! They went above and beyond to ensure our guests had a magnificent night. Everyone has been so complimentary of the amazing food, fantastic service and close attention to detail.
The $8,500 raised at this event will go a long way towards launching our food bank project, and help to subsidise the Breakfast Boxes to ensure at least ten children from each of those government schools can receive something for breakfast every school day. We have spoken to the schools, who have confirmed the urgent need for the Breakfast Boxes so we are pleased to be able to expand in our second year, thanks to such great community support.
However, we still need help. We are calling on local businesses to come on board and join up to become corporate sponsors. We have packages for all business sizes. Individual sponsors can also do their part by donating to the food banks, sponsoring a child for just $200, or by giving monthly donations.”
Food for Thought would like to thank the following generous sponsors of their event: Cosimo and Bella Luna, Amanyara Resort, Turks & Caicos Banking Company, Island Fire Supplies, Sotheby’s, Spa Tropique, Goldsmith, SURFside Ocean Academy, Point Grace, Parallel 23, Atelys, Needles and Pins Upholstery, Caribbean Outpost, Turquoise Distribution, Atabeyra, Bark + Bliss, Thai Orchid, Sharon Weil Hornstein, After5 Island Concierge, Freediving for Me, Swift Delivery Services, Islehelp, Tangled Hair Salon, Brentford & Brenten Handfield, Eustace, Jovan & Sanjay, Theresa, Kathleen and Melanie, and as always Richard & Robin Savory.
Haiti revives army, raising fears
After two decades with no army, Haiti has announced plans to rebuild its military to handle disasters and smuggling, though some fear the force could return to misdeeds, and be a tool of oppression.
The poorest country in the Americas has announced an initial recruitment of 500 men and women aged 18 to 25, invoking the need to "reclaim national sovereignty" as a 13-year UN peacekeeping mission, known as the blue helmets, comes to an end.
The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was deployed in 2004 to stem violence following the sudden departure of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and is set to leave in October amid an improving security situation and a successful electoral process after two years of political turmoil.
It will leave behind a residual training force of international police officers.
"The departure of the blue helmets is a challenge, but it is something we have planned for," Defence Minister Herve Denis told AFP.
The government says it plans to deploy troops along the border with the Dominican Republic in the fight against smuggling, and in regions hit by natural disasters.
Denis added it will also wage war on terrorists: "Even if there isn't a high threat-level, we still have regional responsibilities," said Denis, while recognising that, for the time being, the chronically unstable country is not being threatened by any external enemies.
Re-forming an army is merely a requirement of the country's constitution, which calls for a military alongside the police, Denis said, but added he prefers to use the term "defence and security force."
"I want people to understand that it's a new kind of institution that we want to create, one which is with the country in its quest towards development," he said.
A major part of that rebranding effort is the institution's checkered past.
Haiti's armed forces were dissolved in 1995 by then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted in a military coup seven months after he took power in 1991 -- bringing an end to decades of political interference and dozens of coups.
Source-AFP
Policemen Killed in Terrorist Attack
Four policemen were shot and killed Thursday in southwest Pakistan by a group of Islamic militants.
A spokesman for the Baluchistan provincial government says the policemen were on a routine patrol in the capital city, Quetta,when the gunmen intercepted their vehicle and sprayed it with bullets before fleeing the scene. The dead officers included police Superintendent Mubarak Shah.
A breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban calling itself Jamaatul Ahrar has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The United Nations earlier this week designated Jamaatul Ahrar a global terrorist organization, saying the group operates out of neighboring Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province.
A suicide bomber riding a motorbike on Monday blew himself up near a police vehicle in the town of Chaman, near the Afghan border, killing the district police chief and two others.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack.
British PM 'shed a little tear' at election result
British Prime Minister Theresa May admitted Thursday she shed "a little tear" after realising her election gamble last month had backfired spectacularly, but denied she had considered quitting.
In an interview marking one year in office, the Conservative leader said it came as a "complete shock" to realise she had lost her parliamentary majority after calling a snap vote in expectation of a landslide.
The party lost 13 seats in the June 8 election and now holds 317 out of 650 in parliament, relying on support from Northern Ireland's ultra-conservative Democratic Unionist Party to be able to govern.
May during the campaign emphasised her "strong and stable leadership" as Britain headed into Brexit, but she was accused of a robotic performance, relying too much on soundbites.
She has since come under pressure to resign.
"I didn't consider stepping down, because I felt there was a responsibility there to ensure the country still had a government," May told BBC radio.
She added: "It can be easy sometimes, if something like this happens, just to walk away and to leave somebody else to deal with it.
"What I've said to my colleagues, is that I got us into this and I'm going to work to get us out."
The 60-year-old vicar's daughter said her husband Philip informed her of the projected result after polls closed.
"It took a few minutes for it to sink in," she said, adding that he gave her a hug and she shed "a little tear... at that moment".
She said she was "devastated".
"I knew the campaign wasn't going perfectly but, still, the messages I was getting... were that we were going to get a better result than we did."
Source-AFP
TCICA Summer Cricket Competition resumes in Provo
The TCICA Summer Cricket Competition commenced on Sunday 2nd July 2017, at the Downtown Ball Park in Providenciales.
Mitsubishi Electric Tigers won the toss and was elected to bat first, and reached 125 for 9 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
Gareth Butler led the way with an elegant 42 runs which was decorated with 4 fours and Marlon Graham added 24 runs consisting of 2x4s.
Bowling for Quality Super kings Chabbie Charley and Pawan Kumar with 3 wickets each.
In reply, Quality Super Kings were skittle out for paltry 26 runs from 8 overs.
Bowling for Mitsubishi Electric Tigers Dane Ritchie snatched 6 wickets for 12 runs from 4 overs and Damian St Ange Captured 4 wickets for 11 runs from 4 overs
Man of the match awarded to Dane Ritchie
Oscar on the brain? Newbie actress Rihanna
While Rihanna's movie career hasn't been that extensive to date, she does have two big films coming up: this summer's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and the caper film Ocean's 8, due next year. The Grammy winner says one day, she'd like to add an Oscar to her trophy shelf.
Speaking to the British paper The Sun, she says, "I’d love to get there one day. Who doesn’t want to be told they are doing a great job? Any validation that your work is impacting is rewarding. I work hard and put my all into everything I do, but the rest isn’t up to me."
She adds, "I don’t think anyone makes an album thinking about winning a Grammy, or makes a movie thinking about winning an Oscar. What you do is work as hard as you can and if awards follow, then that’s great.”
In Valerian, Rihanna plays Bubble, a shape-shifting alien. In Ocean's 8, she plays one of a crew of women who try to pull off a heist at New York City's annual Met Gala.
“I just do what’s best for the role, what’s best for me," she tells The Sun. "I’d love to do something dark and different and challenge myself.”
And while she may be one of the world's biggest stars in music, she knows that when it comes to movies, she's not in a position to throw her weight around.
As she puts it, "You don't do diva on film sets."
Valerian is in theaters July 21.
Source-ABC
LeEco chairman 'has bank accounts frozen
The billionaire co-founder of struggling Chinese technology giant LeEco has had personal assets frozen by a Shanghai court, state media reports.
Assets worth a combined 1.24bn yuan ($183m; £141m) belonging to Jia Yueting, his wife, and three affiliates have reportedly been blocked.
The ruling follows LeEco's failure to pay interest due on bank loans taken out to fund its smartphone business.
Neither Mr Jia nor the company has commented on the reports.
LeEco was for a while known as the Netflix of China, a company that streamed content and eventually started making its own original material.
But it then drew comparison with the likes of Apple and Tesla when it began branching out into hardware, including a smart TV, phones and electric cars.
LeEco started selling devices in the US at the tail end of last year, but is now facing a cash crunch and has been forced to slash costs, including making job cuts.
Mr Jia, who resigned as chief executive in May but retains his position as chairman, recently admitted to shareholders that its financial problems were "more severe than we expected".
In April, a $2bn deal to buy consumer electronics-maker Vizio was called off because of "regulatory headwinds".
Source-BBC
North Korea missile test was ICBM
The US has confirmed that North Korea on Tuesday tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called it a "new escalation of the threat" to the US and the world and warned that Washington "will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea".
Pyongyang earlier said it was its first successful intercontinental ballistic missile test.
US officials believe the North may now be able to fire a missile to Alaska.
However, experts say it cannot accurately hit a target.
In response to the test over the Sea of Japan, the US and South Korea conducted a "combined [military] exercise to show our precision fire capability", Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement.
The US also asked for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the issue. A closed-door session of the 15-member body is expected later on Wednesday.
In a statement, Mr Tillerson said: "The United States strongly condemns North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"Testing an ICBM represents a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region, and the world."
Mr Tillerson stressed that "global action is required to stop a global threat".
And he warned that any nation that provided economic or military benefits to the North or failed to fully implement UN Security Council resolution was "aiding and abetting a dangerous regime.
The announcement on North Korea state television said the Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test was overseen by leader Kim Jong-un.
It said the projectile had reached an altitude of 2,802km (1,731 miles) and flew 933km for 39 minutes before hitting a target in the sea.
Source-BBC