Photo: Kelly Chiello and Photos by Getty Images Well, would you look at that: It’s August . Summer is coming to an end. Usually by this time we have a clear Song of Summer winner, even if it’s horrible, as was the case last year with “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea . But this year, things are different. There are a dozen contenders in the ring, and none of them have elbowed out the competition. If we’re being honest with ourselves and each other, there’s only one conclusion to reach: In the year 2015, there is no true Song of Summer. This isn’t a bad thing! Music streaming has upended the traditional label machinery that historically made the Song of Summer race so definitive. In so doing, it has helped to level the playing field. Make no mistake, the cream still rises to the top, and there are a handful of tracks we’ll remember when we think back on this summer. It’s just that no one of them rises above the rest. They’re all winners. Enjoy them — and may Kanye’s “ … [Read more...] about And the 2015 Song of Summer Goes to …
5 2015
AT&T spins out DirecTV as a $16B company, a quarter of what it paid in 2015
AT&T today announced plans to spin out its various video businesses — DirecTV, AT&T TV, and U-Verse — into a new company that it will jointly control with TPG Capital. The deal sees AT&T holding on to a 70 percent stake in the company, with TPG getting the other 30. “The transaction to separate AT&T’s US video business into New DirecTV implies an enterprise value for the new company of $16.25 billion.” AT&T paid a total of $67 billion to buy DirecTV: it landed the satellite provider for $48.5 billion in 2014 , and the rest was debt that AT&T took on. With this “premium new video entity” valued at less than a quarter of that, you can see how just how badly the original mega-acquisition has fared. “We certainly didn’t expect this outcome when we closed the DirecTV acquisition in 2015,” AT&T John Stankey said on a call with analysts and investors after the news was made public. The deal for this new company, which will be led by AT&T US video boss … [Read more...] about AT&T spins out DirecTV as a $16B company, a quarter of what it paid in 2015
China to extend subsidy programme for electric cars past 2015
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Finance Ministry said on Saturday it will extend a programme of subsidies for buyers of electric-powered vehicles after the current subsidy regime, part of efforts to combat pollution in cities, expires in 2015. The existing subsidies will be phased out by 2015 as planned, with a new regime to take effect after that date "to preserve policy continuity", the ministry said in a statement on its website. Details of the new subsidies would follow at an unspecified date. The subsidies were designed to help China meet a goal of putting half a million new-energy vehicles, defined as all-electric battery vehicles and heavily electrified "near all-electric" plug-in hybrids, on the road by 2015 and five million by 2020. Pollution in cities, in part caused by an explosion in car sales in recent years, is a hot-button issue for China's leaders, and several measures have been introduced, including curbs on sales of petrol-engined vehicles. The current subsidies … [Read more...] about China to extend subsidy programme for electric cars past 2015
Study: Heroin Overdose Deaths Quadruple Between 2010-2015
Deaths caused by heroin overdoses in the United States quadrupled between 2010 and 2015, according to a new report. The National Center for Health Statistics says there were 12,989 overdose deaths involving heroin in 2015. In 2010, the number was 3,036. In percentages, heroin caused 8 percent of drug overdose deaths in 2010, and now it accounts for 25 percent. The center cites dropping prices and increasing potency for the rise in deaths. Furthermore, experts say they believe the opioid epidemic caused by prescription painkillers may also be driving people to use heroin as the drug is usually much cheaper. "You are 40 times more likely to use heroin if you started with opioid painkillers," Rich Hamburg, the executive vice president for the non-profit Trust for America’s Health, told the Reuters news agency. "Heroin is part of America's larger drug abuse problem." Death from overdosing on prescription painkillers like oxycodone actually fell over the period of the study, … [Read more...] about Study: Heroin Overdose Deaths Quadruple Between 2010-2015
Russian navy to add three landing vessels in 2015: Report
MOSCOW (REUTERS) - The Russian navy will add three new large landing ships next year to the 19 already in service, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying on Tuesday. The Russian navy is under scrutiny during a widening international crisis over Crimea, a region with an ethnic Russian majority in Ukraine which Moscow has effectively wrestled from Kiev in recent days, causing outrage in the West. President Vladimir Putin has ordered troops involved in a military exercise in central and western Ukraine back to base, a move that appeared intended to help ease tension. But the timing of Mr Shoigu's comments signalled Moscow was still flexing its muscles, underlining Moscow's commitment to building up its armed forces in coming years. Russia's Black Sea Fleet has a base in Crimea. "Currently the Russian navy has 19 vessels of this type, they have been in service for more than 25 years on average," Mr Shoigu was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. "In … [Read more...] about Russian navy to add three landing vessels in 2015: Report