Soros to Google and Facebook: ‘Your days are number

Billionaire investor George Soros launched a scathing attack on tech giants at the Davos summit on Thursday, calling them monopolies that could be manipulated by authoritarians to subvert democracy. During an annual dinner he hosts at the World Economic Forum, held this week in the Swiss alpine resort, Soros turned his sights on a host of subjects including US President Donald Trump and the speculation frenzy surrounding the bitcoin cryptocurrency. But much of the Hungarian-born financier’s ire was reserved for the tech giants of Silicon Valley who, he argued, needed to be more strictly regulated. “Facebook and Google effectively control over half of all internet advertising revenue,

” the 87-year-old told diners during a speech. “They claim that they are merely distributors of information. The fact that they are near-monopoly distributors makes them public utilities and should subject them to more stringent regulations, aimed at preserving competition, innovation, and fair and open universal access.” He predicted that tech giants would “compromise themselves” to access key markets like China, creating an “alliance between authoritarian states and these large, data rich IT monopolies.” “This may well result in a web of totalitarian control the likes of which not even Aldous Huxley or George Orwell could have imagined,” he warned. Predicting governments would start to more heavily regulate the sector he said: “Davos is a good place to announce that their days are numbered.” Known for his legendarily successful currency trading, Soros dismissed bitcoin as a “typical bubble”. But he said the cryptocurrency would likely avoid a full crash because authoritarians would still use it to make secret investments abroad. He described Russia’s Vladimir Putin as presiding over a “mafia state” and called Trump a “danger to the world”. But he predicted that the US president’s appeal would not last. “I regard it as a purely temporary phenomenon that will disappear in 2020 or even sooner.” But the investor’s traditional Davos predictions do not always pan out. Last year in Switzerland he warned that the stock market rally would end after Trump’s election and that China’s growth rate was unsustainable. China’s growth has continued while US stocks are regularly hitting record highs.

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China positive about US negotiation remark on North Korea

China said on Thursday it was positive that the United States is open to resolving tensions over North Korea through talks. Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comment at a regular news briefing in Beijing. The Trump administration said on Wednesday it aimed to push North Korea into dismantling its nuclear and missile programs through tougher international sanctions and diplomatic pressure, and remained open to negotiations to bring that about. NAN reports that the U.S. stance, which appeared to signal a willingness to exhaust non-military avenues inspite of repeated warnings that “all options are on the table,” came in a statement following an unusual White House-hosted briefing for the entire U.S. Senate followed by a briefing to the House of Representatives. The statement from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats described North Korea as “an urgent national security threat and top foreign policy

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I’m different from young artistes – Majek Fashek

Since his return to the Nigerian music scene, veteran reggae maestro, Majek Fashek, has been on a conscious mission to once again stamp his feet on the music space, reclaiming his throne as the only musician in the world who can draw rain with his music fic. In a recent interview with HIPTV, the rain maker, as he is fondly called, claimed there is a cut clear difference between the quality of sound and music he makes and that of young artistes. According to Majek, “I make sound while all these young musicians make jam, I make good sound but they are always jamming, they don’t make good sound, they just jam. My song ‘Send down the rain’ was made over thirty years ago, but if you listen to it today, you will realize that the sound will appeal to both the old and equally the young ones because the sound is good and still relevant today, that is something the young musicians don’t have.” In a one-on-one chat with E-Daily , Majek explained that his statement in the inter

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North Korea accuses CIA of plot to assassinate Kim Jong-Un

North Korea on Friday accused the CIA of plotting with South Korea to assassinate leader Kim Jong-Un, amid soaring tensions in the flashpoint region. The CIA and Seoul’s Intelligence Services have “hatched a vicious plot” involving unspecified “biochemical substances” to kill the hermit state’s young leader during public ceremonial events in Pyongyang, the Ministry of State Security said. For the CIA “assassination by use of biochemical substances including radioactive substance and nano poisonous substance is the best method that does not require access to the target, their lethal results will appear after six or twelve months,” the Ministry said in a statement carried by state media. The accusation comes as Pyongyang issues increasingly belligerent rhetoric in a tense stand off with the administration of US President Donald Trump over its rogue weapons programme The war of words between the West and the reclusive regime has spiked in recent weeks, and Pyongyang has threatened to ca

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