Miss Colombia Paulina Vega is Miss Universe 2014

For the first time in 56 years, Miss Colombia is Miss Universe.

Living up to her frontrunner billing, 22-year-old Paulina Vega bested 87 other hopefuls on her way to winning the coveted crown in the 63rd edition of the prestigious beauty pageant held Sunday, January 25 (Monday, January 26, Manila time) in Doral, Florida.

Vega, a business administration student at the Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, seemed destined for victory right from the start as her name was the first to be called when hosts Thomas Roberts and Natalie Morales announced the Top 15 semi-finalists.

It was smooth sailing from there for the sweet-faced Latina as she ultimately topped a formidable field of beauties that included runners-up Miss USA Nia Sanchez, Miss Ukraine Diana Harkusha, surprise finalist Miss Netherlands Yasmin Verheijen and Miss Jamaica Kaci Fennell, who drew the loudest applause.

However, Vega’s coronation was marred by the loud and prolonged booing at the Florida International University Arena in Doral after Miss Jamaica was called as the fourth runner-up.

The last time Colombia won the crown was in 1956 when Luz Marina Zuluaga took home the title.

Vega spoke proudly of her country, and said in the question round Colombia “has been a role model for the rest of the world.”

“We are persevering people, despite all the obstacles, we keep fighting for what we want to achieve. After years of difficulty, we are leading in several areas on the world stage.”

Vega won highest possible score of 9.9 in every presentation at the Miss Universe Colombia contest, according to the pageant’s website.

The five-foot-nine model from Barranquilla is the granddaughter of legendary tenor Gaston Vega and 1953 Miss Atlantico, Elvira Castillo.

The 63rd edition of the Miss Universe pageant selected the pageant’s 2014 winner after the Miss Universe organization failed to stage the event last year.

Ten judges were tasked to select this year’s winner, including Cuban-American music mogul Emilio Estefan, Cuban soap opera star William Levy and Philippine boxing great Manny Pacquiao.

The contest, owned by Donald Trump, is watched by about 600 million worldwide, pageant officials say.

There was some criticism of the $2.5 million contribution that the city of Doral made to the pageant, as local politicians were divided over whether the promotion for the city near Miami is worth that money.

The Miss Universe contest started out in 1952 as a local “bathing beauty” competition organized by a swimwear company in Long Beach, California.

Today, the competition is more than a beauty pageant and contestants “compete with hope of advancing their careers, personal and humanitarian goals and… seek to improve the lives of others,” according to the Miss Universe website.

Miss Philippines Mary Jean Lastimosa fell short of her bid to win the country’s third Miss Universe title as she was able to make it as far as the Top 10. Lastimosa’s semifinals finish broke the Philippines’ string of runner-up placements that started with Venus Raj in 2010 and was followed by Shamcey Supsup, Janine Tugonon and Ariella Arida.

Lastimosa’s loss was a big letdown for Filipino pageant fans as she was considered a frontrunner in fearless forecasts leading up to the pageant’s coronation night.

In a statement furnished to Interaksyon, the Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Incorporated still congratulated the 27-year old North Cotabato native for her performance in pageant.

“Title or no title, her participation in Miss Universe’s global discussions on peace, cultural exchange and other charity initiatives has beautifully showcased the Filipina’s beauty, intellect and compassion,” the statement read.

(With a report from Agence France-Presse)

source: interaksyon.com

Philippines vs. Colombia showdown looms in Miss Universe

It sounded like Stella Marquez Araneta displayed her bias for her native country when she picked Miss Colombia Paulina Vega as the “biggest competition” of Miss Philippines Mary Jean Lastimosa in the coming 63rd Miss Universe beauty pageant.

But the observation of the controversial Binibining Pilipinas founding madam is spot-on. As pageant experts post their final predictions with only hours to go before the coronation night, Paulina, 22 and MJ, 27, could be on a collision course with destiny as both seek Miss Universe’s crowning glory to put an end to their respective countries’ title drought.

MJ hopes to become the Philippines’ third Miss Universe since Margie Moran last won the title in 1973, while Paulina is seeking to become her country’s only second Miss Universe after Luz Marina Zuluaga first won it for Colombia in 1958.

They hold the number 1 and 2 spots in Missosology’s Final Hot Picks for Miss Universe.

In choosing Paulina as their top pick, the reputable pageant analysis says Miss Colombia is “that ethereal beauty that screams royalty and class.”

“What makes Paulina stand out is her ability to project herself as an elegant woman onstage. Her beauty is also top notch and her body has the correct proportions. In overall, she is a perfect package. Her presence is undeniable and she has a very strong showing at the preliminaries.”

Missosology concedes that MJ is “in it to win it” and praised both her “divine body figure” and “top-notch catwalk”.

“She is by far the most superior among the 88 contestants when it comes to the runway and she will nail way higher scores when finals night comes,” the site added.

In the Final Prediction of Miss Universe fan site MissUniversePageant Hotspot, Paulina figured in the Top 10, but it was MJ who made the Top 5.

“Paulina seemed to stay in the limelight as a frontrunner and if we look back at the past winners, most of them weren’t frontrunners. So that can be a let-down too for her. Now, to pop the question up—it’s a YES for the placement, and NO for the crown,” the site said about Miss Colombia.

“If they didn’t crown the other four Filipinas due to lack of one or two aspects, then we guess it’s the right time for a Filipina to win…If she doesn’t place, we’ll surely cut someone’s throat. DEFINITELY YES for the placement, and she could PROBABLY snatch the crown,” the site posted about MJ.

Both girls also figured prominently in other fearless forecasts. In Ranker.com, which ranked MJ as No. 1, Paulina is No. 6.

Miss Colombia is likewise included in the unranked Top 10 of the pro-Latina Latin Times which is no surprise but MJ is also right there.

The Jamaica-based Daily Veritas also had the two ladies in their Top 16 predictions with Paulina ranked No. 2 and MJ ranked as No. 8.

Even the UK-based betting odds aggregate Nicer Odds had the two in their radar with Paulina having the second highest betting odds of 4/1 while MJ has the sixth highest likelihood of winning the pageant with a 9/1 odds.

Of course, the actual outcome of Miss Universe will still be up to the pageant’s panel of judges to determine. And as formidable as both Paulina and MJ look right now, there are other top contenders for the coveted crown, including Miss USA Nia Sanchez, Miss Brazil Melissa Gurgel, Miss Spain Desiree Cordero Ferrer and Miss Venezuela Migbelis Castellano.

Incidentally, Paulina and MJ also share one designer in common: Alfredo Barraza who, like Marquez Araneta, is of Colombian nationality. Barraza has been repeatedly slammed for his designs for Miss Philippines for years.

source: interaksyon.com

Euro, stocks fall as anti-austerity party wins Greek election

TOKYO - The euro skidded to near an 11-year low and U.S. stock futures fell on Monday as Greece's Syriza party promised to roll back austerity measures after sweeping to victory in a snap election, putting Athens on a collision course with international lenders.

The euro fell to as low as $1.1135 on the vote outcome, not far off an 11-year low of $1.1115 touched on Friday when the common currency took a battering after the European Central Bank unveiled a bond-buying stimulus program last week.

U.S. stock futures fell 0.6 percent while the Nikkei futures also dropped about 0.5 percent from the local close on Friday on heightened concerns the Greek election results could lead to renewed instability in Europe.

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras was set to become prime minister of the first euro zone government openly opposed to bailout conditions imposed by European Union and International Monetary Fund during the economic crisis.

"The euro will be sold on any rally. But such an outcome was already expected to a certain extent and I expect the pace of its decline is likely to slow," said Osao Iizuka, the head of FX trading at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.

Indeed, the broad consensus in the markets is that any renewed tensions over Greece is unlikely to hurt broader investor sentiment much beyond an initial shock.

Unlike at the height of the debt crisis in 2011-12, European banks now have limited exposure to Greece and European policymakers have frameworks to deal with indebted countries, analysts say.

"At the moment, the market believes that if there is any (debt) restructuring it would only involve the official sector and for now, the possibility of Greece leaving the euro zone even with the incoming government is small," Sebastien Galy, senior foreign exchange analyst at Societe Generale in New York also said.

The ECB's plan to pump more than a trillion euro to the banking system in the coming year and a half is underpinning risk sentiment, which boosted European share prices to seven-year highs on Friday.

In addition, investors also expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to steer clear of stating any firm date for it plans to raise rates after its two-day policy meeting from Tuesday.

Elsewhere, oil prices also started the week weaker, with U.S. crude futures falling 1.6 percent to $44.87 per barrel, near 5 1-2/year low of $44.20 hit earlier this month.

The death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah added to uncertainty over the plans of the world's biggest crude exporter.

source: interaksyon.com

Internet will ‘disappear’, Google boss tells Davos

DAVOS, Switzerland — Google boss Eric Schmidt predicted on Thursday that the Internet will soon be so pervasive in every facet of our lives that it will effectively “disappear” into the background.

Speaking to the business and political elite at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Schmidt said: “There will be so many sensors, so many devices, that you won’t even sense it, it will be all around you.”

“It will be part of your presence all the time. Imagine you walk into a room and … you are interacting with all the things going on in that room.”

“A highly personalised, highly interactive and very interesting world emerges.”

On the sort of high-level panel only found among the ski slopes of Davos, the heads of Google, Facebook and Microsoft and Vodafone sought to allay fears that the rapid pace of technological advance was killing jobs.

“Everyone’s worried about jobs,” admitted Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook.

With so many changes in the technology world, “the transformation is happening faster than ever before,” she acknowledged.

“But tech creates jobs not only in the tech space but outside,” she insisted.

Schmidt quoted statistics he said showed that every tech job created between five and seven jobs in a different area of the economy.

“If there were a single digital market in Europe, 400 million new and important new jobs would be created in Europe,” which is suffering from stubbornly high levels of unemployment, he said.

The debate about whether technology is destroying jobs “has been around for hundreds of years”, said the Google boss. What is different is the speed of change.

“It’s the same that happened to the people who lost their farming jobs when the tractor came … but ultimately a globalised solution means more equality for everyone.”

Everyone has a voice

With one of the main topics at this year’s World Economic Forum being how to share out the fruits of global growth, the tech barons stressed that the greater connectivity offered by their companies ultimately helps reduce inequalities.

“Are the spoils of tech being evenly spread? That is an issue that we have to tackle head on,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft.

“I’m optimistic, there’s no question. If you are in the tech business, you have to be optimistic. Ultimately to me, it’s about human capital. Tech empowers humans to do great things.”

Facebook boss Sandberg said the Internet in its early forms was “all about anonymity”, but now everyone was sharing everything and everyone was visible.

“Now everyone has a voice … now everyone can post, everyone can share and that gives a voice to people who have historically not had it,” she said.

Schmidt, who said he had recently come back from the reclusive state of North Korea, added he believed that technology forced potentially despotic and hermetic governments to open up as their citizens acquired more knowledge about the outside world.

“It is no longer possible for a country to step out of basic assumptions in banking, communications, morals and the way people communicate,” the Google boss said.

“You cannot isolate yourself any more. It simply doesn’t work.”

Nevertheless, Sandberg told the assembled elites that even the current pace of change was only the tip of the iceberg.

“Today, only 40 percent of people have Internet access,” she said, adding: “If we can do all this with 40 percent, imagine what we can do with 50, 60, 70 percent.”

Even two decades into the global spread of the Internet, the potential for opening up and growth was tremendous, she stressed.

“Sixty percent of the Internet is in English. If that doesn’t tell you how uninclusive the Internet is, then nothing will,” said the tycoon.

The World Economic Forum brings together some 2,500 of the top movers and shakers in the worlds of politics, business and finance for a four-day meeting that ends on Saturday.

source: interaksyon.com

Jazz icon Nina Simone in spotlight at Sundance premiere

PARK CITY | The opening night of the Sundance Film Festival saw a moving documentary about jazz icon Nina Simone — whose director trumpeted her as a model for a new generation of civil rights activists.

“What Happened, Miss Simone?” was greeted with a standing ovation at a gala screening at the film festival, which runs through February 1 in the Utah ski resort of Park City.

Drawing on previously unreleased footage and recordings, the movie traces Simone’s life from her youth as a classically trained pianist to crossover blue/soul/jazz “I Love You Porgy” songstress and 1960s black power figurehead.

Including extensive interviews with her daughter and close friends, it then recounts her downward spiral and battles with domestic abuse and mental illness, leading eventually to her diagnosis with bipolar disorder.

“She struggled with demons, from inside and out,” said Oscar-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus, a Sundance veteran whose previous movies include “The Farm: Angola, USA” (1998) and “Love, Marilyn” (2012).

“Her life was a reflection of the legacy of racism in America but also of the extraodinary power that a righteous voice can have against even the most wicked historical legacy.”

After separating from her husband and manager Simone moved to Liberia in the early 1970s, but running out of money headed north to Europe, first Switzerland and then France, struggling to get her career back on the rails.

Ironically it was a commercial — for Chanel No 5 perfume — which resurrected her fortunes, as its use of her song “My Baby Just Cares for Me” brought Simone renewed fame from the late 1980s.

‘MISSISSIPPI GODDAM’

But much of the movie centers on the early years, and in particular her transformation from jazz singer into civil rights firebrand — despite the efforts of her abusive husband, who wanted her to keep making the hits.

It is difficult to feel the power that a song like “Missippi Goddam” — her response to the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four black children — had at the time, when it was banned from radio stations.

Speaking after Thursday night’s screening, the film’s director said Simone’s songs can still resonate for a new generation — specifically protestors following a recent spate of white-on-black killings in America.

“If we had voices like Nina Simone today, (they could express) the pain and the passion of the movement, that’s been building I think on the streets in the past six months.

In a later-life interview in the film, a disillusioned Simone laments that there was no civil rights movement, and therefore no place for her earlier songs.

“I think that’s one of the saddest moments for me in the film, because I think we can all see the place of these songs today,” said Garbus, urging new artists to “appropriate those songs to take them, and to continue them and to … let the music mean something again.”

The evening ended with a tribute from Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated singer John Legend, who sang three Simone tunes including “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.”

Simone ended up based in Paris after her late-career comeback, and continued to perform in the 1990s — her last album, “A Single Woman,” was released in 1993. She died in 2003, aged 70.

“What Happened, Miss Simone?” is due out soon, on streaming video service Netflix.

source: interaksyon.com

Marilyn Manson still bleak, but now has the blues

NEW YORK | Marilyn Manson thrived on shock value as the Goth rocker and self-proclaimed Antichrist Superstar rose in the 1990s. Now approaching middle age, Manson’s vision is no less violent but he has found a more subtle musical outlet — the blues.

“The Pale Emperor,” Manson’s first album in three years which was released Tuesday, moves beyond the searing aggression of the distorted guitars and synthesized minor chords that helped define him as he became one of rock’s most controversial stars.

The opening track on the new album, “Killing Strangers,” starts with the heavy thump of bass and drums familiar to longtime fans but is immediately followed by a guitar that owes more to Mississippi Delta bluesmen than to the arena heavy metal that was Manson’s most obvious influence.

But the two genres are hardly strangers, as heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath created the band’s sound from blues roots.

Manson strikes a new balance in songs such as “The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles” and “Cupid With a Gun,” with the melancholic expressivity of the blues playing off the thundering darkness of the metal rhythm section.

Manson, in interviews ahead of the release of “The Pale Emperor,” said he was drawn to the gritty quality of the blues, and wanted to shake up his sound for his ninth studio album.

“The redneck in me comes out in my voice, and it’s got some old blues mixed with the very hard elements,” Manson, who grew up in a working class family in Ohio, told the British metal magazine Kerrang!

While saying he wanted to preserve strong qualities in his past music, the singer who relishes his shock value feared that he had become too predictable.

“If there’s no chaos, things are just linear. There always has to be someone who wrecks the game plan that everybody has,” Manson told the magazine.

NO MORE CIRCUS ATMOSPHERE

Manson has sowed plenty of chaos during his career.

His tour for his 1996 album “Antichrist Superstar” was full of angry passion, with Manson — decked out in horror film-like makeup — scandalizing many Christians by tearing apart copies of the Bible on stage.

The singer came under intense attack after the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, where the teenage gunmen were reported to have listened to his music.

Manson, who has said that his views on organized religion were inspired by Nietzsche, steadfastly denied responsibility for the killings and insisted that US society needed a scapegoat.

Manson, who recently turned 46, has not changed his worldview. On “Killing Strangers,” he once more belittles society for a selective condemnation of violence, singing, “We’re killing strangers, so we don’t kill the ones that we love.”

His theological views come out again on “The Devil Beneath My Feet” as he sings, “Don’t want your God and his higher power” and, using an expletive, “Don’t need (someone) looking down on me.”

Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, attributes his persona in part to his childhood as, in a seemingly ordinary church-going family, he would observe his grandfather sneaking out to indulge in bestiality pornography. But Manson was close to his mother, whose death last year affected him.

With the music pared down, Manson hinted that his more sensational stage persona may also be on its way out.

“That P.T. Barnum aspect of Marilyn Manson has sort of evaporated,” he told Rolling Stone, referring to the circus legend.

source: interaksyon.com

Wall Street ends flat as hope for ECB move increases

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks closed little changed on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund reduced its growth forecasts for 2015 and 2016, increasing speculation central banks would take more aggressive policy moves to spark economic improvement.

The lower forecasts implied less demand for fuel through 2016, contributing to another fall in crude oil, although some bullish results from major energy companies kept the sector afloat. The S&P energy index eked out a gain of 0.09 percent.

The IMF cut its forecasts for both years by 0.3 percentage points and advised advanced economies to maintain accommodative monetary policies to avoid increases in real interest rates as cheaper oil increases deflation risk.

The European Central Bank is expected to announce a bond buying program on Thursday to boost the region's flagging economy.

"Any sense at all that the ECB disappoints, you will see the markets correct rather harshly," said Ken Polcari, Director of the NYSE floor division at O’Neil Securities in New York.

"You can speculate all you want and investors can take the market higher all they want, but until the ECB comes out and says it, you are not really going to know."

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 3.66 points, or 0.02 percent, to 17,515.23, the S&P 500 gained 3.12 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,022.54 and the Nasdaq Composite added 20.46 points, or 0.44 percent, to 4,654.85.

U.S. crude settled down 4.7 percent to $46.39 per barrel, after hitting an intraday low of $45.89, while Brent settled down 1.8 percent at $47.99.

Halliburton Co and Baker Hughes Inc warned that a fall in drilling activity would hurt 2015 results, though the companies also reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter profits. Halliburton rose 1.8 percent to $39.83 while Baker gained 1.2 percent to $57.26.

Johnson & Johnson fell 2.6 percent to $101.29 as the biggest drag on both the Dow and S&P 500 after adjusted earnings beat expectations but revenue missed forecasts.

Morgan Stanley reported a drop of 81 percent in revenue from trading fixed-income securities, currencies and commodities, though earnings rose on a sharp drop in legal costs. Shares dipped 0.4 percent to $34.75.

FXCM Inc plummeted 87.3 percent to $1.60 on volume of over 91 million shares, its most active day ever. The retail foreign exchange laid out details of a rescue loan after $200 million of losses on last week's shock removal of the cap on the Swiss franc.

After the closing bell, Netflix shares surged 12.1 percent to $391 after posting a quarterly revenue increase of 26.3 percent, while IBM lost 1.6 percent to $154.51 after its results.

NYSE declining issues outnumbered advancers 1,894 to 1,207, for a 1.57-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,639 issues fell and 1,128 advanced, for a 1.45-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 47 new 52-week highs and 17 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 70 new highs and 109 lows.

Volume was moderate, with about 7.2 billion shares traded on U.S. exchanges, roughly in line with the 7.29 billion average so far this month, according to BATS Global Markets.

source: interaksyon.com

Hollywood’s indie film pool prepares for the Amazon plunge

LOS ANGELES | When Amazon Inc announced on Monday its move into the movie business, the Internet retailer sent a ripple through Hollywood’s pool of independent film.

It’s a pool where the major studios don’t swim much any more and where projects get stuck for years for lack of financing. But from its waters also spring many acclaimed films, best picture Oscar nominees like “Selma” and “Whiplash” and quite a few commercial successes.

With plans to produce 12 films per year with budgets ranging from $5 million to $25 million, for theatrical release and streaming on Amazon Prime video 4-8 weeks later, a digital company is creating a new art-house studio and getting films into consumers’ hands and living rooms faster.

“It’s a great business,” said Mark Gordon, the veteran Hollywood television and film producer behind movies like “Saving Private Ryan” and the new Steve Jobs biopic.

“By financing a movie they feel good about and knowing where their second window is going to be, there is a huge opportunity for them and the rest of the creative community.”

Amazon’s announcement came as a surprise, but the Seattle-based company had already built up its credibility among Hollywood’s creative types, most notably with its television series “Transparent,” which won two Golden Globes last week, its first major awards since starting Amazon Studios in 2010.

“They have clearly been able to do it on the episodic side, I see no reason why they can’t do it on the feature film side,” said Franklin Leonard, founder of the Black List, a site where unproduced screenplays are shared with filmmakers and producers.

“The real challenge will be getting filmmakers in the door who want to make films for Amazon and giving those filmmakers the freedom to make the films that become ’12 Years a Slave’ or ‘Birdman’,” he said.

Amazon has already drawn Woody Allen to make a new TV series, his first foray onto the small screen.

WINK TO STRUGGLING FILMMAKERS

Most of Hollywood’s big studios largely abandoned the dramatic film business to concentrate on action adventure blockbusters and sequels, where there is less risk among a built-in fan base and more likely financial reward.

News of a new, deep-pocketed buyer in the independent sphere would always be welcome, but Amazon’s decision to hire a big name in the independent film world to head up Amazon Original Movies drew special praise.

“It’s exciting, especially because it’s led by Ted Hope, who has a pretty sterling track record in terms of filmmaking and projects that he’s been involved with,” said Ned Benson, who made his directorial debut with “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” released last year.

Hope was the producer behind films like “Eat Drink Man Woman” and “American Splendor.” The latter won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Hope will be at Sundance looking at films when it opens later this week, Amazon said.

Director Wash Westmoreland, who made the drama “Still Alice,” starring Julianne Moore, for $4 million last year, said filmmakers like him could get a lift from the likes of Amazon.

“Right now, in independent film, everything is crushed down to budgets below $5 million, so you end shooting in 20 days,” he said. “In the next tier, there is such an expansion with the potential of projects that filmmakers are very eager for.”

In announcing the move Monday, Amazon Studios vice president Roy Price said: “We hope this program will also benefit filmmakers, who too often struggle to mount fresh and daring stories that deserve an audience.”

Production will start later this year.

With the news still fresh, it was hard to find skepticism in Hollywood for Amazon’s grand plans. Even its biggest competitor in the digital original content race, Netflix Inc., threw a rose its way.

“In terms of changing movie distribution, we are really allied in our view that consumers are tired of waiting so long,” Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings told Reuters.

“It may turn out that their entry is quite helpful to help both of us grow in that area.”

source: interaksyon.com

Husband injures wife, kills man, self in Florida mall

MELBOURNE, Fla. -- A man armed with "several pockets full of ammunition" opened fire at a Florida shopping mall on Saturday, injuring his wife and killing another man before fatally shooting himself, police said.

Investigators believe a domestic dispute triggered the shooting just as stores at Melbourne Square mall on Florida's east coast were preparing to open for the day, said Melbourne police commander Vince Pryce.

Police who responded to the scene after receiving calls about a shooting could still hear gunfire when they arrived, Pryce said at a televised news conference.

Inside by the food court, they found the suspected gunman, Jose Garcia-Rodriguez, 57, of Palm Bay; his wife, Idanerys Garcia-Rodriguez, 33; and an unidentified male victim.

The unidentified man died as a result of the shooting, and the gunman was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Pryce said.

Idanerys Garcia-Rodriguez, who appeared to be the target, was in good condition at a hospital Saturday afternoon, Pryce said.

Pryce said reports that the unidentified man had tried to wrestle the gun away from Jose Garcia-Rodriguez were unconfirmed. The man's connection to the married couple was being investigated.

About 100 people were inside the mall at the time of the shooting, and police quickly evacuated them and closed the shopping center for the day.

"It was crazy," local resident Donna Evans said in a videotaped interview with the Florida Today newspaper. "All of a sudden, you just hear the 'pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop'."

Pryce said three handguns were found at the scene, as well as the ammunition Jose Garcia-Rodriguez was carrying.

The mall is expected to reopen on Sunday.

source: interaksyon.com

Wearable devices have bright future — survey

BEIJING — A latest survey showed that wearable devices will become more popular in the Chinese market in the next five years.

For wearable health devices, 39 percent of respondents worldwide plan to buy one by 2020, but 65 percent of Chinese consumers surveyed already have an interest in buying one, according to a survey filed to Xinhua Saturday by Accenture, a consulting and technology services company.

As many as 67 percent of Chinese consumers are likely to buy wearable fitness monitors and 73 percent wants smart watches in the coming five years, more than doubled 32 percent and 27 percent in the United States.

When buying wearable and other smart devices, Chinese consumers place features and functions as the most important factors.

However, user experience is lacking at the current time, as a staggering 83 percent of those surveyed across the globe reported various problems when they use these new types of devices.

In China, the top three issues consumers face are “too complicated to use,” “set-up did not proceed properly” and “not visually or aesthetically appealing”. Only 1 percent of Chinese respondents said they did not experience any challenges at all, the survey said.

The survey was conducted online between October and November 2014, with 24,000 respondents in 24 countries, including China, Australia, Brazil, France, Turkey and the United States.

At present, wearable devices are marketed by a number of companies, including Apple Inc., China’s Xiaomi, and Samsung from South Korea.

source: interaksyon.com