Archive for December 6th, 2012

PARIS—Nearly one in two French people consider themselves poor or fear they soon will be, said a survey published Thursday ahead of a national poverty conference that comes amid a period of prolonged economic stagnation.

Eleven percent of respondents said they felt poor and 37 percent said they felt they were becoming poor, according to the poll by the CSA agency for business daily Les Echos.

Fifty-one percent of respondents said they did not consider themselves poor or in danger of poverty, and one percent gave no response.

Salaried employees, manual laborers and independent workers felt the most exposed to poverty, while executives and professio…Keep on reading: Nearly half of French feel poor or on verge of poverty
Source: Inquirer.net

GUATEMALA CITY—Guatemala on Thursday rejected an asylum petition from US Internet security guru John McAfee and said it would deport him back to Belize, where he is wanted for questioning in a murder probe.

President Otto Perez announced that he rejected an asylum petition from McAfee, who has been on the run for weeks from Belizean authorities.

“We have decided not to approve the political asylum that Mr McAfee is requesting,” Perez told media here, one day after the fugitive software pioneer’s arrest by police here for having illegally entered Guatemala.

Guatemala’s foreign minister Harold Caballeros said that the anti-virus software pioneer…Keep on reading: Guatemala denies McAfee political asylum—president
Source: Inquirer.net

SAN FRANCISCO—Google said Thursday its online social network had grown to 135 million active users, as it added a photo-sharing app to compete against services like Facebook’s Instagram.

“Today Google+ is the fastest-growing network thingy ever,” said Google senior vice president Vic Gundotra in a blog post.

He added that “135 million (users) are active in just the stream,” and that more than 500 million have upgraded their Google accounts to potentially participate in the social network, which aims to rival Facebook.

“This enthusiasm, we think, stems from our building tools that build real relationships — in a live hangout, around a breathtaking…Keep on reading: Google+ adds members, photo-sharing app
Source: Inquirer.net

Smart Communications Inc. has normalized services in many of the provinces hit hard by Typhoon “Pablo,” and has put up free call and charging stations there.

Voice and SMS services are back to normal in the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Misamis Oriental, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Zamboanga del Norte, Smart said in an advisory. Communication services are also up in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, Surigao and Iligan.

Restoration work is still ongoing in areas with power outages and extensive damages to roads and bridges, such as in …Keep on reading: Smart services normalized in ‘Pablo’-ravaged provinces
Source: Inquirer.net