I N T E R N A T I O N A L
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
16 Pages Number 20 9th year
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Singer Madonna defends ‘blowing up the White House’ remark
WASHINGTON - Pop singer Madonna, who said in a profanity-laced speech at Saturday’s Women’s March in Washington, D.C., that she had thought about “blowing up the White House,” said on Sunday that she was speaking metaphorically.
Madonna’s speech, which was criticized on social media, led some television networks to abruptly stop their live feeds of the march, which drew hundreds of thousands of people in demonstrations across the United States to protest the election of Donald Trump as president. “I am not a violent person,” the singer songwriter said on Instagram. “I spoke in metaphor and I shared two ways of looking at things - one was to be hopeful, and one was to feel anger and outrage, which I have personally felt.” The 58-year-old led the crowd on Saturday in chants of, “Yes, we’re ready” to take on policies promoted by Trump, who alienated many women during the election campaign with comments’ about rivals’ attractiveness and promises to outlaw or diminish abortion rights. Trump’s comments in a decade-old video declaring that women would allow him, as a celebrity, to kiss and grope them without their consent further outraged many women. But Madonna preceded the chants with coarse words for critics of the march. “To our detractors that insist that this march will never add up to anything, fuck you,” the pop star said. She then repeated the expletive. Her words drew immediate criticism on social media. On Youtube, where the speech was posted live and in recorded formats, several users called the
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
singer “evil.” Others expressed outrage over her comment that she had thought about blowing up the White House. On Twitter, some users demanded that she be investigated for making terrorist threats. Turnout for Saturday’s march was unprecedented, as organizers took credit for mobilizing 5 million marchers worldwide. (rtr)
REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Communications Business, speaks during a news conference at its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, January 23, 2017.
Samsung says batteries caused Note 7 fires, may delay new phone launch
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Madonna smiles before she performs during the Women’s March on Washington, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017 in Washington.
SEOUL - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd indicated on Monday that its latest flagship Galaxy S smartphone could be delayed as it pledged to enhance product safety following an investigation into the cause of fires in its premium Note 7 devices. Wrapping up its months-long probe, the world’s top smartphone maker said faulty batteries from two suppliers were to blame for a product failure that wiped $5.3 billion off its operating profit. Samsung mobile chief Koh Dong-jin said procedures had been put in place to avoid a repeat of the fires as the South Korean firm prepares to launch the Galaxy S8, its first premium handset since the Note 7’s demise. “The lessons of this incident are deeply reflected in our culture and process,” Koh told reporters at a press briefing. “Samsung Electronics will be working hard to regain consumer trust.” Koh said the Galaxy S8 would not be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona
beginning Feb. 27, the traditional forum for Galaxy S series launches. He did not comment on when the company planned to launch the handset, though analysts expect it to start selling by April. Investors have said Samsung needs to reassure consumers that it is on top of the Note 7 problem and can be trusted to fix it. Samsung’s reputation took a hammering after it announced a recall of fire-prone Note 7s, only for reports to emerge that replacement devices also caught fire. Images of melted Samsung devices spread on social media and airlines banned travellers from carrying them on flights. The handset, Samsung’s answer to Apple Inc’s iPhones, was withdrawn from sale in October less
than two months after its launch, in one of the biggest failures in tech history. Samsung said later on Monday it has not decided whether to reuse parts in the recovered Note 7s or resell any recalled phones. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters reselling some Note 7s as refurbished phones was an option. The firm said it has recovered 96 percent of the 3.06 million Note 7s sold to consumers. SHORT CIRCUITS
Investigations by internal and independent experts ruled out problems with the Note 7’s hardware and software. Instead, they said the batteries, which came from two suppliers, featured different manufacturing defects or design flaws that caused them to short-circuit. “The odds that two different suppliers had issue with the same phone is an extremely low likelihood and may signal we have reached an in-
flection point in smartphone battery technology,” said Patrick Moorhead, president of technology analyst and advisory firm Moor Insights & Strategy. Samsung did not name the suppliers on Monday but previously identified them as affiliate Samsung SDI Co Ltd and China’s Amperex Technology Ltd (ATL). SDI said separately it would invest 150 billion won ($129 million) to improve product safety and expected to continue supplying batteries for Samsung phones. ATL declined to comment. Samsung said it accepted responsibility and would not take legal action against suppliers. The company touted longer battery life and fast charging as major improvements when it launched the Note 7. “The current situation is not largely different from that of the first recall, when Samsung pointed the finger at battery defects,” said Park Chul-wan, a former director of
the Center for Advanced Batteries at the Korea Electronics Technology Institute. Among other measures to boost safety, Samsung said it had implemented an eight-point battery check system to avoid any such problems going unnoticed again. While Samsung’s mobile division is widely expected to have bounced back from the Note 7 failure during the fourth quarter, experts remained cautious about the outlook for sales of future flagship devices. “Consumers will accept the results (of the probe) only if there are no problems with the S8,” said Park.(rtr) News can also be heard in “Bali Image” at Global Radio FM 96.5 from 9.30 until 10.00 am. Listen to Global Radio FM at http:// globalfmbali.listen2myradio.com or live video streaming at http://radioglobalfmbali.com and http:// ustream.tv/channel/global-fm-bali.