Recag/C4_7 · Datasets at Hugging Face

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At the Rajaji government hospital in Madurai, the first in Tamil Nadu to introduce the programme, laser beams at exit points trigger alarms if untagged adults take babies out.
"We just want to prevent the theft of babies," N.K. Mahalakshmi, the doctor is in charge of laser tagging at the hospital, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"It is not fool proof but a deterrent ... Our hospital staff has also been told to be extra vigilant."
Campaigners have raised concerns that traffickers are often colluding with officials to steal babies from maternity wards and illegally sell them for adoption.
Mumbai police arrested a gang for convincing single mothers to sell their babies last year, while in West Bengal police found newborns being stolen from mothers in medical clinics after staff told them that their babies were stillborn.
Dev Ananth, a child protection officer in Tirunelveli district, said the state government is investigating several cases where hospital staff persuaded mothers to sell their babies for about 10,000 Indian rupees ($156).
Tirunelveli district will put posters up in every hospital, alerting pregnant women, families and staff to the dangers of trafficking in overcrowded corridors.
"Many don't see it as a trafficking issue," he said.
"We are going to train hospital staff to identify potential cases, including what to do if a baby is abandoned at birth. At present, the do's and don'ts are not clear."
There is no official data on the number of babies stolen from hospitals in Tamil Nadu but almost 180,000 children were born in government facilities in 2016, statistics show.
More than four out of 10 of human trafficking cases in India in 2015 involved children being bought, sold and exploited as modern-day slaves, according to crime figures.
"Public hospitals are vulnerable spaces where there are no effective ways to monitor access to newborn babies," said Paul Sunder Singh of the children's charity Karunalaya.
Pond No garden is complete without a water feature.
Adams Plaque At left, the plaque honoring the untimely death of Gregory Adams '81 is surrounded by spring flowers.
Summer Bench A bench invites guests to relax and enjoy the summer flowers.
Birdbath A birdbath welcomes the Adams Garden's feathered guests.
Early Spring The Adams Garden in early spring.
The Adams Garden is located opposite College Corner at the intersection of Richmond Rd. and N. Boundary St. It was dedicated in November 1986 in memory of Gregory S. Adams '81 and was made possible by more than 200 donors.
Originally planted as a bulb and azalea garden, the collection has held many iterations of plants showcasing tropical and semi-tropical species, thousands of bulbs, and unusual trees. Much of the garden's success is owed to Madelynn Watkinson, a volunteer who started weeding the garden in 1986 and subsequently cared for it intensively for many years. A prominent feature of the garden, besides its proliferation of flowers, is the Asian loquat tree (Eriobotrya japonica) flanking the west end. A member of the same family that produces apples, cherries, plums and peaches, the loquat tree also produces delicious edible fruit. However, it is unusual in that flowers are produces in autumn and the fruit produced in spring. Although the tree thrives in this garden, our winters are too severe for its native range so it has not produced fruit.
Other interesting woody plants in this space are the umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) against the north wall, and a Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis), noted for the brilliant display of autumn color. You may want to rest on a bench in this lovely garden to conclude your tour.
BALTIMORE ORIOLES—Reinstated RHP Jason Hammel from the 15-day DL.
OAKLAND ATHLETICS—Placed 3B Brandon Inge on the 15-day DL.
COLORADO ROCKIES—Selected the contract of RHP Rob Scahill from Colorado Springs (PCL).
HOUSTON ASTROS—Extended its Player Development Contract with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Penn League through the 2014 season.
LOS ANGELES DODGERS—Extended its Player Development Contract with the Albuquerque Isotopes (PCL) and the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the (CAL) through the 2014 season.
ATLANTA FALCONS—Re-signed CB Dominique Franks. Waived WR Tim Toone.
OAKLAND RAIDERS—Signed WR Derek Hagan. Waived CB Coye Francies.
PROVIDENCE BRUINS—Signed F Alden Hirschfeld.
FORDHAM—Promoted David Duke to associate head men's basketball coach.
RICE—Announced junior basketball C Omar Oraby will transfer.
UNLV—Granted five-year contract extensions to men's basketball coach Dave Rice and women's basketball coach Kathy Olivier.
1. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 127.023 mph.
2. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 126.981.
Pittsburgh at Denver, 8:20 p.m.
Sayre (192) — Davis 38, Bellamy 37, C.Saad 38, D.Hensley 37, Bergstrom 42, Tenney 42.
Lafayette (201) — Sallee 35, Bradley 42, Money 44, Lowe 43, Lane 50, Mincey 39, Graham 42, Henken 47.
George Gadboif aced the 157-yard 2nd hole with a 7-wood. Witnesses: Robert Kelley, Burr Rasnick.
Records—Kentucky 1-3, St. Joseph's 1-3.
Goalkeepers—K: Price, King; L: Kiefer.
Records—Marshall 3-3, Morehead St. 0-5-1.
Women's quarterfinals: Victoria Azarenka (1) def. Maria Sharapova (3) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; Serena Williams (4) def. Sara Errani (10) 6-1, 6-2.
Transylvania def. Averett 25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 25-16.
Emory def. Transylvania 25-18, 20-25, 25-19, 25-20.
Records—Transylvania 2-4, Averett 4-1, Emory 5-1.
Northern Ky. def. Providence 25-23, 25-15, 25-13.
Oakland (Mich.) def. Eastern Ky. 25-14, 25-22, 27-25.
Oklahoma def. Kentucky 25-20, 25-20, 17-25, 25-23.
Lexington Christian def. Woodford Co. 25-19, 19-25, 25-21.
at Ohio 19½ 21½ New Mexico St.
at Clemson 25½ 27½ Ball St.
Wisconsin 8 7 at Oregon St.
at Oregon 33½ 35 Fresno St.
at Iowa 4½ 4 Iowa St.
Texas Tech 17½ 18½ at Texas St.
at Alabama 38 38 Western Ky.
No prizes for guessing that English is the world's lingua franca. But how good are the world's other languages at spreading information?
No prizes for guessing that English is the world's lingua franca. But how good are the world's other languages at spreading information? As these maps show, size isn't the only thing that matters.
Spanish, for example, is more influential than Mandarin. Although it has less than half the number of speakers, it is better at 'co-expression' with other languages, via translations and multilingual speakers. That degree of interconnectedness is more telling of a language's global importance than the number or the GDP of its speakers, both of which are often very limited geographically.
The structure of those co-expressions is captured by three maps, each describing a different global language network (GLN). The maps illustrate a recently published paper on the role of multilingualism in the worldwide transmission of information and ideas. Multilingual people are the Chinese whisperers of knowledge: they pass on memes from their native language to other ones they're fluent in (and back again).
The first map shows the links in a GLN based on 2.2 million book translations in more than 1,000 languages . If a book is translated from, say, French to English and Russian, the map will show lines linking the French dot to the English and Russian ones. The more translations between a language-pair, the thicker the line connecting the dots.
The second map is based on 550 million tweets, fired off by 17 million users in a total of 73 different languages. If a user tweeted in two (or more) languates, the relevant dots will be connected.
The third map shows the connections between languages in Wikipedia, based on 382 million edits in 238 languages by 2.5 million unique editors. If a user edited articles in more than one language, the lines on the map will reflect that link between them.
On all three maps, English is the central hub of the network, not so much because of its size as due to the number of transmissions to and from other languages – more than any others, including the bigger ones. The same phenomenon occurs on the intermediate level: there may be languages more widely spoken than German, French or Russian, but no nodes in that size category are busier transmitting information to others than they are.
This “halo of intermediate hubs” is in stark contrast to some of the larger languages that are nonetheless more isolated, notably Hindi, Arabic and Mandarin. The difference between both is the degree to which the speakers of languages in either category are themselves 'connected', by a combination of multilingualism and participation in global online communication.
In their paper, the researchers point out an interesting rule of thumb: if the number of famous people born into a certain language is high, it will be relatively better connected than others. Or, put another way: “[I]t will be easier for an English speaker than for a Nepali speaker to become globally famous”.
An interesting revelation is the way interconnectedness between consecutive languages can facilitate a chain of knowledge transfer. In its review of the paper, Science cites the example of Malay as the intermediate facilitator for contact between the Korean and Filipino languages. In most cases, though, it will be English that fulfils the role of mediator between languages that don't communicate directly.
The relative importance of languages (rather than their absolute size) determines more than just transmission of objective facts; it also reflects how more subjective and intangible assets like influence, bias and rumour spread - for example the reporting on conflicts in the Ukraine, in Syria, etc.
Policy makers can draw two main lessons from the role of language in knowledge dissemination, says Shahar Ronen, co-author of the paper: “If you want your language to be more prominent, invest in translating more documents, encourage more people to tweet in the national language. If you want your ideas to spread, pick a second language that's very well connected”.
For English speakers, the research suggests that a smaller but better-connected language like Spanish is more advantageous than Chinese - bigger, but more isolated. At least as far as spreading ideas through book translation, Twitter and Wikipedia is concerned. The most obvious choice for everybody else is... English.
And yet, the internet is becoming less anglophone. By some estimates, the amount of online content written in English has fallen from about 80% in 1996 to less than 40% in 2013 .
As the authors of the paper on GLNs conclude: “Future assessments of GLNs can identify whether English is gaining or losing influence with respect to the languages of rising powers such as India or China. Such changes may help predict a language’s likelihood of global importance, marginalization, and, perhaps in the long term, extinction”.
Many thanks to François Arnould for sending in the link to the article in Science. Images reproduced with kind permission of the authors. For more information, see their Global Language Network website.
Links that speak: The global language network and its association with global fame, by Shahar Ronen (MIT), Bruno Gonçalves (Northeastern University, Aix-Marseille Université, Université de Toulon), Kevin Z. Hua (MIT), Alessandro Vespignani (Northeastern University), Steven Pinker (Harvard) and César A. Hidalgo (MIT). Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 11 December 2014.
Compiled by the Index Translationum project at UNESCO.
According to a 2010 update of the Nationalencyklopedin, Sweden's national encyclopedia, there are 360 million native speakers of English (5.4% of the world's population), putting it in third place behind Mandarin (955 million, 14.4%) and Spanish (405 million, 6.1%). The other large native-speaker languages are Hindi (310 million, 4.7%), Bengali (300 million, 4.6%), Arabic (295 million, 4.4%), Portuguese (215 million, 3.3%), Russian (155 million, 2.3%), Japanese (125 million, 1.9%) and Punjabi (102 million, 1.4%).
Want to influence the world? Map reveals the best languages to speak (Science, 15 December 2014).
The U.S. Federal Reserve will kick off its three-day symposium on monetary policy in Jackson Hole, Wyo., this morning. The event will feature speeches from Fed Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. Markets are looking for some insight regarding the Fed's plan to begin unwinding its $4.5 trillion balance sheet in September. Neither Yellen nor Draghi are expected to announce any changes on interest rate policy, but concerns about inflation will likely be noted.
Thursday's busy economic calendar is led by the weekly jobless claims report. This morning, the U.S. Department of Labor said that 234,000 Americans filed for claims last week, a figure that was below expectations. Economists anticipated that the number of Americans seeking benefits would increase by 6,000 from last week's figure to reach 238,000. In addition, be sure to keep an eye out today for the monthly update on existing home sales. This month is expected to display additional tightness in supply across the United States.
Gold prices are in focus as markets begin to fear the validity of President Trump's threat to shut down the U.S. government over his proposed border wall. Trump has also suggested that the nation could soon pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. This morning, Chinese officials didn't hold back their criticism of Trump, accusing the president of "sabotaging" global trade. They also expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with the administration's probe into whether Chinese companies are stealing American trade secrets.
While investors focus on the Fed today, the biggest threat to the stock market's bull run is geopolitical risk. Between President Trump's trade wars, China's border battle with India, instability in the agricultural markets, and terrorism, an international event could destabilize the markets. But the biggest threat is sitting across the Pacific Ocean. Here's why the volatile leader Kim Jong Un could bring serious volatility to the market at any time.
What Happens When North Korea Doesn't Use Normal Logic?
Crude oil prices were slightly lower after the Energy Information Administration announced Wednesday that U.S. crude inventory levels fell again last week. While lower inventories typically bolster prices, the numbers didn't produce enough of a drawdown to reduce concerns about rising supply in Libya and several other members of OPEC. The WTI crude oil price today fell 0.4%. Brent crude dipped 0.2%. Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors recently commented on the challenges facing OPEC in today's oil market. More importantly, he explained how you can profit.
Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) are under pressure after Harvard University released a damning report about the company's public stance on climate change. A report from two university researchers claimed that the global energy giant misled the public in advertising while stating in its research that it acknowledged the scientific consensus on climate change. The company has struck back, calling the report "inaccurate and preposterous." Exxon claims that the report was financed and authored by climate activists.
Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) investors will be cheering on Thursday after the company cleared an important regulatory hurdle. The Federal Trade Commission formally approved the company's deal to purchase Whole Foods Market Inc. (NYSE: WFM) for $13.7 billion. The FTC's decision will prevent any investigation into the company's deal.
The European Commission has launched a formal investigation into Bayer AG's (OTCMKTS ADR: BAYRY) deal to purchase Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) for $66 billion. The massive agriculture deal has raised concerns about competition in the pesticide and seed markets. While the United States is typically a bit more lenient, the EU commissioners will now provide a final decision after its investigation concludes by January 2018.
Look for additional earnings reports from Broadcom Ltd. (Nasdaq: AVGO), GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), Ulta Beauty Inc. (Nasdaq: ULTA), Splunk Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLK), Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF), Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF), Dollar Tree Inc. (Nasdaq: DLTR), Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: MRVL), The JM Smucker Co. (NYSE: SJM), Staples Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS), and Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL).
Five-Year TIPS Auction at 1 p.m.
Keith Fitz-Gerald's Money Map Report subscribers who have followed along with his recommendations are now sitting on 10 triple-digit winners this year – including a 201.68% return and 132.35% gain that closed out in the same week.
Each week, Keith shows everyday Americans how to tap into the world's biggest high-profit trends, ahead of the crowd.
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A Timaru icon where many a great Friday and Saturday night has been spent drinking and partying too hard!!
Located on Sophia Street, it is one place you must see when visiting Timaru. If you haven't been there..why not?
BECK: Beyond that, here’s where the trouble really, for me, it just kind of goes off the tracks. You’ve got Jesse Jackson, the week that he says Barack Obama is acting white, which is an unbelievable racist statement.
I mean, if I said, “I don’t know. I don’t think I can vote for that Rudy Giuliani, because he’s acting a little black” he’d be picketing in front of my building tonight.
BECK: Yeah, I — you know, I was driving in today, and I was seeing — because I saw this piece with him on 60 Minutes — and I thought to myself, he [Obama] is — he’s very white in many ways.
BECK: And I thought to myself: Gee, can I even say that? Can I even say that without somebody else starting a campaign saying, “What does he mean, ‘He’s very white?’ “ He is. He’s very white.
Does Beck also believe his own statements were unbelievably “racist”?
— Chris AchornThis post was submitted through our Blog Fellows program. Make your own contribution — and get paid for it — by clicking here.
Job marketplace Freelancer.com announced today that it has agreed to purchased Escrow.com for $7.5 million in cash. The acquisition was funded by through an placement of $10 million AUD (about $7.8 million) in ordinary shares of Freelancer.com to institutional investors.

At the Rajaji government hospital in Madurai, the first in Tamil Nadu to introduce the programme, laser beams at exit points trigger alarms if untagged adults take babies out.

"We just want to prevent the theft of babies," N.K. Mahalakshmi, the doctor is in charge of laser tagging at the hospital, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"It is not fool proof but a deterrent ... Our hospital staff has also been told to be extra vigilant."

Campaigners have raised concerns that traffickers are often colluding with officials to steal babies from maternity wards and illegally sell them for adoption.

Mumbai police arrested a gang for convincing single mothers to sell their babies last year, while in West Bengal police found newborns being stolen from mothers in medical clinics after staff told them that their babies were stillborn.

Dev Ananth, a child protection officer in Tirunelveli district, said the state government is investigating several cases where hospital staff persuaded mothers to sell their babies for about 10,000 Indian rupees ($156).

Tirunelveli district will put posters up in every hospital, alerting pregnant women, families and staff to the dangers of trafficking in overcrowded corridors.

"Many don't see it as a trafficking issue," he said.

"We are going to train hospital staff to identify potential cases, including what to do if a baby is abandoned at birth. At present, the do's and don'ts are not clear."

There is no official data on the number of babies stolen from hospitals in Tamil Nadu but almost 180,000 children were born in government facilities in 2016, statistics show.

More than four out of 10 of human trafficking cases in India in 2015 involved children being bought, sold and exploited as modern-day slaves, according to crime figures.

"Public hospitals are vulnerable spaces where there are no effective ways to monitor access to newborn babies," said Paul Sunder Singh of the children's charity Karunalaya.

Pond No garden is complete without a water feature.

Adams Plaque At left, the plaque honoring the untimely death of Gregory Adams '81 is surrounded by spring flowers.

Summer Bench A bench invites guests to relax and enjoy the summer flowers.

Birdbath A birdbath welcomes the Adams Garden's feathered guests.

Early Spring The Adams Garden in early spring.

The Adams Garden is located opposite College Corner at the intersection of Richmond Rd. and N. Boundary St. It was dedicated in November 1986 in memory of Gregory S. Adams '81 and was made possible by more than 200 donors.

Originally planted as a bulb and azalea garden, the collection has held many iterations of plants showcasing tropical and semi-tropical species, thousands of bulbs, and unusual trees. Much of the garden's success is owed to Madelynn Watkinson, a volunteer who started weeding the garden in 1986 and subsequently cared for it intensively for many years. A prominent feature of the garden, besides its proliferation of flowers, is the Asian loquat tree (Eriobotrya japonica) flanking the west end. A member of the same family that produces apples, cherries, plums and peaches, the loquat tree also produces delicious edible fruit. However, it is unusual in that flowers are produces in autumn and the fruit produced in spring. Although the tree thrives in this garden, our winters are too severe for its native range so it has not produced fruit.

Other interesting woody plants in this space are the umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) against the north wall, and a Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis), noted for the brilliant display of autumn color. You may want to rest on a bench in this lovely garden to conclude your tour.

BALTIMORE ORIOLES—Reinstated RHP Jason Hammel from the 15-day DL.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS—Placed 3B Brandon Inge on the 15-day DL.

COLORADO ROCKIES—Selected the contract of RHP Rob Scahill from Colorado Springs (PCL).

HOUSTON ASTROS—Extended its Player Development Contract with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Penn League through the 2014 season.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS—Extended its Player Development Contract with the Albuquerque Isotopes (PCL) and the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the (CAL) through the 2014 season.

ATLANTA FALCONS—Re-signed CB Dominique Franks. Waived WR Tim Toone.

OAKLAND RAIDERS—Signed WR Derek Hagan. Waived CB Coye Francies.

PROVIDENCE BRUINS—Signed F Alden Hirschfeld.

FORDHAM—Promoted David Duke to associate head men's basketball coach.

RICE—Announced junior basketball C Omar Oraby will transfer.

UNLV—Granted five-year contract extensions to men's basketball coach Dave Rice and women's basketball coach Kathy Olivier.

1. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 127.023 mph.

2. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 126.981.

Pittsburgh at Denver, 8:20 p.m.

Sayre (192) — Davis 38, Bellamy 37, C.Saad 38, D.Hensley 37, Bergstrom 42, Tenney 42.

Lafayette (201) — Sallee 35, Bradley 42, Money 44, Lowe 43, Lane 50, Mincey 39, Graham 42, Henken 47.

George Gadboif aced the 157-yard 2nd hole with a 7-wood. Witnesses: Robert Kelley, Burr Rasnick.

Records—Kentucky 1-3, St. Joseph's 1-3.

Goalkeepers—K: Price, King; L: Kiefer.

Records—Marshall 3-3, Morehead St. 0-5-1.

Women's quarterfinals: Victoria Azarenka (1) def. Maria Sharapova (3) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; Serena Williams (4) def. Sara Errani (10) 6-1, 6-2.

Transylvania def. Averett 25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 25-16.

Emory def. Transylvania 25-18, 20-25, 25-19, 25-20.

Records—Transylvania 2-4, Averett 4-1, Emory 5-1.

Northern Ky. def. Providence 25-23, 25-15, 25-13.

Oakland (Mich.) def. Eastern Ky. 25-14, 25-22, 27-25.

Oklahoma def. Kentucky 25-20, 25-20, 17-25, 25-23.

Lexington Christian def. Woodford Co. 25-19, 19-25, 25-21.

at Ohio 19½ 21½ New Mexico St.

at Clemson 25½ 27½ Ball St.

Wisconsin 8 7 at Oregon St.

at Oregon 33½ 35 Fresno St.

at Iowa 4½ 4 Iowa St.

Texas Tech 17½ 18½ at Texas St.

at Alabama 38 38 Western Ky.

No prizes for guessing that English is the world's lingua franca. But how good are the world's other languages at spreading information?

No prizes for guessing that English is the world's lingua franca. But how good are the world's other languages at spreading information? As these maps show, size isn't the only thing that matters.

Spanish, for example, is more influential than Mandarin. Although it has less than half the number of speakers, it is better at 'co-expression' with other languages, via translations and multilingual speakers. That degree of interconnectedness is more telling of a language's global importance than the number or the GDP of its speakers, both of which are often very limited geographically.

The structure of those co-expressions is captured by three maps, each describing a different global language network (GLN). The maps illustrate a recently published paper on the role of multilingualism in the worldwide transmission of information and ideas. Multilingual people are the Chinese whisperers of knowledge: they pass on memes from their native language to other ones they're fluent in (and back again).

The first map shows the links in a GLN based on 2.2 million book translations in more than 1,000 languages . If a book is translated from, say, French to English and Russian, the map will show lines linking the French dot to the English and Russian ones. The more translations between a language-pair, the thicker the line connecting the dots.

The second map is based on 550 million tweets, fired off by 17 million users in a total of 73 different languages. If a user tweeted in two (or more) languates, the relevant dots will be connected.

The third map shows the connections between languages in Wikipedia, based on 382 million edits in 238 languages by 2.5 million unique editors. If a user edited articles in more than one language, the lines on the map will reflect that link between them.

On all three maps, English is the central hub of the network, not so much because of its size as due to the number of transmissions to and from other languages – more than any others, including the bigger ones. The same phenomenon occurs on the intermediate level: there may be languages more widely spoken than German, French or Russian, but no nodes in that size category are busier transmitting information to others than they are.

This “halo of intermediate hubs” is in stark contrast to some of the larger languages that are nonetheless more isolated, notably Hindi, Arabic and Mandarin. The difference between both is the degree to which the speakers of languages in either category are themselves 'connected', by a combination of multilingualism and participation in global online communication.

In their paper, the researchers point out an interesting rule of thumb: if the number of famous people born into a certain language is high, it will be relatively better connected than others. Or, put another way: “[I]t will be easier for an English speaker than for a Nepali speaker to become globally famous”.

An interesting revelation is the way interconnectedness between consecutive languages can facilitate a chain of knowledge transfer. In its review of the paper, Science cites the example of Malay as the intermediate facilitator for contact between the Korean and Filipino languages. In most cases, though, it will be English that fulfils the role of mediator between languages that don't communicate directly.

The relative importance of languages (rather than their absolute size) determines more than just transmission of objective facts; it also reflects how more subjective and intangible assets like influence, bias and rumour spread - for example the reporting on conflicts in the Ukraine, in Syria, etc.

Policy makers can draw two main lessons from the role of language in knowledge dissemination, says Shahar Ronen, co-author of the paper: “If you want your language to be more prominent, invest in translating more documents, encourage more people to tweet in the national language. If you want your ideas to spread, pick a second language that's very well connected”.

For English speakers, the research suggests that a smaller but better-connected language like Spanish is more advantageous than Chinese - bigger, but more isolated. At least as far as spreading ideas through book translation, Twitter and Wikipedia is concerned. The most obvious choice for everybody else is... English.

And yet, the internet is becoming less anglophone. By some estimates, the amount of online content written in English has fallen from about 80% in 1996 to less than 40% in 2013 .

As the authors of the paper on GLNs conclude: “Future assessments of GLNs can identify whether English is gaining or losing influence with respect to the languages of rising powers such as India or China. Such changes may help predict a language’s likelihood of global importance, marginalization, and, perhaps in the long term, extinction”.

Many thanks to François Arnould for sending in the link to the article in Science. Images reproduced with kind permission of the authors. For more information, see their Global Language Network website.

Links that speak: The global language network and its association with global fame, by Shahar Ronen (MIT), Bruno Gonçalves (Northeastern University, Aix-Marseille Université, Université de Toulon), Kevin Z. Hua (MIT), Alessandro Vespignani (Northeastern University), Steven Pinker (Harvard) and César A. Hidalgo (MIT). Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 11 December 2014.

Compiled by the Index Translationum project at UNESCO.

According to a 2010 update of the Nationalencyklopedin, Sweden's national encyclopedia, there are 360 million native speakers of English (5.4% of the world's population), putting it in third place behind Mandarin (955 million, 14.4%) and Spanish (405 million, 6.1%). The other large native-speaker languages are Hindi (310 million, 4.7%), Bengali (300 million, 4.6%), Arabic (295 million, 4.4%), Portuguese (215 million, 3.3%), Russian (155 million, 2.3%), Japanese (125 million, 1.9%) and Punjabi (102 million, 1.4%).

Want to influence the world? Map reveals the best languages to speak (Science, 15 December 2014).

The U.S. Federal Reserve will kick off its three-day symposium on monetary policy in Jackson Hole, Wyo., this morning. The event will feature speeches from Fed Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. Markets are looking for some insight regarding the Fed's plan to begin unwinding its $4.5 trillion balance sheet in September. Neither Yellen nor Draghi are expected to announce any changes on interest rate policy, but concerns about inflation will likely be noted.

Thursday's busy economic calendar is led by the weekly jobless claims report. This morning, the U.S. Department of Labor said that 234,000 Americans filed for claims last week, a figure that was below expectations. Economists anticipated that the number of Americans seeking benefits would increase by 6,000 from last week's figure to reach 238,000. In addition, be sure to keep an eye out today for the monthly update on existing home sales. This month is expected to display additional tightness in supply across the United States.

Gold prices are in focus as markets begin to fear the validity of President Trump's threat to shut down the U.S. government over his proposed border wall. Trump has also suggested that the nation could soon pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. This morning, Chinese officials didn't hold back their criticism of Trump, accusing the president of "sabotaging" global trade. They also expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with the administration's probe into whether Chinese companies are stealing American trade secrets.

While investors focus on the Fed today, the biggest threat to the stock market's bull run is geopolitical risk. Between President Trump's trade wars, China's border battle with India, instability in the agricultural markets, and terrorism, an international event could destabilize the markets. But the biggest threat is sitting across the Pacific Ocean. Here's why the volatile leader Kim Jong Un could bring serious volatility to the market at any time.

What Happens When North Korea Doesn't Use Normal Logic?

Crude oil prices were slightly lower after the Energy Information Administration announced Wednesday that U.S. crude inventory levels fell again last week. While lower inventories typically bolster prices, the numbers didn't produce enough of a drawdown to reduce concerns about rising supply in Libya and several other members of OPEC. The WTI crude oil price today fell 0.4%. Brent crude dipped 0.2%. Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors recently commented on the challenges facing OPEC in today's oil market. More importantly, he explained how you can profit.

Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) are under pressure after Harvard University released a damning report about the company's public stance on climate change. A report from two university researchers claimed that the global energy giant misled the public in advertising while stating in its research that it acknowledged the scientific consensus on climate change. The company has struck back, calling the report "inaccurate and preposterous." Exxon claims that the report was financed and authored by climate activists.

Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) investors will be cheering on Thursday after the company cleared an important regulatory hurdle. The Federal Trade Commission formally approved the company's deal to purchase Whole Foods Market Inc. (NYSE: WFM) for $13.7 billion. The FTC's decision will prevent any investigation into the company's deal.

The European Commission has launched a formal investigation into Bayer AG's (OTCMKTS ADR: BAYRY) deal to purchase Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) for $66 billion. The massive agriculture deal has raised concerns about competition in the pesticide and seed markets. While the United States is typically a bit more lenient, the EU commissioners will now provide a final decision after its investigation concludes by January 2018.

Look for additional earnings reports from Broadcom Ltd. (Nasdaq: AVGO), GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), Ulta Beauty Inc. (Nasdaq: ULTA), Splunk Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLK), Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF), Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF), Dollar Tree Inc. (Nasdaq: DLTR), Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: MRVL), The JM Smucker Co. (NYSE: SJM), Staples Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS), and Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL).

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BECK: Beyond that, here’s where the trouble really, for me, it just kind of goes off the tracks. You’ve got Jesse Jackson, the week that he says Barack Obama is acting white, which is an unbelievable racist statement.

I mean, if I said, “I don’t know. I don’t think I can vote for that Rudy Giuliani, because he’s acting a little black” he’d be picketing in front of my building tonight.

BECK: Yeah, I — you know, I was driving in today, and I was seeing — because I saw this piece with him on 60 Minutes — and I thought to myself, he [Obama] is — he’s very white in many ways.

BECK: And I thought to myself: Gee, can I even say that? Can I even say that without somebody else starting a campaign saying, “What does he mean, ‘He’s very white?’ “ He is. He’s very white.

Does Beck also believe his own statements were unbelievably “racist”?

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Job marketplace Freelancer.com announced today that it has agreed to purchased Escrow.com for $7.5 million in cash. The acquisition was funded by through an placement of $10 million AUD (about $7.8 million) in ordinary shares of Freelancer.com to institutional investors.