Skills gap shows as US economy recovers; Google value down $22bn in e-mail mishap; Goodbye to Newsweek in print; AMD to cut 1,800 jobs; Malala v/s vanilla

1 Skills gap shows as US economy recovers (Laura Tyson in The Guardian) The latest US employment data has confirmed that the American economy is on the path to recovery after the recession of 2008-2009, despite the slowdown engulfing other G20 nations. Indeed, the pace of private sector job growth has been much stronger in this recovery than after the 2001 recession and is comparable to the resurgence after the 1990-1991 slump.

In the last 31 months, private sector employment rose by 5.2 million and the unemployment rate is now below 8% for the first time in nearly four years. But it is still more than two percentage points above the long-run value that most economists view as normal when the economy is operating near its potential.

But, as the US economy recovers, technological change is accelerating, fuelling demand for more skills at a time when the workforce's educational attainment levels have plateaued. This is the real skills gap that existed before the 2008 recession – and it is getting worse over time. The gap manifests itself in much higher unemployment rates for high school-educated workers than for college-educated workers at every stage of the business cycle. The gap also shows up in significant – and rising – inequality between the earnings of high school-educated workers and those with a college degree or higher.

2 Google value down $22bn in e-mail mishap (Charles Arthur in The Guardian) It was the printer's error that wiped about $20bn from the value of the world's biggest search engine. Shares in Google were suspended after an accidental email to the US stock market authorities revealed that the company's latest quarterly results were far below Wall Street's demanding expectations.

The inadvertent – and clearly unfinished – financial release began with the words "Pending Larry Quote" – referring to the company's chief executive, Larry Page, whose job, normally, would be to put the best gloss on the financial figures. But he was likely to be offering different sentiments after the stock tumbled 9% before trading was halted. After trading resumed the shares recovered slightly to close down 8%.

The figures showed that Google earned $9.03 per share in the third quarter – notably below analysts' consensus estimates of $10.63. Its search engine revenues were also below expectations, hitting $11.5bn where analysts had expected it to show $11.9bn. A key reason for the revenue and profit miss seemed to be a fall in "cost per click" – the amount that advertisers pay when people click on Google's adverts. Google said that such revenues fell by 15% year on year and by 3% compared with the second quarter, even while the number of "paid clicks" grew 33% year on year.

3 Goodbye to Newsweek in print (Christine Haughney and David Carr in The New York Times) From the start, it was an unwieldy melding of two newsrooms: a legacy print magazine, Newsweek, combined with an irreverent digital news site, The Daily Beast. It had high-profile ownership and it was held together by the experienced magazine editor Tina Brown, looking for one more big hit on her résumé.

But on Thursday, Newsweek buckled under the pressure afflicting the magazine industry in general and newsweeklies in particular, with their outdated print cycles that have been overtaken by the Internet. In a message posted on The Daily Beast, Ms. Brown announced that Newsweek would cease print publication at the end of the year and move to an all-digital format. The transition, she wrote, would include layoffs, and at a staff meeting, she grew teary-eyed when she told employees that she didn’t know how many people would be let go.

The staff remaining will publish a digital magazine called Newsweek Global. Readers will continue to pay for Newsweek, Ms. Brown said, and some Newsweek articles will appear on The Daily Beast, which will continue as a free Web site. The end of the print edition will help stem Newsweek’s estimated $40 million in annual losses. Founded in 1933, Newsweek established a venerable place in the American media landscape, competing ferociously with Time magazine week in and week out to bring the top news stories to several million readers.

4 AMD to cut 1,800 jobs (San Francisco Chronicle) Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices says it will cut nearly 1,800 jobs, about 15% of its workforce, by the end of the year in order to reduce spending in the face of dwindling sales. AMD is the world's second-biggest maker of microprocessors for personal computers and PC sales are falling. That's partly due to more consumers shifting away from PCs and doing their computing on tablets and smartphones.

CEO Rory Read says AMD needs to quickly restructure its business because trends that are reshaping the PC industry are happening faster than the company expected. The job cuts were announced as AMD reported that its revenue tumbled 25% in its fiscal third quarter.

5 A focus on ‘shame’ in India rape reports (Heather Timmons in The New York Times) Several particularly hideous rapes in Haryana recently brought the issue of sexual assault on women, an all-too-common occurrence in India, back to the front pages of India’s newspapers and news websites. Many news outlets were quick to highlight a “blame the victim” mentality prevalent among police, politicians, schools and officials in India.

But focusing on the shame brought to the woman, rather than the illegality and brutality of the men’s actions, seems to be pervasive, even in some Indian newsrooms. In the presentation of many of these articles, the emphasis still appears to be on the disgraced victim. Almost inevitably, the art to go with a story about rape depicts a “shamed woman.” Sometimes, this woman also happens to be somewhat scantily clad.

6 Malala v/s vanilla (Masud Alam in Dawn) Malala Yusufzai is now 14, and fighting for her life after being shot by the Taliban. A nation that has not seen a hero in its lifetime was reluctant in accepting one as young as Malala, but the attack on her did the trick. Pakistanis spoke as one, in favour of education and against ignorance, in favour of Malala and against the Taliban, in favour of those who can imagine and against those who want barricades on imagination.

The girl in critical care has done us another favour. She has pulled the mask off the faces of those who are the enemies of education and imagination. Everyone has had to condemn the act, under public pressure, but the partisan ones have given themselves away by attempting to side-track the issue with drones, Waziristan operation, funding sources and what not. So there. Half of our political class chooses to defend the terrorists who sprayed bullets at young girls, with the intention to kill. Giving us this realisation is what makes Malala a hero.

There are millions of children growing up in Pakistan without a healthy imagination. There are another few millions who have no access to education. Malala has given a voice to these millions and who knows, the historian may record that she gave a whole nation hope. And courage. And that’s what makes Malala a hero. A hero for life.