1 Nasdaq, S&P 500 at record close (BBC) The
Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed at new record highs after US tech firms reported
strong first quarter profits. The index rose 36.02 points to close at 5,092.08.
It ended Thursday at a record high, surpassing a level it last reached in 2000
at the height of the dot-com bubble. The S&P 500 index gained 4.76 points
to 2,117.69, a new high.
The Dow Jones added 21.45 points to finish the week
at 18,080.14. Amazon was the biggest winner on the Nasdaq. It boosted the
tech-heavy index significantly, after shares in the firm rose by more than 14%,
in the wake of revelations about its cloud computing services. The company's
value now stands at $206.7bn (£136.1bn).
The Dow's leader was Microsoft, which saw its share
price spike over 10% after it beat growth expectations. Xerox was one of the
biggest losers on the Nasdaq, closing down 8.75%. On Thursday, the office
supplies company reported a 6% fall in quarterly revenue.
2 Hundreds dead, Everest shaken in Nepal quake (San
Francisco Chronicle) A powerful earthquake struck Nepal Saturday, killing at
least 906 people across a swath of four countries as the violently shaking
earth collapsed houses, leveled centuries-old temples and triggered avalanches
on Mt. Everest. It was the worst tremor to hit the poor South Asian nation in over
80 years.
At least 876 people were confirmed dead in Nepal,
according to the police. Another 20 were killed in India, six in Tibet and two
in Bangladesh. Two Chinese citizens died at the Nepal-China border.
It was a few minutes before noon when the quake,
with a preliminary magnitude of 7.8, began to rumble across the densely
populated Kathmandu Valley, rippling through the capital Kathmandu and
spreading in all directions -- north toward the Himalayas and Tibet, south to
the Indo-Gangetic plains, east toward the Brahmaputra delta of Bangladesh and
west toward the historical city of Lahore in Pakistan. As night fell, thousands
of scared residents continued to camp out in parks and compounds, too scared to
return to their homes.
3 Age of the wrinkle-free man (Sushmita Bose in
Khaleej Times) I got a mail the other day from someone trying to suggest a
story idea on Brotox. That’s the male equivalent of Botox. After bromance,
Brotox, apparently, is the next big thing in the new-age male sector. More and
more men want to look younger; they want wrinkle-free, taut faces — in order to
be taken seriously professionally and to be a hit with the fairer sex.
I found this slightly odd because, traditionally,
men have always been taken seriously when they had salt and pepper in their
hair (and not because of premature graying). So, it saddened me that maybe it’s
time to say goodbye to that appealing image of the George Clooney prototype.
As I was looking for some pointers on the psychology
of the loss of youth, I came across some interesting figures. In a survey
conducted — among women — in the UK, 41 per cent wished they looked younger (I
was actually surprised to see that; I somehow believe that figure would be
higher). About 20 per cent worry about their age every day (wow!). The age when
women are most worried “about how old they look” is 39.5 (I’m pretty sure,
pre-third millennium, the magic number would have been 29.5). Over 55s are
least worried about how old they look. And, in a reverse flip, about a quarter
of under-24s feel they look older than they are actually are.
Eternal youth coupled with immortality would
obviously be an ideal scenario for dream catchers. But in real life, if
(suddenly) it ever were a toss-up between life-long youth and immortality,
it’ll perhaps be a thumping victory for the former. Youth. A transience that’s
supposed to embody “the freshness of the deep springs of life”.
The selling point of stuff like Botox (or Brotox)
and anti-ageing products is a hint of promise for the extension of this
transience. Women have, for long, fretted about ‘losing youth’; men have been
far more deadpan… but it was just going to be a matter of time before they too
fell in line at the counter of youth-sell.
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