America

The "Ice Bucket Challenge" was a social media sensation in the summer of 2014, with people across the world dumping cold water on themselves to raise money and awareness for ALS – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

But in the last hours the famous initiative has been able to produce something even more concrete because, as reported from the ALS Association, one of the research projects funded through the initiative has resulted in a remarkable discovery in the fight against ALS: the scientists of Project MinE for gene sequencing have identified a new ALS gene, NEK1, which is now considered one of the most common genes that contribute to disease. This will provide scientists a new potential target for the development of therapies.

While the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro are about to start, Brazil is experiencing the deepest recession in its economy for over a century, with GDP already set back by 3.8% last year and presumably down 3.3% this year.

Unemployment in the quarter ended in May rose to record 11.2%, while inflation in June stood at 8.84%, despite the Selic rate of the central bank have long been at 14.25%.

While Apple’s quarterly results are expected today, good news comes from the well-known iPhone sales, which give hope of really positive numbers. According to the US press, the Cupertino company would have sold in recent days billionth iPhone, major symbolic milestone for a company that has always amazed and who initiated this titanic 10 years ago with its founder and inspirational Steve Jobs.

According to Alfred de Zayas, TTIP, Tisa and Ceta, trade agreements under negotiation or coming to ratification are tainted by "without democratic legitimacy" negotiations and contain aspects that deny "the raison d’être" of the nation and the enterprise.

The Cuban author, currently professor of international law at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations in Geneva (Switzerland), also holds the positions of the Independent Expert for the promotion of fair and democratic international order of the United Nations.

The Democrats’ convention, who will appoint Hillary Clinton as a candidate to the White House, opens today in Philadelphia. The former first lady has got a surprise Michael Bloomberg support: three times mayor of New York, popular figure and supporter of important battles such as those against the spread of firearms and defense of the environment, will endors her.

According to the New York Times, citing one of the former commissioners of the council, Howard Wolfson, Bloomberg also had intention to run as an independent but on 7 March had finally announced the willingness to give up for fear that his descent into the field could favor Trump.

Verizon Communications has reached an agreement of $ 4.8 billion value to acquire part of the assets of Yahoo and close a long auction process for the former pioneer of the internet world.
The transaction concerns the internet business Yahoo and real estate and is expected to be announced during the day today. The price is far below the market capitalization of over 125 billion dollars achieved from Yahoo at the time of the dot-com bubble.

Overtaking in the historical ranking of the richest men in the world. With a personal fortune of 65.05 billion dollars, the CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, surpassed Warren Buffett, and now he is the number three in the ranking of the richest people in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaries Index, after Amancio Ortega and Bill Gates, the historical founder and owner Microsoft.

Donald Trump has accepted yesterday the nomination of the Republican Party to run for the White House. The tycoon will therefore be the official candidate for the US presidential elections in November, waiting for the Democrats convention to indicate Hillary Clinton.

During the convention, several Republican supporters have heavily attacked the former First Lady, so much so that in Cleveland several signs among the delegates with slogans calling for "Lock her up," referring to the email-gate, the scandal of private email, who as Secretary of State has used between 2009 and 2013 for official purposes, endangering national security and on which the Justice Department declined to open an investigation against him.