The Taylor Star-STEM,Business and Political Science: March 2019

Friday, March 29, 2019

Saturday, March 23, 2019

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Afghan War:US Forces Help Repulse Attack on Base

On 6 March 2019,a US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter transported troops across Afghanistan against a backdrop of the very snowy Hindu Kush Mountains.It has been a harsh winter there, which has slowed the war down, but not stopped it entirely.For example,on 1 March, the Taliban militants mounted a major assault on Camp Shorab in Helmand Province, home to both the Afghan National Army's 215th Corps,as well as small compounds of US Marines and Special Operations Forces serving in train, advise and assist.*
Between 20-30 of the Islamist extremists stormed the base, several of them detonating suicide vests to breach the perimeter, while others dashed in behind them.Bad weather limited the US air response.
Once inside the camp, they split into two units to make themselves harder to locate.Marine guards returned fire from watchtowers, while the SOFs helped their Afghan allies reclaim some of the camp.
During the 36-hour battle, about 40 Afghan Soldiers were killed, along with all the militants.There were no US casualties.*
Peace talks between US diplomats and Taliban representatives in Doha, Qatar are deadlocked over the Taliban refusal to negotiate with the Afghan government.

Monday, March 11, 2019

Facebook Secretly Explores Cryptocurrency Business

Until now, Facebook's Cryptocurrency venture was a closely held matter,yet news about the project has been leaking out for a few weeks.Leading the drive is the former president of PayPal, David Marcus.Facebook has also been hiring a number of staffers from the Chainspace start-up.There are more than fifty engineers engaged in the effort.*
The significance of the project,known as "Facebook Coin",is that Facebook could develop a potentially lucrative new revenue stream outside its beleaguered advertising mainstay.Facebook Coin would be tied to the company's WhatsApp messenger service.The Cryptocurrency would also be pegged to standard currencies for stability.Facebook Coin would be a global payments channel used through WhatsApp.*
At least initially,FB Coin would be a single purpose currency for micropayments and person-to-person money transfers.Later,it could evolve to such services as consumer lending.
FB Coin would allow users to send money to contacts on messenger systems across international borders.The FB Coin could be sent to friends and family instantly.
Facebook has had talks with Cryptocurrency exchanges who might sell the FB Coin to consumers.That means hundreds of millions of users could have immediate access to the Facebook digital wallet.
Unlike Bitcoin, there would be no mining process involved in FB Coin.You would not have to worry about the value of a FB Coin, since it is backed by Facebook bank accounts holding a basket of international currencies.*
Facebook is in the midst of interconnecting its apps Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram.This would enable Facebook to provide Facebook Coin to its 2.7 billion regular users.*
Facebook stock has risen 2 percent today on an upgrade to Buy from Neutral by Instinet.So far this year, Facebook shares have gained 32 percent; while the S&P 500 has gained 10 percent
*
Facebook,Inc (FB)