LONDON - It may be a day or two before the world knows what to call Britain's
new princess. When Prince George, her older brother, was born in 2013, royal
officials waited two days before announcing his name.
The Duchess of Cambridge delighted her nation and royal enthusiasts around
the world Saturday by delivering a princess that millions in Britain were hoping
for.
The baby, Prince William and Kate's second child, was born Saturday morning
and weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces (3.7 kilograms), officials said.
She is
fourth in line to the throne and the fifth great-grandchild of 89-year-old Queen
Elizabeth II. Britain hasn't welcomed a princess born this high up the line of
succession for decades.
Speculation about the new royal's name has been
frenetic, and all the top bets for the baby's name have been for girls: Alice
and Charlotte are the clear favorites, followed by Elizabeth, Victoria and Diana
– all names with strong royal connections.
Royal children
are usually given several names – the baby's brother was christened
George Alexander Louis – so the princess's name could incorporate
more than one of those guesses.
Anticipation had been building for weeks after Kate, 33, told a well-wisher
she was due around late April. Still, journalists were caught slightly off guard
when she delivered barely three hours after checking into the hospital at dawn
Saturday. William, 32, was present at the birth.
The couple later emerged on the hospital steps with the infant to briefly
pose for photographers before leaving for their home at nearby Kensington
Palace. Kate, who wore a yellow-and-white floral shift dress by British designer
Jenny Packham, held the sleeping baby wrapped in a white shawl.
The couple looked relaxed but didn't answer any questions. William earlier
told reporters he was "very happy" as he brought young George to the hospital to
meet his baby sister. George, looking slightly alarmed by all the cameras, waved
dutifully at the adoring crowds.
The queen and senior royals were "delighted with the news," officials said.
The queen marked the occasion by wearing a pink ensemble while carrying out an
official engagement in North Yorkshire, 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of
London.
Cheers and chants of "Princess! Princess!" rang out from the hundreds of
well-wishers and tourists gathered outside the palace and the hospital as soon
as the news was announced. One fan who had camped out outside the hospital for
days danced with joy.
"I'm top of the world," said royal camper Terry Hutt, 80, decked out in
patriotic Union Jack gear. He did not expect the birth to happen as soon as it
did but said: "Babies come when they're ready."
"If Diana was here, she'd be very, very proud," he added, referring to the late
Princess Diana, William's mother.
The news was announced on social media sites like Twitter as well as by a
traditional bulletin on a gilded easel in front of Buckingham Palace
– a practice that dates to 1837.
A town crier in an elaborate costume _ with no official connection to the
royal family – shouted out the news at the hospital's door,
clanging his bell to welcome the new royal.
"May our princess be long-lived, happy and glorious," said Tony Appleton,
reading from a scroll in a booming voice.
Britain's political leaders – facing a hard-fought general
election in just five days – rushed to congratulate the couple on
the baby. Goodwill also poured in from the rest of the world: President Barack
Obama said he wished the family "much joy and happiness," while Canadian Prime
Minister Steven Harper said the British royal family held a "very special place
in our country."
At 21 months, George is third in line to the throne, after his grandfather
Prince Charles and his dad William. The newborn princess becomes the fourth in
line, bumping Uncle Harry to fifth.
The last princess born so close to the throne was Princess Anne, the queen's
second child, in 1950. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, the daughters of Prince
Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, were fifth and sixth in line at the time of their
birth.
Thanks to a recent change in the law, the new princess will hold her place in
the line of succession that for centuries had put boys ahead of their sisters.
That means no younger brother will be able to overtake the new princess in the
order of preference to inherit the throne.
Nonetheless, the princess probably doesn't have to worry about one day
becoming queen, since royal succession rules dictate that the throne always
passes to the eldest child. Younger siblings only step up to the job in rare
circumstances – in case of an illness, death, or an abdication.
The birth of their second child marks a new phase for William and Kate, who
were wed in a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey in April 2011.
The royal couple is expected to spend more time in their country digs, a
10-room brick-faced mansion known as Anmer Hall on the queen's estate in
Sandringham, 120 miles (190 kilometers) north of London. Their apartment at
Kensington Palace in central London, where much of their staff is based, will
still remain their official home, officials said.
Anmer Hall is also better located for William's new role as a pilot for Bond
Air Services, a helicopter operator that works with the East Anglian Air
Ambulance service. He will work with doctors responding to emergencies ranging
from road accidents to heart attacks.
2015/4/29
PetroChina net profit drops 82% in Q1
PetroChina Co has blamed the
plunge in global oil prices after
reporting an 82 percent drop in net
profit to 6.15 billion yuan ($1 billion)
in the first quarter compared to
the same period last year.
The State-owned energy giant said on Monday the results were "better-than-expected" as it struggles against a background of falling crude prices across the world.
As global demand dips, PetroChina's average oil price fell 51.2 percent year-on-year to $48.87 a barrel for the first three months.
If prices continue to stay low, the country's biggest energy producer would suffer a significant drop in half-year profit compared to the same period last year.
"In the first quarter of 2015, the world economy recovered slowly and geopolitics continued to be turbulent," PetroChina said late on Monday in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it is listed.
A slowdown in China's economic growth has also hit the company, which is now reducing costs and increasing efficiency to compete with the slump in global oil demand.
Turnover at PetroChina dipped 22.4 percent year-on-year to 410.36 billion yuan in the first quarter, according to the statement.
"International crude oil prices have significantly declined since the second half of 2014 and fluctuated at a low level in the first quarter of 2015," PetroChina chairman Zhou Jiping said in the statement.
In the first quarter, the company produced 239.4 million barrels of crude, up 3.3 percent year-on-year, and 850.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas, an increase of 7.7 percent.
Other key figures showed that the exploration and production division of the company suffered a 67.2 percent net profit decline to 17.30 billion yuan for the first quarter.
The refining unit, which was seriously affected by the fall in domestic retail oil prices, posted a loss of 3.79 billion yuan during the first three months.
But PetroChina is not the only major energy company to suffer from falling crude prices. CNOOC Ltd, China's biggest offshore oil and gas developer, reported a 39.9 percent fall in revenue during the first quarter. On Friday, the company said revenue dropped to 35.54 billion yuan in the first three months compared to the same period last year.
Asia's largest refiner Sinopec Group last month issued a profit warning for the first quarter when the company announced a 29.7 percent profit decline in 2014 compared with the previous year.
The State-owned energy giant said on Monday the results were "better-than-expected" as it struggles against a background of falling crude prices across the world.
As global demand dips, PetroChina's average oil price fell 51.2 percent year-on-year to $48.87 a barrel for the first three months.
If prices continue to stay low, the country's biggest energy producer would suffer a significant drop in half-year profit compared to the same period last year.
"In the first quarter of 2015, the world economy recovered slowly and geopolitics continued to be turbulent," PetroChina said late on Monday in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it is listed.
A slowdown in China's economic growth has also hit the company, which is now reducing costs and increasing efficiency to compete with the slump in global oil demand.
Turnover at PetroChina dipped 22.4 percent year-on-year to 410.36 billion yuan in the first quarter, according to the statement.
"International crude oil prices have significantly declined since the second half of 2014 and fluctuated at a low level in the first quarter of 2015," PetroChina chairman Zhou Jiping said in the statement.
In the first quarter, the company produced 239.4 million barrels of crude, up 3.3 percent year-on-year, and 850.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas, an increase of 7.7 percent.
Other key figures showed that the exploration and production division of the company suffered a 67.2 percent net profit decline to 17.30 billion yuan for the first quarter.
The refining unit, which was seriously affected by the fall in domestic retail oil prices, posted a loss of 3.79 billion yuan during the first three months.
But PetroChina is not the only major energy company to suffer from falling crude prices. CNOOC Ltd, China's biggest offshore oil and gas developer, reported a 39.9 percent fall in revenue during the first quarter. On Friday, the company said revenue dropped to 35.54 billion yuan in the first three months compared to the same period last year.
Asia's largest refiner Sinopec Group last month issued a profit warning for the first quarter when the company announced a 29.7 percent profit decline in 2014 compared with the previous year.
Tencent launches OS for smartphones
TencentOS, as the system is called, will improve the experience on social networking apps and help users enjoy high-quality services from different smart devices, according to Ren Yuxin, Tencent's chief operating officer.
Ren declined to elaborate on the new system's core features at the 2015 Global Mobile Internet Conference, which opened in Beijing on Tuesday. He only said it will provide voice recognition and include payment systems.
"We will not get involved in manufacturing smart hardware. Rather, we only want to build an open platform by teaming up with different manufacturers on the basis of TencentOS," Ren said.
Ren later explained that the company will disclose the open interface and development standards of the new operating system so that more partners can benefit from its platform. It is already working alongside domestic technology company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.
Tencent also plans to increase its advantage in online gaming. The new system will be applied to virtual reality and could support playing games on televisions, it said.
Launching its own operating system is a key part of the Internet company's "going mobile" strategy as nearly 557 million Chinese have turned to mobile devices for information and entertainment.
The move also intensifies competition with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, which has an operating system called Yun OS. In February, Alibaba bought a minority stake in domestic smartphone maker Meizu Technology Co.
Sandy Shen, an analyst at IT research company Gartner Inc, said this is an "aggressive step" by Tencent to attract mobile users. But Shen said that the company faces tough competition.
"As a growing number of Chinese access the Internet through mobile devices, Chinese tech firms have rushed to develop their own operating systems with the aim of better promoting their online products," Shen said.
"But if an operating system wants to survive stiff competition, it must have strong links with well-established manufacturers. Otherwise, it can't carve out a slice of market share from industry leaders."
In 2014, Google Inc's Android and Apple Inc's iOS combined to account for 96.3 percent of all operating systems in Chinese smartphones, according to IDC, the United States-based market research company.
2015/4/28
Android UPDATE
"Android 5.1: Unwrapping a new Lollipop update", http://officialandroid.blogspot.com/2015/03/android-51-unwrapping-new-lollipop.html
"Android 5.1 Lollipop SDK", http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2015/03/android-51-lollipop-sdk.html
“Android 5.1 APIs”, https://developer.android.com/about/versions/android-5.1.html
Google upbeat about reentering China: Forbes
Google has planned to make a
renewed push in areas like payments,
commerce and enterprise apps this
year, and would welcome the
opportunity to reenter the Chinese
market.
That's from Sundar Pichai, who became the company's senior vice-president of products in October, in an exclusive interview with Forbes magazine recently, vowing to step up efforts to monetize the hundreds of millions of people who use Android phones around the globe.
Pichai said that Google will begin showing ads for apps alongside searches on the Google Play store amid growing investor concern that Google's core business is slowing down.
"Users are looking for information, we provide them with organic information, but at the same time we allow companies to use sponsored ads to reach users too. We think the same model works very well for Play," he was quoted as saying by the magazine.
The product csar said that they have seen a lot of interest from Chinese developers regarding Google Play, because of the extent to which Android is used.
While millions of people in China have bought Android phones, those phones are not equipped with Google's mobile services, like Gmail, Maps and the Play Store.Google exited China in 2010. Since then, Google services have been largely blocked in the country.
"If we can figure out a model by which we can serve those users, it would be a privilege to do so. So I don't think of China as a black hole. I see it as a huge opportunity in which we are playing as an enabling platform today and hopefully we have a chance to offer other services in the future," said Pichai.
According to the magazine, Pichai also said in the interview that Android, which has long been seen by developers as lagging far behind the iPhone in terms of monetization, is closing the gap with iOS.
Google paid $7 billion to developers whose apps were sold in the Play store in the past year, while Apple paid $10 billion to developers during 2014, the report said.
Pichai said he saw a lot of momentum in Google's trajectory, and felt upbeat that Google would be able to monetize effectively for developers. "It's not just applications; the content ecosystem is getting built up."
That's from Sundar Pichai, who became the company's senior vice-president of products in October, in an exclusive interview with Forbes magazine recently, vowing to step up efforts to monetize the hundreds of millions of people who use Android phones around the globe.
Pichai said that Google will begin showing ads for apps alongside searches on the Google Play store amid growing investor concern that Google's core business is slowing down.
"Users are looking for information, we provide them with organic information, but at the same time we allow companies to use sponsored ads to reach users too. We think the same model works very well for Play," he was quoted as saying by the magazine.
The product csar said that they have seen a lot of interest from Chinese developers regarding Google Play, because of the extent to which Android is used.
While millions of people in China have bought Android phones, those phones are not equipped with Google's mobile services, like Gmail, Maps and the Play Store.Google exited China in 2010. Since then, Google services have been largely blocked in the country.
"If we can figure out a model by which we can serve those users, it would be a privilege to do so. So I don't think of China as a black hole. I see it as a huge opportunity in which we are playing as an enabling platform today and hopefully we have a chance to offer other services in the future," said Pichai.
According to the magazine, Pichai also said in the interview that Android, which has long been seen by developers as lagging far behind the iPhone in terms of monetization, is closing the gap with iOS.
Google paid $7 billion to developers whose apps were sold in the Play store in the past year, while Apple paid $10 billion to developers during 2014, the report said.
Pichai said he saw a lot of momentum in Google's trajectory, and felt upbeat that Google would be able to monetize effectively for developers. "It's not just applications; the content ecosystem is getting built up."
EU accuses Google of hurting consumers, competitors
BRUSSELS - The European Union accused Google Inc on Wednesday of cheating
consumers and competitors by distorting Web search results to favor its own
shopping service, after a five-year investigation that could change the rules
for business online.
It also started another antitrust investigation into the Android mobile operating system, a key element in Google's strategy to maintain revenues from online advertizing as people switch from Web browser searches to smartphone apps.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the US company, which dominates Internet search engine markets worldwide, had been sent a Statement of Objections - effectively a charge sheet - to which it has 10 weeks to respond.
Investigations into Google's business practices in other areas would continue. The shopping case, on which the EU has had the most complaints dating back the longest time, could potentially set a precedent for concerns over Google's search products for hotels, flights and other services.
Vestager, a Dane who took over the politically charged case in November, announced the moves on the eve of a high-profile visit to the United States. Her findings follow nearly five years of investigation and abortive efforts by her Spanish predecessor, Joaquin Almunia, to strike deals with Google.
"I am concerned that the company has given an unfair advantage to its own comparison shopping service, in breach of EU antitrust rules," she said. Google could face fines, she warned, if the Commission proves its case that it has used its "near monopoly" in Europe to push Google Shopping ahead of rivals for the past seven years.
Google rejected the charges. Its shares closed up 0.40 percent on Wednesday after earlier losing 1 percent.
Meanwhile, Google's rivals are pushing US antitrust enforcers to investigate the use of Android, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
Analysts said the EU charges were unlikely to hurt Google's evaluation because it reflected the regulatory risk.
If recent history of EU probes into tech companies is an indicator, however, Google shares may have trouble moving forward until the issue is resolved.
In its first reaction, the Mountain View, California-based company said in a blog post that it strongly disagreed with the EU's statement of objections and would make the case that its products have fostered competition and benefited consumers.
"Android has been a key player in spurring this competition and choice, lowering prices and increasing choice for everyone (there are over 18,000 different devices available today)," it said of its free operating system for mobile devices.
It also started another antitrust investigation into the Android mobile operating system, a key element in Google's strategy to maintain revenues from online advertizing as people switch from Web browser searches to smartphone apps.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the US company, which dominates Internet search engine markets worldwide, had been sent a Statement of Objections - effectively a charge sheet - to which it has 10 weeks to respond.
Investigations into Google's business practices in other areas would continue. The shopping case, on which the EU has had the most complaints dating back the longest time, could potentially set a precedent for concerns over Google's search products for hotels, flights and other services.
Vestager, a Dane who took over the politically charged case in November, announced the moves on the eve of a high-profile visit to the United States. Her findings follow nearly five years of investigation and abortive efforts by her Spanish predecessor, Joaquin Almunia, to strike deals with Google.
"I am concerned that the company has given an unfair advantage to its own comparison shopping service, in breach of EU antitrust rules," she said. Google could face fines, she warned, if the Commission proves its case that it has used its "near monopoly" in Europe to push Google Shopping ahead of rivals for the past seven years.
Google rejected the charges. Its shares closed up 0.40 percent on Wednesday after earlier losing 1 percent.
Meanwhile, Google's rivals are pushing US antitrust enforcers to investigate the use of Android, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
Analysts said the EU charges were unlikely to hurt Google's evaluation because it reflected the regulatory risk.
If recent history of EU probes into tech companies is an indicator, however, Google shares may have trouble moving forward until the issue is resolved.
In its first reaction, the Mountain View, California-based company said in a blog post that it strongly disagreed with the EU's statement of objections and would make the case that its products have fostered competition and benefited consumers.
"Android has been a key player in spurring this competition and choice, lowering prices and increasing choice for everyone (there are over 18,000 different devices available today)," it said of its free operating system for mobile devices.
谷歌向尼泊尔地震捐款100万美元
两天前尼泊尔发生了里氏8.1级强烈地震，已经造成超过2200多人死亡1万多人受伤，当地建筑也受到大面积破坏。作为全球搜索巨头，谷歌今天宣布捐款100万美元此外还有员工匹配捐款25万美元，用于尼泊尔当地的灾后重建工作。除了现金支持之外，谷歌还积极为当地提供各项技术支持。
作为危机应对计划的一部分，谷歌再次部署了人员搜索工具，帮助亲人和好友来确认生活在受地震影响范围内的人是否依然处于安全状态。这项工具曾在2011年发生的福岛地震中部署使用，允许在该区域存活的人通过这种开放性的平台来发送各种信息。根据谷歌消息，目前在尼泊尔数据库中只有5100条记录，不过该数据库的容量正疯狂增长。
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