Tomorrow's Newspapers online 11-08-2013 | Sc

The shares opened at $45.10 a share, up from the initial public offering price of $26 set on Wednesday, then added to those gains, hitting a high of $50. They were up 73.7 percent to $45.15 at midday.

Sources said the flotation drew strong demand, with investors asking for 30 times the number of shares on offer as they bet on potential growth at the money-losing social media company.

The opening price valued the shares at about 22 times forecast 2014 sales, nearly double that multiple at social media rivals Facebook Inc and LinkedIn Corp.

The shares opened 75 percent above the $26 initial public offering price set on Wednesday, making it the biggest in a series of huge opening day "pops" for IPOs.

Including restricted share units and other securities that could be exercised in the coming months, the company's market value was over $28 billion.

Twitter executives including Chief Executive Dick Costolo and the company's three co-founders - Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Jack Dorsey - went to the floor of the NYSE to witness the IPO. The Big Board, which marked the occasion with an enormous banner with Twitter's bird logo along its Broad Street facade, snatched the offering away from Nasdaq after the normally tech-focused Nasdaq stumbled with the larger Facebook flotation last year.

POSTER BOY

"Facebook was so overhyped people felt like they couldn't miss out," said Kenneth Polcari, a senior floor official at O'Neil Securities Inc. "Twitter isn't like that, though you can feel the excitement."

British actor Patrick Stewart rang the opening bell at the exchange together with 9-year-old Vivienne Harr, who started a charity to end childhood slavery using the microblogging site.

"I guess I represent the poster boy for Twitter," Stewart said, adding that he had only been tweeting for about a year and wasn't buying Twitter stock today.

Twitter's building staff opened its offices in San Francisco extra early, at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday. By 7:30 a.m., hundreds of employees had flocked to their 9th floor cafeteria to watch Stewart ring the opening bell on TV while eating "cronuts," a croissant-donut hybrid, made by Twitter's resident chef, Lance Holton.

Like its predecessor, the new Silk Road listed hundreds of advertisements for marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and other illegal drugs available for purchase from independent sellers using the anonymous Bitcoin digital currency.

On October 1, the Federal Bureau of Investigation shut down the original Silk Road and arrested its alleged mastermind, Ross William Ulbricht, 29, known online as "Dread Pirate Roberts," in San Francisco.

"It took the FBI two-and-a-half years to do what they did ... but four weeks of temporary silence is all they got," a site administrator wrote, also using the "Dread Pirate Roberts" moniker.

The FBI declined to comment on the new version of the Silk Road. For more than two years, the original site acted like an eBay of vice, allowing users to buy and sell illegal goods and services on the assumption that they were safe from the law. Deliveries were made through the mail in discrete packages.

U.S. authorities also say Ulbricht had tried to call out a hit on a user who had threatened to expose the identities of thousands of Silk Road users.

Ulbricht's lawyer on Wednesday said his client would plead not guilty to drug trafficking, hacking and money laundering charges.

The charges against Ulbricht said his website generated sales of more than 9.5 million Bitcoins, roughly equivalent to $1.2 billion.

The new website improves on technology from the previous Silk Road meant to keep identities secret, including measures to keep users from losing their Bitcoins in case the site shuts down, according to the new Dread Pirate Roberts.

Senator Tom Carper, a top lawmaker on the Homeland Security committee, who plans to hold a hearing on digital currencies this month, said the new Silk Road site shows that government needs to adapt to fast-moving technology. "Rather than play 'whack-a-mole' with the latest website, currency, or other method criminals are using in an effort to evade the law, we need to develop thoughtful, nimble and sensible federal policies that protect the public without stifling innovation and economic growth," Carper said in a statement.

A week after authorities shut down the Silk Road, British police said they arrested four men accused of being significant users of the site.

The photo-themed social network took the measure after being asked to respond to an investigation by #BBCtrending - a new social media series.

The journalists had uncovered many pictures and videos of narcotics posted alongside text advertising their sale.

Instagram is owned by Facebook.

The firm has a policy of acting on posts reported as being inappropriate, but it believes it would be impractical and invasive to search for such material. "Instagram has a clear set of rules about what is and isn't allowed on the site," a spokeswoman told the BBC.

"We encourage people who come across illegal or inappropriate content to report it to us using the built-in reporting tools next to every photo, video or comment, so we can take action.

"People can't buy things on Instagram, we are simply a place where people share photos and videos."

Among Instagram's "report photo/video" choices is the option to identify suspected drug use.

The BBC understands Facebook's staff aim to review posts flagged to either of its social networks within 48 hours. They also have the option of blocking terms classed as "bad hashtags" - ones that promote banned activities - if they are mentioned in the press or in user reports.

The only content Facebook does actively search for is images of child abuse.

Hidden identities Most of the drugs-related activity appears to be taking place in the US.

"Just getting a few packs ready for tomorrow morning... Place your order today, it gets shipped out at 8AM tomorrow," read one post placed beneath an image of bags of marijuana.

Another picture showed a variety of pills, adding: "$2 a pop for xans, $10 a pop for roxys."

This refers to Xanax, a psychoactive anxiety treatment, and Roxicodone, an opiate used to treat pain.

Both require prescriptions in the US and the UK, but are sometimes bought on the black market.

Crystals of MDMA and other amphetamine-related substances were among other drugs advertised via photos and videos.

In an unprecedented evidence session before parliament that local media likened to a scene from a James Bond film, the heads of Britain's three main intelligence agencies said Snowden's disclosures about the mass surveillance they undertake had prompted them to consider being more open about what they do.

But they said parts of their work had to remain secret for national security reasons and that the data leaks, which detailed Britain's close cooperation with the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), had caused huge damage.

"The leaks from Snowden have been very damaging, they've put our operations at risk," John Sawers, the head of MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service, told parliament.

"It's clear that our adversaries are rubbing their hands with glee, al Qaeda is lapping it up."

The robust nature of his comments underlined how angry intelligence chiefs are about Snowden and what they believe is the irresponsible way some newspapers published his information despite warnings not to do so.

The leaks have put intelligence chiefs under pressure to be more open about what they do and have prompted a debate about the balance between security and privacy which has led to calls for greater oversight of the agencies' work.

Iain Lobban, the director of GCHQ, Britain's electronic eavesdropping agency, told lawmakers that intelligence chiefs were "actively considering" whether more information should now be shared with the public as a result.

Visibly emotional, he argued however that "certain methods" should remain secret and cited what he said were specific examples where the Snowden data leaks had harmed Britain's national security.

"We've seen terrorist groups in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and elsewhere in south Asia discussing the revelations in specific terms," he said.

"We have actually seen chat around specific terrorist groups who, even close to home, discuss how to avoid what they now perceive to be vulnerable communications methods, or how to select communications which they now perceive not to be exploitable."

With sustained winds of 305 kph (190 mph) and gusts as strong as 370 kph (230 mph), Super Typhoon Haiyan was churning across the Western Pacific toward the central Philippines as one of the most intense tropical cyclones ever recorded.

Its wind strength makes it equivalent to an exceptionally strong Category 5 hurricane. The storm, known as Yolanda in the Philippines, is expected to still be a super typhoon, with winds in excess of 240 kph (149 mph), when it makes landfall Friday morning in the region of Eastern Visayas.

The storm is so large in diameter that clouds from it are affecting two-thirds of the country.

Authorities in the region had moved more than 3,800 people to evacuation centers by late Thursday, Maj. Reynaldo Balido of the Philippine Office of Civil Defense said. Most of those relocated live in Tacloban City, which sits on the coast of the island of Leyte and has a population of more than 200,000.

In a speech Thursday, President Benigno S. Aquino III warned residents of the "calamity our countrymen will face in these coming days." "Let me repeat myself: This is a very real danger, and we can mitigate and lessen its effects if we use the information available to prepare," he said.

The government has three C-130 cargo aircraft ready to respond, as well as 32 planes and helicopters from the air force, the president said. Officials have placed relief supplies in the areas that are expected to get hit, Aquino said.

"The effects of this storm can be eased through solidarity," he said. Earthquake survivors vulnerable As it moves across heavily populated areas of the central Philippines, Haiyan's high winds and torrential rain are expected to affect millions of people. The storm system had a diameter of about 800 kilometers (500 miles) as of early Thursday afternoon.

The Philippine weather agency, Pagasa, warned more than 30 provinces across the country Thursday to be prepared for possible flash floods and landslides. Schools in many areas canceled classes, emergency services were put on high alert, and airlines canceled flights.

Other asteroids appear as tiny points of light to astronomers, who are puzzled by the outbursts of dust.

Asteroid P/2013 P5 has been ejecting dust periodically for at least five months and may be in the process of breaking up.

They have outlined details in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.

"We were literally dumbfounded when we saw it," said Prof Dave Jewitt, from the University of California at Los Angeles.

"Even more amazing, its tail structures change dramatically in just 13 days as it belches out dust. That also caught us by surprise. It's hard to believe we're looking at an asteroid."

Astronomers say it is possible the asteroid's rotation rate increased to the point where its surface started flying apart.

Radiation pressure from the Sun could have sent the space rock spinning, to a point where the asteroid's weak gravity could no longer hold it together.

Astronomers will continue observing P/2013 P5 to see whether the dust leaves the asteroid in the equatorial plane. Because of the physics involved in the spin rate theory, say the astronomers, this would provide strong evidence for a rotational breakup.

They do not believe the tails are the result of an impact with another asteroid because they have not seen a large quantity of dust blasted into space all at once.

Astronomers discovered the object in August, using the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii. At the time, P/2013 P5 looked unusually fuzzy.

The move took financial markets by surprise - the euro fell sharply in response while European shares rose.

Underlining its support for the euro zone economy, the ECB also said it would prime banks with as much liquidity as required until mid-2015.

The 23-man Governing Council had faced intense pressure to act after a shock slump in euro zone inflation to 0.7 percent in October, far below the ECB target of just under 2 percent.

The ECB cut its main refinancing rate by 25 basis point to 0.25 percent. It held the deposit rate it pays on bank deposits at zero and cut its emergency borrowing rate to 0.75 percent from 1.00 percent.

Draghi stressed the ECB still had room to act if needed.

"We have a whole range of instruments to activate before reaching the lower bound ... in principle we could even cut further the interest rate," he told a news conference.

"We may experience a prolonged period of low inflation to be followed by gradual upward movements towards an inflation rate of below but close to 2 percent later on."

The International Monetary Fund and governments from across the euro zone welcomed the move.

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said the cut showed "the ECB cares about growth and competitiveness in Europe" and that it would allow a "rebalancing" of the euro-dollar rate. The finance ministers of France and Ireland echoed that sentiment.

Euro policymakers have played down the threat of Japan-style deflation, which led to a "lost decade" there, but appear to be taking no chances.

Draghi said there was general agreement on the need to act but there were differences over when to act.

A "considerable majority" on the Governing Council saw sufficient evidence for a broad-based and protracted period of low inflation, while other members had wanted to wait a month to assess incoming data.

All but one of the 23 money market traders polled by Reuters this week expected the ECB to remain on hold at Thursday's meeting, pending a clearer view about where euro zone inflation is heading.

Draghi stressed that the ECB still had an "easing bias" to its policy stance. By contrast, many economists expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to begin withdrawing stimulus next year.

A dispute over an upstate New York town's prayer before council meetings produced an unusually testy oral-argument session on Wednesday that recalled the decades of difficulty Supreme Court justices have had drawing the line between church and state.

Court decisions involving freedom of religion tend to be closely decided with many separate opinions rather than clear-cut majority statements. The case of Town of Greece v. Galloway appears to be headed that way.

In the case brought by two Greece residents who objected to the overwhelmingly Christian prayers at meetings, the justices appeared likely to allow legislative prayer to continue but not ready to offer new guidance for when government might have gone too far in favoring, for example, Christianity over other faiths. The more liberal of the nine justices appeared sympathetic to the challenge while the conservatives who control the court's majority seemed ready to back the town - but not with a single obvious rationale.

At one point during the hour-long session, Justice Stephen Breyer referred to the challenge of setting constitutional rules so people of different religions live "harmoniously together." Not soon after, Justice Elena Kagan asserted that, "Every time the court gets involved in things like this, it seems to make the problem worse rather than better."

Overall, the justices' remarks were more pessimistic than positive regarding a possible consensus. They voiced frustration with the lawyers who appeared before them and with each other as well.

When Breyer asked the town's lawyer if officials could take more steps to invite non-Christians and even people who are not religious to offer the equivalent of a prayer, Justice Antonin Scalia mockingly asked what sort of invocation "somebody who is not religious" could offer. As lawyer Thomas Hungar, representing the town of Greece, began to suggest a chant "of guidance and wisdom," Breyer interjected with some annoyance toward Scalia, "Perhaps he's asking me that question and I can answer it later."

ENDURING DILEMMAS

The world's largest software maker also has at least three internal candidates on its shortlist, including former Skype CEO Tony Bates, who is now responsible for Microsoft's business development, and Satya Nadella, the company's cloud and enterprise chief, the sources said.

Despite the narrower list - the company started with about 40 names - the process could take a few more months, the sources said. In August, Ballmer said he would retire within 12 months.

The names of other candidates could not be learned, but the search committee is interviewing executives from a wide range of sectors, including life sciences and consumer, the sources said.

Microsoft declined to comment on the process and on behalf of the internal candidates. A Nokia representatives could not be reached immediately for comment late on Tuesday.

Ford spokesman Jay Cooney said: "There is no change from what we announced last November. Alan remains fully focused on continuing to make progress on our One Ford plan. We do not engage in speculation."

Investors have pushed Microsoft's board in recent months to look for a turnaround expert, such as Mulally or Computer Sciences Corp CEO Mike Lawrie, to succeed Ballmer. Some investors have also suggested to the board that co-founder Bill Gates should step down from his role as chairman, saying he stands in the way of radical reform at Microsoft.

Microsoft remains highly profitable and last month beat Wall Street's quarterly profit and revenue forecasts. But it has lost ground to Apple Inc and Google Inc in mobile computing.

Ballmer has focused on making devices, such as the Surface tablet and Xbox gaming console, and turning key software into services provided over the Internet.

Some investors say that a new chief should not be bound by that strategy. They are concerned that, with both Gates and Ballmer up for re-election to Microsoft's board, they will retain their influence over the company.

Gates has focused his day-to-day efforts on philanthropy since 2008 when he vacated his office on campus. People close to him say he is not considering a return to the CEO position.

Shares rose 2.7 percent to $70 in premarket trading.

Revenue at its cable unit, which includes Turner Broadcasting channels such as CNN as well as premium movie service HBO, increased 5 percent to $3.5 billion. Advertising was up 11 percent to $96 million.

Revenues fell 7 percent to $2.7 billion at its Film and TV Entertainment unit that includes Warner Brothers. It blamed the decline partly on a tough comparison to a year ago, when it benefited from the strong box office for the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises."

Its Time Inc publishing unit, which it plans to spin off next year, suffered a 2 percent fall in revenue.

Net income for Time Warner was $1.18 billion, or $1.26 cents per share, for the quarter ended September 30, up from $822 million, or 84 cents a share, a year ago.

Christie's broad, cross-party appeal sealed his status as a top contender if he decides to run for the White House in 2016, and the blunt governor addressed Americans' frustration with partisan stalemate in his victory speech.

"A dispirited America, angry with their dysfunctional government in Washington, looks to New Jersey to say, 'Is what I think is happening really happening? Are people really coming together?'" Christie told supporters. "Let me give the answer to everyone who is watching tonight. Under this government, our first job is to get the job done, and as long as I'm governor, that job will always, always be finished."

The results came less than three weeks after the 16-day partial government shutdown, a maneuver pushed by conservative Republicans seeking to delay or defund Democratic President Barack Obama's signature healthcare reform law, known as Obamacare.

Christie for Governor Chairman William Palatucci hinted at possible national aspirations for his candidate. "The Governor's convincing win also sounds a note for our entire country - who you elect and how they govern matters," he said.

In Virginian, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe was elected governor, largely with the support of the heavily populated Washington suburbs that were hard hit by the government shutdown.

McAuliffe's campaign had held up rival Ken Cuccinelli, the state's attorney general, as a symbol of the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, seen by many voters as responsible for the shutdown, which economists said took a $24 billion bite out of the U.S. economy.

Cuccinelli's loss could be seen as a setback for the Tea Party movement, which swept a wave of right-wing lawmakers into Congress in 2010 and has been seeking to extend its legislative influence in next year's congressional elections.

But Cuccinelli, a social conservative, carried the state's more rural southern and western districts, and his bid was undercut by a Libertarian candidate who won nearly 7 percent of the vote - much more than McAuliffe's margin of victory, according to results with most votes counted.

Cuccinelli surged late in the campaign, seeking to tie McAuliffe to Obamacare, which has been plagued with technical difficulties since its October 1 launch.

The casting sessions for Star Wars: Episode VII will start later this week at locations around the UK and Ireland, including London, Dublin and Glasgow.

According to a casting notice the film-makers are looking to fill two roles.

They are a "street smart and strong" orphaned girl in her late teens and a "smart capable" man in his late teens or early 20s.

The open auditions for a "major Hollywood Movie" were first published on the twitter account @UKopencall, which announced a "nationwide search for lead roles for a Disney movie".

Disney bought Lucasfilm, the production company behind the Star Wars series, in October 2012. Leaked descriptions

Lucasfilm declined to comment to the BBC but it is likely the characters have been given non sci-fi names and descriptions in the announcement in an effort to disguise the auditions are for Star Wars: Episode VII. The broad nature of the characters is almost the same as in descriptions leaked online earlier in the year when the overall casting process began.

While it is unprecedented for lead parts in a franchise of this size to hold open auditions in this way, Star Wars has in the past given major roles to little known actors and actresses through the traditional casting process, dating back to the original trilogy when the then unknown Mark Hamill won the role of Luke Skywalker.

Other movies have successfully cast secondary actors and actresses through open auditions in the past most notably some of the later Harry Potter films.

And actress Dakota Blue Richards won the lead role of Lyra in The Golden Compass, the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's Northern Lights, through open casting.

Director JJ Abrams, who is also co-scripting the movie, will not be attending the open auditions which begin in Bristol on 9 November. Instead those at the auditions, who must be over the age of 16 for the female role, and over 18 for the male role, will briefly meet members of the casting team of the film.