Tech Titan Trauma

This week saw technology titans release their quarterly reports with a few shockers, both good and bad, announced.

The Good

Apple was the shinning light of the weeks earnings reports with a 46% increase in iPhone sales with sales so popular they tied with Samsung selling an estimated 74.5 million phones. Apple's reports were so astronomical they even reached some historic figures. For it's closet mobile competitor it was a mixed bag with Samsung managing to beat gloomy forecasts but with income still falling 36% due to sluggish phone sales.

Amazon wasn't to be outdone posting strong Holiday sales showing a surge of 15% year-on-year and it even managed to post a profit after recent very big, and very public, failures. Facebook saw it's share price rise after better than expected fourth-quarter earnings thanks to advertising while Yahoo saw it's shares rise after it decided to spin off it's shares in Alibaba in a tax free transaction.

The Bad

It wasn't all good news with Microsoft dropping 4% after it released some dreadful numbers thanks to a drop in people upgrading to Windows 10 from Windows XP but also due to upgrades from Windows 7 & 8 to 10 being free. Google didn't fare any better when fourth-quarter sales and profit missed Wall Street estimates due to advertising on mobile taking a knock. The darling of Wall Street, Alibaba, saw it's shares tumble 9% after weaker than expected sales growth was revealed.

The Ugly

Lastly nobody took a bigger knock than IBM who began axing over 100,000 jobs, laying off over 26% of it's global workforce, saying it would begin reorganizing the company with what it termed "Project Chrome".

Leaders Take to the Stage

This week saw world leaders take center stage from addressing nations to bidding farewell.

US President Barack Obama addressed the American people in his State of the Union address where he outlined plans to address taxation and climate change. At one point President Obama had an encounter with a cheeky Republican response to one of his statements but quickly cut them down to size with a witty retort while on the other side of the world Pope Francis ended his 5 day tour of the Philippines after huge crowds had gathered to hear him speak in Manila.
 
On the monetary front leaders met in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum with plenty on the agenda to discuss. Ukrainian leaders requested funding from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to turn around the war-torn economy while Russian President Putin was under strain when it was revealed that lending to Russian banks had dropped by over £7 billion.

The week ended with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia passing away at the age of 90 and his brother taking over his role resulting in the price of oil futures jumping 3pc while in Argentina President Cristina Kirchner found herself under the spot light after the death of the lead prosecutor investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre which resulted in protests demanding an investigation. Previously President Kirchner has suggested it was suicide but has since backtracked on the statement.

Awards Season Begins

The week saw the start of award season in Hollywood with the Golden Globes kicking things off followed by the Critics Choice Awards and nominations in the hotly contested Oscars race.

Golden Globes

All the action kicked off on the Red Carpet with celebrities creating a sea of designer labels with well sculpted heads bobbing on the surface. Inside saw Tina Fey and Amy Poehler host the event where hilarity ensued leaving no celebrity safe from the cunning duo. Current events were targeted with North Korea and Sony receiving mention but it was Bill Cosby who became the ultimate punchline. Along with the humour and jest there were somber moments with many recognizing the tragic events in Paris.

When it came time for awards the men were unusually emotional from George Clooney receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Michael Keaton who took home Best Actor in a Comedy and Eddie Redmayne taking Best Actor in a Drama. The ladies on ther other hand were pillars of strength with Amy Adams winning for Best Actress in a Comedy and Maggie Gyllenhaal taking Best Actress in a TV series while Patricia Arquette took Best Actress in a Drama. The Globe for Best Original Song went to John Legend and Common while the overall Best Picture - Drama was won by Boyhood.

Critics Choice

The critics Choice Awards were also held this week with Boyhood and Birdman taking top honors along with Michael Keaton and Julian Moore.

The Nominees

With the mood set the Oscars were next on the agenda with the naming of the nominee's revealing Birdman and Grand Budapest Hotel taking poll position with 9 nods each. While the full list of nominee's contains many stellar performances there were a few missing with neither Angelina Jolie nor Jennifer Aniston grabbing a nod.

Need to Know - #‎JeSuisCharlie‬ (I am Charlie)

A shocking act of violence rocked the beginning of 2015 when 12 people were executed by terrorists at the headquarters of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Attack

2 gunmen entered the offices of Charlie Hebdo where they confronted a women and her young daughter forcing her to provide the security code to access the magazines office. The gunmen called out the victims by name searching for their targets. Entering the morning meeting the gunmen executed the magazines editor, police bodyguard followed by several cartoonists.

Leaving the building the gunmen were confronted by police who opened fire but were outgunned by the heavily armored terrorists. A wounded officer lying on the ground was approached by the 2 gunmen and executed with a gunshot to the head before leaving. The speed and proficiency of the attack are thought to be due to training by Al Qaeda.

Response

Sympathy rolled in from all corners with the people of Paris standing together with signs of "Je Suis Charlie" (I am Charlie) along with support from the international community with other journalists and cartoonists posting their work as a show of support.

French police released the identities of the 2 gunmen and began the manhunt while 1 of the suspects handed himself in. The getaway car used by the gunmen was later found abandoned and another vehicle stolen while the Police conduct terror raids in search of the terrorists.

Since the attack survivors at the magazine insist they will continue with a million copy edition.

What Happened? 2014 Style News

Even with the world facing challenges in 2014 there was still time for beauty to lift the spirit.

Events

The world renowned Fall/Winter Fashion Weeks rolled into New York with everyone from Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren to Michael Kors and Calvin Klein. London Fashion Week had Tom Ford and Pam Hogg showing how it's done while Paris wasn't going to be outdone with Givenchy and more.

Later in the year New York kicked off the Spring/Summer Fashion Week with Rebecca Minkoff and Diane von Furstenburg to Derek Lam and Hugo Boss. London Fashion Week saw Mulberry, Topshop Unique and Marchesa show their wares while Paris took to the stage with Jean Paul Gaultier and Celine among others.

Elsewhere it was the sight of gorgeous amazonian beauties strutting the catwalk at the 2014 Victoria's Secret show that had heads turning in London for the first time. Still in Britain the British Fashion Awards celebrated British Beauties from designers to models.

Designers

Renowned designers dominated the fashion news with Jean Paul Gaultier ending his ready-to-rear line in a blaze of glory and John Galliano returning to the fashion world joining Maison Martin Margiela after his shameful exit in 2011 from Dior.

While some designers redefined their career's others left the fashion world with their legacy. The fashion world lost an icon when Oscar de la Renta passed away in October and in a tragic turn of events L'Wren Scott committed suicide in March.

Celebrities

What would the fashion world be without the rich and more importantly famous dressed to kill on the red carpet from the American Music Awards to the Emmys and the Billboard awards.

While some celebrities made news for their choice of attire others joined brands lending their considerable presence with Jennifer Lawrence with Dior to Julie Roberts and Givenchy campaigns even Maddona appeared in a Versace campaign.

What Happened? 2014 Technology News

2014 saw advances in space exploration while closer to home security online and safety in the real world came under threat.

World Wide Web

With more personal information out in the world it was the security threats that garnered the most attention with the Heartbleed attack showing major vulnerabilities in one of the internet's most critical systems, SSL. The never ending saga between the NSA and Edward Snowden continued with more releases showing the problems the NSA faced with certain security measures and scrutiny of Silk Road resulted in the cracking of Silk Road 2.0 due to vulnerabilities in the TOR network.

With safety a concern the next hurdle was net neutrality and it's impact on users with the FCC being inundated with complaints crashing their site at one point, even President Obama stepped into the debate giving his support for net neutrality. In Europe the Right to be forgotten act was introduced resulting in over 12,000 requesting information be removed from Google in the first day alone. Facebook managed to annoy it's 1 billion users when it was revealed it had manipulated the news feeds of over half a million users while some websites faced censoring with India blocking access to many and China blocking access to Gmail. Finally both the PlayStation and Xbox networks suffered outages due to attacks.

Scientists

Out in space scientists were set back when tragedy struck a Virgin Galactic test flight claiming the life of one pilot. Pushing forward the crew on-board ISS received the first ever zero-gravity 3D printer and used it later in the year to print a wrench which NASA had emailed. NASA's Orion rocket managed a successful test flight along with a successful recovery from the Pacific Ocean.

Further out in space the European Space Agency's Rosseta spacecraft managed to successfully land a robot craft, Philae, on a moving asteroid. NASA's Mars Opportunity rover suffered memory issues after more than a decade on Mars but it's younger sibling, Curiosity, managed to discover organic matter on the red planet.

The annual Nobel Prizes were handed out for excellence in the field of Physics for blue light emitting diodes, in Chemistry for capturing nano scale images and in Medicine for discovering the brains inner GPS. In other areas we weren't so lucky with the Ebola outbreak recorded as the largest to date with over 7000 people dying and the flu was declared an epidemic by the CDC after 15 deaths.

What Happened? 2014 Entertainment News

2014 was the year we celebrated achievements in the arts but also saw a darker side with threats and hacking into celebrities private lives.

Events

The movie world delivered the goods ready for when award season swung round with the Golden Globes hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler while Ellen took to the stage again to host the The Oscars and set the record for the most re-tweeted selfie. The Cannes film festival had it's moments including some on the red carpet and the best of British was celebrated at the BAFTA's.

In the world of music MTV brought outrageous celebrity moments with the MTV Movie Award's and the MTV VMA's while the Emmys and Billboard Music Award's celebrated musical skill and talent.

Actors

Celebrities stood up for a cause this year including Emma Watson and her UN speech along with celebrities who supported the protests in Ferguson while the ALS ice bucket challenge saw celebrities getting wet for a good cause.

The world said good bye to many entertainers this year but it was the tragic loss of beloved icons that brought things back to reality with Robin Williams shocking the world when he took his own life and Philip Seymour Hoffman who died of an overdose. While some made news for their stellar work and activism others made news for all the wrong reasons with Bill Cosby being accused of rape by multiple women and Woody Allen being accused of child molestation by his daughter, Dylan.

Under Attack

Hollywood came to a screeching halt after numerous celebrities had their iCloud devices hacked and the private intimate photo's released onto the web. The hack affected many big names including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Rhianna with Jennifer breaking her silence calling the attack a "sex crime".

Sony Entertainment was brought to it's knees when it was hacked and sensitive information was leaked to the media revealing the dirty side of business in Hollywood. The attack was believed to have been carried out by North Korea who were infuriated by "The Interview" which depicted the assignation of it's leader Kim Jong-un. After threats were made the movie was pulled from release but later reinstated after an uproar from the public for giving in to terrorist threats.

What Happened? 2014 Sports News

Sporting legends made their presence felt in 2014 but it was the behaviour off the field that garnered most of the attention.

Events

It was the FIFA World Cup 2014 that gained the most attention kicking off the year with some truly shocking events including protests after Brazil's dismal performance and subsequent defeat with Germany taking the title. The Winter Olympics took place in Sochi Russia and went relatively smoothly even if there were issues with accommodation.

The Laureus sports awards recognized the skills and technique needed to succeed in the world of sport while the big annual events saw the best of the best at Wimbledon where Novak Djokovic took the title along with Martin Kaymer who won the US Open. On the team front the Super Bowl was won by the Seattle Seahawks while the World Series went to the San Francisco Giants.

Individuals

Sporting legends made the news like former F1 champion Michael Schumaker who made progress and was brought out of his coma. Derek Jeter played his final game at Fenway Park in an emotional event which saw everyone from celebrities to athletes tip their hat in respect. Soccer legend Pele was hospitalized following surgery for kidney stones but was later released and Michael Sam became the first openly gay player to join the NFL.

It wasn't all good news when Australian Phillip Hughes passed away 2 days after sustaining a head injury during a cricket match. The NFL had a major image problem with domestic abuse claims and child abuse taking center stage and things got down right ugly at the FIFA soccer world cup which saw unsportsmanlike behaviour when Brazil's Neymar was kneed in the back and when Uruguayan player Luiz Suarez was banned after biting another player. Finally, off the court we saw the Oscar Pistorius trial which had people glued to the TV and the court room drama when Donald Sterling lost the Clippers in a disputed sale but walked away with $2billion despite his actions.

What Happened? 2014 Business News

Business experienced the usual ups and downs in 2014 but it was the actions of high powered individuals that impacted entire nations.

Politics

Russia suffered severe economic sanctions for it's involvement in Crimea but it was the falling oil price, due to OPEC's decision not to cut production, that was the final blow making the most impact on Russia's oil driven economy along with the Rouple. The US government had a busy year with Ben Bernanke being grilled about the decisions leading to the AIG bailout and politics narrowly avoided another shutdown when a $1.1 trillion bill was signed at the last minute. Protests in Hong Kong's business district nearly crippled the region and ended up costing retailers millions while in South America Argentina defaulted on it's loans for a second time ignoring a US courts ruling.

In the world of taxes Frances ridiculous 75% tax on millionaires was dropped while in the States over 30,000 IRS emails previously thought lost were found regarding the accusation that the IRS was targeting individuals based on their political views. Parts of Europe implemented what was termed the Google tax in an attempt to squeeze more from foreign companies operating in Europe and finally it seems European nations really had it out for Google trying to have the internet behemoth split.

Companies

Some companies probably wished for a quicker end to the year with not one but two high profile incidents, MH370 and MH17, Malasian airlines stock took a massive knock and had to be suspended at one stage. GM was on Capital Hill due to the large number of recalls due to safety issues with their vehicles. The hacking of Sony Entertainment's network caused havoc with confidential documents being released in droves bringing speculation of possible sales of assets while a previously targeted company, Target, faced a lawsuit over last years holiday hacks that saw 110 million customer details stolen. Not everyone managed to escape their fate with more former Madoff aides heading to prison and Uber was in the spotlight after an exec wanted to snoop on a journalist to discredit her work.

It wasn't all doom and gloom with the technology world seeing Alibaba make it's grand listing with the largest tech IPO ever. Apple had an interesting year with successful new products like the iPhone 6 and it's new smart watch which isn't available just yet but it also ran into issues with an Apple employee class action lawsuit and was the unwilling participant in many "die-ins" staged in protest of police brutality. Burger King successfully acquired Canada's Tim Hortons in a move to cut it's tax exposure and minimum wages made the spotlight with Walmart claiming to do away with it.

Banks

Years after they sent the world economy into a tailspin the European Central Banks conducted a health test and found everything to be fine. However things weren't over with banks still facing billion dollar fines from the US and UK for their involvement in the Libor scandal.

JPMorgan faced a class action lawsuit over $10 billion of mortgage-backed securities and finally Barclays faced a suit by the SEC over "dark pools".

What Happened? 2014 Headline News

2014 wasn't an easy year for the world at large with tragedies and human suffering defining a difficult time for many. While governments struggled with conflict and people fought for their rights, nature reminded everyone who was in charge.

Tragedies

Tragedy struck with Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappearing on a route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with not a trace to be found of the 239 on-board. Things got worse when Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over the Ukraine by pro-Russian rebels killing all 298 on-board. But it wasn't over when another aviation tragedy struck on the tail end of 2014 when communication was lost with Asia Airs Flight QZ8501 echoing the loss of MH370 with 162 on-board until search parties discovered parts of the wreckage and bodies of the crew and passengers.

South Korea suffered a national disaster when a Ferry carrying 450 people, mostly school children, capsized. Towards the end of the year another Ferry disaster struck in the Adriatic Sea when the ferry caught on fire killing 11 on-board. The year ended with 35 people killed in a New Years celebration's stampede.

Protests

The year saw people protesting across the world starting with the unfortunate killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri which sparked protests around police brutality. Things only got worse when a second man, Eric Garner, was killed in New York by a police officer using a choke hold. However the protests against police brutality were stymied after 2 police officers were executed in New York by a lone gunman and tension grew as more police became targets.

It wasn't only the US that saw people protesting as Hong Kong came to a grinding halt after protestors took over the main business district. With corruption and gang violence prevalent Mexico experienced protests after 43 students went missing and were believed to have been killed by gangs with government assistance. Protests were triggered in the Ukraine by politics resulting in the President being thrown out, but it didn't end there with things only getting worse.

Politics

After protests in the Ukraine erupted Russia invaded Crimeia outraging the international community and beginning the process of sanctions on Russia for it's actions. While some conflicts resulted in financial pain others were outright bloody with old enemies fighting in Gaza to a new foo the world learnt to fear with ISIS who resorted to beheading journalists as threats against the west.

North Korea flexed it's muscle with it's old adversary South Korea and challenged Sony when a movie about it's leader resulted in hackers believed to be from North Korea breaking into Sony's network and threatening terrorist style attacks if the movie was released. Even with blood in the streets it was what happened behind the scenes that brought about outrage when the CIA torture report was released detailing it's torture methods. Boko Harem in Nigeria resorted to kidnapping 273 school girls and selling them off into slavery triggering the campaign for #BringBackOurGirls.

Individuals

Some individuals shone bright making their names with the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Malala Yousafzai making her the youngest ever recipient while the entertainment world lost great entertainers with Robin Williams death shocking everyone.

The news wasn't great for everyone with Rob Ford caught in another video smoking crack less than a year after the first video emerged and the Oscar Pistorius trial which gripped the world. US President Obama had a tough year when the Democrats lost control after many cut ties to Obama and top officials like Eric Holder resigned.

Nature

For a year where man did his best to destroy nature wasn't going to be outdone with Earthquakes ravaging areas and Wild fires tearing through Northern California destroying everything in its path as it passed through, Hawaii had to call in the National Guard after a volcano directed a slow moving mass of lava into populated areas.

Over 900,000 people had to be evacuated after Typhoon Hagupit slammed into the Philippines all the while a deadly disease threatened to take down everyone in the form of Ebola which spread through West Africa claiming nearly 7000 lives.