Engineers create a temporary tattoo that tests blood sugar

A painful prick of the fingertip reveals a mountain of medical information for many diabetes patients.

But health professionals have long struggled to find a reliable and painless way to gather blood sugar measurements. Just last year, Google announced that it was developing contact lenses that measure glucose levels in its user's tears. But now, nanoengineers may have found an even easier way for diabetes patients to monitor their vital levels: temporary tattoos. 

Amay Bandodkar, a researcher at the University of California, San Diego, has created a flexible sensor that uses a mild electrical current to measure glucose levels in a person's body. Measuring blood sugar levels multiple times a day is vital for diabetes patients because it shows how well their body is managing their disease as well as the dose of insulin they require, if they need any at all.

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Banijay Group Takes Controlling Stake in Stephen David Entertainment

In its latest move to expand into the U.S., French media company Banijay Group has taken a controlling stake in New York-based production company Stephen David Entertainment. 

Financial details weren't disclosed. The companies also didn't specify the size of Banijay's stake. 

Stephen David Entertainment (SDE) is the scripted and unscripted documentary producer behind Emmy-winner The Men Who Built America and the upcoming Sons of Liberty, which will premiere on The History Channel on Jan. 25. 

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Divers retrieve flight data recorder from AirAsia 8501

Search teams believe they have found the missing black boxes of AirAsia Flight 8501. Divers are expected to recover them on Monday. Officials are hopeful the boxes will provide answers as to why the plane crashed into the Java Sea in December. 

Divers have retrieved one of the black boxes from the AirAsia flight that crashed more than two weeks ago into the Java Sea and continue to search for the second, an Indonesia official says. 

Henry Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, told reporters the flight data recorder was brought to the surface by four divers early Monday morning. 

The search was continuing for the cockpit voice recorder. 

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U.S. hits North Korea with huge new sanctions in response to Sony hack

The United States just struck back against North Korea for its alleged role in the hack of Sony Pictures. In official statement released on Friday, U.S. president Barack Obama said he was signing an executive order authorizing stiff sanctions against North Korea for its “ongoing provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions and policies, particularly its destructive and coercive cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.” 

Bloomberg reports that the order targets 10 individuals in North Korea along with three state agencies and effectively authorizes the Treasury Department to “block the individuals and agencies from accessing the U.S. financial system and banning U.S. citizens from engaging in business with them.” 

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HarperCollins Apologizes for Omitting Israel From Middle East Atlas

News Corp's New York headquarters 


HarperCollins has apologized and said it removed from sale an atlas developed for schools in the Middle East that omitted Israel. In the below statement on its Facebook page, posted on Wednesday, the News Corp-owned publishing giant said it was sorry for leaving Israel out of the atlas and said it was pulling the book. 

HarperCollins regrets the omission of the name Israel from their Collins Middle East Atlas. This product has now been removed from sale in all territories and all remaining stock will be pulped. HarperCollins sincerely apologises for this omission and for any offence caused. 

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Box Office Winners and Losers of 2014

It was a tumultuous year for the box office. Revenue looks to have come in at $10.35 billion, down more than 5 percent from 2013's record $10.9 billion. Worse, attendance hit a two-decade low, with roughly 1.27 billion going to the movies, compared to 1.34 billion in 2013. A dismal summer was the biggest culprit (revenues tumbled 15 percent for the season). 

Still, there were plenty of happy endings, thanks to a strong international marketplace, especially with China's growing influence helping to boost some films, like Transformers: Age of Extinction which took in $1.08 billion worldwide for the top spot for the year. And there were unexpected surprises in the U.S. and abroad like Gone Girl and Guardians of the Galaxy. Here, The Hollywood Reporter looks at 2014's biggest winners and losers at the box office: 

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2014 protests: From Ferguson to Hong Kong, impact unclear

Although it might have seemed 2014 was a banner year for protests, it really wasn't. And there were many reminders of the limits – and frequently, the failures – of earlier political mass movements. 

True, people in the USA marched to protest grand juries' failure to indict white policemen in the deaths of unarmed black men, in Hong Kong to demand democratic elections, in Ukraine to oust an unpopular regime. 

Huge crowds gathered in Mexico to demand investigation into the disappearance of 43 student activists, and in Hungary to oppose an Internet tax. There also were big demonstrations in Venezuela, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Thailand and Burkina Faso. 

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On Christmas, Obama marks end of Afghan combat

President Barack Obama marked the end of more than a decade of combat in Afghanistan by paying tribute to America's military, telling troops on Christmas Day that their sacrifices have allowed for a more peaceful, prosperous world to emerge out of the ashes of 9/11. 

At an oceanfront Marine Corps base in Hawaii, Obama told troops that while tough challenges remain for the U.S. military in hotspots like Iraq and West Africa, the world as a whole is better off because American troops put country first and served with distinction. He said Americans and their president could not be more thankful. 

"Because of the extraordinary service of the men and women in the American armed forces, Afghanistan has a chance to rebuild its own country," Obama said to applause from Marines and their families. "We are safer. It's not going to be a source of terrorist attacks again." 

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Christmas in Cuba

Gloria Gomez remembers the day she lost out on a job because she showed up to the interview with a cross hanging from her necklace.

It was 1970, at the peak of Cuban leader Fidel Castro's crackdown on Catholic Church institutions around the island. Gomez said she not only lost the secretary job, but also friends who either renounced their religion to appease the communist government or didn't want to be associated with her being so outspoken about religion. 

Gomez, 72, never backed down. She kept going to church. She brought out a Nativity scene and a small, plastic Christmas tree in her home each December. She watched as Castro's government slowly allowed Catholics to practice their religion more freely and as Pope Francis helped broker last week's deal to restore diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. 

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Australia anti-terror police arrest two in Sydney

Australian police said they did not believe an attack was imminent 

Counter-terrorism police in Sydney have arrested two men, charging one with possession of documents designed to facilitate a terrorist attack. 

The other suspect was charged with breaching a control order. 

The arrests were related a series of counter-terrorism raids in September, officials said. 

They come after Australia's prime minister said there had been heightened "terror chatter" since a cafe siege in Sydney last week. 

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Global arms trade deal takes effect

Enforcing the treaty will not be easy, as Russell Trott reports 

A global arms trade treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar business has come into force - a move hailed as "a new chapter" by UN chief Ban Ki-moon. 

He said he hoped the treaty would help prevent the transfer of weapons to "warlords, human rights abusers, terrorists and criminal organisations". 

The deal also bans arms supplies if this promotes war crimes or genocide. 

So far 60 nations have ratified the accord, but not the US - the world's top arms exporter. 

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The Interview: Obama hails move to screen North Korea film

The Interview includes a fictional plot to assassinate North Korea's leader 

US President Barack Obama has welcomed a decision by Sony to screen a comedy about North Korea in some US cinemas. 

Sony initially pulled the film following a cyber-attack and threats against cinemas, but reversed that decision in the face of criticism. 

The US has accused North Korea of being behind the cyber-attack. 

The film is expected to show in 200 mostly independent and art-house cinemas on Thursday. Hackers have threatened fresh attacks. 

Mr Obama was one of those to criticise Sony's earlier decision to cancel the film's release, calling it a "mistake". 

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Tunisia election: Essebsi claims historic victory

Tunisia's Beji Caid Essebsi has claimed victory in the country's first free presidential election, with exit polls suggesting he won 55.5% of the vote. 




Supporters of the 88-year-old celebrated in the capital Tunis. 

Campaigners for his rival, caretaker President Moncef Marzouki, say the results are too close to call. 

Critics say his success marks the return of a discredited establishment but Mr Essebsi says he is a technocrat who will bring stability. 

Tunisia was the first country to depose its leader in the Arab Spring and inspired other uprisings in the region. 

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Antarctic photo science archive unlocked

The photo expeditions were run out of Deception Island, a flooded caldera in the peninsula's north 



UK scientists are comparing the images with newly acquired data sets to assess the changes that have occurred in some of the region's 400-plus glaciers. 

The old and modern information has to be very carefully aligned if it is to show up any differences reliably. 

And that is a big challenge when snow and ice obscure ground features that might otherwise act as visual anchors. 

But the researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Newcastle University and University of Gloucestershire believe they are cracking the problem. 

"We want to use these pictures to work out volume and mass-balance changes in the glaciers through time," explained Dr Lucy Clarke from the University of Gloucestershire. 

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Cristiano Ronaldo's Incredible 2014 Campaign Must Lead to Ballon D'Or Glory

Real Madrid's 2-0 win over San Lorenzo in the final of the Club World Cup means Los Blancos will end one of the best years in recent club history with another trophy, and with the Ballon d'Or ceremony just weeks away, star forward Cristiano Ronaldo has to be the strong favourite to win this year's award. 

Now, let me start off by saying all three nominees—Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Manuel Neuer—are phenomenal players, and each would be deserving of this tremendous honour. 

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Sony Hacks An Act Of War, Say Key Republicans — President Obama Disagrees

Earlier today, both President Obama and key Republican leaders responded to the recent Sony Hack attacks allegedly committed by North Korea. 

In an interview conducted by Candy Crowley on CNN’s State of the Union, President Obama was asked about the Sony hacks, and how he thought the United States should respond. 

“I don’t think it was an act of war. I think it was an act of cyber vandalism that was very costly, very expensive. We take it very seriously. We will respond proportionately…” 

Republican Senator John McCain appeared later on the broadcast and gave his opinion of the Sony hacks, as well as what he thought of how the president was reacting. 

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Vladimir Putin Invites Kim Jong Un to Moscow

Amid U.S. and European sanctions that are driving Russia into the arms of its Asian neighbors, President Vladimir Putin has invited the North Korean leader to Moscow next year to mark the 70th anniversary of the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. 

The invitation may figure into the high-stakes geopolitical and economic game Russia has found itself in after the imposition of U.S. and European sanctions and other global changes that have destabilized the Russian economy. 

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Stephen Colbert Signs Off From the Final ‘Colbert Report’ by Singing ‘We’ll Meet Again’ With a Few Famous Friends

After a nine-year run on Comedy Central, host Stephen Colbert signed off from the final episode of The Colbert Report by singing “We’ll Meet Again” with a truly impressive list of friends including Jon Stewart, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Big Bird, and Cyndi Lauper just to name a few. 

Colbert then got into Santa’s sleigh with Abraham Lincoln and Alex Trebek to fly off into eternity. 

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Cyberwar: Obama calls out Sony as FBI confirms North Korea was behind hack

President Obama has called out Sony for craven censorship on a day the Federal Bureau of Investigation formally announced that North Korea was behind the hacking of Sony Corp. 

In a statement the FBI said that it has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions. 

The bureau said that its investigation revealed links to other malware that it knows North Korean actors have used previously developed; that there was an observed significant overlap between the infrastructure used in this attack and other malicious cyber activity the government has previously linked directly to North Korea, and that the tools used in the Sony attack have similarities to a cyber attack in March of last year against South Korean banks and media outlets, which was carried out by North Korea. 

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Rand Paul Trolls Marco Rubio in #Cuba Row

The Republican split over Cuba is heating up. 

A day after Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul broke with the majority of the GOP to back President Barack Obama’s shift in U.S. policy toward Cuba, he has become embroiled in a spat with fellow Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a potential rival for the GOP nomination in 2016 who opposes the thaw in relations between the two countries. 

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