News Headlines - 14 April 2019
▽Ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage launches Brexit Party | Al Jazeera
Leading British eurosceptic Nigel Farage has launched a new political party with a promise of a "democratic revolution" in UK politics, beginning with the European Parliament elections in May.
The Brexit Party has 70 candidates and sees the upcoming elections, which begin on May 23, as a "first step", Farage said at the launch event in the English city of Coventry on Friday.
▽Isis plans to copy Paris atrocity with fresh wave of carnage | The Sunday Times
In Paris four years ago 130 people died when Isis terrorists stormed the Bataclan concert hall and attacked other soft targets across the city. In Manhattan two years later a pick-up mowed down cyclists and runners by the Hudson River, killing eight.
Isis operatives remember the atrocities well. Documents seen by The Sunday Times show that they are actively planning to recreate them in new attacks across Europe and the Middle East.
Detailed plans for terrorist assaults in Europe, funded and controlled by Isis leaders, are exposed in the trove of chilling documents.
▽Is Anyone Listening to You on Alexa? A Global Team Reviews Audio - Bloomberg
Amazon.com Inc. employs thousands of people around the world to help improve the Alexa digital assistant powering its line of Echo speakers. The team listens to voice recordings captured in Echo owners’ homes and offices. The recordings are transcribed, annotated and then fed back into the software as part of an effort to eliminate gaps in Alexa’s understanding of human speech and help it better respond to commands.
When renowned fitness coach Russell Bateman posted videos on Instagram of his invite-only fitness group Skinny Bitch Collective (SBC) on a retreat in Kenya, it set off a ripple of outrage across the platform.
The videos from the retreat that were posted over the weekend show a group of Western-looking women using Kenya's tribal Maasai people as props in their workout routine.
The backlash was so swift Mr Bateman had issued an apology and deleted his Instagram account within days.
▽Coffee not essential for life, Swiss government says - BBC News
The Swiss government wants to put an end to its emergency stockpile of coffee after declaring that it is "not essential" for human survival.
Switzerland began storing emergency reserves of coffee between World War One and World War Two in preparation for potential shortages... It now hopes to end the practice by late 2022. But opposition is mounting.
It currently has 15,300 tonnes saved up - that's enough to last the country three months.
