Teen tests negative after Ebola scare in Australia

"The Queensland Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young, reports the results of tests on an 18-year-old woman in Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital are negative for Ebola virus disease," a statement from the office of the Queensland Minister for Health said. Young had said earlier that a second test would be taken in three days. She would not specify the teenager's nationality, but said she was moving to Australia permanently and authorities had been informed of her family's arrival several days before the flight.

The rest of the woman's family was quarantined at home. Young said Queensland health authorities were monitoring four families from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where the vast majority of Ebola cases have occurred. The number of Ebola infections has surpassed 10,000 and the death toll neared 5,000 worldwide, mainly in the three West African nations. There have been no confirmed Ebola cases in Australia.

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Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is re-elected

With 99 percent of the vote counted, Rousseff had 51.5 percent of the ballots, topping center-right challenger Aecio Neves with 48.5 percent.

Rousseff's victory extends the rule of the Workers' Party, which has held the presidency since 2003. During that time, they've enacted expansive social programs that have helped pull millions of Brazilians out of poverty and into the middle class.

The choice between Rousseff and Neves split Brazilians into two camps those who thought only the president would continue to protect the poor and advance social inclusion versus those who were certain that only the contender's market-friendly economic policies could see Brazil return to
solid growth.

The Workers' Party's time in power has seen a profound transformation in Brazil. But four straight years of weak economic growth under Rousseff, with an economy that's now in a technical recession, has some worried those gains are under threat.

"Brazilians want it all. They are worried about the economy being sluggish and stagnant but they want to preserve social gains that have been made," said Michael Shifter, president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue. "The question is which candidate is best equipped to deliver both of those."

Rousseff and Neves have fought bitterly to convince voters that they can deliver on both growth and social advances. This year's campaign is widely considered the most acrimonious since Brazil's return to democracy in 1985, a battle between the only two parties to have held the
presidency since 1995.

Neves has hammered at Rousseff over a widening kickback scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras, with an informant telling investigators that the Workers' Party directly benefited from the scheme.

Rousseff rejected those allegations and told Brazilians that a vote for Neves would be support for returning Brazil to times of intense economic turbulence, hyperinflation and high unemployment, which the nation encountered when the Social Democrats last held power.

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Swiss gold exports to India cross CHF 11-billion ; banks turn wary

The gold exports from Switzerland to India stood at over 2.2 billion Swiss francs (about Rs 15,000 crore) in September alone, which is double the figure for the previous month,shows latest data released by Swiss Customs Administration. As a result, the total Swiss gold exports to India since January this year has grown to 11.4 billion Swiss francs, shows the data compiled by the Swiss government's cross-border trade monitoring agency.

Industry watchers attribute the surge during September partly to increased demand for the yellow metal ahead of Diwali and other festivals in India, the sudden spike is also being seen suspiciously in the backdrop of gold being used for 'layering' purposes to move funds from Swiss banks amid growing scrutiny for suspected black money.

According to banking industry sources, banks operating in Switzerland, including those headquartered in the Alpine nation and the Swiss units of other European banks, have turned wary about dealing with their Indian clients in the wake of a growing scrutiny of such accounts. A number of Swiss banks, including three with significant global presence, have begun telling their Indian clients to sign undertakings that are aimed at 'derisking' the banking institutions from potential risks arising out of regulatory actions against the bank customers by foreign governments.

Some banks are also telling their clients to close their accounts if they are not ready to take such risks, or if they have apprehensions about such accounts not being compliant to regulatory requirements in their home countries. Through these 'derisking' undertakings, the customer agrees to take responsibility for any possible regulatory or administrative compliance with international norms.At the same time, the bankers are also lobbying with the Swiss government to ensure that any information would be shared with their Indian counterpart about accounts held in Swiss banks only after necessary provisions are made to safeguard the interest of the concerned banking institution.

Following a high-level delegation visit from India, Switzerland recently agreed to cooperate on matters related to verification of genuineness of accounts and reply to requests for banking account details in a time-bound manner, and also to initiate a process to include India among the countries eligible for 'automatic exchange of information'.  While banks try to put in place necessary safeguards, there are apprehensions that many of their clients are being advised to move the funds through gold and other routes.

As per Swiss government data, the total exports of gold, silver and coins from Switzerland stood at 347 tonnes (worth 6.62 billion Swiss francs) in September. This included gold exports totalling 172.5 tonnes or 6.48 billion Swiss francs. In comparison, Switzerland's total gold exports stood at just about three billion Swiss francs (80.6 tonnes) in August, while the overall figure for gold, silver and coins stood at 3.16 billion francs (237 tonnes) in that month.
  
India alone accounted for total bullion exports worth 66.5 tonnes from Switzerland, which mostly comprised of gold (over 58 tonnes or over 2.2 billion Swiss francs) in September. The total gold exports to India stood at 29.5 tonnes (1.12 billion Swiss francs) in August, while the figure for July was 21 tonnes (792 million Swiss francs).

In January, the total Swiss gold exports to India stood at about 27 tonnes (970 million Swiss francs), while it was in the range of 30 tonnes a month between February to May before surging to over 44 tonnes (1.62 billion Swiss francs) in June. A new strategy of 'layering' through gold and diamond trade came to light earlier this year at Swiss banks to thwart any attempt for identification of real beneficiary owners of funds entrusted with them, government and banking sources have said.
  
There is a growing suspicion that a portion of gold and diamond trade is being used to route funds from Swiss banks to India and other destinations. 'Layering' is a key stage in money laundering and involves moving illicit funds around financial system through a complex series of deals to complicate the paper trail. This layering typically takes place between the first stage placement of black money in the financial system either in cash vaults, or through a series of cash or sham financial transactions and before the final 'integration' stage when money is put back into the financial system through various transactions for the benefit of its final recipient.

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US strikes pound jihadists as Iraq Kurds prepare to join fight

Kurdish forces, backed by US air power, have been holding out for weeks against an IS offensive around Kobane, which has become a high-profile symbol of efforts to stop the advance of the jihadists.

The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq unveiled plans on Friday for up to 200 well-trained peshmerga to join Syrian Kurdish forces defending Kobane in the coming week.

Kurdish news agency Rudaw said the first contingent could head to the town as early today, but there was no immediate confirmation of that timetable.

Since Turkey conceded to US pressure to allow vetted reinforcements into Kobane to prevent IS winning the prominent battle for the town, the jihadists have made repeated attempts to cut the border before any help can arrive.

Before dawn yesterday, IS fighters hit Kurdish forces defending the Syrian side of the border crossing with mortar and heavy machinegun fire, an AFP correspondent on the Turkish side reported.

The heavy mortar fire around the Mursitpinar crossing prompted the Turkish army to order the evacuation of nearby hilltops from where the world's press has been watching the battle for the town.

The US-led military coalition fighting IS launched 22 air strikes in Iraq and one in Syria on Friday and Saturday, the Pentagon said.

Eleven of the bombings in the heavy barrage targeted IS units, buildings, positions and vehicles near Iraq's strategic Mosul Dam.

Kurdish forces backed by US air strikes yesterday retook the town of Zumar northwest of Mosul from IS after weeks of fighting, a senior officer said.

IS still holds significant areas in northern Iraq and elsewhere in the country, as well as swathes of neighbouring
Syria.

The Kurdish news agency said an initial peshmerga contingent of 150 was ready to leave for Kobane and would be headed by Sihad Barzani, brother of Iraqi Kurdish regional president Massoud Barzani and head of its artillery brigade.

It cited peshmerga officials as saying that an additional 1,000 Iraqi Kurdish fighters would follow.

Rudaw quoted a senior peshmerga officer as saying that the Iraqi Kurdish forces would deploy with heavy weapons, but that undertakings had been given to both Ankara and Washington that they would not be handed over to Syrian Kurdish forces.

"Our enemies in Kobane are using heavy weapons and we should have heavy weapons too," he said.

The main Syrian Kurdish fighting force in Kobane has close links with the outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, which has fought a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.

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Microsoft plans to launch smartwatch within weeks

The wearable gadget's battery life will exceed two days of regular use, Forbes reported, citing unnamed sources close to the project. It will arrive in stores soon after being unveiled in an effort to capture the holiday season, Forbes reported.

Microsoft declined to comment.

Apple Inc unveiled a smartwatch on Sept. 9 that will combine health and fitness tracking with communications and will go on sale in early 2015, while Samsung Electronics Co unveiled its Galaxy Gear smartwatch in September 2013.

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App that enables deaf people to 'hear'

Transcense is the brainchild of four graduate students from the University of San Francisco and Berkeley, who have all been affected by hearing loss in different ways.

"Transcense brings meaning to the conversation and allows the deaf person to actively engage again," the creators said.

Transcense is the first mobile app that makes group conversations effortless between deaf people and their hearing peers.

Transcense transcribes a group conversation and uses a voice recognition algorithm to detect individual voices and link each of them with a color, which makes it easy for the app's user to see who is talking on their smartphone screen.

A deaf person can also use the app to speak for them using a digital voice, or to get the attention of all the people present, via their smartphones.

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iPhone app to ensure eye health

The system consists of a PanOptic Ophthalmoscope (a lighted instrument to examine the inside of the eye) and an adapter that attaches the ophthalmoscope to an iPhone to enable taking photos and videos.

It can image key structures of the back of the eye in a single view without necessarily requiring dilation drops.

The associated app facilitates capture, storage and transfer of data.

This also makes it possible for real-time tele-medicine consultation without violating patient identity as no external facial features are revealed.

"This system could be useful not only to ophthalmologists but also physicians, hospitals and general practitioners," said lead researcher Jiaxi Ding from the Ross Eye Institute at University at Buffalo in US.

Because it can instantly capture photos and videos of the back of the eye through an undilated pupil, "there is potential for prompt tele-medicine consultations with an ophthalmologist and getting preliminary triage answers to the patient more quickly than waiting for standard office referral," he added.

Photography plays a critical role in documenting and tracking the progression of eye diseases.

The results were shared at 'AAO 2014' - the 118th annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

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