King of Canadian Tennis Milos Raonic Wins Citi Open

The king of Canadian tennis isn't ready to give up his throne just yet.

Milos Raonic delivered a strong message Sunday with a workmanlike 6-1, 6-4, win against countryman Vasek Pospisil in an anti-climactic Citi Open final in Washington, D.C. The match marked the first all-Canadian final in ATP history and took just 67 minutes to complete.

"It gives me a lot of confidence," said Raonic, who earned his first ATP title of 2014 and will rise one spot in the latest ATP rankings and match his career-high of No. 6 in the world

"I've always said that hard courts are by far my favorite, and having done as well I did on clay and grass (this year), it got me really excited about this week. For that to be my showing right away this week was great."

Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., was nearly perfect in his first tournament since a semifinal run at Wimbledon. As the second seed in Washington, Raonic did not drop a set all week thanks largely to what the 13th-seeded Pospisil called "the best serve in the game right now."

Raonic won 92 per cent of his first serve points in Sunday's final and faced just one break point against in beating Pospisil for the second time in as many ATP meetings. Raonic also beat Pospisil in three sets in the semifinals of last year's Rogers Cup in Montreal.

Ebola Rescue Mission- US Sends 50 Experts to West Africa

The United States plans to send 50 health experts to West Africa to help contain the Ebola outbreak that has left hundreds of people dead in three countries.

 

At least 729 people have died in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea so far this year as a result of the deadly virus, according to the World Health Organization.

 

“This is the biggest and most complex Ebola outbreak in history,” Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement.

 

“It will take many months, and it won’t be easy, but Ebola can be stopped. We know what needs to be done. CDC is surging our response, sending 50 additional disease control experts to the region in the next 30 days.”

 

Frieden said the 50 experts from the CDC will work to combat the outbreak and help implement stronger systems to fight the disease.

 

The Ebola virus causes viral hemorrhagic fever, which affects multiple organ systems in the body and is often accompanied by bleeding.

 

Early symptoms include sudden onset of fever, weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat. They later progress to vomiting, diarrhea, impaired kidney and liver function — and sometimes internal and external bleeding.

Memes: Awkward Moment In An Exam Hall

Rape Should Be History in this Age

SURVIVOR CONQUEST

As I parade this new thoughts of mine. I hope you join me in raising the flag campaign ‘IF YOU CANNOT MAKE HER, DON’T RAPE HER’. Let’s hop on this horse and make the world a better place for all.

About 1 in 5 women report having experienced rape or attempted rape at some point in their lives, according to a 2011 Centers of Disease Control and Prevention survey. Yet rape remains one of the most significantly underreported crimes; only about three out of every 100 rapists serve time, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network

This piece represents the final chapter on the topic I have been ruminating these past few weeks. I have once imagined a world where our girls and children, our wife and mother, our boys and men would walk and live freely and secured in their neighborhoods without the fear or possibility of sexual violence or rape. Can we get there? Hmnnn… Yes, may be! Only if we were in Jupiter, some will say. All human vices can be tamed and control, only if there are more dis-incentives then incentives to commit those grievous crime against humanity. Where do we stand? Let’s ask Ms. Pepples (to get full idea of Ms. Pepples, please read part-1 and part-2)

As I have written in Part 1 and Part 2 of the series, and exposed how government takes leaner approach to sexual violence, I am impressed to see that President Barack Obama of USA is taking the plunge. “Sexual violence is more than just a crime against individuals,” Obama said, announcing the task force at the White House recently.

Cover Page: Pregnant Christina Aguilera Photo For V Magazine

When she was pregnant the first time, she posed nude for Marie Claire. She's done it again with her second pregnancy. The heavily pregnant 33 yr old singer posed completely nude for V magazine and her fiancé, Matthew Rutler, 28, joined her in one of the photos.

Memes: Men On Suit

NFL Memes - Football is Back

Manchester United beat Real Madrid Before 109,318 Crowd

Manchester United defeated European champions Real Madrid 3-1 in front of a record US crowd of 109,318 in Michigan.

Two goals from Ashley Young and one from Javier Hernandez secured new United manager Louis van Gaal his fourth win of the US summer tour.

Gareth Bale’s penalty was all Real could muster in reply, even after the second-half introduction of former United star Cristiano Ronaldo.

United now face Liverpool in Monday’s International Champions Cup final.

Van Gaal has presided over wins against the Los Angles Galaxy, Roma and Inter Milan in the United States.

United will now meet their great English rivals, who qualified for the final after Manchester City lost 5-4 on penalties to Olympiakos following a 2-2 draw in Minneapolis, in Miami.

Drake and Chris Brown Re-Union Performance Gets Cancelled

Chris Brown & his former rival Drake were supposed to perform together for the first time at Drake's OVO Music Festival in Toronto, Canada tomorrow August 4th but it got shut down because of Chris' felony record.

TMZ reports

Chris Brown and Drake planned to unveil their new song Monday in Toronto, but the plan was scrapped because Chris can't get in to the country... TMZ has learned. We're told Drake invited Chris to join him Monday night on stage at his OVO Fest. We're told Chris agreed and the plan was for them to perform the song on which they collaborated last month.

The performance would have been big for 2 reasons -- it's the first time they performed together, and we're told there are veiled references to Rihanna in the song. Continue...

Now the snag.  We're told Chris' people pulled the plug, because they realized Chris could never get passage into Canada.  The country has close to a zero tolerance policy when it comes to letting criminals in ... and Chris has not only been convicted of a crime ... he's copped to a violent felony.

We're told his people broke the news to Chris ... any attempt to make the concert would be futile.

Why Ebola Remains Incurable

Pharmaceutical companies are unwilling to invest in vaccines and research to cure the deadly Ebola disease because it is only killing Africans, a leading UK doctor has claimed.

 

The President of the UK Faculty of Public Health, Prof. John Ashton, has claimed no cure for the disease has been discovered because it so far has only affected powerless minorities.

 

He likened the response to that of Aids, for which treatments were developed only when it started affecting Western countries.

 

The current Ebola outbreak – which has no vaccine, no cure and kills up to 90 per cent of victims – is currently ravaging the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Liberia.

 

There have been 729 deaths from 1,329 confirmed cases of Ebola in this year’s epidemic – making it the largest Ebola outbreak in history.

 

Writing in the Independent on  Prof. Ashton said: ‘We must respond to this emergency as if it was in Kensington, Chelsea, and Westminster.

 

RIP Michael Johns American Idol Finalist

A one-time "American Idol" finalist has died, the show's official Facebook page announced.

 

"Michael Johns was an incredible talent and we are deeply saddened by the news of his passing," a joint statement from Fox, FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment said.

 

"He was a part of our American Idol family and he will be truly missed. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and friends during this difficult time."

 

According to Entertainment Weekly, the Australian-born singer, who was on the Fox program in 2008, died Friday at age 35.

 

The Hollywood Reporter said the cause is believed to be a blood clot in his ankle.

"I just heard the very sad news that Michael Johns has passed away. A truly great guy," Simon Cowell wrote on Twitter. "Rest in peace Michael."

 

"So Sad. Too soon," wrote Randy Jackson. "Thank you for sharing your talents with us. RIP Michael Johns."

 

CNN

Facebook Restores Service After Outage

Facebook Inc said service to the world’s largest online social network was fully restored on Friday, following a widespread outage that affected users in multiple countries.

 

“Earlier this morning, some people had trouble accessing Facebook for a short time. We quickly investigated and have fully restored service for everyone. We’re sorry for the inconvenience,” Facebook said in an emailed statement.

 

Facebook, which has 1.32 billion monthly users, is still investigating the incident, but all signs suggest a “technical” failure rather than any suspicious activity, said a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because the probe is private.

 

Some visitors to the site on Friday were greeted with a message that read “Sorry, something went wrong. We’re working on getting this fixed as soon as we can.”

 

It was not immediately clear how widespread the disruption was, though Reuters was aware of users having trouble accessing the site in the United States, Chile and India.

Kristen Stewart in Another Sex Scandal

Two years after she broke up the marriage of her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders after she was caught having an affair with him, Kristen Stewart is being accused again of coming between another Hollywood couple; This time it's Jennifer Lawrence & actor Nicholas Hoult.

InTouch Weekly reports

America’s sweetheart is single - and America’s most infamous homewrecker may be to blame! According to a new report, Jennifer Lawrence has ended things with her on-again, off-again boyfriend of nearly four years, Nicholas Hoult.

Sources say the break-up was “very amicable”—and we wonder if by “amicable” they mean “involving another close friend of a couple” as the news broke just hours after the X-Men actor was caught grabbing sushi with Kristen Stewart! (pictured right)

The former Twilight star and Nick were spotted at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo, where they are currently on-location for their upcoming film, Equals, where they play lovers.

Blame It on the Alcohol

Excerpt from GANG RAPE, GANGSTER AND MS. PEPPLES. PART 3

ARGUMENT 4: Blame It on the Alcohol
Many women who felt they have been raped cannot recall the full experience because they were heavily inebriated. In their clandestine effort to cover up their looseness, they rather not report it. Blame it on the alcohol! Should it be illegal to have sex with a woman under the influence of alcohol? The law needs to address this.

Men’s alternative argument is blame it on the pornography! Such a laughable excuse. It would be even be hard for Albert Einstein to solve the ‘Less porn = Less rape’ equation without an inconclusive answer. Government is faced with a question of morality and responsibility. How much value do the taxpayers get from the porn industry compared with the value they deserved? Most porn are on the net, can government control internet content? Yes they can in this age. I believe for investigative purpose a person history with porn can indicate indiscreet sexual behavior with the opposite sex.

Some women are just worse. I had an unfortunate experience. A guest of mine threatened to beat me up if I did not get her drunk, I would never hit a lady but I was put into a position that is more despair than facing coming traffic. This gist is for another time. Let’s roll over

Read full on ablethoughts.me/

US Atlanta Doctors Gear Up To Treat Two Ebola Patients

Health workers prepare to bury a woman who died of the Ebola in Foya, Liberia, in July. Ahmed Jallanzo/EPA /LANDOV

A medical transport plane was en route to pick up two Americans sick with Ebola in Liberia, doctors in Atlanta said Friday.

Atlanta Hospital Prepares To Treat 2 Ebola Patients

This will be the first time doctors will treat somebody for Ebola outbreak in the U.S, they said.

Both people caught the virus while treating patients in the largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. More than 700 people have died in West Africa from Ebola since March.

The aid workers will fly to Atlanta in planes equipped with isolation tents, called Aeromedical Biological Containment Systems. Then they will be treated in a special unit at the Emory University Hospital.

"The first one [patient] will come in the next several days," Dr. Bruce Ribner, who directs the hospital's infectious diseases unit, said at a press conference. "A second patient will be coming a few days after that."

Both patients are in stable condition, Ribner said. He wouldn't give out their names, but he said the Christian aid group Samaritan's Purse had reached out to the hospital for help.

Last weekend, Samaritan's Purse said that two of their aid workers had caught Ebola while helping patients in Monrovia, Liberia. Dr. Kent Brantly, 33, is a general physician trained in Forth Worth, Texas, while Nancy Writebol, 59, is a missionary from Charlotte, N.C.

The 20 Best Beers In The World

Two Stanford computer scientists proved last year that beer geeks have great taste. 
Stanford University computer science post-doc Julian McAuley and assistant professor Jure Leskovec released a paper in 2013 outlining how our tastes change as we consume more products and gain more expertise.They theorized that the more experience we have, the more we will like certain products that are less accessible to beginners.

McAuley and Leskovec developed a model to help them separate "expert" users from "beginners" on a given review website.  In honor of International Beer Day, we are sharing their data for the highest-rated beers by experts on RateBeer, the largest beer-rating website, with more than 3 million beer reviews.                  
                                                      

#20 Stone's Imperial Russian Stout

Flickr/Silvatone

 

Brewed in Escondido, California, experts on RateBeer gave Stone Brewing Co.'s Imperial Russian Stout 4.215 out of 5 stars.

The brew is thick, rich, and pours black with a roasted, complex aroma of black currants, coffee, and anise.
 

#19 Bell's Batch 7000 Ale

Flickr/dkachur

 

This imperial Stout from Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was rated 4.226 by experts on RateBeer.

Brewed in honor of the brewery's 7,000th batch, it pours dark with almost no head and flavor undertones of vanilla and caramel.
 

#18 Bell's Hopslam Ale

Flickr/(...) Empório Biergarten - Beer Store

 

Another beer from Kalamazoo's Bell's Brewery, Bell's Hopslam Ale is an Imperial/Double IPA beer that was rated 4.229 stars by RateBeer experts.

Bell's used six kinds of hops to make this beer, which has floral and grapefruit notes. 

#17 3 Fonteinen's Schaerbeekse Kriek

Flickr/Bernt Rostad

 

This traditionally made Kriek brew (a type of Lambic beer fermented with sour cherries) from Beersel, Belgium's 3 Fonteinen brewery was given 4.236 stars.

Ebola Virus Update:Ghana bans flights from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia

Ghana has officially banned flights from 4 West African countries; Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria, citing concerns about the rapid spread of the Ebola virus, which has claimed several lives.

Charles Asare, Managing Director of the Ghana Airport Company, said the measure was part of a set of emergency management plans officials are rolling out to combat the spread of the virus. Continue..

The government there has also implemented strict restrictions on the movement and management of Liberian refugees in camps in the country.

Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah, urged Ghanaians to bear with the government as they work to contain the virus. "Preparedness is not an event but a process," he said.

Why Is The Western World So Afraid Of Islam?

 

Don't expect much support. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

  

Fear of Islamic radicalism cows the West into silence on Christian persecution.

 

In perhaps the only sign of action from the West to the increased intensity of Christian persecution, France has opened itself up to refugees from Iraq, who are being driven out under pain of death by ISIS. This is a welcome reversion to form for France, which ever since the Middle Ages has periodically found ways to protect Christian minorities abroad. This is a great beginning — but it is such a small response to the magnitude of Christian persecution, happening not just in Iraq and Syria, but in Nigeria and Egypt as well.

Why hasn't there been a greater response from the once-Christian West to the plight of Christians? It's not for lack of outrageous events. The International Society for Human Rights estimates that 80 percent of acts of religious discrimination in the world have Christians as their victims. And these are starting to poke through the headlines. The purge in Mosul attracted some attention, the kidnapping and threatened murder of mostly Christian girls by Boko Haram even more. But much less is said about the fate of Syrian Christians or Copts. Still less is said about even more obscure religious minorities like Yazidi and Druze who face discrimination from ISIS.

 

One reason for our silence, suggested by John Allen Jr. in his book The Global War on Christians, is that the modern humanitarian West has difficulty seeing Christians as "native" to third-world nations. Their imagination of "global" Christianity is one of a religion implanted by Europeans and Americans through a violent, racist, and discredited colonialism. Of course this isn't true in these cases, as there were Christians in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt long before there were any in Britannia or Biloxi. Allen also cited French philosopher Regis Debray's view that in Christian persecution the victims are "'too Christian' to excite the Left, and 'too foreign' to excite the Right."

Justin Bieber may have 99 problems but Orlando Bloom isn't one, makes out on Yacht

 

 Justin Bieber makes out with mystery girl on luxury yacht . Justin Bieber may have 99 problems but Orlando Bloom isn't one. Days after he was nearly punched in the face by the actor, the singer was spotted smooching a mystery girl on his luxury yacht. The pictures were taken on Thursday night after a party on board his luxury yacht moored off the Ibiza coast. Selena Gomez won't like this.  

See more pics

 

Top 10 Weirdest Music Lyrics Of All Time

But seriously, are we humans? The Killers’ lead singer Brandon Flowers. Photograph: Carsten Windhorst/WENN.com

What are the weirdest lyrics of all time? The Killers have topped a survey which lists the most nonsensical lyrics of all time. But aren’t there more avant-garde examples out there? 

Who would have thought it, Mormon stadium rock band The Killers are the weirdest band in the world. Well, at least their lyrics are said to be: the group’s 2008 single has been named the possessor of the oddest phrase in music - “are we human or are we dancer?” - beating those other eccentric wordsmiths such as Black Eyed Peas, Lionel Richie and Taylor Swift.

The survey, set up by streaming service Blinkbox, quizzed 2,000 adults about the most bamboozling phrases in song. Managing director Mark Bennett said: “It’s true that song lyrics are sometimes as crazy as a box of frogs, but then that’s show business. It would be a really boring world if everything was logical and made sense.”

Here’s the Top 10 in full:
1 The Killers, Human
“Are we human, or are we dancer?”

2 The Beatles, I Am The Walrus
“I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus, goo goo g’joob.”

3 Michael Jackson, Earth Song
“What about elephants? Have we lost their trust?”

Canadian Mother Wrote Viral Facebook Post Saying She Was Shamed At The Beach For Her Stretch Marks

Tanis Jex-Blake, a woman from Alberta, Canada, posted this photo to Facebook earlier this week.

She says she was shamed for wearing a bikini and showing her stretch marks. “What great and amazing feat has YOUR body done?”

The photo was posted with an open letter to the people Jex-Blake says she recently encountered at the beach.

This is an open letter to the 2 guys and 1 girl who decided to skip work today in Sherwood Park where they were building a house , but instead decided to come to Alberta Beach to relax in the sun, enjoy the water and some beers.
I’m sorry if my first attempt at sun tanning in a bikini in public in 13 years “grossed you out”. I’m sorry that my stomach isn’t flat and tight. I’m sorry that my belly is covered in stretch marks. I’m NOT sorry that my body has housed, grown, protected, birthed and nurtured FIVE fabulous, healthy, intelligent and wonderful human beings. I’m sorry if my 33 year old, 125 lb body offended you so much that you felt that pointing, laughing, and pretending to kick me. But I’ll have you know that as I looked at your ‘perfect’ young bodies, I could only think to myself “what great and amazing feat has YOUR body done?”.

Montreal Canadiens agreed to sign P.K. Subban to eight-year deal

Montreal Canadiens defenceman P.K.Subban speaks to reporters at a news conference to promote youth hockey Thursday, July 31, 2014 in Brossard, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

The Montreal Canadiens ended their stalemate with P.K. Subban by agreeing to terms with their franchise defenceman on an eight-year contract on Saturday.

Subban and the team endured an arbitration hearing Friday that would have led to a one-year deal.
Instead, the 25-year-old is in the fold in Montreal for the long term and will reportedly make US$72 million over the course of the contract.

Subban said after arbitration that the possibility of negotiating a long-term deal was "kind of a discussion for a later date," which turned out to be Saturday.

The deal takes Subban, who already has a Norris Trophy and Olympic gold medal, through the age of 33.

Top 10 Alibis of Unproductive People

Relaxing in the office Hemant Mehta—IndiaPicture RF/Getty Images

John Brandon

They moan. They wail. They shuffle around the office looking for free candy. Unproductive employees have an excuse for everything. Here are a few of the phrases they use to explain away the problem. Listen for them, then correct the action to get things back on track.


1. I’m overworked.

I hear this one constantly. What unproductive people might not realize is that we are all overworked. We’re in an overworked age. Instant access to email and a mobile browser means work is always just a click away. What separates the wheat from the chaff? The really productive people don’t dwell on the problem. They just do the work.

2. That’s not my job.

I’ve written before about staying productive by focusing on your job and not doing the work of unproductive co-workers. That’s always a bad pattern to set. Curious, then, that the really unproductive people always seem to notice when they’re doing extra work to help a project. They focus on their role too much and on what everyone else is not doing. Truly productive people don’t even care. They just do whatever it takes to get things done and plow ahead, analyzing the exact role definitions later.

3. I’ll finish that later.

Forget the Mark Twain quote about procrastination. Unproductive people waste time because they live in a constant state of incongruity. The loose ends of their tasks never meet up, and stay loose. They start one Word document, work on it for a while, drop it, then start working on a PowerPoint. In the “picking up and setting down” process they waste time because each tasks needs a jumpstart, which uses more energy.

4. I don’t have all of the answers yet.

Overly detail-oriented people use this one.

Video: Best Moments of Worldcup Brazil2014

EBOLA VIRUS 'EASY TO CONTAIN IN THEORY' SAYS MAN WHO DISCOVERED IT

Professor Peter Piot, the director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the virus, although deadly, is 'in theory easy to contain'

Professor Peter Piot, the director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the scientist who discoverd the Ebola virus in 1976, in Zaire, said the disease, although aggressive is 'in theory easy to contain'.

 

He told CNN: 'Well it’s spectacular because once you get it, at least with this strain of Ebola, you’ve got like a 90 per cent chance of dying. 
 

'That’s spectacular by any standard – one of the most lethal viruses that exist. 
 

'On the other hand, you need really close contact to become infected. 
 

'So just being on the bus with someone with Ebola, that’s not a problem. 
 

'It’s also not iatrogenic [ph] so it’s not transmitted through, you know, droplets and so on. So it is really something that in theory is easy to contain.'

 

OMG! Angry worker shoots CEO, kills self in Chicago finance district

A demoted worker shot and critically wounded his company's CEO before fatally shooting himself Thursday inside a downtown high-rise office building in Chicago's bustling financial district, police said.

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said a worker at a technological company pulled a gun after entering the 17th-floor office to meet one-on-one with his CEO. There was a struggle for the gun, and the CEO was shot twice before the gunman fatally shot himself, McCarthy said.

McCarthy said the company was downsizing and "a number of people," including the alleged shooter, were being demoted.

"Apparently he was despondent over the fact that he got demoted," McCarthy said.

The 54-year-old victim was taken to a hospital in critical condition, while the 59-year-old alleged gunman was pronounced dead at the scene. Their names haven't been released.

The office is in the Bank of America building, which is two blocks from the Willis Tower, the country's second-tallest skyscraper, and a block from the Chicago Board of Trade and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Officers were called to the scene around 9:50 a.m. and found two men on the floor in an office, police spokesman Martin Maloney said.

Workers said they received emails from the building security at about 10 a.m. telling them there was a security situation in the lobby and to stay at their desks. A few minutes later, someone came over the intercom to tell them everything was clear.

"We didn't know what to think," said Jay Patel, who works on the 11th floor.

Headlines: How Deadly Ebola has Spread Across the Globe

Fears of a global Ebola pandemic are 'justified' an expert has said as Nigerian health officials try to trace 30,000 people at risk of contracting the deadly disease following the death of Patrick Sawyer.

The U.S. citizen boarded a flight in Liberia carrying the disease to Nigeria, potentially infecting 'anyone on the same plane'.

 

It comes as Nigerian actor Jim Iyke sparked outrage, posting a picture of himself wearing an Ebola mask while sitting in a first class airport lounge as he fled Liberia.

 

Hong Kong woman quarantined when she fell ill after returning from Kenya 

Expert claims panic over death of U.S. man in Nigeria is 'justified'

He warned the spread of Ebola could become a global pandemic

Health campaigners petition U.S. drug authorities to fast-track potential cure

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond declares disease is 'very serious threat'

He will chair an emergency meeting on how to boost defences

British airlines are also on 'red alert' for cases of the deadly virus

Man with 'feverish' symptoms tested for deadly Ebola at Birmingham hospital

He had travelled into Midlands from Benin, Nigeria via France when he fell ill

Wow! NFL Big Boy Keyshawn Johnson Sends out iPad 4 as Weddings Invitation!

Former NFL player Keyshawn Johnson (pictured above with fiancee) sent out the best wedding invitations ever - iPad 4s - each pre-programmed with all of the 411 for his big day, TMZ reports.

"It's pretty badass. Here's what we know. The iPads were sent to several guests a few weeks ago -- and once they're powered on, a program opens informing the recipients about Key's wedding events. 

Also included -- a photo gallery, guestbook, and countdown to the big day. The couple also made it easy for guests to buy wedding gifts -- by including the registry right on the iPad. 

Of course, the woman Keyshawn is set to marry is Jennifer Conrad -- his longtime GF and the mother of 2 of his children."

Samsung World's Biggest Phone Maker Margin Dives

The success of its Galaxy smartphones has seen Samsung become the world's biggest phone maker

Samsung profit hit as smartphone growth slows. Profits at Samsung Electronics fell 20% in the second quarter, hurt mainly by a slowdown in smartphone sales and a strong Korean currency. It made a net profit of 6.25 trillion won ($6.1bn; £3.6bn) in the April-to-June period, down from 7.77 trillion won a year ago.

When compared to the previous quarter, its profit was down 17%.

Samsung is the world's biggest maker of mobile phones and the handset division accounts for the bulk of its profits.

"The second quarter was affected by several factors including the slow global sales of smartphones and tablets and escalating marketing expenditure to reduce inventory," the firm said in a statement.

Currency factor

Prospects for growth remain unclear as competition over global market share intensifies in the mobile industry”

Meanwhile, a stronger Korean currency also hit Samsung's earnings during the period.

The Korean won rose more than 11% against the US dollar and nearly 7% against the euro between July 2013 and end of June this year.

A strengthening currency hurts profits of firms such as Samsung - which rely heavily on exports - when they repatriate their foreign earnings.

Samsung said a stronger currency "amounted to about 500bn won in missed revenues".

'Profitability may suffer'
Samsung's growth in recent years has been powered mainly by its mobile phone division.

The success of its Galaxy range of smartphones, coupled with a growing global demand for such gadgets, saw it displace Nokia as the world's biggest mobile phone maker in 2012.

However, the pace of growth of the smartphone market has been slowing down and the competition in the sector has also increased.

Happy New Month

Happy new month Fellas. Lets rock this out! Be awesome in your endeavors. And contribute meaningfully to  your community of interest and circle of influence