Obama to mark 15 years since 9/11 at Pentagon ceremony

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will deliver remarks at a Pentagon ceremony Sunday marking the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The White House says Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will also attend.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in New York City, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon during terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaida, a Muslim militant group founded by Osama bin Laden.

One hundred and eight-four people perished at the Pentagon when an American Airlines jetliner slammed into the five-sided building in Arlington, Virginia.

Bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan during a May 2011 raid authorized by Obama.

The White House made the announcement Thursday as Obama traveled in Laos.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Africa tour tracks tech’s growing interests on the continent

After a surprise Nigeria visit to meet with techies in Lagos, Mark Zuckerberg took his Africa tour to Kenya this Thursday. There the Facebook CEO visited the iHub innovation space, reviewed the BRCK mobile Wi-Fi device, had lunch with Kenyan ICT Cabinet Secretary Joseph Mucheru, and met with tech leaders Juliana Rotich and Erik Hersman.
Like the Lagos expedition, the trip was unannounced. “Originally, we knew that Facebook’s Ime Archibong was coming in,” said Hersman (a co-founder of iHub), “but we didn’t know about Mark’s visit until the last minute.” Archibong is Facebook’s Strategic Partnerships Director.
Though no formal business commitments are planned on Zuckerberg’s first Kenya visit (something Facebook reps confirmed to TechCrunch), Hersman believes it is likely a precursor.

“Look, these meetings in Nigeria and Kenya, it’s largely PR for everybody right now,” he said. “However, from the interactions I saw…between Facebook’s team and different people within the tech community, I think there’s going to be some real stuff happening soon.”
While Zuckberg’s Nigeria visit was less anticipated—given the country only recently registered in global tech news—his dropping in on Kenya is less of a surprise.
The East African nation of 44 million has become the continent’s unofficial tech capital, dubbed “Silicon Savannah” for its advances in digital finance, tech incubators, and local IT innovations such as BRCK and the Ushahidi crowdsourcing platform.
Local telco Safaricom’s M-Pesa mobile money product is globally recognized. The company has used its mobile infrastructure to innovate a number of digital products including solar electricity (M-Kopa), online TV, and the recent launch of its M-Pesa integrated ride-hail app (Little), an Uber competitor.
The Kenyan government, which established an ICT authority, is one of the continent’s more proactive in supporting its tech ecosystem. And iHub helped spur Africa’s tech incubator movement, which now includes over 300 innovation spaces across the continent, according to a recent GSMA survey.

From a tech perspective, Zuckberberg’s decision to visit Nairobi is relatively straight forward. Two initiatives he focused on were the BRCK venture and digital prototype startup Gearbox, both outgrowths of the iHub infrastructure Erik Hersman and Juliana Rotich established in 2010. BRCK developed in response to local IT challenges of poor net connectivity and electricity.
The solar powered BRCK Wi-Fi product (about the size of an actual brick) provides device charging capabilities, 3g and 4g internet for up to 20 connections, and now ships to over 60 countries. “He got a demo of the next generation BRCK device, and was pretty intrigued by our Kio devices,” said Hersman, referring to BRCK’s educational tablet for primary school students.
Zuckerberg also reviewed the Gearbox supported Strauss solar energy panel and PayGo Energy home cooking product. “He was really interested in the integration of M-Pesa into other services,” said Hersman, noting the PayGo product allows Kenyans to finance the kit using mobile phones and M-Pesa mobile payments.

Zuckerberg’s Nigeria and Kenya trips coincide with Facebook’s expanding Africa presence and the continent’s growing digital profile. Facebook has 84 million users in Sub-Saharan Africa, 17 million in Nigeria, 14 million in South Africa, and 5.7 million in Kenya, according to spokesperson Sally Aldous.
As previously reported, a particular Facebook Africa play will be tapping the online advertising market that’s rising with the continent’s shift to digital commerce, expected to reach $75 billion by 2025.
Facebook opened its first Africa office in South Africa in 2015, appointing Ogilvy and Mather advertising executive Nunu Ntshingila as Head of Africa. In Kenya, the company has provided financial support to iHub events and workshops (Erik Hersman confirmed).
Kenya is also one of Facebook’s Internet.org Free Basics countries, a program that allows users on Airtel networks to access limited internet services free on mobile. Facebook’s commitment to connect more Africans to the internet suffered a bit of a setback Thursday when the SpaceX rocket carrying the company’s Amos-6 satellite crashed pre-launch.

As for what to expect from Facebook in Africa after Zuckerberg’s trip, company reps would not provide detail. iHub, Gearbox, and BRCK co-founder Erik Hersman sees possibilities to upgrade Facebook’s connectivity efforts, “Free Basics is growing but it’s still not the open internet,” he said. “There could be an opportunity to open it up around a business model that works.”
Hersman also believes the Facebook CEO’s will also draw more attention to Africa from Silicon Valley. “He could have just visited South Africa, which is what more people would have expected,” he said. “Visiting Nigeria and Kenya sends a message that could get other global tech players off the sidelines. If Facebook is putting so time, interest, and money into these markets other will definitely pay attention.”

Mark Zuckerberg 'deeply disappointed' as SpaceX explosion blew up $200m Facebook satellite

The SpaceX rocket that exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral also blew up a pricey Facebook satellite it was supposed to deliver into orbit, leaving social network company boss Mark Zuckerberg "deeply disappointed."
The four-minute-long explosion occurred as the 604-ton Falcon 9 rocket was being fuelled with a powerful mixture of liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellant for test firing before its weekend launch.The cause of the blast is still unknown and is being investigated, according to a tweet by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. He described it as a "fast fire, not an explosion."
No one was injured in the blast, which SpaceX referred to as an "anomaly."
 https://twitter.com/SpaceX
The rocket's payload was a $200m satellite — called Amos 6 and owned by Israeli company Space Communications or Spacecom — to be used by Facebook to bring Internet access to remote villages in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The operation also involved French satellite firm Eutelsat Communications.

"I'm deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX's launch failure destroyed our satellite," Zuckerberg wrote in a post while traveling in Africa. He noted that the satellite "would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent".
Zuckerberg said other technologies are in the works to boost Internet access, adding: "We will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided." Facebook already completed its first successful experimental flight in June of Aquila, an unmanned, solar-powered plane that will also be used to beam the Internet into remote areas.
Launch Complex 40, where the blast occurred, is an Air Force facility which has been leased to SpaceX, reported CNNMoney. The company has launched 25 rockets from the site since 2010.
Nasa's facilities at Cape Canaveral were not damaged by the blast and none of the planned Nasa flights have been affected.
"Today's SpaceX incident — while not a Nasa launch — reminds us that spaceflight is challenging," Nasa tweeted. "Our partners learn from each success and setback."
https://twitter.com/NASA/status/771456438736674816
The fallout for Musk and Zuckerberg remains to be seen and industry analysts believe the explosion will likely delay space launches.
"It's clear there will be some sort of delay," Phil Smith, senior space analyst at the Tauri Group, told the Los Angeles Times.
The blast — the second Falcon 9 failure in 14 months — could also be a setback to Musk's efforts to prove that his company can safely launch and reuse rockets. SpaceX just announced that it had signed its first customer to launch a satellite with a reused booster.
And it recently landed its first big Pentagon job — an $83m contract from the Air Force to launch a global positioning system satellite in 2018.
The blast came just as Musk was also set to announce Tesla Autopilot improvements in the wake of a fatal crash in Florida in May. He is now delaying that announcement. Meanwhile, he is also trying to finance a $2.4bn deal for Tesla to acquire SolarCity.
Tesla shares fell 5.3% Thursday to $200.11.
As for Facebook, it was the first attempt by the company's Internet.org initiative to deliver Internet signals from space. The Amos 6 was a total loss.
The satellite's manufacturer, Israel Aerospace Industries, took out an insurance policy on the Amos 6 worth its total cost, a source told the Times. It is estimated to be worth at least $200m, while the cost of launching and operating it for a year is believed to be $85m.
But the policy covers transit and pre-launch processing of the satellite from the factory to the launch site. Spacecom's insurance policy does not cover risk of loss until the actual launch.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg says the most successful entrepreneurs share 3 traits

 

In a live Q&A in Rome on Monday, Mark Zuckerberg  was asked to name three traits of people who make it to the top.
First and foremost, successful enterpreneurs have a specific vision , the Facebook (FB) co-founder and CEO said. They pinpoint the exact problem that they're trying to solve.

"If you want to build something great, you should focus on what the change is that you want to make in the world," Zuckerberg said. "I see too many entrepreneurs who decide that they want to start a company before they actually know what it is that they want to build. To me, that seems backwards."

Secondly, they surround themselves with other highly successful and motivated people.

"No one does it alone," Zuckerberg said. "When you look at most big things that get done in the world, they're not done by one person, so you're going to need to build a team."
To build the strongest team possible, look for people who excel in the areas where you're weaker or less experienced. "You're going to need people that have complementary skills," he emphasized. "No matter how talented you are, there are just going to be things that you don't bring to the table."
Finally, the entrepreneurs who make it big are persistent. "Nothing ever goes the way you want it to," he said. "People talk about overnight success, and that's not the way it works."
The ones who come out on top are the ones who refuse to give up despite the inevitable trials and tribulations they face throughout the process.

Zuckerberg concluded: "The biggest things that have gotten done in the world tend to be done by people who primarily believe in a mission and are not trying to build a company; by teams, not by individuals; and by people who just don't give up."

 

Mark Zuckerberg meets Nigerian President

The billionair

e Facebook founder is back in Nigeria. He met with president Buhari at Aso Villa where he was seen in a suit happily taking a selfie with the president. Buhari's media aide said Mark told VP Osinbajo that he wore a suit and his usual T.shirt and jeans, to meet President Buhari out of respect for him. Mark is back in Nigeria to speak at the closing ceremony of the Abuja Demo Day. PHOTOs below