Author: RT

Your technology is mine! Doctor sues Apple over Apple Watch heart rate monitoring method The technology that an Apple Watch uses to detect heartbeat irregularities violates a patent held by a New York University cardiologist, he has alleged in a lawsuit filed against the tech giant. Dr. Joseph Wiesel asked a federal court in Brooklyn to order Apple to pay damages, claiming the company is violating his rights “with knowledge and understanding”. According to court papers, Dr. Wiesel invented a method and device for detecting atrial fibrillation, using photoplethysmography to “assess whether a pulse rate pattern is regular or irregular”. This means the user can monitor atrial fibrillation in a non-hospital setting. Also on r...

New Year’s surprise from nature: Russia’s diamond titan unearths massive 190-carat gem A huge 190.77-carat diamond was discovered in Russia’s Siberian republic of Yakutia several days before New Year’s, the world's leading diamond producer, ALROSA, announced. The high-quality precious stone was mined at the ALROSA-operated Botuobinskaya kimberlite pipe in the remote Yakutia (Sakha Republic) in the early hours of December 25. The gem could have lain undisturbed for around 2 billion years, according to preliminary data, but further examination is set to determine the exact age.   Read more Russia to sell diamonds in China on WeChat using blockchain technology The discovery of the diamond just before New Year’s...

‘Mix of anomalies and contradictions’: Pakistan’s ex-leader Musharraf blasts his death sentence in court petition Former Pakistani President and military chief Pervez Musharraf has filed a petition against the “hurried” trial after a court tried him in absentia and sentenced him to death for high treason and undermining the constitution. An 86-page petition, filed to Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday by Musharraf’s legal team, states that the verdict against the former president “contained a mix of anomalies and contradictory statements,” as quoted by local media. The document also says the court “rapidly and hurriedly wrapped up the trial which was far from conclusion,” and that Musharraf had done nothing “detrimental to national interest” during h...

Banks make biggest layoffs since 2015 & may continue to do so next year – report Bankers around the globe are facing the biggest job cuts in four years, and their troubles could continue in 2020 as lenders are trying to cope with rising competition amid a slowing economy. Nearly 78,000 people are set to lose their jobs, as more than 50 banks have revealed plans to downsize their workforce this year, according to Bloomberg, citing filings by the companies and labor unions. It is the highest number since 2015, when 91,448 employees in the banking sector were let go. European banks will see the biggest layoffs, as they plan to cut more than 63,500 jobs or almost 82 percent of the total. North American banks come in second, as they reportedly plan t...

‘Hatred must be really strong to insult the dead’: 2nd Jewish cemetery vandalized in a month in Slovakia (VIDEO) Vandals have targeted an old Jewish cemetery in the small Slovakian town of Rajec, toppling over 20 tombstones. A similar incident happened just two weeks ago about 70km away. The vandalism in Rajec may have happened in mid-December, since the cemetery has few visitors. https://cdnv.rt.com/files/2019.12/5e06fb8f2030275f24794b43.mp4 “Unfortunately, very few people visit the tombs of their relatives in Jewish cemeteries because there are very few relatives alive,” Jewish publicist and journalist Konstanty Gebert told Ruptly. “The hatred must be powerful enough that insulting the dead, even if no living are insulted, gives satisfacti...

‘Impressive display of firepower’? WATCH Pakistan Navy fire volley of missiles in Arabian Sea drills (PHOTOS, VIDEO) Pakistan Navy has conducted a live-fire exercise in northern Indian Ocean to demonstrate its combat readiness and test multiple types of missiles. The military dubbed it an impressive show of firepower... but see for yourself. The drills involved at least one Navy destroyer, as well as helicopters, submarines and fast attack missile boats – yet from a video and press release by the Pakistani military it remains unclear how many of each. A range of anti-ship and land-attack missiles were fired from “surface, subsurface and air platforms,” in addition to a portable surface-to-air missile lauched from the shore in nor...

US military contractors sued for funding terrorism in Afghanistan with ‘protection’ payments to Taliban Bribes paid by international military contractors in Afghanistan were used by the Taliban to fund attacks on companies that didn’t make the payments, according to a lawsuit filed by families of those injured or killed as a result. “Large corporations that had lucrative businesses in Afghanistan” paid off the Taliban through a series of subcontractors, bribing the Afghan militants in order to save money on security, according to a lawsuit filed on Friday in federal court by the families of 143 US soldiers and contractors injured and killed during the longest war in American history. The 288-page civil suit alleges the Taliban then used the money to f...

‘We will not be lectured’: Russia stands by Putin calling pro-Hitler Polish WWII envoy ‘bastard & anti-Semitic pig’ Poland has summoned the Russian ambassador in Warsaw to explain President Vladimir Putin’s remarks about the anti-Semitism of the 1930s Polish ambassador to Germany. Moscow is refusing to budge from the historical truth. In a speech on Tuesday, Putin described Jozef Lipski, the Polish ambassador to Berlin (1934-1939) as “a bastard and anti-Semitic pig.” He based this on Lipski’s own words from 1938, when the envoy told Hitler the Poles would “erect him a beautiful monument in Warsaw” if he carried out the plan to expel European Jews to Africa. Also on rt.com Poland wanted to ‘erect magnificent monu...