The claims against Palantir cofounder and popular Silicon Valley venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale will make your stomach turn.

In late January, a recent Stanford grad, Elise Clougherty, filed a lawsuit accusing Lonsdale of "a sexually, emotionally, and physically abusive relationship."

Lonsdale, who is also a founder of the VC firm Formation 8, has since filed a countersuit claiming their relationship was consensual.

The facts, in both the suit and countersuit, are the following:

Lonsdale and Clougherty met through a mutual friend in New York when she was a Stanford student. About a year later, Lonsdale served as an official mentor for Clougherty in a Stanford tech entrepreneurship program. The two entered into a relationship, which lasted for about a year, between 2012 and 2013.

Clougherty claims in her suit that Lonsdale handpicked her to be his mentee, deliberately started a relationship with her, and over the course of the year became increasingly abusive.

She's asking for "at least $75,000" in damages.

Following are some of the details of alleged abuse from the complaint, via TechCrunch.

Warning: The excerpts below contain graphic descriptions of sex and sexual abuse.

• "Shortly after arriving at his house, he started to kiss her aggressively and to try to take off her pants. Despite Ms. Clougherty trying to avoid him and pushing his hands away from her crotch at least a half dozen times, Mr. Lonsdale persisted. Mr. Lonsdale then pulled Ms. Clougherty into a bedroom where he took off her clothes and his pants, and began to penetrate her with his flaccid penis. During this episode, Mr. Lonsdale acted as though he were not doing anything wrong and made comments insinuating that Ms. Clougherty had wanted the sexual contact."
• "In the following weeks, Mr. Lonsdale repeatedly continued to force Ms. Clougherty to have sexual contact with him without her consent. From very early on, Mr. Lonsdale repeatedly told Ms. Clougherty that it was women’s nature to enjoy being raped, especially if they are raped by a man with greater means."
• "In London, Mr. Lonsdale continued to force her to have sexual contact with him without her consent. Throughout the trip, Mr. Lonsdale deprived her of both food and sleep by scheduling late night and early morning activities, delaying meals, not ordering her enough food, and other such tactics."
• "In their hotel room [in Rome], Mr. Lonsdale penetrated her with several fingers, and then abruptly started penetrating her with his erect penis. She immediately pulled away from him. He then grabbed her and penetrated her again. She immediately pulled away a second time and ran."
• "On countless occasions during this period, Ms. Clougherty told Mr. Lonsdale that she did not want to have sex and asked him not to penetrate her. Mr. Lonsdale dismissed her  protests and continued to coerce her to engage in sex with him. Throughout this period, Mr. Lonsdale repeatedly commented to Ms. Clougherty that women needed to be raped to learn to be loyal and that they really enjoyed being raped more than they let on."
• "During intercourse, he would regularly shake Ms. Clougherty violently and would not stop, despite her protests, until she promised she would always 'listen to her master.' In addition to shaking her violently during sexual assaults, he also began strangling her, slapping her, scratching her, yanking her by the hair so hard that he would lift her torso off the bed, and slamming her body against the walls and bedboards."
• "Mr. Lonsdale typically forced Ms. Clougherty to have sex several times a day — on some occasions, as many as ten or more times a day. When Ms. Clougherty was on her period, Mr. Lonsdale’s attacks were especially frequent. He often would not let her buy tampons and seemed to relish getting her blood everywhere — on her clothing, bed sheets, hotel furniture, car and bus seats, and elsewhere. He would not let her clean up the blood, and would get very angry with her if she tried to clean it up. On one occasion, in a hotel room, he even picked up her naked body and made her sit on the hotel furniture so as to smear her blood all over it."

In addition, Stanford conducted its own independent investigation of Lonsdale's relationship with Clougherty and concluded, according to Clougherty's lawsuit, that “more likely than not that [Ms. Clougherty] expressed to [Mr. Lonsdale] that she did not want to engage in the sexual conduct in question, but that [Mr. Lonsdale] did not comply with [her] request.”

Lonsdale was subsequently barred from Stanford's campus for 10 years.

Lonsdale denies that any of this happened. His countersuit claims he never had an influence over her grade in her technology-entrepreneurship class, and when they entered into a relationship it was completely consensual. He produces quotes from numerous emails to back up his points. He is asking for $150,000 total in damages, plus punitive damages and the costs of the lawsuit. 

From his countersuit:

In late March, Mr. Lonsdale and Ms. Clougherty finally travelled in Europe together, and, in Rome, they had sex for the first time. Mr. Lonsdale and Ms. Clougherty’s sexual relationship, both in Rome and at all times thereafter, was always consensual. Ms. Clougherty never expressed to Mr. Lonsdale during their relationship that she believed that any sexual acts were non-consensual... To the contrary, she regularly expressed her love and affection for Mr. Lonsdale and the happiness she experienced dating him.

In addition to the countersuit, Lonsdale put up a website defending his side of the story. He writes: 

Throughout the course of our relationship, she regularly expressed her love and affection for me— which I reciprocated. There are hundreds of emails from her telling me how much she loved me, how happy she was, and how excited she was about our future. She said that I was “like the boyfriend every girl dreams about but doesn’t think actually exists.” On another occasion, she wrote in a handwritten card, “I want to learn more about you too to love you deeper in return for the way you love me. You are a really special man.” These and other effusively loving emails exist from throughout the entirety of our relationship, including some from immediately after we broke up.

He includes links to email exchanges between the two, though most of Lonsdale's responses are blacked out.

Last week, Formation 8 provided this statement to Business Insider: 

These allegations are inconsistent with the partner we have come to know over the past few years. Moreover, we have very clear employment procedures at Formation 8, and Ms. Clougherty was never an employee of Formation 8. This is obviously a highly personal situation for Joe, and we have agreed to allow him whatever time he needs to address this matter. Formation 8 intends to promptly seek to dismiss these baseless claims against the firm.

Clougherty's lawyers sent us this statement: 

Ms. Clougherty expected Mr. Lonsdale and his attorney to release a self-serving PR campaign of denial. She will certainly give Mr. Lonsdale a full opportunity to explain his conduct in this litigation and looks forward to hearing Mr. Lonsdale's statements when he is under oath and subject to cross-examination." Ms. Clougherty knows the truth and is confident that her lawsuit will reveal it to the public.

Lonsdale's representative did not provide Business Insider with a comment on the record.

SEE ALSO: America needs to stop wasting billions of dollars on 'mansplaining' every year

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) have both come out in favor of voluntary vaccinations - though to varying degrees.

In 2014 there were over 600 cases of measles reported in the US – the highest number since 1994. According to the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, most of the people who got measles were unvaccinated.

Why are parents choosing not to vaccinate their kids? We take a look at the problem from a game-theory perspective. 

Produced by Sara Silverstein and Alex Kuzoian

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London (AFP) - The only two surviving bronzes by Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo are thought to have been identified with the help of a tiny clue in a 500-year-old sketch, British researchers said Monday.

The bronzes, "Bacchants Riding On Panthers", date from 1506-08 and show a muscular pair of nude male revellers, arms raised in triumph to the sky, astride snarling panthers.

Michelangelo is thought to have worked on them between his two most famous works -- the four-metre marble sculpture "David" and the ceiling of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.

Fresh questions about who made the bronzes started to be asked after they appeared in a 2012 show at London's Royal Academy.

Their anonymous owner called in Professor Paul Joannides of Britain's Cambridge University, for whom the sculptures triggered a memory of a sketch by one of Michelangelo's students who had copied his master's drawings.

That then sparked off a wave of international research involving art historians, anatomists and conservation scientists.

"In terms of Michelangelo, this is really pretty significant," said Victoria Avery of Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum, which will display the bronzes from Tuesday until August.

Cambridge University says that, if the attribution is correct, the bronzes would be the only surviving ones by Michelangelo anywhere in the world.

"Michelangelo was actually very devout in a pretty unorthodox way and I think he felt his job was to show the wonder of God's creation and the human body in the most idealised way," said Avery, who was involved in the research to identify them.

Experts say that only a sculptor who had practised dissection, as Michelangelo had, would be able to create such anatomically correct bronzes.

The sculptures are similar in style to others by him dating from 1500 to 1510, while neuron x-ray imaging also suggests the sculptures date from the late 15th or early 16th century. 

Michelangelo often drew inspiration from ancient mythology for his works. Bacchants were followers of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and fertility, who pursued the instinctive, sensual life.

"The poses, they're kind of outrageous. Nude men astride panthers, what's all that about?" Avery said.

- History of misattribution -

While Michelangelo's marble sculptures such as "David" are famous worldwide, researchers say it is a common misconception that he never worked in bronze.

Records show that Michelangelo made bronzes including a two-thirds size "David" for a French aristocrat and a twice life-size statue of Pope Julius II.

However, the first disappeared during the French Revolution while the second was melted down and the bronze used for artillery three years after it was made.

The "Bacchants Riding on Panthers" were previously attributed to Michelangelo during the 19th century when they were owned by Baron Adolphe de Rothschild of the famous French banking dynasty.

In the 20th century, experts believed they had been made by a range of artists, including followers of Benvenuto Cellini.

The definitive conclusions of the research into their provenance will be presented at a conference in July.

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Lenovo is faring a lot better with Motorola's phone business than Google did.

The Chinese hardware company just reported that Motorola sold 10 million handsets in the last quarter of 2014 – up 118% from last year. It also said Motorola will be profitable within four to six quarters.

Google announced it would spend more than $12 billion buying Motorola in August 2011, and the deal closed in 2012. Google said at the time it was mainly interested in Motorola's patents, but also tried to revive Motorola's phone business, investing in products like the Moto X, while laying off thousands of Motorola employees to cut expenses.

It didn't work.

In the third quarter of 2011, when Google announced its plans, Motorola sold about 11 million handsets, according to Statista. In the last quarter of 2013, Motorola sold around 5 million, based on Lenovo's report Monday.

In the third quarter of 2012— the first complete quarter after the Google deal closed — Motorola's phone business lost $505 million on $1.78 billion in revenue. In the last quarter of 2013, it lost $384 million on $1.24 billion.

Finally, Google gave up and sold Motorola to Lenovo in January 2014. Reportedly, Google CEO Larry Page hampered Motorola's plans by refusing to allow it to work very closely with the Android teams; he wanted to keep other Android partners happy. 

Now, Motorola is growing again and had revenues of $1.9 billion – more than any time under Google's reign.

All this seems to show that Google was wise to dispose of an asset that never made much sense for it to own in the first place. 

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Samsung will announce its new flagship Galaxy phone on March 1 at an event in Barcelona.

The company sent invitations to the press Monday for one of its "Unpacked" events, which are used to announce its most important products like the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note line of phones.

Sources familiar with Samsung's plans told Business Insider the so-called Galaxy S6 will be made out of metal, a departure from the plastic designs the company has used in the past.

There will also be a version of the Galaxy S6 with a curved screen, similar to the Galaxy Note Edge that launched last year.

The invitation (below) appears to give a glimpse at part of the device, and it does look like metal will be part of the new design.

Finally, Samsung will announce a new smartwatch with a round design, according to sources.

Samsung's rival HTC is also expected to announce its new phone, the followup to the One M8, on March 1 at a separate event in Barcelona.

Business Insider will be in Barcelona on March 1 covering Samsung's announcement live. It starts at 6:30 p.m. local time.

Here's the invitation:

Looks a lot like the Note Edge, right?

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Apple sold $6.5 billion in bonds on Monday, according to Bloomberg.

That's the same Apple that last week announced an record-breaking $18 billion profit over the holiday quarter.

It's reasonable to ask: why would Apple — a company with $178 billion in cash — need a loan?

In short: taxes.

The vast majority of Apple's cash hoard is held offshore.

Apple can defer taxes on that cash until it decides to bring it back to the U.S.

Apple doesn't want to bring the money home, though. It could pay up to 35% of whatever it brings back to Uncle Sam, which could easily be a multi-billion dollar tax bill.

Apple wants a tax repatriation holiday, like the one recently proposed by Senators Barbara Boxer and Rand Paul.

The Boxer-Paul would tax cash Apple brought home at 6.5%, much lower than the rate it would otherwise pay.

But the prospects for the Boxer-Paul plan aren't looking good. Senator Orrin Hatch, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has already expressed skepticism about it. And this bill hasn't even been introduced yet.

Meanwhile, Apple still needs cash in the US. The $6.5 billion it raised will go towards stock repurchases, dividend payments, and debt repayments, according to Bloomberg.

With corporate taxes so high, and interest rates so low, it's much cheaper for Apple to raise debt and pay it back with interest than to repatriate cash.

Unless we see corporate tax reform, Apple will probably keep raising money this way for the foreseeable future.

SEE ALSO: Two Senators Have Proposed A Tax Holiday Tech Companies Would Love

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Who's on Facebook? The short answer, of course, is everyone. And that's why every company and brand needs to seriously consider a major presence on the platform, as well as a Facebook-specific content strategy.

But digging into the demographic data reveals more specific and compelling reasons why marketers should be active on Facebook, such as the fact that despite recent news coverage about how Facebook is getting older, it's still strongest in the young adult age bracket so precious to many marketers. 

In a recent report from BI Intelligence, we break down the demographics of Facebook and show why it's such a powerful platform for companies, brands, and products. Facebook's surprisingly strong statistics in terms of gender breakdown, income levels, and age diversity makes it the obvious go-to marketing platform. Our report also spotlights similar statistics for all the main social networks, but Facebook's numbers are perhaps the most compelling. 

Access the Full Report By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today > > 

Here are seven of our surprising findings on Facebook: 

1. Population and Penetration: Yes, we know that over 1 billion people are on the platform. But what's the penetration rate in a major market like the U.S.? 67% of Internet users in the U.S. are on Facebook. In European markets, penetration is even higher (82% in the U.K.). 
2. Age: Facebook still skews young. In the U.S., 86% of 18 to 29-year-olds who use the Internet are on it (as of September 2013), but the proportion is only 67% across all age brackets. However, the 45- to 54-year-old age bracket has seen 46% growth since year-end 2012. 
3. Income: Among U.S. Internet users, 73% with incomes above $75,000 are on Facebook (compared to 17% who are on Twitter, and 13% who are on Pinterest). 
4. Mobile: Facebook is the most popular social media app on smartphones and accounts for 66% of total social media sharing on iPhones.
5. International: Eighty-six percent of Facebook's users are outside the U.S. And 29% of its users log in from Asian countries. 
6. Gender: Facebook skews slightly toward women. But it is more gender neutral than Pinterest and Google+.
7. Education: Nearly 75% of U.S. Internet users who have had at least some education in college use Facebook, according to Pew Research.

In full, the special report: 

• Analyzes gender, income, and age statistics for each social network
• Includes 16 charts and datasets that provide an in-depth picture of demographics on each of the major social networks
• Discusses mobile activity on social media and its relative weight on each of the platforms
• Looks at daypart statistics to gauge how demographics drives daily activity peaks on each of the networks
• Examines how international the user bases of each social network have become

For full instant access to the report on Social Media Demographics, sign up for a free two week trial subscription to BI Intelligence. 

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If being $3.3 million richer after Sunday's Super Bowl is what Nevada sports books consider a worst case scenario, imagine the riches if a last minute play, second-guessed around the world, had gone a little differently.

"I can't even tell you how many millions of dollars changed hands," said Johnny Avello, director of the Wynn's sports and race book of the game-ending moment that had the Seahawks throwing an interception at the end zone. He and others banked on a Seahawks win since the Patriots were favored, ever so slightly.

The state's 191 sports books won $3.3 million of the total $116 million wagered on the Super Bowl, said Nevada Gaming Control Board officials Monday.

The amount was a drop from last year's record-breaking bets totaling $119.4 million when sports books kept $19.7 million after the Seattle Seahawks' easily overtook the Denver Broncos 43-8.

Wynn, Westgate Las Vegas and William Hill sports book operators said the New England Patriots' 28-24 win over the Seattle Seahawks represented the worst case scenario for their businesses based on the bets placed. Plenty was at stake with gamblers wagering six-figures, in some cases, for either team. At least one gambler wagered $1 million on the Patriots.

"That bet happened here," Avello said.

But for the grace of side bets some of the sports books' losses might have been greater.

William Hill won $1,000 on the coin flip that turned up tails.

"That was a good start for us," said Michael Grodsky, spokesman for William Hill which operates 105 sports books and a smartphone app in Nevada. "Could have used a little better finish."

William Hill's win was a modest one, down compared to last year, but the total amount of wagers with the sports book was up 10 percent year over year, he said.

Westgate Las Vegas lucked out on the coin flip, too, and the number of pass attempts.

By the time the confetti settled and Patriots Bill Belichick washed the Gatorade from his hair, Jay Kornegay from Westgate said he eked out a small win thanks to some of the few hundred side bets that went their way.

He compared it to what the sports book might rake in on a regular season college football Saturday.

"Overall, no complaints, outside the late interception," he said Monday. And the atmosphere inside his sports book as the suspense swelled, "was unbelievable," he said.

Then there's the bets that don't have anything to do with on-field play aren't allowed in Nevada's sports books. Off-shore and international betting sites offered returns based on whether Patriots coach Bill Belichick might crack a smile, what color Gatorade would end up on the head of the victor coach (it was blue) or if Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog would or wouldn't see his shadow.

Oddsmaker and syndicated columnist Ben Eckstein with online site America's Line which offers advice on picks, personally picked the Seahawks to win. He also personally bet singer Idina Menzel of "Frozen" fame would take longer than two minutes to sing the national anthem, though. When she did, he and his family including his 6 and 7 year old grandchildren cheered.

He recorded two minutes, five seconds on his stopwatch.

"I killed it," Eckstein said, adding that he wouldn't be surprised if the singer could hold a single note for two minutes.

He guessed right, too, that there would be more than 8.5 punts.

"There are those props that you can really dig your teeth into and make some money on," he said, referring to some of the proposition bets. "It wasn't a bad day overall."

He estimated he lost a few bucks, the cost of a cup of coffee, after all was counted.

Johnny Avello from Wynn said his sports book lost money but it wasn't his largest loss. On Monday, he had already moved on and talked about taking basketball bets and the start of March Madness in seven weeks.

At least there wasn't a safety during Sunday's game.

For two out of the last three years, Avello said his book lost six figures in the first seconds of the game when the rare score occurred.

He and others have their odds ready for the next Super Bowl for weeks. Westgate and William Hill odds favor the Seahawks 5-1 with the Patriots 6-1. Avello has the Seahawks at 6-1 and the Patriots at 8-1.

"We just love what we do." Avello said.

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The hunt for extraterrestrial life just grew a little hotter.

On Monday, during his "State of NASA" speech, administrator Charles Bolden announced that NASA will be selecting projects to accompany a probe to Jupiter's moon Europa.

Floating in space about 390 million miles from earth, Europa is a remote ice ball that harbors a massive ocean underneath its surface.

So massive, in fact, that scientists suspect Europa could have as much as two to three times more liquid water than Earth!

Judging from the abundance of life thriving in Earth's oceans: Where there's liquid water, there's the potential for life.

Not only that, Europa is absolutely gorgeous:

Europa is about 1,900 miles in diameter — slightly smaller than our moon. The brown veins that give the moon it's iconic beauty are still a mystery, but the leading theory is that they show where Europa's crust cracked open letting warmer, dirtier water seep through and then freeze.

Jupiter's strong gravitational tug on the tiny moon generates tidal forces that stretch the entire surface — similar to how the Moon's gravity tugs the water in Earth's oceans, creating tides. The stretching then cracks the crust letting water deeper beneath the surface to seap through.

But that's not the only impact the gas giant has on its moon. As NASA astrobiologist Kevin Hand explains in a video about Europa:

The reason that Europa has liquid water is because it's orbiting Jupiter and the tidal tug and pull causes Europa to flex up and down and all that tidal energy turns into friction and heat that helps maintain this liquid water ocean beneath and icy shell.

Below is a close up of the circular impact crater in the southern hemisphere in the image above. Called Pwyll, the impact crater is a relatively new feature on the surface of Europa, and it is also compelling evidence of the enormous ocean sloshing underneath the surface.

Scientists suspect that when the impactor hit, it splattered fresh, fine water ice particles everywhere that now show up as the bright-white arms adorning the moon's face around the darker crater. NASA's Galileo spacecraft — the only probe to flyby Europa more than once — took the image below in 1998. Showing the darker crater, which is about 16 miles in diameter.

The impact crater's arms reach far across the surface. Even 620 miles north of the crater you can see evidence of the white streaks in the awesome close-up shot below.

The white and blue colors are the residual ice particles from the blast. Galileo snapped this photo of this region, which is 44 miles wide by 19 miles long, in 1996.

Even though humans have never sent a probe to the surface of Europa, the beautiful moon has been a hot topic of interest for many years. And just last year, NASA issued a Request for Information to the scientific community to offer up their ideas on the best, economically viable approach to study this amazing moon.

Now, it looks like some of those ideas might have paid off as scientists look forward to learning more about the future mission to Europa this spring.

Twitter users expressed their excitement about the latest news:

Check out a video of the State of NASA address announced on Monday:

CHECK OUT: NASA is building this monster rocket to shuttle astronauts to Mars

SEE ALSO: These Mind-Blowing New Images From NASA Reveal The Invisible Universe

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When VMware released its first hybrid cloud service in 2013, the server virtualization company was considered late to the cloud market. 

Amazon had already launched Amazon Web Services in 2006 and Microsoft released its cloud computing service Azure in 2010. 

VMware was making billions of dollars by then with a technology called “server virtualization,” which creates multiple operating systems on a single computer server. Its software can basically run different versions of Windows and Windows apps, or different types of Linux apps all on a single server.

But as more companies moved their data to the cloud, instead of running it on their own server, VMware saw the need to adapt. It quickly hired experienced managers and started rolling out its own cloud products. And it believes the market is just starting to heat up.

“Five percent of enterprise workloads are running in the cloud. The market in total is embryonic,” VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger told Bloomberg.

VMware particularly bet on something called hybrid cloud. Although smaller companies like startups often go all-in with the cloud, many large companies still tend to be skeptical about moving everything away from their own private servers. Hybrid clouds allow companies to use a combination of public and private clouds depending on the level of security concerns they have.

In fact, hybrid cloud seems to be the choice of service for many big companies for now. An analyst firm TechNavio says, nearly half of large organizations are expected to have hybrid cloud deployments by 2017. Hybrid is also forecast to be the fastest growing cloud market this year, according to Technology Business Research.

It’s precisely why VMware doubled down on this hybrid approach on Monday, updating its vSphere platform — its core virtualization platform, and the foundation on which its cloud service is built on — for the first time in four years. With the new updates, VMware will basically be able to deliver its hybrid cloud resources on a single, unified platform, without changing the internal network or any of the standard protocols its clients use.

“We can connect and extend people’s private clouds through the VMware Cloud Air public cloud and allow them to see this as a literal extension of their private cloud data center,” Gelsinger said at a press event.

VMware's strategy has led to increased sales, but profits are being squeezed -- last year, the company reported $886 million on $6.04 billion in revenue, versus $1.02 billion profit on $5.21 billion in sales in 2013. The stock is down about 30% from a recent peak in March 2014, and about flat compared with where it was two years ago. Investors had been pressuring parent company EMC to sell off its stake in VMware last summer, but VMware appointed two new board members early this month, and activist investor Elliot Management backed off.

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Los Angeles (AFP) - A US man was convicted in San Diego on Monday of extortion and identity theft for running a "revenge porn" website hosting over 10,000 sexually explicit photos.

Kevin Christopher Bollaert, 28, had denied 31 counts of conspiracy, identity theft and extortion over the racket, which allegedly earned him tens of thousands of dollars.

He could face up to 24 years in prison. A sentencing date was not immediately set.

Bollaert was accused of creating the website ugotposted.com in December 2012, allowing explicit photos to be posted without the subject's permission.

The website "turned their public humiliation and betrayal into a commodity with the potential to devastate lives," California's Attorney General Kamala Harris said at the time.

The photos, commonly known as revenge porn, are typically obtained consensually during a relationship but then posted without permission, or are simply stolen or hacked.

Unlike other revenge porn websites where photos are anonymous, ugotposted.com required the poster to include the subject's full name, location, age and Facebook profile link.

Bollaert created a second website, changemyreputation.com, which he used when individuals contacted ugotposted.com asking for their photos to be removed from the site.

He then allegedly extorted victims by offering, from the changemyreputation website, to remove content from ugotposted.com for a fee of up to $350, allegedly making tens of thousands of dollars, according to court documents.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed a law banning revenge porn in October 2013.

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San Francisco (AFP) - Google late Monday fired off a terse tweet that appeared aimed at putting brakes on a report that it is readying a ride-sharing service that would rival Uber.

"We think you'll find Uber and Lyft work quite well," said a message fired off at the Internet titan's official @google Twitter account. "We use them all the time."

Google referred AFP to the tweet in response to a request for comment regarding a Bloomberg report citing an unnamed source as saying that the California company is developing its own car-hailing service, most likely in connection with its work on self-driving cars.

The report came the same day that Uber and Carnegie Mellon University announced a partnership to collaborate on a center devoted to research and development of mapping, car safety, and autonomous vehicle technology.

"As a global leader in urban transportation, we have the unique opportunity to invest in leading edge technologies to enable the safe and efficient movement of people and things at giant scale," Uber chief product officer Jeff Holden said in a release.

"This collaboration and the creation of the Uber Advanced Technologies Center represent an important investment in building for the long term of Uber."

Google was an early backer of Uber, investing in the controversial ride-sharing service through its venture capital arm.

Google Maps software integrated into Uber's smartphone application lets users check progress of drivers on their way to pick them up.

San Francisco-based Uber has grown into one of the world's largest startups, valued at some $40 billion, with operations in more than 200 cities in 54 countries around the world.

But Uber's growth has also generated frictions with existing taxi operations, and posed challenges for regulators.

Uber does not employ drivers or own its vehicles, but instead uses independent contractors with their own cars.

Uber allows consumers to use a smartphone app to locate a driver -- in some cities with several classes of service -- and instantly book a ride.

Since launching in 2010, Uber has also been the prime example of a "disruptive" economic force. Taxi drivers in dozens of cities have staged protests against Uber, and regulators in many cities have sought to shut it down.

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Sydney (AFP) - Australia's leading goalscorer Tim Cahill joined Shanghai Shenhua in China's Super League on Tuesday shortly after the New York Red Bulls announced he had left the club by mutual consent.

The 35-year-old Socceroos star, who hit three goals during Australia's triumphant run to the Asian Cup title, said he was attracted by the scale of the potential football market in China.

"I've done the Premier League, I've done America. New York was amazing for me ... (but) China is a growing market in football," Cahill said.

"You see in the (Asian Cup quarter-final) game that we played against China, millions of people watched it and I'm someone who is embracing culture and a different aspect of life.

"I'm at an age where I want to give something back to football and still play at a high level," he said. 

"To still be in demand and have the offers I've had is special but this will be massive for me as a player on and off the park."

The attacking midfielder, who played for English Premier League side Everton before a multi-million-dollar move to the US Major League, said he had had a string of offers.

"I've been on the phone to (former Everton manager and Real Sociedad boss) David Moyes, I spoke with (former Arsenal and New York star) Thierry Henry and also the chairman Bill Kenright at Everton and (Socceroos coach) Ange (Postecoglou) this morning," said Cahill.

"I've made the decision purely because I've played in the Premier League and did really well and it was a massive compliment to get the phone calls I did last night and to speak to Moyes about possibly going to La Liga."

Cahill said he would decide in the coming days whether he would sign a one- or two-year contract with Shanghai, adding that he would continue his international career for as long as coach Postecoglou wanted him.

Cahill scored 14 goals in two-and-a-half seasons after joining the Red Bulls in July 2012 and netted twice for Australia in last year's World Cup in Brazil.

The Red Bulls won the 2013 MLS regular season crown, the Supporters' Shield, when the Australian was named in the league's Best 11 and All-Star teams.

Cahill, who had also been linked with a move to Al Wahda of the United Arab Emirates, parted ways amicably with the US club.

"After much deliberation, we have agreed that this decision is best for all involved," Red Bulls sporting director Ali Curtis said.

"We thank Tim for his service to the organization. He positively impacted the growth of the beautiful game in the United States, MLS and for the Red Bulls."

Cahill, who follows in the footsteps of Didier Drogba and Nicholas Anelka at Shanghai, joined Millwall in east London as a trainee in 1998 and soon caught the eye for his stamina-busting performances.

He moved to Everton in 2004 scoring 56 goals over eight years on Merseyside.

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Australia has joined the monetary easing party.

The Reserve Bank of Australia just announced a 25 basis point interest rate cut, and now the Aussie dollar is getting destroyed. 

On Monday night, the RBA announced it would take its main interest rate to 2.25% from 2.50%, making Australia the latest in a string of central banks that have embarked on interest rate cuts and easier monetary policy of late.

In its announcement, the RBA said "The Australian dollar has declined noticeably against a rising US dollar over recent months, though less so against a basket of currencies. It remains above most estimates of its fundamental value, particularly given the significant declines in key commodity prices. A lower exchange rate is likely to be needed to achieve balanced growth in the economy."

In its statement, the RBA also noted the Australian economy continues to grow below-trend, while the unemployment rate is now expected to peak at a higher level than had been previously forecast. The RBA added that it now expects the Australian economy to operate "with a degree of spare capacity for some time yet."

This decision from the RBA was an out-of-consensus move, as Bloomberg's Michael McDonough noted following the announcement that just 7 of 29 economists polled by Bloomberg expected the RBA to cut rates in its announcement. 

Here's the chart of the Aussie getting clobbered against the US dollar. 

After the RBA's announcement the Aussie took an initial leg lower, and has been extending losses against the US dollar. Near 10:50 pm ET Monday, the Aussie dollar was off more than 1.7% to around $0.765 against the US dollar – its lowest level against the dollar since spring 2009.  

In addition to the Aussie dollar's weakness Monday night, the New Zealand dollar, or the kiwi, was also tumbling; falling about 0.7% to around $0.72 to the US dollar.

This is a continuation of weakness for the kiwi that began last week after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand kept interest rates unchanged, but said that the kiwi's relative strength to other currencies was "unjustified." 

Here's Monday's drop in the kiwi. 

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Cleveland (AFP) - Kyrie Irving scored 24 points while LeBron James contributed 18 points and 11 assists in sparking the Cleveland Cavaliers to their 11th NBA victory in a row, beating Philadelphia 97-84.

The Cavaliers captured their seventh home triumph Monday in the win streak and avenged a 95-92 loss at Philadelphia last month which came when James was sidelined to rest a sore back and aching knees.

Kevin Love grabbed 15 rebounds for Cleveland while Aussie guard Irving matched a game high with five assists and pulled down five rebounds.

Aussie reserve guard Matthew Dellavedova and J.R. Smith each added 12 points for the Cavaliers, who improved to 30-20, hot on the heels of Central division leader Chicago (30-19).

The Cavaliers are only two wins shy of matching the longest win streak in franchise history, set during the 2009-2010 season before James departed Cleveland to spent four seasons in Miami until his return last July.

Cleveland can match a club-best 13-game win streak by beating the visiting Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday and winning Friday at Indiana. A potential 14th win in a row could come Sunday when the Los Angeles Lakers visit the Cavaliers.

The 76ers, averaging an NBA low 89.6 points a game coming into the contest, suffered their seventh consecutive road defeat and fell to 10-39, the worst record in the Eastern Conference and second-worst in the NBA.

Robert Covington and reserve Jerami Grant each scored 18 points to lead Philadelphia.

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London (AFP) - A slab of battered fish on top of a heap of chips doused in salt and vinegar has long been one of Britain's favourite dinners -- but now it is getting a reboot.

A new wave of fish and chip restaurants is winning fans across London, while some of the capital's most exclusive eateries have the humble dish on their menus.

The makeover for a meal which is nearly 200 years old comes despite the enduring popularity in Britain of fast foods such as curries, kebabs and burgers.

Organisers of Britain's annual National Fish and Chip Awards boast of 10,500 "chippies" around the country, saying some £1.2 billion (1.6 billion euros, $1.8 billion) are spent on the dish annually.

The organisers stressed the nutritional value, saying it was high in protein and contains vitamins while insisting that little saturated fat gets into the dish due to the speed of the frying.

At Poppies, which has branches in the fashionable London districts of Camden and Shoreditch, staff dress in retro 1950s uniforms while live bands, or the jukebox, serenade eat-in diners but the recipe is strictly no-fuss.

The menu emphasises sustainably-caught fish, locally sourced from Billingsgate Market in east London.

Owner Pat Newland, who has been serving fish and chips for over 50 years, said that, when it comes to the food, there are no gimmicks.

"There is no secret, no magic tricks -- you have to do the job properly," he added. "It is definitely a healthy meal -- some people only eat the inside."

At other new generation fish and chip restaurants in London, the fish is served in beer batter, fine wines and craft beers are served with food, while diners can order side dishes such as fennel and dill salad.

Fish and chips also grace the menus of some of the capital's top restaurants, often costing several times the price of a regular takeaway.

J. Sheekey, a celebrity hangout in the heart of theatreland, serves haddock and chips for £18.25 (24 euros, $27).

- 'Part of British culture' -

For a traditional fish and chips, the fish is dipped in a thick, tempura-like batter made from flour, eggs and milk before being deep-fried, while the chips are cut thicker than French fries. 

The fish itself is traditionally cod or haddock although some shops now serve a range of fish including rock and coley, helping cod stocks to recover.

Fish and chips is sometimes served with mushy peas -- a soupy reduction of dried peas with sugar and salt -- or scraps of leftover batter from the deep-fat fryer.

Most Britons still buy their fish and chips at no-nonsense takeaway shops where any mention of fennel salad would be snorted at as pretentious.

Last month, Britain's best fish and chip shop was named as Frankie's in the Shetland Isles, off the northeast coast of Scotland -- about as far from London both geographically and culturally as anywhere in the country.

John Gold, the shop's manager, attributes his success to the freshness of his fish rather than any fleeting fashion.

"The fish is from the North Sea. It just comes off the doorstep, you can't get any fresher," he said.

He hailed fish and chips as a dish which crosses class and geographic divides and is "part of British culture."

"Everybody loves fish and chips, everybody can tell you a story when they first had their fish and chips in the days when it used to be wrapped up in newspapers," he said. "Even Prince Charles."

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Tokyo (AFP) - Japanese consumer electronics giant Sharp on Tuesday reversed its fiscal year profit forecast, warning that it would instead lose about $256 million as its battered television business continues to bleed money.

The maker of Aquos brand electronics said it now expects to book a 30 billion yen shortfall in the year to March, after earlier predicting a profit of the same amount.

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Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Manchester United winger Adnan Januzaj hopes Tuesday's FA Cup fourth-round replay at home to lowly Cambridge United will help him to prove his worth to manager Louis van Gaal.

The 19-year-old Belgium international was one of the few success stories during the disastrous reign of van Gaal's predecessor, David Moyes.

At the corresponding stage of last season, he had made 24 appearances and scored three goals, including two in a 2-1 victory at Sunderland that heralded his arrival on the Premier League scene.

But under van Gaal, Januzaj has been involved in only 14 games to date this season, with his start in Saturday's 3-1 victory over Leicester City just his fourth of the campaign and first since November.

"I've not been playing for so long so it was good to get 90 minutes, even if I was really tired in the last 15 minutes and got cramp," said Januzaj.

"Of course we want to win the FA Cup and this is a big chance to win it. We were good going forward against Leicester and could have scored more than three goals, but hopefully we can take this into Tuesday night and win the game."

Van Gaal was more expansive when discussing the future of Januzaj, who turns 20 this week.

It was predicted that the youngster would be allowed to leave the club on loan during the January transfer window, but the United manager has been impressed by Januzaj's efforts of late and chose instead to keep him at Old Trafford.

"He has a lot of talent, but you have to perform that talent in the matches. And also in the training sessions," van Gaal told reporters.

"I'm not making the line-up. The players themselves are making the line-up. You don't believe that, I think!

"I look at players every day. I observe and I communicate with my players what I want. And the moment I think, 'OK, he is now ready to play,' then maybe I can let them play."

- Pressure 'all on United' -

The FA Cup is the only competition that United stand a realistic chance of winning and with Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur among the teams to have fallen by the wayside, the field has opened up.

United, embarrassed by a 0-0 draw in the first meeting between the sides, therefore seem certain to field a strong line-up, with van Gaal claiming he will resist the temptation to hand a debut to new goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

Perhaps distracted by the prospect of the trip to Old Trafford, Cambridge's league form has not matched their efforts in the cup, with Richard Money's side collecting just one point from their last two League Two games.

Saturday's 3-2 defeat at Luton Town, which left Cambridge in the bottom half of the English fourth tier, provided a wake-up call.

The replay will give an opportunity for midfielder Luke Chadwick to return to the club where he started his career, while winger Ryan Donaldson also has some experience of the stadium.

Aged 17, Donaldson sat on the bench at Old Trafford for his former club Newcastle United.

"Kevin Keegan was the manager. I never got on, but it was a fantastic atmosphere," he recalled. "And the pitch seemed huge. Maybe that will suit me if I am in a wide role again.

"But no matter what happens, it will be an incredible night. And the pressure is all on them, isn't it?"

The winners of the game will visit either Preston North End or giant-killers Sheffield United, who fell to Tottenham in the League Cup semi-finals last week. The two third-tier sides meet at Bramall Lane.

In Tuesday's other replay, Premier League Sunderland visit Fulham, while Liverpool travel to second-division Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday with a fifth-round trip to Crystal Palace up for grabs.

Fixtures (1945 GMT)

Tuesday:

Fulham v Sunderland, Manchester United v Cambridge United, Sheffield United v Preston North End

Wednesday:

Bolton Wanderers v Liverpool

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Hong Kong (AFP) - Alibaba founder Jack Ma has defended his company's reputation after authorities accused it of allowing "illegal" actions on its multi-billion-dollar online shopping platform, saying he does not want it to be seen as a hub for fake products.

The Chinese billionaire spoke out after a powerful Beijing regulator delivered an unusual dressing down of the prominent company, publishing a survey saying only about a third of products sampled from Alibaba's consumer-to-consumer marketplace Taobao were genuine.

"We don't want (to be) misunderstood by the world that we are not transparent. We don't want (to be) misunderstood by the world that Taobao is a platform for selling fake products," Ma said late Monday on a visit to Hong Kong.

In rare public criticism of a domestic firm, the State Administration for Industry & Commerce (SAIC) last week accused Alibaba of allowing "illegal operations" to flourish on its websites, and told its executives to "overcome arrogance."

The SAIC, charged with maintaining market order in China, took aim at Taobao -- which is estimated to hold more than 90 percent of the domestic market -- as well as Tmall.com, a business-to-consumer platform.

Ma said Monday that the company is listening to regulators and pushing for change, adding that the e-commerce giant has sent 400 people to jail for selling fake products.

"Doing business anywhere with any regulatory (bodies) you will have a problem, you have to talk, communicate, listen, change and push. This is what we are doing," Ma said.

The comments come after Ma met on Friday with SAIC director Zhang Mao, which could signal a de-escalation of the dispute.

Alibaba is often described as the Chinese version of eBay, but it surpassed the US company in China more than a decade ago, essentially forcing it to retreat in the Chinese market.

Ma, a former English teacher, regained the title of Asia's richest man with the anticipated listing of his firm's Zhejiang Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group, worth $50 billion, Bloomberg News reported.

The financial services firm is mulling a private share sale before an IPO in 2016, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the company.

Ma said Monday it was "still a bit early" to reveal detailed plans for the company known as Ant Financial, but indicated that a listing for this year was off the cards. 

Ma and Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing have been vying for the title of the richest man in Asia in the past couple of months, with Li losing the title in December after holding it since 2012.

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It's time to kick off another round of worrying about the tech bubble.

According to the New York Times, there was a "sense of foreboding" hanging over a panel discussion about venture capital at Harvard Business School on Sunday.

Adam Valkin at General Catalyst warned, "My own view is we still have one, two or three very good years ahead. But then we should be cautious, because there’s no example in history where the cycle doesn’t come to an end and drag us through a very painful period."

Hmm. That sounds familiar....

2014: "There is a clear consensus that we are witnessing our second tech bubble in 15 years....What is uncertain is how much further the bubble can expand, and what might pop it."— David Einhorn, hedge fund manager

Source: Los Angeles Times, May 1, 2014

2013: 82% of investors and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said that Internet and social media stocks were at or near "unsustainable levels."

Source: Bloomberg, November 21, 2013.

2012: "The proper question is not are we in a tech bubble, but where are we on the timeline of the bubble? How long before it pops?"—Michael Wolff, writing for The Guardian after the Facebook IPO

Source: The Guardian, May 18, 2012.