Today, Sudanese foreign minister Ali Karti reportedly attended the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, along with president Barack Obama and numerous members of Congress. 

Karti is a high-ranking official from a US-sanctioned government and a State Department-listed state sponsor of terrorism. Karti's specific rap sheet is fairly long as well, and includes "spearhead[ing] efforts to kick out senior UN officials" and overseeing brutal local militias during the Sudan's long-running north-south civil war.

His presence at one of Capitol Hill's major annual events was notable enough for him to be uninvited to a more exclusive pre-breakfast meeting, according to multiple sources Business Insider consulted.

But the question of what Karti was doing at the prayer breakfast is perhaps less interesting than what he was doing in the US, period. Karti is a prominent official from a US-sanctioned government. And he was apparently allowed to travel to the US in a private capacity and without any official diplomatic business.

"The directors of the National Prayer Breakfast invited Foreign Minister Karti to attend their event, taking place today," a State Department official told Business Insider. "To our knowledge, he is not meeting with any administrative officials." (The breakfast is organized by a group called The Fellowship Foundation).

Bart Fisher, whose law firm provides legal advice to Sudan's government with the aim of "untangling" the US sanctions regime, told Business Insider that he did not know who invited Karti to the prayer breakfast and was not aware of the purpose of Karti's visit to the US. "That's news to me that he attended the National Prayer Breakfast," Fisher said when reached for comment this morning. "He's a fine man and if he's in the US, I'm sure it's for a good purpose."

Karti is not the only high-ranking Sudanese official in Washington this week. Ibrahim Ghandour, a close advisor to Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, is also in the US to meet with the office of the US's Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan. Ghandour is reportedly in the US so that American officials can discuss the Khartoum regime's refusal to allow US special envoy Donald Booth to visit Sudan and to figure out ways to improve ongoing bilateral dialogue between the countries.

The State Department might have decided that blocking Karti from visiting the US would jeopardize their objectives in meeting with Ghandour and would have been needlessly provocative in the run-up to this fairly high-level diplomatic meeting. And as Fisher told Business Insider, he's noticed the Obama administration's attitude toward Sudan soften somewhat since his firm began advising the Sudanese government.

Fisher says that the administration has been receptive in reconsidering whether certain Sudanese entities should remain under US sanctions. "I say I think we're going in the right direction — I believe more positive than when I started on this exercise three years ago," he told Business Insider.

This also isn't the only time in the past year that Karti has traveled within the United States in a less-than-official capacity. In September, Karti addressed the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York. Shortly afterwards, he delivered a keynote address at a World Peace Day event organized by the Charlotte Cooperation Council in Charlotte, North Carolina.

According to the AP, the US will often issue visas that limit diplomats from "countries it disfavors" to a 25-mile radius of New York, in order to allow those countries to maintain a UN mission. Sam Wazan, who extended the speaking invitation to Karti, told Business Insider that both law enforcement and local government in Charlotte were informed of Karti's visit and organizers were "unaware of any limitations on his visa."

The semi-recent visit to Charlotte, along with this second, also unofficial trip, suggests that Karti is under a visa regime that allows him to travel to the US without an official invitation or an explicit diplomatic mission — and that lets him go places other than New York and Washington. And if it turns out Karti traveled for the prayer breakfast without having to apply for a US visa or inform the State Department ahead of time, it suggests that he possesses a multi-entry visa and has remarkably broad latitude to enter the US.

When asked whether Karti was visiting the US on a multiple entry visa, a State Department official told Business Insider that "Visa cases are confidential under US law," adding that "We cannot discuss the details of individual cases."

Several advocates believe that Karti shouldn't have any right to enter the United States. Eric Reeves, a Smith College professor and researcher who has proven influential in shaping both official and US public opinion around Sudan-related issues, argues that Karti's presence violates the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office's own rules preventing the admission of "foreign war crimes suspects, persecutors, and human rights abusers into the United States."

Esther Sprague, a co-founder of Act for Sudan and founder of Sudan Unlimited, also objects to Karti's presence in the US. "It doesn't make sense to reward the regime that's committing ongoing violence against the Sudanese people with visits to the US, which is a reward," she told Business Insider.

She believes it's wishful thinking to believe that someone like Karti — who represents a US-sanctioned government and has been accused of war crimes — is capable of visiting the US in anything like a non-official capacity. "He's a public figure. And he has blood on his hands."

SEE ALSO: The most important thing in the US that no one is talking about

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Economists estimate the US added 230,000 jobs in January.

Pantheon Macroeconomics' Ian Shepherdson, however, thinks the number could be a blowout.

The NFIB Signal

"The odds favor a robust January payroll report," Shepherdson wrote on Thursday. "The key leading indicator—the NFIB hiring intentions index from five months ago—points to a 275,000 increase, while the coincident NFIB actual employment change index suggests 260,000."

Shepherdson, who forecasts 250,000 nonfarm payrolls were added, charted it (see above right).

The Jobless Claims Signal

Societe Generale's Brian Jones is also bullish about Friday's jobs report. He estimates 275,000 nonfarm payrolls were added in January.

Jones points to the signal sent by initial unemployment insurance claims filed during the jobs report survey period.

"Several factors point to a pick-up in hiring during the reference period," Jones wrote. "Consistent with little change in the pace of pink-slipping, initial claims for unemployment insurance averaged 302,000 over the five weeks leading up to the January establishment period, not much different from the 299,000 mean posted over the relevant prior-month span."

"[T]he level of claims is still consistent with payrolls rising by nearly 300K," Shepherdson noted.

So, maybe we get a blowout number.

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NOW WATCH: Nationwide's Super Bowl commercial about dead children is about corporate profits ... in a way that we can all appreciate

Google is the 800-pound Gorilla in search and online advertising, and about 90% of its revenue from ads.

But the company knows it can't be a one-trick pony forever.

“For many years they talked about how investments would be 70 percent in core search, 20 percent on things ancillary to search and 10 percent on moonshots,” Ben Schachter, an analyst with Macquarie Securities told The New York Times. “Now we’re pretty far from that. What does that mean for the company?”

While the income potential of those "moonshots" is still unknown (Google Glass, Google Fiber, driverless cars), Google actually has been systematically carving a considerable niche for itself in the enterprise tech business.

Companies spend about $4 trillion on technology worldwide and billions of that are suddenly being spent on cloud computing. And that's where Google plays.

Technology Business Research analyst Jillian Mirandi estimated that this was a $1.6 billion for Google in 2014. That may be tiny compared the $66 billion in 2014, but $1 billion+ business still isn't exactly peanuts.

According to Amit Singh, president of Google's enterprise unit, Google At Work, Google actually has a long list of products for the enterprise. Notice that all of them compete with products from its rival Microsoft.

They are:

1. Google Search for Work is also called the Google Search Appliance. Companies install can install the appliance, or use a Google search service to add search to their internal systems or websites. This was Google's first enterprise product.
2. Gmail for Work is only offered as part the Google Apps suit, but it is one of the major reasons companies buy Apps and companies can customize it.
3. Drive for Work is Google's unlimited cloud storage product, that competes with Microsoft OneDrive as well as Box and Dropbox.
4. Docs is a word processor, also part of Google Apps, that's known for its collaboration features.
5. Videoconferencing is available as a cloud service called Hangouts or as a device called Chromebox for Meetings. This competes with Microsoft's Skype and Lync for meetings, as well as expensive room based systems like Cisco's Telepresence.
6. Google Maps for Work is a service that allows developers to embed maps and GPS software into their apps. For instance, maps is embedded in Android Auto, which is how a car like Tesla provides GPS directions, and used by MapMyFITNESS. Microsoft offers a competing mapping service from Bing Maps.
7. Chrome for Work, a version of Google's Chrome browser that IT professionals can easily manage for thousands of users.
8. Chromebooks are cloud PCs that uss the ChromeOS operating system. Google has a Chromebooks for Work program, which includes options of interest to businesses. This program even offers apps that let you run Windows on a Chromebook (in geek speak, that's a "virtual desktop infrastructure" or VDI.)
9. Android for Work, which is a special version of Android with extra security and features for businesses. It also includes specific version of Android like Android Auto, for car infotainment systems. This competes with Microsoft and Apple, and others.
10. Google Cloud computing, "That’s a big thing," Singh jokes. Cloud consists of Google App Engine for writing and hosting apps, Google Compute Engine, which lets you rent computers and upload your own apps, Cloud Storage, for storing stuff related to your apps. On top of that are a ton of other apps databases, containers (the latest craze in app development), big data analysis apps and the like. Google's cloud competes with Microsoft's Azure and Amazon's Web Services.

Although Google won't reveal revenue for any of these products, or for its enterprise unit at all, it sent us the following statistics to show off some of the growth Google At Work had in 2014:

• More than 60% of the Fortune 500 are actively using a paid Google for Work product (e.g. Apps, Clouds, Maps, Search, etc.)
• Internally, Google hit its goal of 95% customer satisfaction (CSAT) for Google Apps customers, an improvement from 80% two years ago years ago and across all Google for Work products, the CSAT score is more than 90%.
• Google Apps has ore than 5 million businesses customers.
• More than 1,800 customers are signing up for Drive for Work each week
• More than 40 million students, teachers and administrators use Google Apps for Education.
• Google is winning cloud customers away from AWS, such as Atomic Fiction, dotCloud, and Just Develop IT (JDI).
• Between all the apps hosted on App Engine, it serves 28 billion requests per day
• Google's cloud database, Cloud Datastore, performs 6.3 trillion operations per month
• At least 5 million Chromebooks were sold in 2014, accounting for about 1% of the PC market.

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According to the median economists' forecast, the US added 230,000 jobs in January.

Some expect that number to be higher. Others, lower.

For what it's worth, the January jobs number has a history of missing economists' expectations when it's first released.

"Over the past 10 years, the initial January payrolls print has fallen short of the consensus expectations 9 times, with an average miss of 57K - though the initial estimates were subsequently revised significantly higher in each of the last 5 years," TD Securities Millan Mulraine noted.

This doesn't really say much. If anything, it reveals a little about how bad economists are at forecasting the payrolls report.

Having said that, Mulraine believes the economic conditions support support a stronger number. He estimates 245,00o nonfarm payrolls were added in January.

SEE ALSO: 2 stats suggest Friday's jobs report will be a blowout

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NOW WATCH: Nationwide's Super Bowl commercial about dead children is about corporate profits ... in a way that we can all appreciate

On Thursday, Twitter delivered a solid earnings report.

After the report, we got some time to talk to CEO Dick Costolo on the phone.

We asked him about what he learned in his first year of doing earnings calls, what it feels like to have people calling for him to be fired, and whether his plan for growing Twitter's business makes sense.

The transcript of our call is below. But before diving in, here's a quick recap of what we learned from Twitter's earnings report.

Revenue was $479 million, up 97% year-over-year, well ahead of expectations. Twitter's monthly active users were 288 million, which was 4 million worse than expected, and only up 20% year-over-year. 

This, in a nut shell, is the story of Twitter as a public company. Its business is strong, even if its usage is weak. 

This quarter, investors decided they didn't mind weak user growth. The stock shot up 11% after hours.

Perhaps part of the reason investors didn't mind this quarter's slow user growth is that Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said on the earnings call that monthly active users are on pace to match growth Twitter saw in the first three quarters of 2014. That suggests Twitter will add ~14.3 million users.

Twitter has rolled out a number of new product enhancements which it believes will keep current Twitter users happy, and attract new users. 

Here's our chat with Costolo, lightly edited in spots for clarity.

Business Insider: This is your one-year anniversary of doing one-year earnings reports. What did you learn in 12 months of being a public company?

Dick Costolo: The interesting thing for me is that the whole structure of an earnings call, being in a room with an audio mic and lots of other people on the other end who you can't see, is a very different thing than you're used to going through.

It's like being on a conference call with 300 people, and you're answering questions but you can't really see anyone, you can't read anybody's body language, and for somebody who's spent a lot of time talking in front of people and being able to look at the audience, it took me some time to get used to that format just because it's such a different environment I've been through before. 

BI: What about the reaction to Twitter's business and priorities and what people focus on? How does that compare to what you expected 12 months ago?

DC: We're very clear on what our priorities are, and the strategy we've laid out against those priorities, and being clear to the market about how we're executing against those specific priorities and what's coming next, we have a very clear message we're delivering there.

BI: The past quarter I imagine has been rough for you personally, there's been a lot more chatter about trying to get rid of you, what does that feel like to turn on TV and have people talking about you?

DC: You develop a thick skin. If you want to develop a thick skin, a public company CEO is a good job to have.

Look, great leaders focus on what they need to do and what needs to happen over the long-term, and they focus on building their team and making sure their team is working well together, and getting out ahead of what's coming next and looking around corners, and then working with the team to make sure they're executing against those opportunities.

That's got to be what you do irrespective of whatever's happening in the outside world or whatever people are saying. I think I've gotten good at that.

BI: Turning more specifically to the business, one of the things you talked about on this call was the Google deal bringing in more logged-out users.  How do you think about that? When you look at a company like Yahoo, the display business is down. It seems like all the ad growth online is mobile, or social, or native advertising. What you're essentially creating is a display ad unit for logged out users. When you have people who come in through search you don't get the rich targeting like you do in your app. Are these logged-in users going to be less valuable than people in the app?

DC: We still are going to be using the same native ad units, the Promoted Tweets. The content that's also an ad is going to be the same unit. We like our ad unit a lot, we know that others in the market have replicated it, so were going to stick with that.

As regards targeting, look we have this whole internal scrap about people who are logged in, it's also the case that we'll know a lot about people who are coming as logged-out users and why they've come there. A lot of those users come direct via searches, directly from a search engine, so we'll know about them. We'll know of course around events and specific topics, and in the moment what's happening in the world, we'll know the kinds of things that are happening and be able to direct our targeted ads into those experiences. So there's a lot of the existing targeting capabilities that we'll still be able to bring to these experiences.

If you think about the way we deliver ads today into Twitter today to the logged in users, a lot of them are done in the same way, look at the Super Bowl, or World Cup, they're topic and events-based experiences that people are driven to, and those are the same kinds of things that we'll display to users that come and browse topics and events that aren't logged in.

BI: Revenue's growing 100%, that's great. But user growth is at 20%. People worry that the revenue growth is coming off a small base, and eventually you're going to saturate on that and it's going to match where that user growth is. Eventually, revenue will be 20%, just like user growth. What do you say to that?

DC: During the Super Bowl, and in the immediate aftermath, we had over 2.5 billion impressions of tweets about the Super Bowl. On Twitter, off Twitter, syndicated across the web, wherever. So when we talk about pursuing that total audience strategy, and then delivering monetization capabilities across that total audience, that's why we think there's such a massive opportunity there.

BI: Should people still focus on monthly active users? Is that what you look at on the inside, is that the number-one metric you want to drive growth on?

DC: Our number-one priority is to strengthen the core and make Twitter an increasingly daily use case for the people who come to Twitter and are already logged in. However, that is one of three priorities of an overall total audience strategy that I think will give us all sorts of monetization strategies.

BI: There's all sorts of talk about people who have tried Twitter and left. Are they gone forever? Or can you get those people back? Will they take a second or third shot with things like these instant timelines?

DC: Yes. We fully believe we can get them back into the platform and get them into a healthy engaged experience quickly. That instant timeline capability we're rolling out is a real learning product for us. We're going to learn a lot how people engage with it, what works and what doesn't, and iterate on it quickly. So I expect that to get better and better and better, and as it does, we're going to offer it as a resurrected experience to people who maybe tried Twitter two years ago or three years ago and come back and instead of dropping them into the timeline they had at the time, dropping them into one of these new more engaging experiences.

BI: Tell me about the iOS 8 bug. How'd you lose 4 million users last quarter?

DC: There were two issues. One was Safari auto-polling, and that was 3 million users and we don't expect to get those users back. The other issue that was more complex was an encryption issue related to the Twitter integration into iOS, such that when users integrated, a lot of them weren't able to launch Twitter successfully. That was a much more complex issue, it did not have a one-size-fits-all fix, so the team here worked as quickly as possible to address it but it caused a large number of users to not be able to use the product, even those who were trying repeatedly to figure out ways to get in. That's been a much more complex thing to address. It continues to be an issue, as users upgrade to iOS8 there's a risk that some users run into it and we continue to work to minimize the impact.

BI: Finally, we've seen a lot of new product launches. It looks like promoting Kevin Weil to run consumer product was the right call.

DC: The thing I'm really exited about on the team, I know externally you can sometimes look at it and say, this is happening now, and this thing changed, so this is directly responsible for that. I think the beauty of the team is how well it's working together. It's not just the individuals are strong, it's how well the team is working together both to move quickly and look at opportunities down the road...that's what I'm really really psyched about.

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NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has snapped new images of Pluto — the first taken by the probe during its six-month approach to the dwarf planet.

New Horizons captured the new photos — which show Pluto and its largest moon, Charon — with its telescopic camera on Jan. 25 and Jan. 27, when the probe was about 126 million miles (203 million kilometers) from the Pluto system.

The images, and many others like it taken over the next few months, will help New Horizons stay on target for a highly anticipated close flyby of Pluto on July 14.

NASA released the photos today (Feb. 4), on the birthday of American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930. (Tombaugh died in 1997 at age 90.) [Photos from NASA's New Horizons Pluto Probe]

"This is our birthday tribute to Professor Tombaugh and the Tombaugh family, in honor of his discovery and life achievements, which truly became a harbinger of 21st century planetary astronomy," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said in a statement.

"These images of Pluto, clearly brighter and closer than those New Horizons took last July from twice as far away, represent our first steps at turning the pinpoint of light Clyde saw in the telescopes at Lowell Observatory 85 years ago into a planet before the eyes of the world this summer," Stern added.

"My dad would be thrilled with New Horizons," said Annette Tombaugh, Clyde's daughter. "To actually see the planet that he had discovered, and find out more about it — to get to see the moons of Pluto — he would have been astounded. I'm sure it would have meant so much to him if he were still alive today."

The $700 million New Horizons mission launched in January 2006, with the aim of giving scientists their first-ever good looks at Pluto, which remains mysterious today because it is relatively small and lies so far away from Earth. (On average, Pluto orbits about 39 times farther from the sun than Earth does.)

New Horizons is equipped with seven different science instruments to study Pluto and its five known moons. Mission team members aim to map the surface composition and temperature of Pluto and Charon, and characterize the geology of both worlds; study Pluto's atmosphere; and search for rings and additional moons in the system, among other goals.

Last month, New Horizons began the "encounter phase" of its mission, which will be highlighted by the July 14 close flyby. On that date, the probe will zoom within just 8,500 miles (13,600 km) of the dwarf planet's surface.

But New Horizons will be eyeing Pluto intently in the lead-up to the closest approach as well. Sometime in May, the probe should start returning the highest-resolution photos of the dwarf planet ever taken. These images will be even sharper than those captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, mission team members have said.

And New Horizons' work may not be done after the Pluto encounter. Stern and his colleagues want to send the probe on a flyby of another object in the Kuiper Belt, the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune. If NASA approves and funds this extended mission, the second flyby would occur in 2019.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

• Photos of Pluto and Its Moons
• Onward To Pluto - New Horizons' Epic Journey Animated
• Dwarf Planet Pluto: Facts About the Icy Former Planet

Copyright 2015 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

SEE ALSO: Will humans ever escape our solar system?

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NOW WATCH: Neil deGrasse Tyson: Pluto Is Not A Planet So 'Get Over It'

This Sunday, Feb. 8, SpaceX will make a second attempt at a historic rocket landing on a floating platform in the ocean.

A 22-story-tall Falcon 9 rocket will lift off out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida a couple of minutes after sunset, at 6:10 pm ET. And within a half hour or so after take off, the rocket will return from space and attempt to guide its way, using GPS tracking, onto a droneship in the Atlantic.

Five years ago, a landing attempt like this was unheard of. But SpaceX is changing things up and paving the way for a new era of reusable rockets. The company, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has gone to great lengths to build the foundations for a future of cheap space travel. The key to that future is reusable rockets that can carry cargo and astronauts into space multiple times instead of only once.

So far, SpaceX has never recovered a rocket for reuse. But if everything goes according to plan this Sunday and the rocket lands softly, it would be a game changer.

And with 17 potential rocket launches scheduled for 2015, there's plenty of opportunity to get it right even if this latest attempt doesn't work. 

Technology for the future

The landing attempt isn't the only exciting thing about Sunday's launch. For this launch, the rocket will also ferry an important instrument into space: the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). 

DSCOVR, shown to the right, is the latest instrument that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will use to monitor solar winds. The sun emits gusts of high-energy particles in the form of solar wind, and when those gusts occasionally reach Earth's magnetic field it can disrupt power grids, telecommunications, aviation, and GPS here on Earth. 

Having a satellite like this is "the first line of defense ...for us to be able to take the appropriate action to protect our system from any impacts that could happen," said David Velazquez, the executive vice president for Pepco Holdings Inc —a holding company for the Potomac Electric Power Company — in a NOAA video.

After the rocket detaches from DSCOVR in space, the climate observatory will begin a 110-day long journey to its final orbit while the rocket will head back toward Earth.

There's a special point in space, called Lagrangian Point 1, where a spacecraft can orbit so that it will always remain between Earth and the Sun.

"The L1 position will provide DSCOVR with a point of 'early warning' when a surge of particles and magnetic field from the sun will hit Earth,"NASA said in a statement. The observatory will sound the alarm for a surge of oncoming powerful particles by 30 to 45 minutes ahead of time.

If the launch is aborted, SpaceX has also prepared a backup launch opportunity for 6:07 pm on Monday Feb. 9. 

NASA TV will be streaming the launch live starting at 3:30 pm ET on Sunday. The LiveStream is provided below.

LEARN MORE: SpaceX Has Pinpointed The Problem That Caused The Falcon9 Rocket To Crash Land

SEE ALSO: SUCCESS: Elon Musk Landed A Rocket On A Platform In The Ocean

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NOW WATCH: Watch The Successful Launch Of The SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket

In the first quarter of 2014, 198 million U.S. consumers bought something online, according to comScore's quarterly State Of Retail report. That translates to 78% of the U.S. population age 15 and above. 

But who are these shoppers driving the trend of buying online and on mobile devices? 

In a new report, BI Intelligence breaks down the demographics of U.S. online and mobile shoppers by gender, age, income, and education, and takes a look at what they're shopping for, and how their behaviors differ. 

It's important for retailers to know who their potential customers are online in order to market to them effectively. 

Here are some of the most important takeaways about who shops online:

• The conventional wisdom is that women drive shopping trends, since they control up to 80% of household spending. However, when it comes to e-commerce, men drive nearly as much spending online in the U.S. as women.
• Men are more likely to make purchases on mobile devices. Fifty-seven percent of women made a purchase online in 2013, compared to 52% of men, according to a study conducted by SeeWhy. But 22% of men made a purchase on their smartphones last year, compared to 18% of women. 
• Millennials, those consumers aged 18 to 34, remain the key age demographic for online commerce, spending more money online in a given year than any other age group.They spend around $2,000 annually on e-commerce. This, despite having lower incomes than older adults. 
• Boomers and seniors have adopted mobile commerce. One in four mobile shoppers in the U.S. is over the age of 55. That's about even with their share of the overall U.S. population. 
• Online shoppers tend to live in households with higher-than-typical incomes.An Experian survey found that 55% of e-commerce shoppers in the U.S. live in households with incomes above $75,000 (40% were in households earning $100,000 and above). The median household income in the U.S. is around $50,000, according to the Census. 

Access The Full Report by Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

In full, the report:

• Explains why men are so much more important for e-commerce retail, compared to in-store, and why they are more likely to buy on smartphones than women. 
• Indexes e-commerce spending by age group against the amount of time a given demographic spends online.
• Breaks down online spending habits of teens, including the brands and products they shop for. 
• Examines the factors behind what drives online purchases among millennials.
• Identifies Gen X, boomer, and older consumers' online spending tendencies.
• Looks at how education and income influence e-commerce spending.

For full access to all BI Intelligence's reports, charts, and newsletters covering the e-commerce industry, sign up and get started. 

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NOW WATCH: Why Bethany Mota Has A Legion Of 10 Million Fans Waiting For Her Next YouTube Video

Washington (AFP) - Termites, the pesky insects whose fondness for wood makes them the bane of homeowners, help halt desertification in semi-arid areas and protect against the effects of climate change, a study said.

In grasslands, savannahs and arid areas of Africa, Latin America and Asia, termite mounds, which store moisture and nutrients and contain multiple tunnels, allow water to better penetrate the ground, said the authors of the study in the journal Science.

Vegetation thrives on termite mounds in ecosystems vulnerable to desertification.

"The rain is the same everywhere, but because termites allow water to penetrate the soil better, the plants grow on or near the mounds as if there were more rain," said lead study author Corina Tarnita of Princeton University.

"Even when you get to such harsh conditions where vegetation disappears from the mounds, revegetation is still easier. As long as the mounds are there, the ecosystem has a better chance to recover."

Jef Huisman, an aquatic microbiology professor and theoretical ecologist at the University of Amsterdam who did not participate in the research, said the research shows that early warning signals for desertification were too simple in the past, and failed to take into account nature's complexities.

According to current models, there are five stages in the transition to desert, each with specific characteristics in terms of vegetation growth, and scientists can use satellite images to determine an area's desertification stage.

But semi-arid ecosystems with termite mounds and those in the fifth and last stage appeared very similar, the researchers said.

The scientists thus showed that what had appeared to be the final stage before desertification was sometimes the total opposite, thanks to termite mounds.

Climate models, Huisman added, should better take into account the impact of organisms such as termites and mussels that "engineer their own environment."

Ants, prairie dogs, gophers and other mound-building creatures could play an important role in the ecosystem, said co-author Robert Pringle, assistant professor in ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton.

"I like to think of termites as linchpins of the ecosystem in more than one way," Pringle said. 

"They increase the productivity of the system, but they also make it more stable, more resilient."

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Washington (AFP) - Olympic champion turned reality TV star Bruce Jenner has Americans' rapt attention once again amid talk that he is soon to come out as transgender.

People magazine, a trusted conduit for Hollywood publicists, reported this week that Jenner, 65, would open up in a forthcoming interview with ABC News.

"Bruce is transitioning to a woman," the celebrity news weekly quoted a source close to the family as saying, after weeks of tabloid speculation.

"He is finally happy and his family is accepting of what he's doing. He's in such a great space. That's why it's the perfect time to do something like this."

Jenner's 88-year-old mother Esther Jenner, who lives in Idaho, meanwhile told RadarOnline.com that she had "just learned" about her son's gender transition.

"I have never been more proud of Bruce for who he is, himself as a father, as an Olympian, a wonderful public speaker," she told the gossip website.

"He instills enthusiasm in people. He's gifted."

In the latest twist, the Kardashian family -- into which Jenner has been married -- cancelled all press events Thursday in the run-up to season 10 of their hit reality TV show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians."

Jenner himself has been lying low, ahead of the premiere of a documentary that will reportedly chronicle his gender transition.

Speculation that the actor, race-car enthusiast and 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics decathlon gold medallist is undergoing a sex change has been rich fodder for supermarket tabloids for months.

Supposed telltale signs, based on paparazzi photos from the streets of Los Angeles, include shaved limbs, long hair worn in a ponytail and what appears to be a sports bra under a T-shirt.

- Throat surgery clue -

In late January, Jenner was seen emerging from a Beverly Hills clinic with a bandage around neck, presumably after surgery to flatten his Adam's apple.

Known as a laryngeal shave, the procedure -- which involves reducing cartilage in the throat for a more feminine look -- is common among transgenders.

"I just never liked my trachea," he told the TMZ.com gossip website prior to the outpatient operation.

American society is widely perceived as becoming more accepting of gender diversity, as seen by the legalization of same-sex marriage in many states.

Transgender people, however, still face "staggering levels of discrimination and violence," according to LGBT media activist group GLAAD.

In the media, they typically appear as either victims or villains, GLAAD said, although the Golden Globe-winning Amazon original series "Transparent" has cast them in a more sympathetic light.

Born outside New York in October 1949, thrice-married Jenner became an American sports hero when he set a world record with his Montreal decathlon victory.

Leveraging his fame, he appeared on boxes of Wheaties, a popular American cereal known as "the breakfast of champions," then tried his hand as a movie actor, with less than stellar results.

He did better on television, appearing in the 1980s police series "CHiPs" and sitcom "Silver Spoons" among other shows, and in 2003 the American version of "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!"

But it was through his marriage to the former Kris Kardashian that he once again became a household name in "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" in which he appeared as the sometimes bemused stepfather of her flamboyant daughters Kourtney, Kim and Khloe.

"I had it all, and then I met Kris," he quipped in one episode. 

"It's typical for me to be forgotten in this family," he added in another.

He and Kris Kardashian have two daughters of their own, but they obtained a divorce in December, 14 months after separating -- although he has been seen still wearing a wedding ring.

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Last month, December's jobs report revealed that average hourly earnings actually declined month-over-month by 0.2%.

This was the first decline since July 2013. It was all the the biggest drop in recorded history, which only goes back to 2006.

Indeed, a reasonable amount of wage growth has been one of the few things missing in the US economic recovery.

Many economists point to a number of structural factors to explain anemic aggregate wage growth. Among other things, they include aging demographics and the stalling skills of those returning to the workforce.

Regardless of the explanation, December's weak average hourly earnings number was stunning.

For some economists, this average hourly earnings figure may be even more important than the number of jobs created during the month.

"Most importantly, we are interested to see if the unexpected drop in December average hourly earnings (-0.2%) is revised away, which is possible,"Deutsche Bank's Joe LaVorgna wrote. "Thus far, wage pressures have been largely muted. However, we doubt wage inflation will remain contained much longer if the labor market continues to generate 200k-plus monthly payroll gains alongside weak productivity readings."

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg are looking for 0.3% month-over-month growth in January. LaVorgna expects 0.2%.

We shall see.

SEE ALSO: Get ready for the jobs report

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Sydney (AFP) - A Liberal member of parliament announced Friday he will initiate a leadership challenge next week to unseat Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

West Australian MP Luke Simpkins emailed colleagues saying he would make the move at a meeting of Liberal lawmakers set for Tuesday.

"I think we must bring this to a head and test the support of the leadership," he wrote.

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La Jolla (United States) (AFP) - Tiger Woods limped out of the US PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines after 11 holes as back trouble left him well off the pace set by Nicholas Thompson.

Thompson on Thursday fired an eight-under par 64 for the clubhouse lead in the fog-disrupted round, which was halted by darkness with 42 players still on the course.

By the time play was halted, 14-time major champion Woods was long gone.

The 39-year-old superstar could be seen grimacing and rubbing his back during the round and was two-over for the day when he spoke to his playing partners on the Torrey Pines North Course and walked gingerly away, eventually being taken off in a golf cart.

In a brief word with reporters, 39-year-old Woods said his lower back got tight during one of two fog delays that held up play for a total of more than two hours on Thursday morning.

"I just never loosened back up again," he said in a brief interview in the parking lot. "And when we went back out it just got progressively worse."

Woods' early departure follows his career-worst 82 in the second round last week at Phoenix, where he missed the cut by 12 strokes.

Woods, chasing the record 18 major titles won by Jack Nicklaus, said in Arizona that he was not injured and just needed more tournament work to try to recover his lost form.

He was no doubt hoping to get that at Torrey Pines, where his eight titles include his most recent major triumph, at the 2008 US Open.

Instead Woods, who has fallen to 56th in the world, endured yet another setback.

"It's frustrating that it started shutting down like that," Woods said. "I was ready to go. I had a good warmup session the first time around, and I stood out here and got cold and it started deactivating again."

Woods said the pain was "different" from the back pain he dealt with early last year, when he opted for surgery on March 31 to ease a pinched nerve and missed the Masters and US Open while recovering.

Overall in six PGA Tour events since he returned to competition at the PGA Tour's National, Woods has missed three cuts -- including at the 2014 PGA Championship, withdrawn twice and finished 69th at the British Open.

- Thompson seeks first title -

Thompson, seeking his first PGA Tour title, is coming off a missed cut in Phoenix.

He had a one-stroke lead over Michael Thompson, while Brooks Koepka, the winner in Phoenix, opened with a six-under 66 to share third place with Cameron Tringale.

It was a further stroke back to England's Ian Poulter, Chad Campbell, Sweden's Freddie Jacobson, Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas, Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge and Chris Kirk on 67.

Phil Mickelson, a three-time winner of the tournament, was at one-over par through 15 holes when play was halted.

Dustin Johnson, who was making his first tour start since last year's Canadian Open was two-over with one to play on Torrey's South Course, the more difficult of two layouts in use over the first two rounds.

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New York (AFP) - Data on as many as 80 million customers at US health insurance giant Anthem was stolen by hackers, officials confirmed Thursday, in a cyberattack investigators have reportedly linked to China.

The Bloomberg News agency cited three people with knowledge of Anthem's investigation as saying that cybersleuths believed the breach bore the hallmarks of previous attacks blamed on Chinese hackers.  

The cyberattack is just the latest exposing personal information on millions of people in the United States, triggering calls for companies to beef up their data defenses.

"Cyberattackers executed a very sophisticated attack to gain unauthorized access to one of Anthem's IT systems and have obtained personal information relating to consumers and Anthem employees who are currently covered, or who have received coverage in the past," a statement from the second-largest US health insurer said.

"Once the attack was discovered, Anthem immediately made every effort to close the security vulnerability, contacted the FBI and began fully cooperating with their investigation," said chief executive Joseph Swedish.

"Anthem's own associates' personal information -- including my own -- was accessed during this security breach. We join you in your concern and frustration, and I assure you that we are working around the clock to do everything we can to further secure your data."

The information includes names, birth dates, social security numbers, street addresses, email addresses and employment information, the company said.

"The affected database has records for 80 million people and tens of millions" of them were stolen, spokeswoman Cindy Wakefield said.

China link

Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal reported that while the investigation into the attack was nascent, there were indications it could be part of a broader spying campaign instead of profit-driven identity theft.

With details about a person's medical records, for example, cyber spies could craft emails that appear legitimate but are rigged with malicious software to gain access into networks of businesses or government agencies where they work. 

Last year, US retailer Home Depot said 53 million email addresses were stolen, months after fellow retailer Target said personal data on 70 million customers was accessed.

Some experts say medical data can be even more lucrative to hackers than credit cards because they can create fake identities for prescription drugs to be resold, or file false insurance claims.

Security experts welcomed Anthem's decision to make the issue public swiftly.

"I'm pleased to see Anthem publishing information about the security breach online, and I'm sure customers will be grateful that the company has not tried to hide away the news," independent security researcher Graham Cluley said in a blog post.

"But what's really necessary is for companies and organizations to do a better job at protecting our personal information. Too many firms who are entrusted with data from the general public are finding themselves in the uncomfortable position of admitting that they have been hacked."

The United States government has long accused China of mounting an aggressive cyberwar against American companies and interests, charges routinely denied by Beijing.

FBI director James Comey last October said China was at the "top of the list" of countries launching cyberattacks on US firms.

"There are two kinds of big companies in the United States," Comey said. "There are those who've been hacked by the Chinese and those who don't know they’ve been hacked by the Chinese."

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London (AFP) - British lawmakers accused major accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers of promoting "tax avoidance on an industrial scale" on Friday in an investigation called in the wake of the so-called Luxleaks scandal.

The public accounts committee, a cross-party group of MPs, examined how accountants advise firms to help them reduce their tax.

The investigation was called following revelations of secret tax deals in Luxembourg that saved companies like Apple, Ikea and Pepsi billions of dollars in taxes.

The committee said the leaks showed PwC had helped companies avoid tax.

"We believe that PwC's activities represent nothing short of the promotion of tax avoidance on an industrial scale," said committee chair Margaret Hodge.

"The effect has been to reduce the amount of corporation tax that some multinational companies pay in the countries in which they make their profits."

The report urged the government to take a tougher line on regulating the tax industry "as it evidently cannot be trusted to regulate itself".

It found that under tax-avoidance schemes, profits for some companies were artificially reduced in countries with higher tax rates, through payments made to subsidiaries located in lower-tax Luxembourg.

Companies advised by PwC included Amazon, Ikea, Burberry, Accenture, Coca-Cola and Vodafone, according to the report.

The committee advised the British tax authority to do more to challenge the advice given by accountancy firms to clients and ensure tax liabilities "reflect the substance of where companies conduct their business".

In addition, it recommended the introduction of a new code of conduct for tax advisers.

PwC said it disagreed with the report's conclusions.

"We recognise we need to do more to explain the positive role we play in the tax system and in helping businesses to operate successfully," the company said in a statement.

"We agree the tax system is too complex, as governments compete for investment and tax revenues. We take our responsibility to build trust in the tax system seriously and will continue to support reform."

The Luxleaks scandal erupted when 28,000 pages of documents on tax breaks won by 340 companies were obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

Two employees at PwC have been charged in connection with the leaks.

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London (AFP) - British mathematician Alan Turing ended his life condemned for being gay, but "The Imitation Game" has finally seen him recognised as a hero who hastened the end of World War II by cracking the Nazis' codes.

The film, nominated for eight Oscars and nine Baftas, shows the father of modern computing working obsessively to decrypt the codes produced by the Enigma machine, which were changed every 24 hours.

In succeeding where no one else had, Turing cut the war short by two years, according to a number of historians -- potentially saving up to 14 million lives.

His achievements were not acknowledged during his lifetime because the top secret work he and others conducted at Bletchley Park Cypher School was only declassified in 2000.

In fact, he was prosecuted by the authorities in 1952 for "gross indecency" with another man. He escaped jail, but was forced to undergo chemical castration.

Turing was found dead by cyanide poisoning on June 7, 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday.

He was officially pardoned in 2013 following a campaign led by academics, but it is hit film "The Imitation Game", starring Oscar-nominated actor Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing, that has brought his story to a broad audience.

"It's part of a momentum to have him at the forefront of the recognition that he deserves as a scientist, a father of the modern computer age and a war hero and a man who lived an uncompromising life in a time of disgusting discrimination," Cumberbatch said.

The actor has since signed a petition with more than 75,000 other people urging a pardon for all gay men convicted of indecency in Britain under laws that were only repealed in 1967.

An estimated 49,000 men were convicted and of those 15,000 are believed to be still alive. 

- Personal battles, seminal work -

One of those who has helped restore Turing's reputation is S. Barry Cooper, a maths professor at the University of Leeds and the author of "Alan Turing: His Work and Impact".

Cooper spent six years organising celebrations for the centenary of Turing's birth in 2012, which involved hundreds of events in 40 countries.

He said it was "pretty amazing" but conceded it mostly involved academics who came to Turing through their work. The film, however, has brought his story to millions.

"Already people are asking me how they can learn more," Cooper told AFP, adding: "It's become -- due to the movie -- an unstoppable process".

As well as showcasing his achievements, "The Imitation Game" reaches back into Turing's lonely and troubled childhood and focuses on his difficult social relationships as an adult.

Despite his sexual orientation, Turing became engaged to his co-worker, Joan Clarke, played by Oscar-nominated actress Keira Knightley. He later broke off the relationship.

The 1983 book that inspired the film, "Alan Turing: The Enigma" by Andrew Hodges, has been re-published, while a slew of others have been issued explaining the importance of the mathematician’s work in computing.

One of Turing's most enduring legacies was his design for a "Turing Machine", a hypothetical device that can be adapted to simulate the logic of any computer algorithm -- a useful tool to explore what computers can do.

He also developed the "Turing Test" in 1950 to distinguish between humans and computers, as a way of identifying artificial intelligence, or whether computers "think".

Since 1966, there has been a prize awarded in Turing's honour each year, dubbed the Nobel Prize of Computing. Last year, sponsor Google quadrupled its value to $1 million.

After being prosecuted for his homosexuality, Turing escaped jail by agreeing instead to be injected with oestrogen, a process that would prove traumatic.

His death is commonly accepted to be suicide, although specialists still question whether it might have been accident or even murder.

It took 55 years for the British state to apologise for Turing's "horrifying" treatment. Prime minister Gordon Brown said in a formal statement in 2009: "We're sorry, you deserved so much better."

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Taipei (AFP) - The pilot of the crashed TransAsia plane was still clutching the joystick when his body was found in the cockpit, after he battled to avoid populated areas, reports said Friday as the airline faced sanctions over its second fatal accident.

The TransAsia Airways ATR 72-600 crashed shortly after take-off from Songshan airport in Taipei on Wednesday, hitting an elevated road as it banked steeply away from buildings and into the Keelung River.

Pilot Liao Chien-tsung, 41, was among at least 35 people who lost their lives in the accident. Fifteen people survived and rescuers are still searching the river and submerged wreckage for another eight who remain missing.

Liao has been hailed as a hero for apparently making a last-ditch attempt to steer the turboprop plane, with 53 passengers and five crew on board, away from built-up areas during its steep descent, avoiding more deaths and damage.

His body was found in the cockpit still holding the joystick with both hands, and with his legs badly fractured, the Taipei-based China Times newspaper said.

"He struggled to hold onto the joystick till the last moment before the plane plunged into the river, in an attempt to control its direction and to reduce casualties," the report said, citing unnamed prosecutors investigating the case.

Taiwanese leaders and citizens have mourned Liao, with major newspapers running front-page tributes hailing him for saving many lives.

As hundreds of rescuers and divers battled bad weather to search for those still missing, with four more bodies retrieved Friday, authorities banned the airline from applying for new routes for one year in the wake of the latest incident.

Wednesday's accident, which occurred on a domestic route to the island of Kinmen, was the second fatal crash for TransAsia after a July disaster that left 48 people dead.

"We have imposed a one-year ban on TransAsia from applying for new routes as a penalty," said Civil Aeronautics Administration director Lin Tyh-ming.

Taiwanese media said the authorities were looking into allegations against the airline including labour shortages and insufficient training which could have affected safety standards.

"There is a manpower shortage of pilots... TransAsia has to recruit pilots with less experience from other companies after more than 20 of it pilots went to two newer airlines," the Apple Daily said, citing unnamed sources.

Calls were also mounting from politicians for TransAsia to suspend its operations.

"This is a serious issue that two crashes occurred in just seven months. The company must immediately adopt an in-depth review of its management regarding problems such as workload and salaries," lawmaker Lin Teh-fu of the ruling Kuomintang party told AFP.

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Cardiff (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Wales versus England remains a rugby Test match that never fails to whet the appetite and stir emotions.

This year, there is the added spice of a World Cup largely on English soil in which the two long-time rivals have been drawn in the same tough pool.

Bragging rights are up for grabs in Friday evening's match at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, where 10 years ago Gavin Henson nailed a long-range penalty that handed the Welsh victory over England and opened the way to a first Grand Slam in 27 years.

After Warren Gatland took over in 2007, the Wales team then went on to clinch Grand Slams in 2008 and 2012 and the title in 2013, but have been unable to translate that form on a consistent level against the Southern Hemisphere giants of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

They did manage to edge a weary-looking Springbok team in November, as England beat Australia, nicely setting up Friday's match as both teams strive to consolidate and build momentum with one eye firmly on the World Cup.

For it is only eight months until Wales and England meet again in their crunch pool match at Twickenham on September 26 -- crunch because the pool also includes the Wallabies and unpredictable Fiji, with only two qualifying for the knock-out phase.

The English arrive in Cardiff ravaged by injuries to key players such as centres Manu Tuilagi, Brad Barritt and Kyle Eastmond, fly-half Owen Farrell, the lock trio of Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes and Geoff Parling, backrowers Tom Wood and Ben Morgan, and prop David Wilson.

Coach Stuart Lancaster named Luther Burrell and Jonathan Joseph in a new midfield partnership and handed bench recalls to the experienced pair of fly-half Danny Cipriani and No 8 Nick Easter.

Prop Dan Cole returns at tighthead having recovered from a foot problem for his first Test appearance in almost a year.

- Nine survivors -

The team, however, features only nine survivors from the side that started the 26-17 victory over Australia at Twickenham in the climax to the November programme, and just five from the XV thrashed 30-3 by Wales in Cardiff two years ago.

"While we have certain players unavailable through injury, it's great to be able to welcome back guys who missed the November series such as Dan Cole, Mako Vunipola and Tom Youngs," said Lancaster, who had his team training on Wednesday to the sound of hymns being blasted out over loud speakers in a bid to get used to the atmosphere awaiting them in Cardiff.

"Their experience, alongside that of players like Tom Croft and Nick Easter, will be invaluable against a strong Welsh team."

Wales, which has lost just one of their last nine Six Nations matches at Millennium Stadium (22-30 to Ireland in the opening round in 2013), can boast relative stability in their team.

Gatland has made two changes from the side that beat South Africa 12-6 in November, winger George North and hooker Richard Hibbard both starting in place of Liam Williams and Scott Baldwin.

"England have so much strength in depth I don't think it matters who they pick," Gatland said of England's supposed injury problems.

"Last year they were able to go to New Zealand and push the All Blacks really close in that first game (of the tour) and then make a number of changes the for second and third Tests."

Friday's match will be England's first at the Millennium Stadium since the 30-3 defeat in 2013 which cost them the Grand Slam.

The last English clean sweep in the Six Nations dates back to 2003 when they went on to win the World Cup, a precedent Wales will be seeking to avoid come match day.

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Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande are trying to broker peace in Ukraine. The German and French heads of government have flown to Kiev and Moscow to try and broker a peace. According to the Financial Times, it may be due to Washington's shifting strategy, and growing calls to arm the Ukrainian government. 

The treasurer of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff's political party is embroiled in Petrobras' crisis. The growing scandal engulfing Brazilian oil giant Petrobras hit the ruling Workers' Party close to home Thursday as treasurer Joao Vaccari Neto was detained over allegations of involvement in a multi-billion-dollar kickback scheme. 

Here comes the US jobs report. It's the official report on how many jobs the US economy added in January. Economists are forecasting that 230,000 jobs were added, but at least some think it could be more than that.

RadioShack is bankrupt. In a release on Thursday evening, the electronics retailer disclosed that it has reached an agreement with hedge fund Standard General for the firm to purchase up to 2,400 of its stores. To facilitate this sale, the company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware. 

LinkedIn profits surged and share prices followed. LinkedIn reported its Q4 earnings Thursday afternoon, delivering a beat that sent the stock surging almost 8% after-hours. The company reported revenues of $643 million versus Wall Street expectations of $617 million, and revenue up 45%.

Asian markets are mixed. The Nikkei just closed up 0.82%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng is currently down 0.23%, and the Shanghai Composite Index is down 1.85%.

Twitter's revenue surged, but user growth missed expectations. In the fourth quarter, Twitter's revenue was $479 million, up 97% on a year-over-year basis, blowing away analyst expectations of $453.6 million. Twitter's usage remains challenged. Twitter had 288 million average monthly active users, which was short of 292 million, which was expected by analysts.

The US wants to restore ties with Cuba before April. The United States is pressing Cuba to allow the opening of its embassy in Havana by April, US officials told Reuters, despite the Communist island's demand that it first be removed from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. 

Frontier is buying more than $10 billion in Verizon assets. Frontier Communications Corp will buy Verizon Communications Inc's wireline operations in three US states for $10.54 billion in cash, the regional telephone operator said on Thursday. 

News Corp revenue rose. News Corp, which publishes the New York Post, reported a 1.9 percent rise in quarterly revenue, helped by its book publishing and real estate businesses.

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"Shark Tank" investor Lori Greiner often comes to the defense of entrepreneurs on the show after fellow Shark Kevin O'Leary lays into them with an aggressive insult.

But Greiner became so angry with Mark Aramli, founder of BedJet, that she pulled out of a deal due to Aramli's behavior.

Aramli tells Business Insider that he prepared his pitch hoping to get Greiner's attention due to her ability to get a product to become a sensation on QVC and in retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond.

It's a perfect example of how, whether you're on the set of "Shark Tank" or pitching a venture capitalist, you need to listen and occasionally deviate from your rehearsed points.

Here's how it all went down:

Aramli enters the Tank seeking $250,000 in return for 10% of his company.

Greiner is interested in the product, a bed heating/cooling device, and wants to know more about the attention Aramli received from mattress manufacturers.

He says that his time spent as an engineer working on a space suit for NASA helped him create the product. Aramli tells us he briefly worked as an engineer for UTC Power as his first job after getting his engineering degree, and the company was contracted to work with NASA. He since spent most of his career in sales.

Aramli tells the Sharks he has a purchase order from an Australian bed manufacturer for $1.1 million in product, and that others are interested. Greiner agrees with Aramli that pairing the BedJet with premium mattresses is the right step forward. O'Leary objects, and Aramli reacts to him. "Ignore him... Mark, if you don't listen, I'm out," Greiner says loudly, over the noise.

Investor Barbara Corcoran then asks a question, which Aramli promptly answers. Greiner pulls out of a deal.

She writes on Twitter, referring to the moment:

O'Leary is appalled that the product retails for $499 when it could be cheaper, and Corcoran doesn't like how it's not compatible with upholstered beds, which are popular in the target premium bedding market; they're out.

Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec both think the product is interesting and works well, but Aramli's failure to connect with the investors hurts his chances again. Cuban needs to repeatedly ask Aramli how the BedJet works on a technical level before Aramli stops repeating his pitch and explains that it uses convection heating. Both investors say this broke their trust in Aramli, and that they wouldn't feel comfortable investing.

Aramli stays in the Tank to ask Greiner why she pulled out of the deal. "If you valued me, you would have answered back," she says.

Aramli apologizes and starts to pitch his company again, despite the fact that all the investors are out. O'Leary and Cuban tell him he needs to leave, and the camera dramatically pulls toward O'Leary's searing gaze:

O'Leary told Business Insider in a separate interview that when he becomes angry with an entrepreneur, it's because "there's nothing worse than arrogance with ignorance — it's horrific. I actually don't care if you're arrogant, as long as you know what you're doing and you know what you're talking about."

Aramli says he didn't ignore Greiner deliberately and that he felt badly. "What you don't see behind the editing is that taking the Sharks' questions is like being the president at a press conference," he says. "Questions are firing off from every direction, all the same time and even the Sharks themselves are talking over each other — it's a very noisy, fast paced Q&A."

He adds that, "By definition the Sharks are investors with large egos and I think hers was hurt by not getting my attention quickly during all the noise. I've learned a long time ago when you let your ego get in the way of business, you tend to make bad decisions."

BedJet will be available on Mattress Firm's website in March, and Aramli says the product will also be in Bed Bath & Beyond, Jordan's Furniture, and Brookstone.

He says that despite having one of the most controversial pitches of season six, he is "on track to be the Shark Tank loser that is laughing all the way to the bank."

SEE ALSO: 'Shark Tank' investor Kevin O'Leary explains why 'business is war'

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