BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Monday it will buy a minority stake in little-known domestic smartphone maker Meizu Technology Co for $590 million, as the e-commerce giant extends its hardware growth strategy into mobile devices.

Alibaba, now worth $213 billion by market value, didn't disclose how big its holding will be in a privately owned handset maker that is a distant rival to much bigger smartphonefirms like Xiaomi Inc. Based in Zhuhai, Guangdong, Meizu employs more than 1,000 people, according to its website.

The deal will help Alibaba push its mobile operating system within China through Meizu's handsets, while giving Meizu access to Alibaba's e-commerce sales channels and other resources, the companies said in a joint statement.

Alibaba has in the past concentrated on software and services, including its core e-commerce business. Now, in a move reminiscent of U.S. rival Amazon.com Inc's own foray into smartphones with the Fire Phone, the Meizu investment builds on Alibaba's more recent efforts to develop in hardware, like internet TV via set-top boxes.

"The investment in Meizu represents...an important step in our overall mobile strategy as we strive to bring users a wider array of mobile offerings and experiences," said Wang Jian, Alibaba's chief technology officer, in Monday's statement.

China is the world's largest smartphone market, with 557 million people accessing the internet via mobile devices, according to government data.

But smartphone sales are flagging. Shipments in China were 389 million phones in 2014, down from 423 million the previous year, according to China's Ministry of Industry andInformation Technology.

Meizu also doesn't feature among China's top smartphone brands. The top four in the fourth quarter of 2014 were Apple Inc, Xiaomi, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and HuaweiTechnologies Co Ltd, according to data research firm Canalys.

 (Reporting by Paul Carsten; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

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A group of journalistic institutions, including the Guardian, Le Monde, the BBC, and the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists, just published a huge story on global tax evasion through private Swiss bank accounts based on leaked documents from HSBC's Swiss subsidiary, HSBC Private Bank.

It's hard proof that the world's elite keep a lot of money away from the prying eyes of their respective countries' tax collectors by keeping private accounts in Switzerland, which the country's bankers are legally bound to keep quiet about. There are about 30,000 documents from the years 2005-2007, with assets totalling about $120 billion.

The details

These aren't new documents, they were leaked to the French government in 2010 and shared with various governments around the world. The US Department of Justice fined HSBC $1.92 billion — a record, at the time — back in 2012 after receiving the documents. Matt Taibbi wrote a long piece in Rolling Stone about it in 2013.

But this appears to be the first time journalists have had access to the full trove of documents. According to the various reports, there are a lot of things like this (from the Guardian's post):

In one memo, an HSBC manager is recorded discussing how a London-based financier whom the bank codenamed “Painter”, and his partner, could cheat on Italian tax. “The risk for the couple is, of course, that when they return to Italy the UK tax authorities will pass on information on them to the Italian tax authorities. My own view on this was that … there clearly was a risk.”

And this:

HSBC’s Swiss bankers routinely handed over large sums of cash to visiting clients, asking few questions, the files show. The bank said it had since tightened its controls. “The amended terms and conditions allowed the private bank to refuse a cash withdrawal request, and placed strict controls on withdrawals over $10,000 [£6,600],” its statement said.

The bank's official response is that, while it takes full responsibility, its Swiss subsidiary basically operated on its own until the last couple of years. It was acquired in 1999, included in a deal for HSBC to acquire the Republic National Bank of New York and Safra Republic Holdings SA, another private bank. The bank's statement says the Swiss subsidiary, "focused on a very different client base and had a significantly different culture to HSBC. The business acquired was not fully integrated into HSBC, allowing different cultures and standards to persist."

So why does this matter?

For one thing, if you're rich and you want to avoid paying taxes, there are legal and illegal ways to do that. There's a giant industry devoted to finding (and creating!) the legal ways to do it. The evidence in these documents seems to show that this isn't what HSBC was doing. It was pretty clearly advising its clients on the illegal ways to do it, which mostly have to do with pretending the money you have sitting in Switzerland doesn't exist.

On the other side, these documents name the names of the people who were using these services.

The bank also was pretty lax about background checks. Well-known international criminals — drugs, arms, blood diamonds, etc — could come into the bank, put down some cash, and open an account without anyone asking too many questions about where the money came from.

If you believe that global inequality is rising, and that it's mostly because the wealthy are getting wealthier, then this is a big problem. The role of taxes in society is to redistribute wealth, and every dollar in a secret Swiss tax shelter account is a part of a dollar that isn't being spent on roads or schools or healthcare somewhere else. (Places like Greece, which would really use the tax revenue right about now.)

That said, there is a lot of money and power in the world demanding these kinds of services. HSBC isn't the only private bank operating like this, and shutting down its operation isn't likely to mean that wealthy individuals who are committed to finding any and all ways to avoid paying taxes suddenly have a change of heart — although according toLe Monde, the French are taking 72 individuals to court over what's in the documents, and "most of the French taxpayers whose identity was revealed in the Falciani lists have since regularised their tax affairs."

Global tax avoidance crackdown

There is a relatively serious global movement to crack down on tax avoidance being led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It has been working with the finance ministers of the G20 nations to come up with some global guidelines for tax reform and reporting. And it's sort of working.

Because of the OECD's pressure on corporate tax reform, Ireland killed the popular double Irishtax loophole last year.

More importantly to this story, there's something called the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, which is basically just an agreement between countries, including Switzerland, to share important financial information with one another. Swiss banking has been conducted in secret, by law, since 1934.

The Guardian writes:

By 2018, Switzerland has committed to automatic exchange of information about individual accounts, taxes, assets and income along with 50 other nations... This information exchange [has] been trumpeted as the end of banking secrecy.

Even with this agreement, though, Swiss banking law hasn't changed that much. Don't count on this as the end of secret Swiss bank accounts.

SEE ALSO: Leaked files expose HSBC’s shady Swiss banking arm

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La Jolla (United States) (AFP) - Australia's Jason Day parred the second hole of a four-man sudden-death playoff to win the $6.3 million Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

With his third US PGA Tour triumph, the 27-year-old Day will rise from eighth to number four in the world, overtaking Adam Scott to become the top-ranked Australian.

He out-lasted J.B. Holmes -- who fell short with a bogey at the second playoff hole -- and defending champion Scott Stallings and Harris English -- both eliminated at the first extra hole.

"It's an amazing feeling because I've been working so hard for this. I just kept visualizing myself holding the trophy this week, kind of like what I did at the (WGC) Match Play," Day said. "I just said, I'm not going to stop, I'm not going to stop.

"I'm just really proud of myself to be able to hang in there and grind it out."

Day's tee shot at the second extra hole, the par-three 16th on the Torrey Pines South Course, flew straight over the flagstick and left him a long birdie attempt.

His putt went right, but left him a tap-in for par.

Holmes, meanwhile, flew the green and after chipping on was unable to convert his par attempt.

Day, Holmes, Stallings and English all finished 72 holes on nine-under 279. Day carded a final-round 70, Stallings a 69 while Holmes and English, who shared the overnight lead, carded even-par 72s.

- 'Hard work paying off' -

Day had a bit of luck just to make the playoff. His chip from behind the green at 18 in regulation was rolling briskly toward the water hazard, but stopped just short of the hazard line and he closed with a par.

He had put himself in contention with birdies at 15 and 16 -- where he drained a 47-footer.

"I had a great save at 17 from a plugged lie in the bunker," Day said. "Then, learning from my mistake on 18 and taking that into the playoff... the hard work is paying off."

The foursome returned to the par-five 18th to start the playoff. All four reached the green in regulation. English rolled his long birdie effort within a foot of the hole and he tapped in for par.

Stallings followed with his birdie try from about 15 feet out, and he missed left.

Holmes had played his third shot to three feet and he converted that for birdie. Day, who shared second place at this event last year, rolled in his short birdie putt to extend the playoff.

Alex Prugh with a 71 and Charles Howell with a final-round 68 shared fifth place on 280, one stroke in front of Scotland's Martin Laird, Ireland's Shane Lowry and Americans Nick Watney and Jimmy Walker.

The biggest names in the field didn't make it to the weekend. 

Former world number one Tiger Woods limped off with back trouble after 11 holes of the first round on Thursday and five-time major champion Phil Mickelson missed the cut.

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Last year was a tough one for hedge funds.

A recent Citi survey found hedge fund profits down for the year about $10 billion dollars – or 30 percent – from the year prior, and indexes from research firms eVestment and Preqin put hedge fund returns up around 3 percent – just a fraction of the S&P 500's 13.7 percent return.

But there were of course some winners.

Here are some common traits that last year's top performing funds shared, courtesy of Preqin's 2015 Global Hedge Fund Report:

Their core strategies were probably equity strategies.

Of the top 20 performers, 75 percent used equity strategies. Of the top 10, equity strategy funds had a higher median return (59 percent) than any other type.

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NOW WATCH: 11 Mind-Blowing Facts About North Korea

Paul McCartney got a little more air time on the Grammys than he expected.

It all started when Ed Sheeran and ELO's Jeff Lynne performed "Evil Woman."

The majority of the crowd was a little young to know the 1975 hit, but not 72-year-old Paul McCartney!

McCartney stood up, shook his hips, clapped his hands, and sang along to "Evil Woman" as the two rocked out on stage.

But as soon as McCartney realized the audience camera was pointed directly at him, the Beatle went into a panic and hurriedly sat down, his embarrassment palpable from viewers' couches. 

McCartney then quickly returned to the comfort of his seat next to wife Nancy Shevell.Later in the show, McCartney regained his confidence and joined Kanye West and Rihanna onstage for "Four Five Seconds."

SEE ALSO: The most ridiculous outfits at tonight's Grammy Awards

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Kiev (AFP) - The leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France are pushing for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in a frantic bid to halt escalating bloodshed in eastern Ukraine.

The four leaders discussed the meeting in a phone call Sunday as part of their efforts to achieve a "comprehensive settlement" in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels, Berlin said.

Putin, however, warned that the summit planned in the Belarussian capital Minsk would only take place if the leaders agreed on a "number of points" by then.

"We will be aiming for Wednesday, if by that time we manage to agree on a number of points which we've been intensely discussing lately," Putin told Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko in televised remarks on Sunday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have ramped up their push for peace in recent days, jetting to Kiev first for talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and then to Moscow to meet Putin, who the West accuses of masterminding the 10-month-old conflict.

On Monday, foreign ministry officials from the four countries will hold preparatory talks in Berlin while Merkel briefs US President Barack Obama on the latest peace initiative during a visit to the White House.   

In their telephone conversation on Sunday, Putin, Poroshenko, Merkel and Hollande "continued to work on a package of measures to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine," Merkel's office said.

The Ukrainian government said the leaders expected their efforts to lead to "an immediate and unconditional bilateral ceasefire".

Fresh fighting claimed 12 civilian lives, separatist and Kiev authorities said, with 12 Ukrainian troops also killed in the last 24 hours.

The conflict in the former Soviet republic has left at least 5,400 people dead.

A previous peace deal agreed in Minsk in September has been largely ignored, with fighting escalating in recent weeks as the rebels push further into government-held territory.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told a security conference in the German city of Munich that "what Germany and France are seeking right now is not peace on paper, but peace on the ground." 

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday are to confirm the addition of 19 people to a list of EU sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine.

- Divisions over arming Ukraine -

In Washington, Obama is set to host Merkel as the worsening violence confronts them with a choice between pursuing the risky peace talks or throwing more weapons into the war.

At home Obama is facing increasing calls to supply the outmatched Ukrainian army with more weapons to shore up its faltering defences.

But Merkel and many European nations believe weapons could not overturn the military mismatch between Ukraine and the might of the Russian army, and would simply escalate the conflict.

"I think that the progress Ukraine needs won't be achieved with even more weapons," Merkel told the Munich conference on Saturday.

"I am very, very doubtful."

Also speaking in Munich, US Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed talk of a rift with Europe on the issue.

"Let me assure everybody, there is no division, there is no split," Kerry said.

"We all agree that this challenge will not end through military means (but) the longer it takes, the more the off-ramps are avoided, the more we will be forced to raise the costs on Russia and its proxies."

- 'Listen to your people' -

A senior State Department official has said the new European peace plan is based on September's ceasefire deal.

Hollande told French TV station France 2 the proposal includes the creation of a 50- to 70-kilometre (31- to 43-mile) demilitarised zone around the current demarcation line.

But this idea appeared to face opposition from Ukraine's president, who has lost territory to the rebels since the Minsk accord.

"There is only one line, and that's the line from the Minsk agreement," Poroshenko said.

Putin, meanwhile, heads to Egypt for a two-day visit on Monday in what experts say is in part a bid to show he has not been internationally isolated by the Ukraine crisis.

He gave an interview to Egyptian state newspaper Al-Ahram ahead of the visit, calling on the Ukrainian government to "listen to their people".

"It is evident that the crisis will continue until the Ukrainians themselves agree with each other," he said, according to a transcript released by the presidency.

Kiev accuses the rebels of sending more tanks, armoured vehicles and rocket launcher systems to the embattled Debaltseve region and to Granitne, around 35 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of the city of Mariupol.

The town of Debaltseve -- mid-way between the rebel centres of Donetsk and Lugansk -- has been the focus of fierce fighting for over a week as insurgents try to encircle government troops holding the strategic railway hub.

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Los Angeles (AFP) - Beck, the innovative rocker who has enjoyed critical acclaim for two decades, on Sunday beat major commercial acts to win the most prestigious Grammy for Album of the Year.

Beck, receiving the award from the elusive Prince, had also won Best Rock Album for "Morning Phase," an introspective work of acoustic guitar and lush orchestration.

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Los Angeles (AFP) - Sam Smith on Sunday won the Grammy for Record of the Year for "Stay With Me," completing an impressive haul of four Grammys, including three major awards.

The 22-year-old British soul singer thanked the unnamed lover who inspired the ballad about a one-night stand, saying that he "broke my heart but he won me four Grammys."

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“Breaking Bad” spinoff “Better Call Saul” premiered on AMC Sunday, and it’s everything you could possibly want from a spinoff of the hit series — musical montages that pull at your heartstrings, cameos from some of your favorite Albuquerque natives, and plenty of Saul trying to talk his way out of trouble.

We previewed the first two episodes of the spinoff series featuring lawyer Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) last month, and hands down, it's one of the best midseason premieres we’ve seen so far.

There’s an incredible amount of payoff for fans of the original series, with subtle nods and references to the parent show. For those of you who may be groaning and rolling your eyes, don't worry. The show doesn’t overdo it. If you're not looking for the references, you most likely won't even see some hidden in plain sight.

It is absolutely imperative that you do not miss the first minute of the series. "Better Call Saul" opens with a brilliant black-and-white sequence. It may throw you off at first, but once it’s revealed where the scene is heading, fans are going to lose it ... in a good way. *mini-spoilers* We see a future version of Saul, under the guise of Gene, working as a manager of a Cinnabon in Omaha, Nebraska. This is one that "Breaking Bad" fans will appreciate. In season 5 episode 15 of "Breaking Bad," Saul's character tells Walter White he'll be lucky if in "a month from now, best-case scenario, I'm managing a Cinnabon in Omaha." Well, what do you know.*mini-spoilers*

The series itself follows Saul in 2002, six years before he has ever met Walter White and before he’s the big-shot criminal lawyer we’re introduced to in “Breaking Bad.” There’s no trace of sidekick Heull and Goodman’s not driving around a fancy Cadillac DeVille (though there’s a nice reference to it in the opening episode that fans will notice).

Instead, Saul is a down-on-his-luck lawyer just trying to get by. He’s not the confident, cocky counselor we’re accustomed to seeing. He doesn’t even go by Saul Goodman at this point. He’s just Jimmy McGill, a lowly lawyer hungry for clients who drives around a Suzuki Esteem.

Odenkirk never misses a beat. He’s so energetic as the spritely McGill, you could just sit and watch him talk the entire time he's in a courtroom, hashing it out with twin teenage boys or trying desperately to save his own skin. You don’t even need to know what he’s necessarily rambling about because, to be honest, no one else probably does either.

Here’s a line of dialogue from him as he’s representing a teenager: “Do you remember 19? Let me tell you. The juices are flowing, the red corpuscles are corpuscling. The grass is green, and it’s soft, and summer’s going to last forever.”

Do you know what a corpuscle is? McGill's talking about red blood cells.

It’s Saul’s usual bull, filled with grand hand gestures and priceless facial expressions, but it's not winning over many at this point in his career. One of the best parts of the premiere is a reintroduction to former characters like Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), Gus Fring’s right-hand man on “Breaking Bad.” Mike is still the sarcastic, wisecracking curmudgeon fans love, but instead of waving around a gun, the former Philadelphia police officer is working as a pretty harmless parking-lot attendant at the local Albuquerque courthouse. 

He and McGill go back and forth a bit in the premiere, and we look forward to seeing their inevitable future interactions on the series. 

More interesting are the glimpses of Jimmy McGill’s backstory and his relationship with his older brother Chuck (Michael McKean), who is suffering from an illness.

It’s easy to see from the pilot that “Better Call Saul” is going to be a show about the rise and fall of Jimmy McGill, as much as its parent series is about the rise and fall of meth kingpin Walter White. 

So it makes sense that the show not only feels a lot like “Breaking Bad," it also looks a lot like it. Gorgeous visual shots take you back to the streets, deserts, and skies of Albuquerque, New Mexico (especially in the second episode). Some of the shots literally remind us of scenes from "Breaking Bad." (Sorry, no screengrabs.)

As we know from "Breaking Bad," creator Vince Gilligan has a way with closeup montages. Expect to see more of those on screen, from sweet treats getting baked in black and white to tomatoes getting sliced and diced.

In terms of content, the first two episodes also feel eerily similar to the early episodes of “Breaking Bad.” In "Breaking Bad," Walt and Jesse take a man captive, tie him up in a basement, and then discard his body. No one dies in the first two episodes of "Better Call Saul," but the parallels between the openings of the two series are a little uncanny. 

That's both good and bad. Since it's a prequel series, you know the stakes are a bit lower for some characters — Mike's not going anywhere — yet "Better Call Saul" still has the ability to fill you with excitement and laughs at one moment while tearing the rug out from under you in the next so that you're rocking back and forth in your seat, a bundle of anxiety-ridden nerves. In some ways, the show feels like something we may have seen before. 

Does the pilot episode stand up to that of “Breaking Bad”? No, but, to be fair, I don’t think many premiere episodes do.

The episode is a little slow at points, but when Jimmy runs into two young teens who try to scam him out of $500, the action starts to pick up, and the final minutes of the premiere will have you glued. The very final shots will make you wish you didn't have to wait an entire day to see what happens next. 

It'll be worth it. The second episode, which airs the following evening, is pretty much nonstop action.

There's a huge cameo from another former "Breaking Bad" villain — *spoiler* Raymond Cruz returns as Tuco! *spoiler* — and it definitely had everyone talking on Twitter.

After Sunday, "Better Call Saul" will move to its regular timeslot on Mon., Feb. 9 at 10 p.m. 

Watch a trailer for the series.

 *Note: This review originally ran at the end of January. It has been updated to account for a few plot points in the series.

SEE ALSO: Here's the "Breaking Bad" creator's love letter to fans about spin-off "Better Call Saul"

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NOW WATCH: Bryan Cranston returns as his 'Breaking Bad' character in a Super Bowl ad

Warning: There are major spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the latest episode of “The Walking Dead.”

“The Walking Dead” returned from its winter hiatus with an unexpected surprise for fans. 

For the second time in two episodes, the AMC hit series has killed off a major character, showing that no one on “The Walking Dead’ is safe. 

Final chance to head back before spoilers.

On Sunday night’s episode, Chad Coleman’s character Tyreese gets caught off guard and is bit by a zombie walker in the arm. 

No big deal. As long as his arm is taken off in time, he should have a good chance at survival. After all, it’s something we’ve seen occur numerous times on the series in the past.  

However, things didn’t go so smoothly this time as Tyreese’s condition slowly deteriorated throughout the episode with callbacks to some of a few fan favorites returning from the grave briefly to welcome Tyreese into the light.

Tyreese’s death was a big surprise, considering “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman has said he always saw “The Wire” actor as someone he envisioned playing Tyreese. Kirkman told Business Insider back in October at New York Comic Con “The Walking Dead” team sought him out for the role. 

His death on the show comes one episode after Emily Kinney's Beth Greene was shocking killed off in the season 5 midseason finale last fall.

Coleman first joined “The Walking Dead” back in season three, and was one of many fellow actors from HBO’s “The Wire” to join the series. 

With a growing cast of characters on the series, and more newcomers expected in the latter half of season five, it shouldn’t be too much of a shock that we’ll have to lose some of the major cast members, but this certainly came out of left field for fans.

Executive producer Greg Nicotero explained to Variety why this was the right time to say goodbye to Coleman's character:

Why Tyreese and why now?
Tyreese has had a great story, he’s been on a great journey. Ever since the beginning of season four we’ve noticed that Tyreese was struggling. He’s standing at the fence talking to his girlfriend and he says, “Listen I don’t like killing (walkers) at the fence any more.” He goes out and the helicopter falls through the Big Spot roof and he comes back and says, “I don’t like killing them in here either.” He’s clearly having some issues. Then his girlfriend is murdered and her body’s burned up, and two little girls die. So Tyreese’s real reason for pushing so hard to survive was for the baby, for Judith. Now that he’s reunited with Rick… I think it’s a world where he’s having a hard time accepting that he would want to live there.

In addition, showrunner Scott M. Gimple told The Hollywood Reporter Tyreese's death "just seemed to be what the story dictated."

SEE ALSO: Why "The Walking Dead" casts so many actors from "The Wire"

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NOW WATCH: There's A Good Reason 'The Walking Dead' Creator Doesn't Use The Word Zombie

Beck surprised Grammy viewers and musicians alike Sunday night by beating out Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, and Pharrell for the show's biggest award — best album.

As soon as Prince read Beck's name...

Kanye West — who famously rushed the stage at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards after Taylor Swift won Best Female Video over Beyoncé — then jokingly began to crash Beck's acceptance speech. 

But he quickly turned around and went back to his seat, with a big smile on his face.

Let's see that again.

Beck was left on stage alone and confused.  "I need some help!" he quickly said into the microphone, before his collaborators joined him at the podium.

Jay Z was mortified when he thought Kanye was serious, but then broke into laughter when he realized it was a joke.

Kanye's move was a play on the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards when West interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech, saying, "Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time."

SEE ALSO: Paul McCartney got super embarrassed when the Grammy cameras caught him dancing

MORE:  The most ridiculous outfits at tonight's Grammy Awards

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NOW WATCH: Here's what everyone gets wrong about the WWE being fake

Taylor Swift is never one to shy away from a little dancing in her seat during awards shows.

Sunday night's Grammy Awards were no exception.

But one person was not amused by Swift's moves. Cue Pharrell's major side-eye.

The above Vine has since gone viral, being played more nearly three million times in the first few hours.

SEE ALSO: Kanye West almost grabbed Beck's best album Grammy on-stage

MORE: Paul McCartney got super embarrassed when the Grammy cameras caught him dancing

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NOW WATCH: Here's what everyone gets wrong about the WWE being fake

Back in 2009, Kanye West quickly earned the hatred of many Taylor Swift fans when he interrupted Swift's Video Music Award win for Best Female Video.

He took stage during her acceptance speech, stealing the microphone, to say “I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.”

Since then, the two haven’t been photographed together and you never see interaction between the two artists.  

Six years later at the Grammy awards that seemingly changed when West and Swift appeared to put that all behind them.

The photo was in stark contrast to this moment from 2009.

It looks like West and Swift have shaken off any bad blood.

SEE ALSO: Why Katy Perry was wearing light-up devil horns at the Grammys

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NOW WATCH: Watch That Dash Cam Video Tribute Of A Police Officer Singing Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off'

If you tuned in to the Grammys Sunday night, you may have noticed Katy Perry and pal, singer Ferras, sporting a pair of devil horns at the start of the awards show.

The next time we saw Perry, the horns were noticeably gone, but many fans and viewers online were confused by the look.

What was the deal?

The horns weren't Perry's idea.

The horns went along with the AC/DC performance of "Highway to Hell" which opened the show.

Look closely and the horns say AC/DC on them.

It looks like all audience members at the Grammys had their own pair of light-up horns on their seats.

Take a closer look at one of the other photos of Perry again, and you can easily notice dozens of people in the background sporting the light-up devil horns, too.

There's a good reason you didn't see the horns for the rest of the show or on other celebrities. 

The Grammy show politely banned them from being worn during the rest of the awards ceremony. 

A message on a prompter read, "Ladies & Gentlemen: The devil horns are yours to keep, but please put them away for the rest of the show. Thank you."

Perry, Ferras, and others were left stashing the horns underneath their seats or on their laps for the remainder of the show.

SEE ALSO: The most ridiculous outfits at the Grammy Awards

AND: See everything inside the $25,000 Grammy Awards gift bag

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NOW WATCH: Here's what everyone gets wrong about the WWE being fake

Cairo (AFP) - Twenty-two people died as thousands of fans tried to force their way into a Cairo football stadium Sunday to watch a game, triggering panic as police fired tear gas and birdshot at the crowds.

Witnesses and medical reports suggested many of the victims were crushed in a stampede, with some suffering broken necks. At least 25 other people were injured, the health ministry said.

The match continued despite the violence, provoking further outrage among the fans.

The clashes prompted the government to postpone the Egyptian Premier League indefinitely, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

The match between Zamalek and Enbi had been open to the public, unlike most other games between Egyptian clubs since stadium riots in Port Said in 2012 left more than 70 people dead in the country's worst ever sport disaster.

The interior ministry had restricted to 10,000 the number of spectators allowed into the stadium on Sunday, and tickets quickly ran out.

Thousands of fans without tickets scaled the stadium walls before police dispersed them, according to the ministry.

Zamalek supporters aimed fireworks at the police, who fired tear gas and birdshot back, police and witnesses said.

"There was a police car on fire and they were shooting birdshot and tear gas," a witness told AFP.

Another witness, Mostafa Ibrahim, told AFP: "Police fired tear gas at a large number of fans in a very narrow place. People were trampling over one another trying to escape." 

After a preliminary exam, 19 of the dead were found to have no gunshot wounds, according to a health ministry official. Injuries were consistent with being crushed in a stampede, and some of the dead had broken necks.

An AFP correspondent outside the morgue saw coroner reports handed out saying two of those killed died of "extreme pressure to the chest".

Many of those injured suffered broken bones and bruising, the health ministry said according to state news agency MENA.

Zamalek defence player Omar Gaber has been suspended for refusing to play in the match in protest at the violence, a statement from his club said.

- League suspended -

The government accused the football fans of starting the clashes with police, leading to the deaths.

"Because of these sad events it has been decided to postpone the league to a time that will be decided later," it said in a statement.

Outside a Cairo morgue where the bodies were taken, dozens of relatives wept and wailed while others pored over a list of the dead, trying to identify loved ones.

"The youths are supposed to be building this country and the police are killing them," one man shouted.

Others scuffled with morgue security men who were blocking their access.

Morgue officials later placed a computer outside showing pictures of the dead men for relatives to identify.

The state prosecutor ordered an investigation into the clashes, a statement from his office said.

The statement said the fans had blocked a road leading to the stadium and torched three police vehicles.

Sunday's deaths could inflame football fans, who have repeatedly clashed with police over the past few years and can mobilise thousands of youths.

After the deadly 2012 football riots in Port Said following a game between Cairo's Al-Ahly and Al-Masry, a court handed out death sentences to 21 people before an appeals court ordered a retrial that is yet to conclude.

The riots took place under a military regime that had taken charge after a popular uprising, in which football fans played a key role, ousted veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.

The fans have continued to be a volatile force in the troubled country.

Hundreds of Cairo Al-Ahly fans confronted police in deadly clashes in the capital following the Port Said riots.

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Good morning! Here are the major market stories you need to read about today.

Greece's new prime minister won't back down. Greece's new leftist prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, said on Sunday he would not accept an extension to Greece's current bailout, setting up a clash with EU leaders - who want him to do just that - at a summit on Thursday. Tsipras also pledged his government would heal the "wounds" of austerity, sticking to campaign pledges.

And Greece's finance minister says the euro will fall apart if his country leaves the currency. If Greece is forced out of the euro zone, other countries will inevitably follow and the currency bloc will collapse, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Sunday. 

There's a four-way Ukraine summit coming on Wednesday. The leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France are pushing for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in a frantic bid to halt escalating bloodshed in eastern Ukraine. 

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott survived an attempt to unseat him. Abbott on Monday survived a confidence vote on his leadership after just 17 months in power and urged an end to the disunity that has seen the government's popularity plummet. Abbott has been fighting for his job after poor poll ratings and a series of policy flip-flops spurred some MPs from his conservative Liberal Party to openly attack him.

Investigative journalists say HSBC has provided accounts to international criminals. A cache of secret bank files shows that HSBC's Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers avoid taxes and hide millions of dollars, according to a report by a network of investigative journalists released Sunday. The ICIJ says HSBC gave accounts to international criminals, corrupt businessmen, politicians and celebrities.

European investor confidence is coming. At 9:30 a.m. ET (4:30 a.m. GMT), Sentix release their monthly barometer of European investor confidence. Economists expect another improvement this month, followed a spate of better economic data from the eurozone.

Standard Chartered is targeting rich people. Standard Chartered will shift its retail bank's focus from mass market to affluent customers and urge more customers online as part of a broader turnaround strategy for the lender, a senior executive told Reuters. 

Alibaba is investing more than half a million dollars in a Chinese smartphone maker. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group said in a statement on Monday it will buy a minority stake in domestic smartphone maker Meizu Technology Co for $590 million. Alibaba didn't disclose how much of the privately owned handset maker it will acquire.

Asian markets are mixed. Japan's Nikkei climbed in trading Monday, closing 0.36% higher. The Shanghai Composite Index is also up, 0.73% higher ahead of the close, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng is currently down 0.52%.

Oil prices are still climbing after their strongest week since 2011. West Texas Intermediate is up another 0.42% in price in trading early Monday, to $51.96. Brent is 0.18% higher at $58.79. Falling U.S. oil rig counts and conflict in producer Libya helped stretch a rally from last week when crude surged the most since 2011.

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Germany's exporters just broke another record: The trade surplus for Europe's biggest economy is now at its highest on record. 

In 2014, Germany exported more than it imports by a bigger margin than ever before.

Exports rose 3.4% in December from November, and imports dipped 0.8%. Here's how Germany's recent export history looks, according to Pantheon Macroeconomics:

That left Germany's trade surplus at €21.8 billion ($24.71 billion) in December alone, and €18.2 billion per month on average for 2014 as a whole, the highest ever.

This might seem like an undoubtedly good thing for Germany, but it's actually more complicated. Critics say that Germany's huge trade surpluses aren't just a result of being a competitive exporter, but that perpetually weak domestic demand is holding imports down.

And that can be damaging for the eurozone as a bloc, because it makes it doubly difficult for harder-hit countries in southern Europe to re-balance. They would ideally be boosting their exports to Germany, the large economy that was damaged least by the financial and euro crises, but the demand simply isn't there.

Matthew Klein has a great piece over at FT Alphaville, explaining how these sort of imbalances are a big problem for the eurozone. 

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Baghdad (AFP) - A suicide bomber attacked a Shiite-majority area of north Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 14 people, security and medical officials said.

The blast in Kadhimiyah, which is home to a revered Shiite shrine, also wounded at least 43 people.

A police colonel said the bomber struck inside a restaurant at Kadhimiyah's Aden Square, while interior ministry and medical officials said the attack targeted the crowded square.

It is the second suicide bombing to hit the capital in three days. On Saturday, an attack inside a restaurant in the Baghdad Jadida area killed at least 23 people.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Monday attack, but suicide bombings are a tactic almost exclusively employed by Sunni extremists in Iraq, including jihadists of the Islamic State group.

IS spearheaded an offensive that swept through large areas north and west of Baghdad last June, and Iraqi forces are battling to regain ground with support from US-led air strikes.

A roadside bomb also exploded in a commercial district in the Shiite-majority Husseiniyah area near Baghdad on Monday, killing at least one person and wounding at least seven.

Militants often target crowded places like restaurants, shops and markets to maximise casualties.

Sunni extremists consider Shiites to be heretics, and frequently target them with deadly bombings.

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Here's another positive sign for the US economy: restaurants are doing great.

This chart, which comes to us from Torsten Sløk at Deutsche Bank shows the strength in the restaurant performance index, which is at levels it hasn't seen in almost 10 years. 

Much has been made about the potential for the decline in oil prices to serve as a boon for the US consumer, and this appears to be passing through to restaurants. 

Of course, the strength of the restaurant index shouldn't come as a total surprise, as consumer confidence is through the roof and gas prices are at five-year lows: and what easier way to spend some extra income than going out to eat?

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Millennials are storming back into the work force. 

Last Friday, the monthly jobs report showed that in January, nonfarm payrolls grew by 257,000 in the US. 

And with revisions to recent reports, the last three months were the strongest for job creation in the US in 17 years. 

And the main driving force behind this trend: millennials.

Workers between the ages of 25 and 34 have been surging back into the workforce over the last several years, with this trend really taking off in 2014. 

Bill McBride over at Calculated Risk also wrote about this phenomenon on Monday, highlighting the coming rise of the prime-age working population — or those between the ages of 25-54. In economics speak, this would be considered a "demographic tailwind." 

Young workers today are the middle-aged, household-forming, tax-paying, consuming family heads of tomorrow.

This is the most important trend in the labor market right now. This is America's economic future. 

SEE ALSO: Restaurants haven't been doing this well in 10 years

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