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Facebook talks up need for virtual reality, big tech bets

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Virtual reality, artificial intelligence and drones will enable Facebook Inc ( FB.O ) to create a more lifelike and useful social network, the company said in its clearest explanation so far for technology projects that have puzzled some investors and analysts.

Facebook talks up need for virtual reality, big tech bets

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Virtual reality, artificial intelligence and drones will enable Facebook Inc ( FB.O ) to create a more lifelike and useful social network, the company said in its clearest explanation so far for technology projects that have puzzled some investors and analysts. Facebook executives made the case on Thursday, at its annual developer conference in San Francisco, that initiatives such as its $2 billion purchase of virtual reality headset maker Oculus last year, and the hiring of aerospace experts make sense for the 1.4-billion member social network.

Co-pilot suspected of deliberately crashing Germanwings jet

PARIS/SEYNE-LES-ALPES (Reuters) - A young German co-pilot barricaded himself alone in the cockpit of Germanwings flight 9525 and apparently set it on course to crash into an Alpine mountain, killing all 150 people on board including himself, French prosecutors said on Thursday. They offered no motive for why Andreas Lubitz, 27, would take the controls of the Airbus A320, lock the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately set it veering down from cruising altitude at 3,000 feet per minute

SH Kelkar files prospectus for IPO, seen at around $100 mln

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Fragrance maker S.H. Kelkar and Company, partly owned by Blackstone Group, has filed a draft prospectus with the regulator for an initial public offering that a banker directly involved in the process said would fetch around $100 million

New pandemic insurance to prevent crises through early payouts

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In the wake of the Ebola crisis, a quiet revolution is taking place that is set to transform the way governments and aid agencies respond to major disease outbreaks. Analysts are developing insurance schemes that could turn the humanitarian system on its head, by paying out money as soon as a disease breaks out to stop it becoming an international crisis, rather than trying to raise funds after the event. The World Bank, the African Union, a consortium of aid agencies and experts in the private sector are starting to do the sums and figure out what such schemes could look like

Wall Street lower in wake of air strikes on Yemen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell at the open on Thursday to put the S&P 500 on track for a fourth straight decline, after Saudi Arabia and its allies launched air strikes on Yemen. Oil prices spiked, with Brent crude up 2.4 percent to $57.86 and U.S

Iraq special forces advance in Tikrit, U.S. coalition joins fight

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi special forces advanced on central Tikrit on Thursday as U.S.-led coalition planes joined the largest offensive yet against Islamic State militants holding out in Saddam Hussein's home city. Coalition jets launched their first air strikes against Islamic State targets in Tikrit on Wednesday, coming off the sidelines to aid Iraqi forces against the Sunni Islamist militants. Underlying the complex web of loyalties behind the conflict, a senior U.S

U.S. DEA agents had sex parties funded by drug cartels - watchdog

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents in an unnamed country had alleged "sex parties" with prostitutes funded by local drug cartels over several years, according to a report published on Thursday by the Justice Department's internal watchdog. The 10 agents - an assistant regional director and nine special agents - had the alleged parties "at government-leased headquarters," and three of the special agents "were provided money, expensive gifts, and weapons from drug cartel members," according to the report

Cockpit voice tape hoped to unravel Airbus crash riddle

SEYNE-LES-ALPES/PARIS (Reuters) - Investigators have retrieved cockpit voice recordings from one of the black boxes of the German Airbus plane that smashed into the Alps, killing everyone onboard, and they expect a preliminary read-out of their content in days, an official said on Wednesday. The development came as French President Francois Hollande, Germany's Angela Merkel and Spain's Mariano Rajoy travelled to the crash site in a remote French Alpine region to pay tribute to the 150 victims, mostly Germany and Spanish. However, while Hollande promised that authorities would not rest until the causes of the crash were known, France's BEA air incident investigation bureau said it was still far too early to draw meaningful conclusions on why the plane, operated by the Germanwings budget arm of Lufthansa ( LHAG.DE ), went down.

New Afghan president warns of 'terrible threat' from Islamic State

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Afghanistan's new president, Ashraf Ghani, warned U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday of the "terrible threat" the Islamic State poses in central and western Asia, and said the militant group is already sending fighters to his country