Europe

Submitted by Eric Zuesse via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

SUMMARY

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

What is going to happen to society when robots are able to do just about everything better, faster and cheaper than human workers can? 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered an urgent inspection of Russia’s aerospace forces in readiness for a potential war with NATO.  Putin’s unannounced inspection on Tuesday comes after Moscow announced that it would be ramping up efforts to counter provocative NATO drills in the Black Sea. Ibtimes.com reports: “In accordance with the decision by the Armed Forces Supreme Commander, a snap check of the Aerospace Forces began to evaluate readiness of the control agencies and troops to carry out combat training tasks,” Shoigu said at a meeting, according to Russian news Agency TASS.

A new study looking at human DNA reveals that early humans may have interbred with a  mysterious ‘alien species’ over 30,000 years ago.  According to scientists, updated genome sequences from two relatives of modern humans reveal that these groups interbred with several human-like species, one of which was “not human”. 3tags.org reports: The ancient genomes, one from a Neanderthal and one from a member of an archaic human group called the Denisovans, were presented at a meeting on ancient DNA at the Royal Society in London.

In today's trifecta of after hours earnings results, all three behemoths representing different key parts of the US economy, stumbled after either missing expectations, or guiding lower.

First, it was Mondelez, which missed on the top and bottom line, reporting Q4 EPS of $0.47 below the $0.49 expected, on disappointing revenue of $6.77BN, below the $6.87BN expected. The company also missed on margin reporting Q4 adj. gross margin 39.0%, below the est. 40.1%. Some other details: