National / International News

A new analysis of census data shows that net household worth between 2009 and 2011 was up significantly for the top 7 percent.

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But is government planning cut to schools budget?

Silicon Valley is known as the cradle of innovation, right? And you could make the case that Apple, Google and Facebook -- all in Silicon Valley –-- are some of the sexiest companies in business right now.

But here’’s the thing, when you drive around Silicon Valley its pretty boring --– just freeways and office parks.

Apple, Google and Facebook are aiming to change that. The tech companies are breaking ground on new corporate headquarters that promise to be architectural landmarks.

Apple's "mothership"

Apple is building a gigantic, circular building made out of glass with room for 12,000 people.

“Some people have described it as the mothership that has landed. A place for some kind of harmonic convergence. Or as an iPod click wheel,” said Brian Schermer, a professor of architecture at the University of Wisconsin.

And like Apple’s most iconic products, the building will be a wonder of technology and design. It’ll generate its own electricity, with more than 700,000-square feet of solar panels. The center of the circle, which is a about a mile across, will be filled with Apple orchards and trails.

And the building itself will be sheathed in gigantic 40-foot-high panels of curved glass -- something that’s never been tried before.

“I tend to think of the building as a philosophy and approach to the creation of objects and that’s seamless, timeless beautiful,” Schermer said.

The late Steve Jobs, with his usual modesty, presented plans for Apple’s new headquarters to the Cupertino City Council in 2011.

“I think we do have a shot of building the best office building in the world. I really do think architecture students will come here to see this,” Jobs said.

The new Apple headquarters will sit on the hallowed ground of Hewlett-Packard's former headquarters -- the company that started it all. But it couldn’t be a bigger break from Silicon Valley’s architectural tradition.

For all the glamour associated with tech these days, the architecture in Silicon Valley can be summed up in two words: office parks, said Louise Mozingo is a professor at UC Berkeley and the author of "Pastoral Capitalism: A History of Suburban Corporate Landscapes."

“They’re kinda like the building and landscape version of khakis and polo shirts,” she said.

Not very sexy, but adaptable.

“Your company booms, you move outward. Your company shrinks, new innovators come in and take over,” Mozingo said.

With its new headquarters, Apple is changing that paradigm.

“This kind of move on the part of a corporation represents a company that’s matured and has an interest in being sort of seen as an institution,” Mozingo said.

"Bay View" (aka a whimsical office park for Google)

About 10 miles north in Mountain View, Google is putting forward a different vision with its new headquarters called “Bay View.” If Apple is about an eco-system, where the iPod, iPhone, iPad feed into each other in an endless circle, Google’s business is unpredictable.

“Our business is constantly changing,” said Anthony Ravitz, who works on Google’s real estate and workplace services team.

While Google makes most of its money off search, it’s also into smartphones, driverless cars, electronic wallets -- and it’s set to release Google Glass, a wearable computer that sits on your face like glasses.

“In 50 years, what will our business look like and how can we evolve the space over time?” Ravitz said.

The answer is “Bay View,” which is made up of about a dozen buildings that look very much like… an “office park.” The “J”-shaped buildings fit together around a series of outdoor courtyards and the campus sits right on the southern shores of the San Francisco Bay. Google is restoring the wetlands around it and creating a natural habitat for its own workers. There will be paths along the water for jogging and bike riding and places for Googlers to practice yoga or ride scooters on the rooftop gardens.

“We definitely want this campus to be a reflection of our culture and whimsy is a part of that,” Ravitz said.

Google believes innovation can’t be planned, but it can be fostered by creating spaces where employees can run into each other and share ideas. And the San Francisco Bay is rarely out of view.

“There’s a lot of data out there showing that access to views impacts us physiologically,” Ravitz said.

Louise Mozingo, the UC Berkeley professor, says that Google’s new headquarters is iconic in its own way. It’s not about the building but the idea that you can actually create spaces that lead to innovation.

“Each one of these reflect a very different kind of corporate persona,” she said.

Mozingo says Apple and Google could cement Silicon Valley’s reputation as ground zero for technological and architectural innovation.

We’ll know in a few years if the tour buses start rolling by.

It quickly became clear that the "news" was not true. There had been no explosions at the White House and President Obama was fine. But a message on the wire service's Twitter account rattled investors.

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On Monday, FBI investigators said they had not found any trace of ricin in a search of Paul Kevin Curtis' home. Prosecutors and defense attorneys have scheduled a news conference this evening.

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Shappi Khorsandi was taking part in a classroom experiment, where assorted celebrities, politicians and business leaders try their hand as teachers.

Singer Katherine Jenkins defends herself after criticism by a newspaper columnist for running the London Marathon in designer sunglasses, make-up and diamond earrings.

The Duchess of Cambridge launches an addiction counselling programme for schoolchildren in Manchester.

Former chief executive Charles Green agrees to sell his shares in Rangers to Greenock bus tycoon James Easdale.

Just as Groupon pioneered the daily-deal craze, the tweet by Groupon founder Andrew Mason that “I’ve been fired” has started another trend.

Local TV news anchorman A.J. Clemente this week became the latest ex-employee to announce his departure on Twitter. He had a very bad first day at KFYR in North Dakota. He swore (and not just a little) on the air, unaware his microphone was live.

Clemente’s sad, but unsurprising, tweets summed it up: “That couldn’t have gone any worse!” and, “Unfortunately KFYRTV has decided to let me go. Thank you to them and everyone in ND for the opportunity and everyone for the support.”

Earlier this month, Matthew Keys tweeted that he’d gotten the boot as deputy social media editor at Reuters after being indicted for allegedly giving hackers access to the Los Angeles Times.

Just got off the phone. Reuters has fired me, effective today. Our union will be filing a grievance. More soon.

— Matthew Keys (@TheMatthewKeys) April 22, 2013
And it turns out that if you search “I just got fired,” you’ll get an endless scroll of tweets. Some of which are gold.

All of this brings up the question: Is tweeting your termination really a good idea?

On one hand, it might make you feel better.

“In the moment of being fired, people immediately go to the emotional place of wanting to know they’re okay,” says Dr. Brandon Smith, aka “The Workplace Therapist” and professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

“That’s why Twitter and Facebook are so tempting,” he says. “People are looking for a bunch of likes and to hear, ‘It’s okay this happened to me last week,’ or, ‘You’re great, you’ll get through this.’ They’re looking for the encouragement, that emotional bump.”

Six months later, though, it could make you feel a lot not better.

“You’re publishing something in perpetuity, and people lose sight of that,” Smith says.

Sara Grant, who teaches at Baruch College and New York University, says the problem with “our over-sharing culture is that it is easy to be disrespectful to others. In this case, the risk is saying something against the previous employer.”

Any announcement that badmouths a former employer won’t go over well with potential new employers. Saying you don’t know why you were just fired doesn’t make you look good either. Nor, really, does getting fired at all.

“I would absolutely encourage people not to post anything on Facebook or Twitter that might hurt them later,” says Emory’s Smith.

But he adds that tweeting your firing can be acceptable if done graciously, as in, “Today I was let go. I want to thank the people of X company and I really want to wish them the best of luck. I’m looking for new opportunities.”

If you were unfairly fired, can’t you use social media to mount a defense?

“Not in 120 characters,” Smith says. “Twitter’s really not a good forum for richness of dialogue. Announcing you’ve been let go, anything controversial -- Twitter’s not the right forum for that.”

If you must spill the beans, tweet a link to a full statement or press release, like former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason did. And Smith says always have someone review a controversial post.

Twitter and Facebook are forever, after all.
This is how to tweet you were fired:

That couldn't have gone any worse!

— A.J. Clemente (@ClementeAJ) April 21, 2013

Unfortunately KFYRTV has decided to let me go. Thank you to them and everyone in ND for the opportunity and everyone for the support.

— A.J. Clemente (@ClementeAJ) April 22, 2013

Rookie mistake. I'm a free agent.Cant help but laugh at myself and stay positive.Wish i didnt trip over my "Freaking Shoes" out of the gate.

— A.J. Clemente (@ClementeAJ) April 22, 2013

For Groupon Employees: jottit.com/v5wux/ (Apparently, sharing oranges is necessary but insufficient #leadership)

— Andrew Mason (@andrewmason) February 28, 2013

This is probably not how to tweet you were fired:

I just got fired from the library.. Guess they didn't like how I put all the women's rights and feminists books in the fiction section.

— Because I'm a Guy (@CauseWereGuys) February 22, 2013

I just got Fired lets get high as hell

— Sean O'Connor (@SeanOConnor732) April 20, 2013

I just got fired, who's hiring?

— Zachary Jordan (@Yo_Duude) April 17, 2013

Because @kmichelle wanted to cause a scene last night, I just got fired. I hope you’re happy.

— Assanté Porter (@heyassante) April 19, 2013

I just got fired because I got sick at work today. They're unprofessional and I like sweet&sassy better haha too bad for them!

— Caterina Troiani (@ICONiCat) April 20, 2013

Following the GOP's losses in the 2012 elections, there has been a lot of hand-wringing about what the party should do next. David Brooks, Laura Ingraham, Mickey Edwards and Ralph Reed take on the Republicans' future in the latest Intelligence Squared U.S. debate.

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A woman whose body was found on Cotswolds farmland after a killer led police to her grave probably died "an unnatural and violent death", an inquest is told.

A poll released days before the opening of George W. Bush's presidential library in Dallas is serving as fodder for some sequestered GOP nostalgia about his two terms in the White House.

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The settlement agreement between the Department of Justice and Anheuser-Busch InBev will allow the mammoth beer company to complete its purchase of Grupo Modelo, a Mexico-based brewer that produces Corona, Pacifico, and other beers.

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Sprinter Sacre completes a festival hat-trick by holding off Sizing Europe in the Champion Chase at Punchestown.

The French parliament has approved a bill legalising same-sex marriage and adoption, following a divisive public debate

The government's plan to increase the size of Britain's reserve forces while cutting the regular army is criticised by several Tory MPs.

At least 56 political prisoners have been freed in Burma, activists say, following the EU decision on Monday to lift the last of its sanctions.

BBC Radio 5 live special investigates the legacy of East Germany's widespread athletics doping

DNA sequenced from nearly 40 ancient skeletons has shed light on the complex prehistoric events that created the present day European population.