PARIS: French singer France Gall, who shot to fame in the 1960s with a series of hits, died Sunday aged 70, her spokeswoman announced.
Gall, who became a star in 1965 when she won the Eurovision song contest as a strikingly blonde and slightly awkward teenager, had been battling cancer for two years and died in a hospital west of Paris.
During the peak of her career in the 1960s and 70s she formed partnerships with some of the most famed French musicians of the era, notably Gainsbourg, but also Claude Francois and Michel Berger.
She was the original inspiration behind the 1968 hit “Comme d’Habitude” made famous in its English rendition as “My Way” by American crooner Frank Sinatra.
Glam-rocker Francois wrote “Comme d’Habitude” about his split-up with Gall.
Later reworked as “My Way” by English performer Paul Anka, the song went on to become the Sinatra classic.
After Gall’s first breakthrough at Eurovision with “Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son,” (Wax Doll, Rag Doll), Gainsbourg wrote her 1966 follow-up, the scandalous “Les Sucettes” (The Lollipops).
As a 19-year-old, Gall said she hadn’t understood that the lyrics could be interpreted as referring to oral sex and later said she would never have performed the song if she’d known.
After collaborating with Gainsbourg, she began a hugely successful partnership with Berger in 1974 and would go on to marry the songwriter two years later in a relationship that would be marked by tragedy.
He died of a heart attack aged 44 in 1992 and the eldest of their two children, daughter Pauline, who was born with cystic fibrosis, passed away five years later.
Gall disappeared from the public eye after Pauline’s death in 1997, only to reappear in 2015 for a musical stage show featuring her numerous hits with her late husband.
French star singer France Gall dies aged 70
French star singer France Gall dies aged 70
Starbucks reports weak quarterly results despite the arrival of Pumpkin Spice Latte season
It’s been a disappointing start to Pumpkin Spice Latte season for Starbucks.
The Seattle coffee giant on Tuesday reported weaker-than-expected sales in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 29. It also said it would suspend financial guidance for its 2025 fiscal year to give its new Chairman and CEO, Brian Niccol, time to assess the business.
The financial results were preliminary. Starbucks plans to release full results for the July-September period and host a conference call with investors on Oct. 30.
Customer traffic was sluggish in the US, where Starbucks saw a 6 percent decline in same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year. The company said expanded fall product offerings such as Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai and more frequent in-app promotions didn’t drive more visits.
The Pumpkin Spice Latte, which returned to US stores on Aug. 22 and is usually a reliable booster of traffic, didn’t seem to help.
In China, same-store sales fell 14 percent as consumers pulled back on spending or visited cheaper rivals, Starbucks said.
In a video message released by the company, Niccol — a former Chipotle CEO who joined Starbucks last month — said Starbucks’ problems are “very fixable and that we have significant strengths to build on.”
Niccol said Starbucks needs to improve staffing, remove bottlenecks and simplify operations for its baristas, especially during the morning rush. Mobile ordering should be refined so it doesn’t overwhelm the café experience, he said. Niccol also said Starbucks needs to simplify its “overly complex menu.”
“We know how to make these improvements, and when we do, we know customers will visit more often,” he said.
Niccol said Starbucks plans to change its marketing to focus less on Starbucks Rewards customers and more on highlighting the brand’s handcrafted drinks and coffee innovation.
The company said its revenue fell 3 percent to $9.1 billion in the July-September period. That was lower than the $9.4 billion Wall Street was expecting, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
Starbucks said its adjusted earnings fell 24.5 percent from the same period a year ago to 80 cents per share. That also fell short of analysts’ forecast of $1.03 per-share earnings.
Qualcomm, Alphabet team up for automotive AI; Mercedes inks chip deal
- Qualcomm on Tuesday also rolled out two new chips
Qualcomm on Tuesday said it was teaming up with Alphabet’s Google to offer a combination of chips and software that will let automakers develop their own AI voice assistants using technology from the two firms.
Qualcomm’s chips have long powered mobile phones with Google’s Android operating system and the company has expanded into the automotive business, with chips that can power both a car’s dashboard and automated driving systems that are used by General Motors and others. On Tuesday, Qualcomm said it is working with Google to create a version of the company’s Android Automotive OS that will run smoothly on Qualcomm chips.
While many consumers are familiar with Google’s Android Auto and Apple CarPlay that display apps from a phone when plugged into a vehicle, Google’s Android Automotive OS is an offering that automakers use behind the scenes to power a vehicle computing systems. Qualcomm and Google said automakers will be able to use the joint offering and Google’s AI technology to create voice assistants that are unique to an automaker and can work without relying on a driver’s phone.
“Typically, we have operated together, but independently — we plan a lot of things together, but we go to customers separately,” Nakul Duggal, group manager for automotive at Qualcomm, said of the Qualcomm-Google relationship. “We decided we should think about this differently because it will reduce a lot of friction and confusion.”
Qualcomm on Tuesday also rolled out two new chips, one called Snapdragon Cockpit Elite to power dashboards and another called Snapdragon Ride Elite for self-driving features. The company said Mercedes-Benz Group plans to use the Snapdragon Elite Cockpit chip in future vehicles, though the two companies did not specify when or in which vehicles the chip will appear.
New Zealand airport wants you to hug goodbye faster
- Travelers leaving the New Zealand city of Dunedin will have to keep their emotional farewells brief after a new three-minute time limit
WELLINGTON: Emotional farewells are a common sight at airports, but travelers leaving the New Zealand city of Dunedin will have to be quick. A new three-minute time limit on goodbye hugs in the airport’s drop-off area is intended to prevent lingering cuddles from causing traffic jams.
“Max hug time three minutes,” warn signs outside the terminal, adding that those seeking “fonder farewells” should head to the airport’s parking lot instead.
The cuddle cap was imposed in September to “keep things moving smoothly” in the redesigned passenger drop-off area outside the airport, CEO Dan De Bono told The Associated Press on Tuesday. It was the airport’s way of reminding people that the zone was for “quick farewells” only.
The signs had polarized social media users, De Bono said.
“We were accused of breaching basic human rights and how dare we limit how long someone can have a hug for,” he said, adding that others had welcomed the change.
The signs were meant as an alternative to those at other airports warning of wheel clamping or fines for drivers parked in drop-off areas. Some in Britain have imposed fees for all drop-offs — however brief.
Dunedin’s airport — a modest terminal serving a city of 135,000 people on New Zealand’s South Island — preferred a “quirky” approach, De Bono said.
Three minutes was “plenty of time to pull up, say farewell to your loved ones and move on,” he said. “The time limit is really a nicer way of saying, you know, get on with it.”
A 20-second hug is long enough to release the wellbeing-boosting hormones oxytocin and serotonin, De Bono said. Anything longer was “really awkward.”
But passengers need not worry unduly about enforcement. “We do not have hug police,” De Bono said.
Visitors might, however, be asked to move their lingering embraces to the parking lot, where they can cuddle free of charge for up to 15 minutes.
German police say pizza order No. 40 came with a side of cocaine
- Police was first tipped off by suspicious food inspectors in March why pizza number 40 was so popular
- The pizzeria manager was arrested when he tried to flee abroad, and remains in custody
BERLIN: German police busted a pizzeria in the western city of Dusseldorf that also delivered a side order of cocaine when customers asked for item number 40 on the menu.
“That was one of the best-selling pizzas,” criminal director Michael Graf von Moltke told reporters in Dusseldorf.
He said police was first tipped off by suspicious food inspectors in March. When drug squad officers began observing the restaurant they soon discovered why pizza number 40 was so popular, Moltke told reporters on Monday, German news agency dpa reported.
When police buzzed the apartment of the pizzeria manager, the 36-year-old allegedly threw a bag of drugs out of the window, which “fell right into the arms of the police officers,” Dusseldorf police said. The bounty included 1.6 kilograms (3.5 pounds) of cocaine, 400 grams (14.1 ounces) of cannabis and 268,000 euros ($290,378) in cash.
Police said the restaurant manager, who was released from detention after a few days, soon reopened his business and started selling pizza number 40 with the cocaine side order again. That gave investigators an opportunity to look into the supply chain and after several weeks, some 150 officers busted an entire drug ring in western Germany, arrested three suspects including the 22-year-old head of the drug operation, and raided homes and businesses of another 12 suspects.
During the raids, they came across two cannabis plantations in nearby Monchengladbach and Solingen with 300 and 60 plants respectively. They also found cutting and stabbing weapons, as well as cash and expensive watches, dpa reported.
The pizzeria manager was arrested when he tried to flee abroad, and remains in custody. None of the suspects’ names were released in line with German privacy rules.
Police did not say how much the pizzeria charged for the special order.
‘Serious business’: influencer degree launches in Ireland
- Irish university is teaching wannabe influencers how to convert online presence and content on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube into revenue streams
CARLOW: It’s a job that didn’t exist until recently but becoming an influencer is an ever more popular career path among Gen-Z youth in the modern era of social media.
Now a first-of-its-kind course at an Irish university is teaching wannabe influencers how to convert online presence and content on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube into revenue streams.
“Influencing is something that’s catching fire,” course director Irene McCormick told AFP at South East Technological University (SETU) in Carlow, an hour’s drive southwest from the capital Dublin.
The idea grew out of a summer crash course “Digital Hustle” launched by McCormick that was taught by TikTokers and attracted 350 applicants for 30 places.
“It got amazing traction, we could see the appetite for more, so we broadened it to degree level,” said McCormick, a former television producer and director.
After two years of development the course — a four-year-long bachelor’s degree in “Content Creation and Social Media” — received accreditation and welcomed its first intake of 15 students last month.
On the state-of-the-art campus, students chatted, took selfies and scrolled their social media feeds on smartphones during a break between classes.
“My friends tell me I talk a lot so I thought I might as well make money out of it and try this course,” Harry Odife, 22, told AFP in the campus TV studio during a roleplay exercise.
Most of the students are already immersed in the digital space or working in it and want to expand their toolset and knowledge, McCormick said.
“You can try to learn yourself at home but being empowered with practice and theory about how to connect with target demographics online is going to make a big difference to your career,” she added.
The term “influencer” was officially added to the dictionary in 2019, and refers to a person well-known through use of social media who uses their celebrity to endorse, promote, or generate interest in products and brands, often for payment.
Now the most prominent such as YouTube challenge stunt creator Mr.Beast and gaming vlogger KSI tap vast online audiences, earning huge sums per sponsored post or via brand sponsorships and advertisements.
Surveys consistently show that most Gen-Z youths — those born between 1997 and 2012 — would consider a job as a vlogger, YouTuber or professional streamer.
“Of course people want to make money from influencing, so we look particularly at person branding, how to monetise being influential over large online followings,” said McCormick.
Students said they hoped the course would help them leverage their interests and hobbies which range from beauty and fashion to entertainment, social justice, and sport.
“I post a lot of the hairstyles I do on TikTok and Instagram, it would be nice to have the knowledge to grow that into an actual business,” said Favour Ehuchie, an 18-year-old hairdresser.
Another student, keen equestrian Marta Hughes Bravo, said horse stud farms now seek staff who are social media-savvy.
“Companies are all over Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. One girl who works for a farm has been pulling in brand deals. To know how to do that would be fantastic,” she said.
Degree modules include creative video and storytelling psychology, entrepreneurship, celebrity studies, storytelling psychology, data analytics, and podcasting.
“A lot of people think it’s an easy life being an influencer, just posting 60-second videos on TikTok, but there is way more to it,” said Hughes Bravo.
Creating content involves “editing, planning, organizing, and so on, it takes up more time than you might think, people don’t understand that quite yet.”
Practical elements of the course include camera and microphone learning, and work placements.
“Having influencer knowledge like how to be comfortable in front of cameras will help us build our confidence, whatever we end up doing,” said another student Naoise Kelly, adding that becoming the next big thing on social media is not her top priority.
McCormick said employment opportunities for influencer talent are multiplying exponentially, either in front of camera or behind the scenes.
“Yes, influencer posts on social media may sometimes be frivolous, but the actual business is not, it is a very serious business,” she added.
“So many Gen Z young people buy a lot of bling, and that bling is being sold through influencers.
“Around 70 percent of marketers now believe in influencers as the future of marketing, governments are also using them to message people, that’s how we access markets now.”
