By Peter Rubinstein –bbc.com – Olivia Bland, a 22-year-old from Manchester looking for a job in communications, knows how a job interview is supposed to go. A handshake, a few questions about strengths and weaknesses, some CV inspecting and a pleasant send-off. “They’re usually casual,” Bland says, “and definitely not two hours long.” But earlier this week, an interview she had with tech firm Web Applications UK left her in tears. In a viral tweet, she alleged that chief executive Craig Dean degraded and humiliated her about everything from her music taste to her parents’ marriage. Bland was offered the job but declined, likening Dean’s behaviour to that of an abusive ex. “He went on from attacking my writing to attacking me, including the way I sat and how I held my arms,” she says. Her tweet was shared tens of thousands of times, and prompted Dean to post an apology saying it had not been his intent to see anyone hurt. Web Applications UK has publicly denied Bland’s claims, but did not respond to BBC Capital for comment.

Stress test

The type of experience described by Bland is known as a ‘stress interview’ – a technique to test how applicants deal with pressure by taking them out of the comfort zone of expected questions and answers. One example is a trend that was prevalent in the tech industry earlier this decade – where an interviewer would ask a candidate bizarre questions such as “why are manhole covers round?” or instruct them to design something on the spot. The goal isn’t to get an exact answer – instead it’s to see how a candidate reacts and to test their thought process. “There are certainly different kinds of stress associated with many positions – achieving results, meeting deadlines, dealing with difficult clients, for example,” says Neal Hartman, senior lecturer in managerial communication at MIT. “The stress interview can create conditions to see how an applicant would handle those challenges.” Stress interviews can also be used to simulate certain situations, such as testing customer service agents who need to be prepared to deal with abusive phone calls, says Kim Ruyle, president of Inventive Talent Consulting. In such situations, the candidate would need to be told in advance. In any case, there’s a stark difference between asking a tough question and belittling a candidate, Ruyle says, adding that verbal abuse in any workplace setting is inappropriate and should never be part of the interview.

By Alyssa Newcomb — nbcnews.com — Amazon has a history of dropping cash on companies, like its $13.7 billion cash acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017. But when it announced in its latest earnings report that it planned to increase investments in 2019, the company’s shares fell 5 percent, even dropping into bear territory on Friday. […]

by evolving-science — Apple is already testing a version of iOS 12.1.4 that is meant to address the rogue FaceTime bug that allowed a caller to access the microphone and even the camera of the recipient before the latter picked up the call. The FaceTime eavesdropping bug allowed iPhone users to exploit a privacy-invading ‘Group […]

By SARAH EL DEEB / AP Updated: January 31, 2019 12:48 PM ET (BEIRUT) — Lebanese political factions agreed finally Thursday on the formation of a new government, breaking a nine-month deadlock that only deepened the country’ economic woes. Rival political groups have been locked in disagreement over the make-up of a new government since May, after the country’s first parliamentary elections in nine years. The breakthrough comes after rival factions worked out a compromise allowing representation of Sunni lawmakers backed by the powerful Shiite group Hezbollah. Celebrations broke out after the announcement, including huge fireworks that lit up the Beirut sky. The most pressing challenge for the cabinet is to revive Lebanon’s economic fortunes and cut the national debt, which stands at about 150% of GDP.

For the first time, the Lebanese government includes four women ministers, doubling their representation, including the powerful Ministry of Interior in charge of internal security. Gebran Bassil, the son-in-law of the Lebanese President, remains foreign minister. Hariri called the new government “a reflection of Lebanon’s image in 2019.” The main pressure appeared to be Lebanon’s deepening economic woes and Hariri told reporters the economy will be priority. “There isn’t any more time to waste,” he said. Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Thursday that Lebanon faced economic and financial challenges and the time for treating problems with “painkillers” was over, as his new national unity government took office. “The time of treatment with painkillers is over. No one can put their head in the sand any more. Matters are as clear as the sun. All the problems are known and the causes of the corruption and waste and administrative deficiency are also known,” he said. “Lebanese are living in concern about the economic situation,” he said, adding that the government’s work could not wait.

The last big hurdle was a dispute over how Hezbollah’s Sunni allies should be represented in cabinet, resolved by the inclusion of Hassan Mrad, the son of the pro-Hezbollah and pro-Damascus MP Abdul Rahim Mrad.

For a complete lists of candidates and names of the new ministers (Cabinet lineup) please click read more

Hong Kong (CNN Business) Carlos Ghosn is claiming a plot against him by Nissan executives caused his spectacular downfall. In his first media interview since his stunning arrest more than two months ago, Ghosn told Japanese news organization Nikkei that he had “no doubt” that the allegations against him are the result of “plot and […]

BEIRUT (Reuters) – This week will be decisive in efforts to form a new government in Lebanon, prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri said on Tuesday, adding he was “cautiously optimistic”. Rival parties have been negotiating to form a coalition government since a national election in May, fuelling concerns that a crisis is looming for the country’s […]

By Hannah Brockhaus Beirut, Lebanon (CNA).- Raymond Nader had spent years searching for the meaning of life, when during a moment of prayer in an old Lebanese hermitage, he says a mystical experience of light left his arm miraculously marked with a burn in the shape of the hand of St. Charbel. Since that moment, on Nov. 10, 1994, the handprint on his upper left arm has faded and reappeared multiple times, Nader told CNA. Dr. Nabil Hokayem, a Beirut plastic surgeon, examined the mark on Nader’s arm three times: first in 1994, soon after its appearance, and subsequently in the spring of 1995 and the summer of 1996. He told CNA that in his professional opinion, the mark is a third-degree burn, in the shape of what appeared “like five fingers, as if someone is holding [Nader] from behind.”

A third-degree burn is severe, and destroys both the upper and lower layers of skin, possibly also affecting underlying tissues. But Hokayem said the burn on Nader’s upper left arm did not go through the stages of healing typical of a severe burn. “I have seen and treated hundreds of burned people; I tell you, I have never seen such a thing,” he said. “I was really astonished.” The doctor said the first time he saw the burn, he wanted to treat and bandage it as usual, but Nader declined, saying it did not bother him. Besides the lack of pain, the doctor explained it was unusual that the burn did not leave a scar, but instead would just slowly fade until it had “healed totally.” Nader said he has continued to have supernatural visions since that first experience in the hermitage nearly 25 years ago, sometimes also seeing a vision of the Lebanese monk and hermit, St. Charbel, “in a halo of light.” He says that each of those times, the fading handprint has turned the dark red of a burn, and again oozed blood and water, as it did when it first appeared. After years of trying to find his purpose through science, this experience “deeply changed everything in my life,” the engineer told CNA, noting that he thinks St. Charbel, who lived as a hermit in the hills of Lebanon for 26 years, “has only one message. He’s pointing to Jesus Christ, pointing to God.”

By Dana Khraiche – bloomberg.com — Lebanon’s Central Bank will reinstate subsidized housing loans, ending an almost year-long freeze of the program, the state-run National News Agency reported late Friday. The new housing package will be $200 million for housing loans of as much as $300 million, the agency said, citing a circular from the Association […]

Facebook is planning to merge WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger, bringing together more than 2.6 billion users so that they can communicate over the three platforms, the New York Times reports. The effort will require the social media giant to rewrite the basic software of the three apps so that they are interoperable. The plan, […]

GOOGLE IS POURING an additional $3.1 million into Wikipedia, bringing its total contribution to the free encyclopedia over the past decade to more than $7.5 million, the company announced at the World Economic Forum Tuesday. A little over a third of those funds will go toward sustaining current efforts at the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia, and the remaining $2 million will focus on long-term viability through the organization’s endowment. Google will also begin allowing Wikipedia editors to use several of its machine learning tools for free, the tech giant said. What’s more, Wikimedia and Google will soon broaden Project Tiger, a joint initiative they launched in 2017 to increase the number of Wikipedia articles written in underrepresented languages in India, and to include 10 new languages in a handful of countries and regions. It will now be called GLOW, Growing Local Language Content on Wikipedia. It’s certainly positive that Google is investing more in Wikipedia, one of the most popular and generally trustworthy online resources in the world. But the decision isn’t altruistic: Supporting Wikipedia is also a shrewd business decision that will likely benefit Google for years to come. Like other tech companies, including Amazon, Apple, and Facebook, Google already uses Wikipedia content in a number of its own products. When you search Google for “Paris,” a “knowledge panel” of information about the city will appear, some of which is sourced from Wikipedia. The company also has used Wikipedia articles to train machine learning algorithms, as well as fight misinformation on YouTube.