What Could Happen If Apple Disrupts the Headphone Jack

Getty Images

A person walks by an Apple Store on April 23, 2013 in San Francisco.more +

If any company has the power to disrupt an entire industry, it's Apple.

The iPhone maker could be planning to nix the traditional 3.55 millimeter headphone jack on an upcoming iPhone model in favor of its lightning connector, according to the latest rumors on various technology blogs. Apple hasn't commented on the speculation.

Nixing the traditional headphone jack could allow Apple to create an even thinner iPhone. As it stands now, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are a little more than one-quarter of an inch thick, However, the decision would also reverberate through the $9 billion headphone industry, Daniel Ives, managing director of the technology, media and telecom research group at FBR Capital Markets, told ABC News.

"[They] have all options on the table around the potential blockbuster iPhone 7 design and a thinner design is something that we hear is a possibility," he said.

"If Cupertino [Apple's headquarters] went down this path, it would send ripple effects throughout the headphone industry," Ives said. "Given Apple’s acquisition of Beats, we would be surprised if [CEO Tim] Cook does not use this as another cross-sell opportunity down the road into 2016."

While the move could positively disrupt the headphone industry for Apple, Ives said he also sees a potential negative.

"This move would have potential downside consequences, in our opinion, from customer backlash, which is the last thing Cook wants in light of the ongoing smartphone wars," he said.

Floods: Govt 'Doing Everything It Can' To Help

In a statement, the Prime Minister confirmed he will chair a COBRA meeting on Monday to co-ordinate Westminster's response to the heavy flooding which has affected tens of thousands of people.

He added: "The thoughts of the whole country will be with the people in Cumbria and the North West who have suffered so terribly from the devastating storms this weekend.

"The Government is doing everything it can to help those who have seen their homes flooded - and to try and prevent further damage.

Mr Cameron also paid a "huge tribute" to the emergency workers and troops who were deployed after a month's rain fell in a day – and praised the "tremendous response" of locals who had taken in stranded families.

Utility companies are battling to provide clean water and power to residents in Cumbria, with the county declaring a major incident.

Meanwhile, extensive travel disruption is expected in the morning rush hour - with Network Rail warning that the West Coast Main Line will remain closed north of Carlisle "for several days".

It explained that 8ft of water had flooded the railway near Carlisle, with engineers waiting for the water to recede before conducting safety checks and repairs.

On Sunday, services connecting London with Glasgow and Edinburgh were terminating at Preston, leaving many stranded.

In a statement, Virgin Trains said West Coast customers should not attempt to travel between Carlisle and Scotland at all on Monday - as no rail replacement services would be running on the roads because of the severe weather conditions.

Clinton says term 'radical Islam' an injustice to vast majority of Muslims

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton works from a desk inside a C-17 military plane upon her departure from Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea, bound for Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday Oct.18, 2011. (AP2011)

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton declined Sunday to say that a “radical” form of Islam is behind terror attacks connected to the Islamic State and other such attacks committed by fringe members of the Muslim religion.

“I don't want to do that because, No. 1, it doesn't do justice to the vast numbers of Muslims in our own country and around the world who are peaceful people,” she told ABC’s “This Week.”

Clinton spoke four days after Muslim husband-wife couple Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik shot and killed 14 people and wounded dozens of others at an office complex in San Bernardino, Calif.

Her comments are among the latest in an intense debate on whether to call Muslims who commit terror strikes such as the recent ones in California and Paris and the one on Sept. 11, 2001, “radical Islamists” or “Islamic extremists.”

President Obama, set to make an Oval Office address to the America public Sunday night about domestic terror, has also been criticized for not using either term. He has instead used the term “violent extremists,” using an argument similar to Clinton’s.

On the 2016 presidential campaign trail, leading GOP candidate Donald Trump recently called out Obama on the issue.

“Radical Islamic terrorism,” Trump said at an event Friday. “We have a president that refuses to use the term. …There's something going on with him that we don't know about."

On Sunday, Clinton also defended saying publicly, as secretary of state, that the Benghazi terror attacks were inspired by an anti-Islamic video, blaming “the fog of war.”

Recently released emails from Clinton reveal intelligence suggested the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, were terror related.

Other emails indicate Clinton knew the attacks were terror related, then told the American public otherwise.

Four Americans were killed in the attacks.

Clinton acknowledged Sunday that the San Bernardino massacre was a “terrorist attack” and predicted that Obama will announce an "intensification" of existing strategy to fight ISIS, a move she supports.

“Nobody is arguing with that,” she said.

Still, Clinton said the recent massacre, in which the couple appeared to have used legally purchased assault-style rifles, underscores the need for tighter gun control.

“We have to take account … our gun laws and the easy access to those guns by people who shouldn't get them," she said.

She cited the mentally ill, fugitives, felons and Congress “continuing to refuse to prohibit people on the ‘no-fly’ list from getting guns, which include a lot of domestic and international terrorists.”

As Clinton has in the past, she also called for comprehensive background checks for potential gun buyers.

“We need to close the gun show loophole, close the online loophole … and end the liability for gun sellers,” she said.

Snow of the Andes: Bolivia's Coca Dilemna

Bolivia is the third largest coca and cocaine producer in the world.

The country has a long history of using the coca plant for many of its traditional medicines, in food and in daily consumption. 

It is something Bolivians, young and old, have chewed for centuries. The plant is one of the most important agricultural commodities in the country.

Since the election of Evo Morales in 2006 many of the laws that had for generations outlawed coca farming have been thrown out in recognition of the plant's important role in the country's heritage and the economy of the indigenous people.

But this has also created an opportunity for those wanting to exploit the new laws for cocaine production. This growing industry is not only using endless acres of the coca plant fields. It is also threatening the traditional way of life.

After decades of a US-backed drug war, the country decided in 2008 to expel the US Drugs Enforcement Administration (DEA). That was sparked by an indigenous social movement that sought to revindicate the coca farmer - deeming him an integral part of society, so long as his produce was sold for traditional use. 

Today, coca-growing unions control production and the United Nations celebrates their progress. But there are signs that the country has become an international drug trafficking hub. And that not all may be as it seems.

Muslims raise funds for families of California victims

Muslims in southern California say they were devastated to find out the San Bernardino suspects shared their faith [Mike Blake/Reuters]

A collective of Muslim groups in the US have raised almost $30,000 over the last two days for the families of victims of the Wednesday shooting spree at a social service centre that left 14 dead and 17 wounded in San Bernardino, California.

The Muslims United for San Bernardino  initiative is seeking to raise at least $50,000 for immediate needs of the bereaved relatives.

"If we exceed the $50,000 goal, we can even assist the families with long-term expenses or possibly donate to the regional center where the shooting took place," the group said.

The project was launched on Friday by Faisal Qazi, the president of MiNDS, an award-winning charitable organisation based in southern California, and Tarek El-Messidi, a prominent Islamic "social entrepreneur".

It has also been endorsed by numerous Muslim groups, including the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California (ISCSC) and the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

'Showing solidarity'

Qazi told Al Jazeera that the fund was developed before the alleged shooters - who were Muslims - were identified, and thus it was not initiated as an effort to prevent anti-Muslim sentiment in the event of a backlash.

people that suffered are our people and it is not just an obligation but a responsibility for us to be there - to show solidarity with the victims' families [and] be there for them in the short and long term," he said.

"Frankly, the fund was actually set up before name of the assailant was revealed and before we knew a Muslim was allegedly involved. The crowdsourcing campaign was started the next day (after the attack) and later on, upon requests of Muslim scholars, it was expanded to be a national campaign.

"The message we would like to convey is that regardless of the political rhetoric and our concerns about a backlash, for now we are focused on things that are important and the people that need to be taken care of," he added. 

Muzammil Siddiqi, the chairman of ISCSC, has praised the fund and urged all Muslims to contribute to it.

"We are sad at the suffering of our neighbors in San Bernardino. We are with them not only with the words of sympathy and condolences; we should show the acts of kindness and compassion," he said.

Muslims in southern California have told Al Jazeera they were devastated  to find out that the alleged assailants behind the massacre shared their faith, while some feared a backlash against the minority community.

On Sunday there was also an ongoing interfaith memorial service to commemorate victims at the Islamic Center of Redlands, which is close to where the attack took place.

San Bernardino gunman obsessed with ISIS and Israel, dad says

San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook shared ISIS’ ideology, wanted to see the establishment of an Islamic caliphate and was fixated with Israel, Farook’s father told an Italian newspaper during an interview in which he also offered his own unusual ideas about Israel.

“My son said that he shared [ISIS leader Abu Bakr] Al Baghdadi’s ideology and supported the creation of the Islamic State,” said Farook's dad, also named Syed Farook, who lives in Corona, Calif., with another son who is a Navy veteran. “He was also obsessed with Israel.”

“I told him he had to stay calm and be patient because in two years Israel will not exist anymore,” the elder Farook told La Stampa in an article published Sunday. The foreign language daily’s report was translated in part by The Times of Israel.

“Geopolitics is changing: Russia, China and America don’t want Jews there anymore. They are going to bring the Jews back to Ukraine. What is the point of fighting? We have already done it and we lost. Israel is not to be fought with weapons, but with politics. But he did not listen to me, he was obsessed,” the father said in the interview, according to The Times of Israel.

“I told him he had to stay calm and be patient because in two years Israel will not exist anymore."

- Syed Farook, gunman's father

The younger Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, slaughtered 14 people at a Christmas party on Dec. 2. Farook and Malik were killed during a shootout with police later that day.

The elder Farook’s ex-wife and the mother of his children, Rafia, said in court papers filed during divorce proceedings in 2006 that her then-husband had a history of substance abuse.

“My husband is mentally ill and is on medication but is also an alcoholic and drinks with the medicine,” she said, according to The New York Times.

He disputed the allegations.

“[Farook’s] mother is very religious, as he was, and they united against me,” the father said. “Once we had a dispute over the historical figure of Jesus. My son called me a godless person and he decided that my marriage with my wife had to end. They destroyed the family.”

Man 'Tries To Open Plane Door Mid-Flight'

The Lufthansa plane was flying from Frankfurt to Belgrade. File pic

The man was restrained as he fumbled with the controls of an emergency exit door as the Lufthansa plane flew from Frankfurt to Belgrade, the German airline said.

Serbian authorities arrested the man, a Jordanian with an American passport, when the plane reached Belgrade.

The crew and passengers who subdued him - which included members of a Serbian handball team - kept the man restrained for the rest of the flight.

Passengers told Serbia's public broadcaster RTS that the suspect got up mid-flight, banged on the cockpit door and demanded he be allowed in.

He threatened to bring down the plane and cried out that he wished to join Allah along with all the passengers, according to RTS.

The incident happened as the plane was flying over Austria, reports said.

"A passenger got up and tried to do something at the door, but was stopped by crew members and other passengers," said Lufthansa spokesman Andreas Bartels.

"The passenger was then restrained for the remainder of the flight in his seat and handed over to the authorities in Belgrade."

Mr Bartles stressed that the door the man was trying to open was not to the cockpit.

"It was a normal door, which of course cannot be opened in-flight... it was not the cockpit door," he said.

"The safety of the flight was not jeopardised and the flight landed safely in Belgrade."

The suspect is being held in pre-trial detention on the grounds of endangering public safety.