Barca equal unbeaten record in Sevilla win

Barcelona came from behind to equal a Spanish record of 34 games unbeaten in all competitions by moving eight points clear at the top of La Liga with a 2-1 win over Sevilla.

 

Sevilla were the last side to beat Barca back in October and deservedly struck first through Vitolo.

 

However, as so often of late, Barca recovered from a slow start thanks to Lionel Messi's brilliant free-kick and Gerard Pique's winner early in the second-half.

Luis Enrique's men have now matched Real Madrid's record run from the 1988-89 season and in doing so moved 12 points clear of third-placed Madrid.

Atletico Madrid remain Barca's closest challengers after beating Madrid 1-0 on Saturday.

 

"We are in great form, but records don't mean anything. At the end of the day everything is judged by titles," Pique told Movistar.

 

"Our season is well on track, but we need to finish it off."

 

Sevilla were a constant threat on the counter-attack, but should have taken the lead from a set-piece when Timothee Kolodziejczak somehow blazed over from point-blank range.

 

Barca nearly went in front in spectacular fashion as Messi's audacious attempt from a corner hit the post and Luis Suarez then blasted the rebound off the crossbar.

 

Sevilla did eventually make the breakthrough 20 minutes in thanks to a fine breakaway as Benoit Tremoulinas's cross from the left was slotted home at the back post by Vitolo.

 

However, as ever Messi came to the fore when Barca needed him most and the five-time World Player of the Year levelled with a stunning free-kick high into the far corner 11 minutes later.

 

Sergio Rico prevented Messi turning the game around single-handedly before the break with a great save low to his left.

 

Barca upped the pace after the break and were rewarded when brilliant link-up play between Messi and Suarez teed up Pique to tap home from close range.

 

Sevilla still had the chance to take something from the game when Claudio Bravo flew from his line to block Kevin Gameiro as the Frenchman bore down on goal.

 

Earlier, Valencia's four-game winning run came to a sudden halt as Gary Neville's men were beaten 3-0 by Athletic Bilbao in a dress rehearsal of their Europa League last-16 tie.

 

The Basques moved up to seventh in La Liga with three goals in seven second-half minutes at Mestalla.

 

However, Neville was furious at two strong Valencia penalty appeals that were waived away before the opener.

 

"I thought the referee was a joke," said the former Manchester United captain.

"I've not blamed refs in every game, but his management of the game was awful. Some of the things he did were incredible."

 

Sabin Merino headed the visitors in front before Iker Muniain then doubled the lead to register his first goal in 18 months.

 

And Aritz Aduriz compounded a miserable afternoon for Neville by rising highest to head home Benat Extebarria's corner for his 27th goal of the season.

 

Villarreal moved to within two points of Real Madrid by stretching their unbeaten league run to 13 games with a comfortable 3-0 win over Levante thanks to goals from Leo Baptistao, Samu Castillejo and Adrian Lopez.

 

Marcelino's men should at least be assured a place in the Champions League qualifiers next season as they now lead Sevilla by 11 points in the fight for fourth place.

Leonardo DiCaprio wins 'Best Actor' Oscar trophy for 'The Revenant'... finally!

Finally, his billions of fans across the globe can celebrate their most favourite Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio's Oscar win. The supremely talented actor, despite being nominated in the Oscars numerous times in the past, finally won the prestigious 'Best Actor' Oscar trophy at the 88th Academy Awards for 'The Revenant', which is considered to be one of his career best performances ever.

 

The film opened to spectacular response from the audience apart from great critical acclaim. In fact, not only the film, but Leo's performance too was critically acclaimed and referred to as 'brilliant' and 'outstanding' by the critics.

The 'Titanic' actor's triumph in the 'Best Actor' category at the 88th Academy Awards for a film which is considered to be one of the most difficult films and roles of his career has given his fans elephantine reasons to rejoice and celebrate. Keep up the good work Leo! We think it was long overdue and well deserved.
 

HTC could be planning a mobile VR headset too

Virtual reality tech had a huge part to play at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and HTC was leading the charge with the Vive headset it's been developing with Valve (and which you can pre-order starting February 29).

 

It seems PC-powered, fully immersive virtual reality might not be HTC's only VR project: it's also thinking about smartphone-powered VR, something along the lines of the Gear VR or the new LG 360 VR.

 

Headsets like the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift are more powerful and offer a more fluid VR experience, but the cut-down mobile versions have the advantage of being portable and cable-free.

 

HTC talking sense

 

Speaking to TechCrunch, Drew Bamford of HTC Creative Labs said "it would make sense" for HTC to "work on more kinds of VR products, and products that unite our phone business and our VR business", though he didn't confirm HTC was working on its own version of the Gear VR.

Samsung is making good use of its mobile VR headset, developed with the help of Oculus: anyone who pre-orders one of its new 2016 flagships will get a free Gear VR included in the bundle.

LG has now joined Samsung with its own lightweight LG G5-compatible VR headset, so don't be surprised to see HTC follow suit in the near future. Chances are the next device would be a lot cheaper than the $799 ticket price (roughly £575 or AU$1,120) of the full-fat Vive.

WhatsApp will no longer work on BlackBerry and Nokia platforms

There's some bad news for BlackBerry users, global messaging service WhatsApp is ending support for BlackBerry devices by the end this year. The Facebook-owned company announced this in a blogpost.

 

Also to get the axe will be mobile phones running on Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian S60, Android 2.1 and 2.2, and Windows Phone 7.1 operating systems.

 

"While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app's features in the future," said the company in the post.

 

WhatsApp has asked users to upgrade to a new device in order to continue to use its messaging service. "This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp. If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone before the end of 2016 to continue using WhatsApp," says the company in the blogpost.

The messaging platform, with over one billion users, also recently celebrated its 7th birthday. The company had announced joining the 1-billion users club in early February this year.

 

"As of today, one billion people are using WhatsApp. That's nearly one in seven people on Earth who use WhatsApp each month to stay in touch with their loved ones, their friends and their family," WhatsApp had said in a blogpost.

In February 2014, WhatsApp was acquired by social networking site Facebook, its biggest buyout till date, for a whopping USD 19 billion. In a post on Facebook, WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum said 42 billion messages were sent, 1.6 billion photos and 250 million videos shared everyday on the platform.

Previously, WhatsApp had said its service has seen strong uptake, especially across developing nations such as Brazil, India and Russia.

Sylvester Stallone pays tribute to Tony Burton

Actor Sylvester Stallone has paid tribute to his 'Rocky' co-star Tony Burton, who died earlier this week.

 

The 78-year-old actor, best known as Apollo Creed's trainer Tony 'Duke' Evers from the first six 'Rocky' movies alongside Stallone, passed away on Thursday.

 

Stallone took to Instagram to pay tribute to Burton, reports mirror.co.uk.

Carl Weathers, who played Apollo, also took to Twitter to remember Burton, and wrote: "Sad news. RIP Tony Burton. His intensity and talent helped make the Rocky movies successful. #BePeace (sic)."

"Tony Burton who played the character of Duke brilliantly in all six Rocky movies... Rest in peace (sic)," he wrote.

Chinese scientists isolate two Zika virus strains

Chinese scientists have successfully isolated two Zika virus strains, which will assist research into a possible vaccination and the transmission pattern of the mosquito-borne disease that has triggered a global health emergency.

 

The two strains were isolated from blood and urine samples from two patients, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

 

The urine test was the first successful isolation from a sample such as that, according to the Academy of Military Medical Sciences and Guangzhou No. 8 People's Hospital.

 

With five confirmed imported Zika virus cases and the weather beginning to warm up across the country, China is on high alert.

 

The isolation can help scientists study the transmission pattern of the virus while provide a foundation for the invention of reagent and vaccine.

 

Chinese scientists have announced on Monday they had decoded the gene sequence of the first imported Zika virus.

 

The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency over the Zika virus and its suspected links to birth defects.

 

The virus has been reported in at least 34 countries, many of them in Central and Latin America. WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have advised pregnant women to consider delaying travel to Zika-infected countries.

 

Zika virus is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also carries dengue fever and yellow fever.

 

The disease was first discovered in Africa in the 1940s but is now spreading in Latin America. Scientists say there is growing evidence of Zika's links to microcephaly, that leads to babies being born with small heads.

SpaceX postpones rocket launch again

Just minutes before liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, SpaceX has scrubbed the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket to propel a communications satellite into orbit, its second delay in as many days.

 

The reason for the postponement was not immediately given. Technicians suddenly called, "Hold, hold, hold," about two minutes before the launch window opened at 6.47pm (2347 GMT).

 

"We are going to be scrubbing the launch for this evening," said a spokesman on SpaceX's live webcast, moments later on Thursday.

 

Another launch date has not yet been set, he said.

 

After the launch, the company intends to try an ocean landing of the rocket's first stage, but has warned the touchdown was not expected to succeed.

 

Headed by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, who also runs Tesla Motors, the company is working to hone the techniques of recycling rockets, instead of jettisoning their costly components after each launch.

 

The aim is to make launches more affordable and environmentally friendly.

 

The launch is commissioned by SES, a Luxembourg-based company that specializes in worldwide satellite communications.

 

The goal of the mission is to propel a Boeing-built SES-9 satellite — delivering television and high-speed broadband to the Asia-Pacific region — to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) far above the equator.